help me to decide to go US

[mbm100]

I am comp sci student in India.
I want to go to USA for higher studies and settle down there.
My uncle tells me not to go to US and he says people are coming back from US.
Is it true ?

My friends are like me, they want to go and they want me to go.

Is there any NRI in this forum who can give clear picture ?

[yogi]

Originally Posted by mbm100

I am comp sci student in India.
I want to go to USA for higher studies and settle down there.
My uncle tells me not to go to US and he says people are coming back from US.
Is it true ?

My friends are like me, they want to go and they want me to go.

Is there any NRI in this forum who can give clear picture ?

Hi MBM,

You have asked a very general question, without providing any background of your education or career ambitions. So its a little hard to answer. Nevertheless, I will still try to answer your question.

1) Do not think of going to US as a goal. Going to US or doing higher studies is just the "means" to achieve your larger goal. For many people, the larger goal is their career ambition (like becoming a NASA scientist, Software Engineer in Google, becoming a physicist and teach at IIT, become a professor, and so on). For a lot of people, the larger goal is to earn a lot of money (and it is not bad to think like that). For some it is to become a CEO of a fortune 500 company or build their own start-up. So first decide what is YOUR goal.

2) Next find out if US can provide you the ways and means to achieve your goal. There are a lot of pros and cons as far as moving to US is concerned.

Some pros are:

• US is very transparent and organized. No messy traffic to deal with, no power cuts, clean air, water, and largely a disease free environment. Such an environment can be very helpful in one's young and formative years.
• There is rule of law. No one will steal your hard work. No one can copy or pirate the software you created. In turn, same behavior is expected out of you.
• If you need some specialization in a certain area, then there is a tremendous higher education system, which will give you those extra skills that will help in achieving your ambitions. You will have all the time to focus on what you really want to do in life.
• Work culture is much much better as compared to India. People are punctual, helping, and bosses are not mean. Superiors encourage juniors to work hard, and achieve their objectives. Petty politics is there, but its standard is much better.
• If you are a middle class Indian, you will be able to save much more money per month, as compared to, if you are working in India.
• Working in a foreign atmosphere gives your a macro view, and a whole different perspective of things, like your career, family, ambitions, etc. I personally believe that every one should live outside their country at least once in their life to get a different perspective on their life. Most freedom fighters (Gandhi, Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Tagore, etc.) lived and worked extensively outside India, and could be called NRIs.
• Living in US will make you more liberal, and give you a better sense of right and wrong, it will help develop your personality, and improve your judgement. US is a very flat society. It is not burdened by the illogical hierarchies of Indian society, which is still feudal and conservative in mindset. It will help you develop an independent mind, which can question authority.

3) It is true that a lot of NRIs are now Returning to India (R2I). That is a reason we have a R2I sub-forum in this website. It is a fact that now more opportunities are in India. But there are many many big reasons that make people R2I. One big factor is the constant feeling of missing one's own people and family. This feeling is hard to feel if one has not lived outside India. But apart from this feeling, people are returning to India, as there are a lot of cons in living permanently in USA.

Please post more about your background, and I will write more on this topic.

[guru]

Originally Posted by mbm100

I am comp sci student in India.
I want to go to USA for higher studies and settle down there.
My uncle tells me not to go to US and he says people are coming back from US.
Is it true ?

My friends are like me, they want to go and they want me to go.

Is there any NRI in this forum who can give clear picture ?

What reasons does your uncle give about not going to US? Yogi mentions some good points. I think the most important one is that working in US opens one's mind.

But don't go to US with the thought of "settling" down there. Keep an open mind. Go there for some years, and then decide what's correct.

Another important factor is "Cost". Will it cost you a huge sum of money to go there? Will it put a burden on your family to send you there? That is a very important thing. How settled is your family financially?

[dhruv]

Hi MBM,

What kind of college will you go for higher studies? I mean the likes of MIT or Stanford, or tier II or even tier III colleges? That will make a huge amount of difference in your success later in life. If you are in debt of $40,000 once you graduate, then you will be starting at a huge disadvantage.

5-10 years ago, it was easier to go to US, as there were a lot of scholarships available to Indian students. With this recession, scholarships are hard to come by. Do you already have offers lined up from universities?

Moreover, once you graduate, these days there is no guarantee of getting a job. This year, I've seen a lot of my friends graduate just to return back to India with a US degree and several thousand dollar loan, just because they couldn't get a full time job. Jobs are now moving to places like India and China, where more and more software companies are opening their R&D labs and departments.

This is a very volatile period. Where are you in your GRE and US University application process?