 Wondering how the F1 interviews for fall 2021 are going? This video is going to be a real F1 interview experience of a student who recently gave his interview at the Chennai Embassy and there is so much to learn from his experience so keep on watching. Hi guys my name is Shalchi and I'm a travel and visa coach. On this channel you will find lots of useful videos for the F1 visa process. We have an entire playlist on this so make sure that you check them out. For today's video I have with me Pawan Bhairwani. Pawan recently gave his F1 visa interview from the Chennai Embassy and his visa was approved. So he is here today to share his D-Day experience and he also has some really useful interview prep tips. So before we get into his interview experience here's a quick snapshot of Pawan's profile. So education, he has completed his engineering in mechanical field. Work experience, he has the total of six years of work experience with Bharat Petroleum in the field of supply chain and operations. Admit, his admit is from Ohio State University for their MBA program. He plans to specialize in operations management and funding. His program is fully funded. He has secured 100% funding for both the years of his program. Now as you can see Pawan's profile is actually quite strong and in spite of this he prepared really hard for his interview and he was really really thorough. We worked together through consultation session and also he took a mock interview and all of this really paid off and his visa was approved. So in this video he is here to share his experience and he also has some really useful tips. So let's jump right into the video. Hi Pawan, so congratulations. Thank you. I work for Bharat Petroleum. I have six years of work experience. I applied for MBA program last year but because of COVID the consulate was closed then my university decided to defer my admission. So I've been joining Fisher College of Business that is from the Ohio State University Columbus. So they offered me a full scholarship depending on my profile and my GMAT score. So they offered the same thing last year and on my deferral also they took a standard they'll maintain it. The last year I deferred I had a visa interview on 2nd and 4th of May that got cancelled because of COVID. Then again after a lot of struggle and hassle I got an interview date on 28th of June. So on 27th was my OFC and on 20th was my VA VAC. 27th the process is very chilled out. So what you have to do is you have to just carry your three documents, DS160, your passport and your appointment confirmation. So they'll allow you, they'll take a photo of yours and it's a very normal process. No need, no questions asked. It's just a formality you have to do. The second day what happened is my interview was at Chennai Centre. So it was at 10 a.m. I've reached there by 9 a.m. but the thing was that they were not allowing like they'll not allow you to enter before your appointment time. So on 10 o'clock they asked us to wait outside and a lot of students were waiting somewhere like some had interviews at 12, one they were also waiting. So they allowed us at 10 and after that you have to go they will do a scanning like they do in airports. After that you have to go inside. So I reached the place where the interview happens I reached at 11 o'clock. One hour the process will take like from line, from scanning till the time you reach the centre where the interview is happening it will take about one hour. So 11 o'clock sharp I reached there the phones and all are not allowed. So in OSU you can take your phone because there is a locker out there so it's a private locker but for Chennai people who are in Chennai don't carry any phones, watches also if it's a metallic watch don't take it. So I did not have any phone, I did not have any watch that's because I... Just your documents that's it. In 11 o'clock I reached there so at that time four counters are open and majority of all the students were F1s so in Chennai what happens is if you get a visa they'll give you a green slip unlike in Bombay where they'll give you a white slip so I was just seeing that how many people are getting green slip so the percentage was quite decent. Like I would have seen near about 40 to 50 students who are passing by me and except 2 or 3 everyone was having a green slip. Then I went inside so the thing is that the interview room is like it's a soundproof room so you cannot hear something from outside so there are two very heavy doors which you have to pull so you cannot hear anything so once you go inside you'll be able to hear something and because they were maintaining social distance then what happens is the number of people in the room are very limited so I think the line was 5 and 4 people were in the counter so at any point of time I think 9 to 10 people will be in the room in which the interview was happening so what happened is in the OFC what they'll do is they'll paste a barcode so on your passport on the back side so what happened for me is because I had submitted my DS160 at the last moment I submitted on 25th and my interview was on 28th so they were not able to read it so the visa officer told me that there is a counter nearby just go there and inform him that that the officer is not able to read this so I just went there and he took about 3 to 4 minutes and he just he did something I think some thing he did in the system then I reached the interview like the placement interview happened so the interview was very brief and in Chennai the interview was having very very brief so the people who I see maximum 1 minute to 1 and a half minutes they'll speak for me they have spoken only 2 to 30 seconds only 3 or 4 questions they asked so he was an American guy a thin guy with some blonde hair so first he asked me that which year you graduated then I told that I graduated in 2015 then he asked me that so it's your university fully funded so you told me that to clearly mention it's fully funded for both the years after that he just asked me that what does your father do I was just about to tell that what my father does but he cancelled that question because he was funded maybe maybe then he asked me what are your plans after MBA so I just told that after my MBA I want to come back to India and work for a so-and-so company then he said okay so he said approve follow the quarantine rules so work for a so-and-so company doesn't like do you make it specific with sector and make it your program or how did you answer this exactly so the thing is that the mock which we had so I was very I was fully prepared so I was prepared for anything about OPT anything Hi Pawan, good evening Hi ma'am can you tell me a little bit about yourself why do you feel you need an MBA after six years of working in supply chain how do you want to grow your career what is the field you plan to enter how many admins did you get why did you pick Ohio State out of the five admins you have any other family funding to help you or your own personal savings did you not find a similar MBA program in India because your work will come into India right so why go to the US now is OPT part of the course do you have OPT option after the course yeah after my course I have a three years of OPT do you plan to avail that one day before I message you also that should I update my LinkedIn or not because I write in some some interview that maybe they can check your LinkedIn profile Facebook profile yes whatever you are saying it should match right correct this is what like many of my videos also have told us that especially if you're working your LinkedIn profile needs to be updated and match with the US 1.16 yeah so what happened is I was very specific like before the mocks I was like I should give that I'll come back to India and work for work in India but it's always better to be specific so I had proper companies in mind so I like I went a step ahead like with you I discussed the positions in which I went to work like just before one day in which OFC was that I called a couple of friends who were working in those companies I called a fellow who was working in Iran like what posts are there and how the company works that will help you like with the positions and if anything he wants to like Google it so you will resonate with the searches your story will resonate with the searches and the thing was that I was like I was not hiding anything so I was like fine what I have to say it is good and I took a lots of document like all financials all mine nothing was asked nothing was asked yeah they are not interested I think the first question was more about seeing your confidence that which year you graduated so you have to be very precise nothing here and there only one date I spoke for no college not the degree which I have done I was to the point then the last question was like it took about 20 seconds rest all were rapid types like he asked me so you are funded I just told yes I am funded for both the years so the thing is that for MBA candidates I can just say like the questions like the same questions we face in our MBA interview it's not like MS we have to go through an essay interview process it's a rigorous interview process correct so for that I had my answers prepared but those answers are elaborative right so like in my mock you like you would have heard my mock it were very elaborative answers and that we do it because we want our MBA person who's taking an interview to know our background so we put the masala in that but here you don't have to put you don't have to know that was something I was missing then again to how to make it precise that I learned from the interview and that OPT question and few questions like I was never expecting that someone can ask me in a mock so that you ask so because all the interviews which you read in telegram they are very many people will not pose their answers and even if they pose it's not how they are sounding they'll write it you can read the question and decide what you want to speak but until and unless someone hears you you will not get a third year to comment how they are hearing exactly I think that's the objective right that we mock to like literally put you in that place where you can feel the interview pressure you know where you can really feel that okay there is a consequence to what I'm going to say and then test yourself as to how prepared you are yes and like if you if you do a mock with a person whom you know obviously it helps it helps you he will give you but like giving a mock to a third person it's a neutral situation like he'll not you will try to impress right or you will try to impress the person who is checking on interview so but it's not like an MBA interview it's all good until and unless something bad happens so it's always better to take it and one thing I think which I wanted to ask you in which a lot of people would be also interested to know is how did you get a fully funded program like what was the criteria and if somebody is looking at such type of opportunities what should they really work on on their profile so for me like one is your GMAT score right because people GMAT is a standardized test so many in COVID many people have waived from the GMAT don't take that option that they give you a GMAT because that it will help you to give you a credibility like you are a good student right and what happens is it's a it's a give and take relationship for a college college wants their ranking to improve if they see some value in you that you will add to the college suppose a GMAT score suppose you have a decent GMAT score then you will uplift the GMAT score of their college the average GMAT score now how that will help their colleges it will it will boost their rankings in various platforms the second thing is that your career goals should match like for a college what are the factors for their ranking is how much international students they have what is their average GMAT score and how many people are getting employed so you have MBA process is quite different from MS you have to be very clear that what you want to do like after an MBA which which profile you are wanting generally it's a question that why MBA, why this college and what are your goals the college which I am going is it's it's it's ranked fourth for supply chain and management and I was I was wanting to do it so you have to be very clear the college should see that yes they can if you come to this college you will get a job so that their their numbers are not jacked up their placements look good and you should post of the college to help in their rankings and they want you to come so they will give you a scholarship the thing is that from India a lot of people apply point number one and lot of people are male engineers and from an IT field or like from me from an operations background some actor is there suppose he applies he'll get or if someone is from navy or someone is an IS officer for with a low GMAT score also he'll get an interview call but you will not get because you are already from a pool which is very competitive right to break that pool the thing is you need something it's okay many colleges will say that we see the holiastic picture we see everything but the first barrier is GMAT score again the thing is that with the less GMAT score and a good profile you will get scholarship it's not like if your story is very good you will get it but like people think that I work for an NGO this is my story so it's very common like all the people who are applying to us they have work for an NGO work for an NGO right so that all will not help you out because I have worked for United Nations like I was in their volunteer program I have a company who do theaters like we do ticketed shows so that all did not help me much as far as my GMAT score is all right okay and the thing is that after your placements also if you are applying to consultancy like the big three firms in consultancy they see your GMAT score not very openly said not very openly said yeah not very openly said but the admission committee also of the interview they all will say that we look at the overall picture yes they do look at the overall picture but you belong from a pool which is which is overly applied right correct yeah for engineering so that's that's that's if you are in a competitive pool you have to be on your toes on your GMAT great so thank you so much for sharing this experience and I think you have done amazing work yeah thanks thanks for all the help so I hope Pavan's interview experience has helped you get an idea of how F1 visa interviews are looking this year and what's the kind of preparation that you need to put in if you have any more questions for Pavan feel free to reach out to him his LinkedIn profile is in the description box below so you can reach out to him via LinkedIn also if you would like to take a mock interview with me feel free to do that the link to register for the mock interview is also in the description box this is going to be a mock which is going to be exactly like the actual visa interview we'll do it on a zoom call and the mock will be followed by a detailed analysis and answer structuring session this has helped many many students and I'm sure it's going to help you as well so go ahead and register for your mock before your actual visa interview if you have any more questions feel free to leave them in the comment section below you can also DM me on Instagram my Instagram handle is at shachi.mall and there are lots of more useful resources for you there are tons of free useful resources these are free PDFs which consists of document checklist they consist of D-day checklist and all these will help you prepare for the main day so do check out these free resources the link is in the description box and if you want to be part of my next F1 Prep interview workshop you can register for that as well so all these good things in the description box do take a look and signing off for now I'll see you on the next one wishing you all the best for the road ahead bye