Before Abhinav Kochar traveled from India to the United States to study computer science in late 2023, a consular official interviewed him at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. It’s in a scene repeated countless times around the world each year as foreign students seek access to American higher education.
The high-stakes meeting lasted less than five minutes. Kochar, who’s fascinated by machine learning and artificial intelligence, discussed why he wanted to study in the United States. He was granted a student visa, but said a friend of his was twice rejected.
“The interview process in front of me was pretty brutal,” said Kochar, now a 23-year-old who expects to graduate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in December with a master’s degree in computer science.
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