1) A chance to familiarize yourself with the workings of the American system and society;
2) If you do well, your chances of getting scholarships to pay for the last 2 years in a 4-year university increases too.

Finally, another option would be to hold campus jobs. I took on a position as a resident advisor and another as a librarian. In all, they paid for my living expenses, room and board for 2 years, those savings came up to about USD 18,000. More importantly, those jobs equip you with important “life-skills” and you can always include those experiences in your resume. Finally, as much as the jobs were time consuming, I really enjoyed my position as a resident advisor and the library job was just comfy (basically, I just sat there). So don’t think you’lI have to “slog” like crazy if you hold 2 jobs during your undergraduate years, always find joy in whatever you pursue (I know it’s easier said than done, but try ok :)).

Over at theory.isthereason, Kevin blogs about his life story – how he managed to avoid local, i.e. Singaporean, scholarships and financed his graduate and post-graduate education in the United States through alternative means.Basically, after his Bache…

For the JET program, you got to contact the embassy or consulate of Japan in the country of your nationality. For Singapore peeps, please go to below website and read and download the application form and instructions.

Direct link for SG peeps [Please read and understand fully the content and contact the embassy staff for correct and official Q & A if you are serious about it.]
http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/JET%202006.htm

Link for other countries
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/jet/apply.html

PS: I am just a poor barely surviving student, that happen to research a lot in the area of non de facto route. Try staying away from the Mainstream options that are “advertise” heavily by ****** (Need not emphasize who it is lah :P ) and you would be suprised. What is good for the country might not be necessary good for the common folks like you and me.

As a student on an F1 visa you are quite limited on how you can work, but there are ways around that. You should be able to work on campus without too many restrictions, which is what I did. The only restriction I had was that I couldn’t work more than 19.5 hours a week, but that rule applied to all students.

Another way to work is to apply for a CPT or OPT. CPT stands for Cirruculum Practical Training and it allows you to work in any company if the work is directly related to the coursework you need in order to graduate. The wording is pretty strict but school’s are usually willing to write a letter to support your application since they’d want you to benefit from the experience.

OPT (Optional Practical Training) is similar except there’s no need for the work to be related to your coursework but you are only allowed to be on OPT for 1 year. Most international students I’ve met reserve this for the summer holidays or for after they graduate. This allows them to stick around for a year while they look for a permanent job. The problem with OPT is that it takes a hella long time to get approved – about 4 months – so it’s kinda hard to use for summer jobs unless you have an offer 4 months prior to your start or you’re confidant of securing a job. Also, once you apply you have to use up the time alloted to you or forfeit it. Though if you run out you can always apply for your Master’s :)

My point is that it’s possible to do what I did for the entire cost of tuition. I know a few who’re doing that right now.

I did try looking for a scholarship but those are hard to come by especially when you’re an undergrad. So I did the next best thing which is to pull down 2 jobs. It won’t pay your tuition but you also won’t need to ask for money from your parents for living expenses.

Sacrelicious: You should write a full post on your blog about the JET program. I heard a lot of expariates mentioning this.

Entwistle + Tracy: Glad you guys like it. I was worried that I could be missing something, otherwise how come no one talks about it?

karma++;