International Student Application

International students make up quite a large fraction of the graduate student population at most US universities. There are currently two stages in the graduate school admission process for international students. First you get admission into a university, second you need to get admitted into the country i.e. you need a student visa. The first notification comes about 2 months before you graduate from undergrad. The second comes a few days before you are ready to leave for the US, usually a couple of months after graduation. Getting a student visa has become increasingly difficult over the past few years and this current system needs to change. The second part of the admission process can and should be carried out ahead of time. There are already links in place between the university and the USCIS (at least that's what it used to be called), through the SEVIS system which allows the govt to track every international student in the US. Once the university is ready to offer admission, it should just forward the required details to the relevant immigration office to make sure the person can get a visa. It could possibly forward to the local consulate and have them process the application ahead of time. This way the student knows well ahead of time whether or not s/he will be able to pursue higher education in the US and make plans accordingly. Moreover, the university knows ahead of time whether the student will able to come or not. This can close the gap between number of admissions offered and number of students who actually show up.