

Stratford 727, Yale 9: Keeping Score on DHS "Best & Brightest" Program - theodpHN
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101119/03105511943/looks-like-visa-program-science-tech-grads-isnt-really-being-used-best-brightest.shtml

======
pmorici
Is this really meaningful w/o knowing how many applied from each school and
the number of students Stratford turns out compared to the cited Ivy League
schools?

~~~
kevinpet
Excellent point. Instinctively, I assume everything the government and
especially DHS does is a fraud to embezzle money from the public, but it would
be handy to have numbers to back it up.

I think to some extent the point holds regardless of the detailed numbers.
It's supposed to be bringing in people who are likely to excel, not just any
random joe who can manage a two-year IT degree. I'm in favor of letting the
latter immigrate just as much as I favor allowing farmworkers to immigrate,
but it should be under a program that doesn't require paying a fortune to a
school who knows how to work the system.

~~~
nkassis
It could be restricted to a 4 year bachelors degree (or higher) from an
accredited university in specific programs. But then again, the accreditation
system is completely subverted now by these for profit schools.

------
sanj
Did anyone else misread Stratford as "Stanford"?

~~~
mkramlich
I saw Stratford-on-Avon and thought, "How would Shakespeare students qualify
as STEM?! Oh, maybe that's the S."

------
vkdelta
This is just a small part of STEM application. Some of the tier3-5 univs apply
way more than 700 apps each every year. Another thing to note is the lot of
students graduating from STEM branches in IVY league schools are not F-1 visa
holders but citizens of US.

------
mkramlich
To throw out some data, checked out the Stratford site, which is the education
entity whose students overwhelmingly dominate the OPT STEM program. Looked at
Software Engineering, Masters. All courses can be taken online. There are 5
core classes and 7 elective classes. Of the 5 core classes the one that
sounded the meatiest was Software Engineering. The description made it sound
pretty easy and shallow. Total tution cost for that M in SE is $22k. Overall
impression from looking at their site is it is oriented to foreign students,
and online-centric, and gave me impression of being a diploma mill. Getting a
M in SE from them looks pretty easy and fast, as long as I cough up the $22k.

~~~
DTrejo
Do you need to be in the US to take these online courses?

Are there foreign students taking classes from outside the US, then coming in
to work once they've finished and get into OPT?

~~~
mkramlich
good questions. not sure. it gave me enough of a vibe that it's like a cross
between "vo tech" and a diploma mill that I didn't investigate further. Here's
the link to their website if you want to dig in deeper:

<http://www.stratford.edu/>

------
jbooth
What's DHS have to do with it? They're not the primary body on immigration and
work visas, are they?

~~~
mmaro
They are (USCIS is part of DHS). The INS was dissolved in 2003.

~~~
jbooth
Geez. One more thing they screwed up.

