This is the second blog as part of my U.S. immigration journey series. The scope of this blog is Curricular Practical Training (CPT), where I will cover what CPT is, how CPT works, CPT rules and regulations, etc. I will also share how I got CPT for my technology and analytics internships at Goldman Sachs at Cummins Inc. Given that the F-1 student visa has restrictions, for example, students can only work on-campus for off-campus jobs, CPT is the legal way to get approval. Without CPT, international students cannot work or intern off-campus.
CPT is a program granted by U.S. academic institutions that give international students on F-1 student visa permission and legal status to work full-time or part-time. As a requirement, the work should be related to the student’s area of study in college. The benefit of CPT is it gives students hands-on experience to help prepare them for future careers post-graduation. According to CPT rules during the academic year, part-time CPT allows students to work up to 20 hrs a week, while full-time CPT will enable students to work up to 40 hrs a week either during the academic year or over the summer break. The Designated School Official (DSO), academic advisor, and international student’s office are responsible for granting CPT approvals.
The process for CPT involved securing internship opportunities in the field related to my area of study, i.e., computer science and applied mathematics. With offers in hand, I chatted with my international student’s office, academic advisor, and the DSO for Franklin College of Indiana to get CPT permission. My CPT got approved, and I could intern and gain valuable work experience, enhancing my studies. I leveraged full-time CPT for two technology summer internships at Goldman Sachs and my analytics internship at Cummins inc.. Below are the steps and actions I did to secure, maintain and complete CPT:
- Enrolled into a degree program at Franklin College of Indiana.
- Applied for Computer Science and Applied Math internships; these roles were in my field of study, a prerequisite for CPT.
- Got approval from my academic advisor, the international student’s office, and DSO.
- Familiarized myself with the rules and regulations for CPT; for example, one must be in good academic standing, work in areas related to one’s major, and be able to get academic credit from the internship.
- Did internships and brought back the necessary paperwork to get academic credit.
- While interning, I ensured that I learned as much as I could by getting hands-on experience in the industry.
- Connected and networked with coworkers to learn from their experiences and found mentors and sponsors I leveraged for landing return intern offers and full-time roles. The internships also taught me work I didn’t enjoy; hence I would not seek a career in those fields.
- Ensured I asked for feedback from my team, managers, mentors, and sponsors to learn and improve.
- Maintained good F-1 student visa status.
- After my internship roles, I updated my resume to reflect my experiences.
The most important thing to note about CPT is that international students are only allowed 12 months of full-time CPT during their undergraduate program. If one goes over this, one will reduce their Optical Practical Training (OPT) eligibility and likely only get OPT partially. We will discuss OPT in our next blog as part of this series. In my next blog, I will share about how I obtained the Optional Practical Training (OPT) work authorization.
