U.S. College Hunger Games: The International Student Experience!
“We’re excited to share that you’ve been awarded a scholarship to study a Master’s in Financial Engineering in Los Angeles, California!”
Wow, great! But also—yikes. I was thrilled but it also felt extremely sudden. I had just applied in January of 2022, and now, in just six months, I’d be packing up to leave home. My head spun with a thousand questions: Was I ready for the move? What were my next steps? How should I prepare?
Up till then, my perception of the international student experience in the U.S. closely resembled that of a real-life Hunger Games: where students from different "districts" competed for limited opportunities.
Would reality live up to that expectation?
The U.S. College Experience
My journey as an international student started long before I set foot in the U.S.
Leading up to my departure, I reached out to international students and alumni to hear about their experiences moving, studying, and tackling the U.S. job market.
In August 2022, I left home — traveling from Jamaica to California — ready to start classes.
Settling in was actually easier than expected—a few Amazon orders and I was good to go. Classes kicked off, and to my surprise, studying abroad felt relatively easier, compared with back home. Courses like Corporate Finance and Introduction to Risk Management focused less on theories and more on real-world applications.
In Risk Management, for instance, we built real-time risk assessment models, analyzing companies' financials using 10-Qs and 10-Ks. Corporate valuations were no longer abstract theories—as we applied learned methods to local companies.
Another key difference was the emphasis placed by lecturers on being familiar with global financial markets: “What’s the current price of the Dow Jones Index?” Ms Porter often asked.
Back home, academic success was king! As the better your grades, the better your job prospects. But here, things were different, and conversations with alum seemed to echo the same:
“In grad school grades don't really matter. What matters is how you apply what you learn.”
But that wasn’t completely true for international students. For us, grades did matter. Failing a course meant retaking it—which was expensive. And poor academic performance could cost you your scholarship—which was even more expensive!
So, it became clear: I would have to be exceptional both in-and-outside of the classroom. Good grades would not be enough to land me the job, unless I attended an Ivy of course! Well, actually—maybe not?
“Harvard MBA graduates struggle to find jobs.”
Network, Network, Network!
Part of being exceptional outside of the classroom meant networking with professionals in the finance industry—which, as I would quickly learn, would be one of the most important factors to breaking into the U.S. market. From a September 2022 conversation with a Quantitative Researcher:
Me: “Hi, Mr. So-and-So. I saw that you were a former international student and was wondering if you had any advice for someone starting their career in the U.S.?”
Mr. So-and-So: “Hi Kareem, thanks for reaching out. I'd recommend working on stuff you're interested in and showcasing them in a portfolio.”
Advice from a startup founder, Mr. RV, echoed the same:
“Choose a thing, work hard at it. Follow that effort!”
Simple advice, but not easy to digest.
One, it sounded like more work. Two, it implied that my — $90,000 — degree would not be enough to get me "the job."
What I didn't realize then was that the cost of my degree was merely the price of admission—the cost to get through the door.
Eventually, the message became clear: Applied skills stood out more than theoretical knowledge and projects completed in "fields" of interest could help me stand out in a crowded job market.
The U.S. Job Market
Each year, about 250,000 international students graduate in the U.S., and are eligible to work for one or three years. Three-years for degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) and one-year otherwise.
To keep working beyond that period a company would then need to apply for the international graduate's U.S. work (H-1B) visa—which, not, all companies do. And here's the reality: only 80,000 H-1B visas are issued each year, through a “random” selection lottery process. Out of 250,000 graduating students, only 32% can work for more than one or three years!
32%! The Hunger Games, indeed.
With the odds clearly not in my favor, I knew I would have to stand out. Following the advice I had gathered, I created a portfolio, worked on projects, and networked relentlessly.
By December 2023—five months before graduation—I had secured a role at a mergers & acquisitions firm.
But then came a twist I never saw coming: my offer was rescinded just a month before graduation because of a “deal gone awry.” Yes, I know, "a deal gone awry."
And just like that, I was back to square one.
Well, actually... not quite. The work I had put in outside the classroom seemed to have paid off.
I landed a four-month internship at a clean-energy software startup a week after my previous offer fell apart!
Working At A StartUp
I had always dreamed of working at a startup.
But I have to admit, it was one of the most challenging experiences I've encountered thus far—yet, I loved every single minute of it.
From day one, I was entrusted with full ownership of my deliverables. No hand-holding. No roadmaps. If something needed to be done I had to figure out the what, why, and how. And to make things even harder, I worked in an industry I knew little about.
“How do you price an Energy Attribute Certificate (EAC)?”
“How do you calculate EACs generated from solar panel (or heat pump) distributed energy resources?”
I had no clue.
The learning curve was brutal. I worked 15-hour days and most weekends just to keep up. Eventually, I found my rhythm, working with an incredible team of former startup founders, product and operation managers, and even one of the very first Reddit engineers. Surrounded by brilliance, I absorbed everything I could.
By the end of the internship, I was a completely different person—my imposter syndrome had faded seeing tangible proof of my contributions.
The Big Question: Was It Worth It?
So, was the $90,000 cost of entry worth it?
For me? Absolutely.
The degree opened the door, but it was my experiences outside the classroom that gave me the confidence and competence to thrive.
Sure, the journey felt like The Hunger Games at times, but in the end, I walked away with something invaluable: an unshakeable belief that I could now succeed anywhere in the world.
And, that?
That made it all worth it!
