
Ask HN: Advice on (Harvard) Grad School? - jaytera
Hi all,<p>Strange asking this question. I wanted to reach out to ask for advice around going to US Grad School as an international student, particularly with the aim of moving to the Bay Area to contribute to the startup ecosystem - perhaps with my own startup or perhaps to help others!<p>So at this time, the situation is a very fortunate one. I have a full-ride scholarship to Harvard this fall to continue my Architectural Studies (my gentleman&#x27;s hobby...) Fortunately, I also get to skip the first year which means the course is 2.5 years with the last 1.5 years of those allowing me to take whatever option courses throughout Harvard and MIT - I&#x27;m curious about too much so that possibility is awesome.<p>On the other hand, I have now developed a lot of doubts about whether the overall situation will be worth it, both short and long term.<p>- I am British&#x2F;Irish based in London. Thus have short term immigration problems despite having all visa paperwork.<p>- First semester+ will be remote (the embassies are closed and they will be bound to have a ton of backlog to work through, providing COVID doesn&#x27;t again provoke the government to shut down immigration in winter). Working alone without really meeting anyone properly&#x2F;having the campus experience really drops the value of going back to university.<p>- Unfortunately for all, it seems quite likely that international working visas will be attacked and reduced (H1-B, OPT etc). Another drop in value.<p>- My self-propelled study (learning now to pull together software the past year), would be slowed down significantly. At least on my own, I would be able to learn much more outside of a university. Especially a remote university.<p>- I have some fantastic opportunities in London where I would actually be paid to go to university, with all the uncertainty, this option is getting more attractive.<p>Thus it&#x27;s a bit more of a nuanced than that I&#x27;m used to!
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jaytera
\- Extension Comment -

Going back to the idea of the Bay Area (which is somewhere I believe I will
end up somehow), will it help me a lot to be in the country? Could anyone
manage to get anything done bombing it to the valley on a tourist visa? What
would you do if you were in my situation?

Apologies for the long post, it's a situation that I'm really questioning and
struggling to answer. The tuned-in wisdom of you guys on HN would help a lot!

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KuriousCat
You seem to be keen on startups, have you explored startup schools/incubators?

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jaytera
I have - infact I'm just at the end of going through one now

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giantg2
I feel like startups value credentials less than experience. I would probably
just jump into a startup now so that you can continue to learn while getting
real life experience and building that network.

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jaytera
Agreed, although I find a big disconnect between what I'm genuinely interested
in and the start-up scene here in London/Europe and turned down a few startup
offers ultimately for that reason. May be naive but with a visa but there is
generally much more exciting opportunity (purely around startups) in US and SV
in general - and the visa is what I'm missing and grad school would deliver.

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giantg2
Oh, ok. Have you reached out to any US-based startups that you are interested
in? Perhaps you can convince them they need a remote European team to help
them expand or give them more off-hours support from a different time zone.

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jaytera
This is an absolutely great idea - I'll get on it

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catacombs
Be prepared for the debt to follow you for a while.

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jaytera
What debt?

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catacombs
Student loans, unless, of course, you got an entirely free ride to Harvard.

