Questions
about the co-op program
Q:
What is Curricular Practical Training?
A:
Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is the legal
description for the paid internship employment
that students engage in while in a co-op
program. The purpose of CPT is to give
students practical experience in the workplace to
augment what they are learning in the classroom.
Q:
What is Optional Practical Training?
A:
Optional Practical Training (OPT) is the legal
description for the one year employment
that you are allowed to engage in after
you graduate from your Master's program.
The purpose of OPT is to give you further
practical experience in the workplace
relating to your Master's major.
Q: Am
I allowed to engage in both CPT and OPT?
A: Yes.
However, if you work full-time for more than one
year of CPT, then you may not be allowed to
do the one year of OPT.
Q: If
I choose to work in CPT for the entire
length of time I am in the Master's program,
will I be allowed to do so?
A: Yes,
you are allowed to engage in CPT for as long as
you are a student in the Master's program, even
if that is for 2 1/2 years or more.
However, as indicated above, if, in fact, you do
work full-time for more than a year, which is
legal, you may not
be allowed to do the additional one year of OPT
after you graduate. So if you want to do the
OPT, you need to reduce your CPT work load to
part-time after 11 months of full-time CPT
employment.
Q: How can I
go to school and work at the same time?
A: All Co-op
courses will be offered in the executive format.
That is, classes will be offered in the evenings
and on weekends as well as during the week
during the day.
Q:
Can I transfer my credits from another school?
A. The
University may give credit for courses already taken at the
Master's level at another school, if the other
school is accredited and if the course content
being transferred is basically the same as one
of the courses in the school's requirement for
that major. The Registrar will make this
decision when you arrive for your first class.
Q: Can you
tell me if I will be accepted with my current
degree?
A:
If
you have a bachelor degree from a recognized and
accredited College in any major you are
qualified for acceptance to
the MBA program, although you may be
required to take some prerequisite courses, and,
assuming
you meet all of the other requirements for
admission.
Q:
What if I decide to transfer to a different
College?
A:
If you enroll at the university and complete
your course work for one semester and choose to
transfer to another College you are free to do
so, so long as your bills at the university are
all paid in full up to that date
Q:
Is
there any financial aid available?
A:
The financial aid that Lincoln University can
offer is the legal right to
obtain full time employment from an American
company for the entire time you are in the
graduate school. Thus, in most cases
students have the potential of earning in
internship employment much more than what they
might obtain in a scholarship or other financial
aid from a different school.
Q.
Do I have to apply for a visa in my own
country?
A:
The American consulates in each country
of the world make the decision about whether
or not a visa applicant must be in his/her own
country in order to apply for a visa.
However, the general custom is that an
international student will be allowed to apply
for a visa, at U.S.
consulate located in countries other
than his/her own.
Q.
Do I have to pay the Sevis fee before I go in
for my interview?
A. Homeland
Security is now requiring F-1 students to
pay a $100 SEVIS fee before the student can
apply for the visa. Students will need a
receipt showing payment of the fee before they
can go to the visa interview.
Q.
How do I pay the Sevis fee?
A. Students
can go to www.fmjfee.com
and apply on line using a credit card which is
the fastest way to make this payment. Students
will receive an e-mail receipt which they
will take to the consulate office at the
time of their visa interviews.
Q.
Can my spouse or children accompany me to the
US?
A:
A spouse will be allowed to apply
for a visa to accompany the student. The
spouse (with children) may apply at the same
time the student applies, or may wait for
several months to apply until after the
student arrives in the U.S. and gets settled.
The spouse will need to show additional
financial support or a bank statement with
sufficient additional money to support
him/herself (and children) when accompanying
the student spouse to the U.S.
Q.
Do I need permission from Immigration Services
in order to work off campus?
A. Students
will have an F-1 student visa and, by the
nature of the university's "co-op"
program (which requires internship employment)
no further permission is required by the
Immigration Service. Once the
student finds employment that is certified to
be "curriculum related", the
university will issue the appropriate authorization
signature allowing the student to begin
working.
Q:
Can I take a break during summer quarter to
return to my country then return back to
school for fall quarter?
A:
Students must attend school full time for 2
consecutive semesters (9 months) before they
are eligible to take a vacation from their
studies.
Q:
What is required in order to bring my
spouse and family?
A: In
order for your spouse and/or children to
accompany you, the university must issue a
separate I-20 form. Your family can
apply for an F2 (dependant) visa. The
university will need the following information for each
family member (including spouse): full
name, date of birth, country of birth, and
country of citizenship.
Q:
If my visa is valid for only 2 years,
will I need to get it extended before it
expires?
A:
Having a 2 year visa does not mean that
you have to go back to your home country at
the end of two years. Rather, you can
stay for as long as you like beyond the two
years to finish your education in the U.S.
The length of the visa just limits how long
you have to cross the border into the U.S.
That is, if, during those two years you want
to go home to visit a number of times you can
use that visa (permission to cross the border
into the U.S.) as often as the visa permits.
But, after the two years are over, you need to
renew your visa so that, if you leave the U.S.
and come back, you will have a valid visa to
do so. All visas can generally be
renewed for students who are legally in the
U.S. and want a longer time during
which they are allowed to leave the U.S.
for a visit to their home countries.
Q:
I am already in the US on a B-1 visa.
Can I change to F-1?
A:
If you are going to change to F-1, which you
need to do in order to get into the paid
internship program at the university, it is much
better to do that while in your home country.
If you come to the U.S. and then apply for a
change of status to F-1 it can take up to
several months of waiting while the
immigration service processes your
application. But if you take
your I-20 form from the university to the
consulate in your home country and apply for
an F visa, the decision can me made
immediately by the visa officials there. Then
there will be no delay in your starting school
and getting a paid internship job.
Questions
about Admission:
Q.
Is there a deadline for applying?
A:
No. Applications will be
accepted and processed at all times of the
year and the university will make special efforts
to notify the applicants quickly of the status
of their applications.
Q: I can not
get my bank statement until I have an
acceptance letter from the College. Can
I send my application packet in now (without a
financial document) and send the bank
statement in later?
A: If
you need the acceptance letter before you can
get the financial documents, then please write
a note to the university stating this fact and
include it with your application packet.
This way the university can go ahead and process
your application without the financial
information. As soon as you do receive
your financial documentation you will need to
send it to the university because they cannot
issue your I-20 without having the required
financial documents.
Q:
Does the bank statement have to be in a
sponsors name or is it ok if it is in
my name?
A:
The bank statement can be either one
from your bank account, or that of a
"sponsor", or a combination of the
two. If you use a sponsor's bank
statement you will also need to have
the sponsor write a letter to the university stating, "I am the sponsor for _______
and I intend to provide him/her with financial
assistance during his/her first year at the
university up to the amount of $_____,
Q:
What should I do if my bank statement
does not reflect US dollars?
A: If
you can not obtain a bank statement reflecting
the equivalent value of your money in U.S.
dollars, you may get the conversion from the
internet. Just print the page showing
the conversion and include it with your bank
statement. www.currency-exchange.co.uk/Currency-Converter.htm
Q: Can I have
more then one sponsor?
A: You can
have as many sponsors as you need.
However, you and the sponsors need to make it
clear to the visa officials why they are
willing to provide money to you for your
education in the U.S.
Q: Is
the GRE or GMAT
score required for
admission?
A:
No.
For admission, it is not required that you
have taken either the GMAT test or the GRE
tests. However, we
recommend you take the GMAT or GRE test.
We suggest this because, having taken the
test, you are more likely to be viewed as a
more serious student by the U.S. visa officer
when you go to apply for your visa.
You will be required to take the GMAT score
before you graduate from the co-op program.
Q: What if I
am in my last semester of undergraduate study.
Can I apply to the program now?
A:
You can send the transcripts that you now have
along with the other required application
materials. Also, include a letter
indicating that your final transcripts will be
sent as soon as you have received them from
the university. In the meantime, the
university can
work on "conditional" acceptance for
you--that is, you can be accepted for
admission subject only to presenting those
final documents of
graduation.
