Journal

So, i got my VISA.. i got my tickets.. I came to the university and now I am a full time registered grad student!!! :)

Though I was late by a year, i guess I did what i wanted to.. I am happy.. people are nice here.. Chicago is a cool place.. Downtown seems really nice..

I think I will have a nice time here.. 

The interview was short and great!!! Hardly lasted 2 minutes.. The visa officer was impressed by my 800/800 in GRE Quants and by my college grades (which aren't great but he considered them to be, so I didn't say anything to make him change his mind.. hehe..). He didn't ask me for any documents at all, except my college mark sheets.. :))

I was let in at 8:30am. The document verification was done by 9am and I walked out at 9:15am, knowing that I have been granted the VISA. The passport with the VISA will be sent to me by courier next week (by Wed, approx.).

I wanna thank all my great friends here who supported me throughout..

The rest 5% of the goal would be to book my tickets, be done with immunization formalities and arriev in US.. Which would be around mid-August..

Ok.. so after reading around 100 pages of documents by various people, I started the process to fill up 3 forms (online) and book an appointment date for the VISA interview. Idefinitely was nervous. It costs $375!!! A heafty sum when converted to Rupees.

The first form was of 2 pages, the second was of 1 page and the third was of 2 pages. That is like just 5 pages.

Unfortunately, it was a lot tougher! I started filling the forms at 10pm and by the time I finished, it was 12:15am!!!!! I have finished many final exams which took less time and had about 6 times as many pages.

Anyway, I am glad that I am done with booking an appointment. The only option I had was to choose the day. The time is alloted by the software. I choose July 24th. The time I have been alloted is 8:30am.

I have to leave Bangalore (where I live) on July 22nd and make a 6-hour trip to Chennai for the interview. So if I leave on 22nd, I reach Chennai 23th  (early morning) and the spend a day stressing over the interview and then attend it on 24th (if I don't end up with a nervous breakdown).

If all goes well and God helps me out, I will be able to come to US by around 15th of August. If not, I will have to wait till the spring term. Please pray for me. Thanks!

I really hope I am not rejected. I am not updating the % of this goal as this 2-minute VISA interview is the next most important step for admission. All my effort and success depends on these 2 minutes. After I get my VISA, i will update the goal to 95%... Or even 100%...