Like many international students, Andrew Fang (MSJ ’24) came to Northwestern hoping his degree would open doors in the American job market.
This proved true for the Taiwan native, who is now a Washington correspondent for Deutsche Welle. After graduation, Fang worked on post-completion Optional Practical Training before eventually switching to an (I) visa for foreign media in 2025.
International students on an F-1 visa are eligible to apply for OPT, a 12-month training program authorized by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that allows them to work in the U.S. in a field directly related to their major after graduation. Those who graduate from a STEM-certified program may apply for a 24-month extension.
Fang said that in recent years, it’s been difficult for any international student to find a job, regardless of degree.
“They never want to hire someone with no experience, but we need a job to get experience,” Fang said. “They don’t value any experience you know you have in foreign countries. And that’s really unwise, but it’s also understandable.”
Post-completion OPT students worked for at least 920 employers throughout the country — with top employers including NU, McKinsey & Company and Amazon, according to the Office of International Student and Scholar Services’ most recent report from the 2023-24 school year. At the time, 1,812 alumni were working on post-completion OPT in 38 states.
The report noted that 77% of NU graduates on post-completion OPT were master’s graduates, while bachelor’s graduates and doctorate-holders made up 12% each.
Meanwhile, 62% of the University’s students on the STEM extension were master’s graduates, while 20% held bachelor’s degrees and 18% had doctorates from NU.
The University has had thousands of students participate in the program, based on data ranging from 2006 to 2022 from the OPT Observatory, a project by nonpartisan think tank Institute for Progress that tracks international student employment trends with data from the Student and Exchange Visitor System. The data was released through Freedom of Information Act requests, according to the OPT Observatory website.
According to the OPT Observatory, 45.7% of international graduates from Illinois who work on OPT have done so in state at least once from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2022.
Students must be in F-1 status at the time of their application, have been a full-time student for at least one academic year and be finishing their program at NU. They cannot apply if they have used more than a year of full-time Curricular Practical Training — the program that allows international students to work off-campus — during their degree level.
Students are able to apply to OISS for their OPT recommendation on a new I-20 document 100 days before their program end date. Afterward, they are able to submit their application to USCIS starting 90 days before their program end date. They have until 60 days after their program end date to file for OPT and can apply for OPT once at each academic degree level.
OPT and its STEM extension come with limitations that can narrow students’ job options. While standard OPT allows for some flexibility, including certain unpaid roles or self-employment if they meet strict requirements, the STEM OPT extension requires students to work for a U.S.-based employer enrolled in the E-Verify program and follow a formal training plan, effectively ruling out freelance work and many startup roles.
As of 2024, the top 5 states where NU alumni work after completing OPT are Illinois, California, New York, New Jersey and Texas — with almost 50% of graduates staying in Illinois.
Weinberg senior Lis Breyer is New York-bound. Originally from Brazil, she plans to work for Bank of America after graduation.
Breyer said she has already applied for OPT. She said she was chosen in the H-1B work visa lottery in the spring and plans to transition to a H-1B visa later this year.
The amount of information online about OPT and the H-1B can be “overwhelming,” Breyer said.
She explained that although OISS can provide some resources for students, they can’t actually provide legal advice. Although it’s “frustrating,” she said she understands OISS is not responsible for this process.
Additionally, given the current political climate, Breyer said that this has changed some students’ postgraduate plans — some had been planning to go home before starting jobs.
“I feel like some friends are not planning on going back after graduation, because they’re afraid that they won’t be able to let in, even though, in theory, they can,” Breyer said.
Meanwhile, for students on the STEM OPT extension, the top three states for postgrad employment remain the same. Washington and Massachusetts enter the fray, respectively receiving 8% and 4% of international alumni staying in the country.
After graduation, Weinberg senior and Canadian citizen Terry Chen plans to move to Seattle to start his full-time job as a product manager at Microsoft.
“Anyone who’s international, there’s more limitations on the type of companies you can apply to,” Chen said.
He said he’s applied and received his OPT recommendation letter from OISS but needs to start the later steps soon — like working on USCIS paperwork.
Although Chen said that he originally wanted to work on a startup after graduation, he found that the limitations of working in that space as an international student proved too difficult.
“Maybe that’s something I’ll do in the future, but at least right now, just the process of getting a job and working is much simpler than starting a startup,” Chen said.
Chen said that OISS has helped walk him through the OPT application process.
However, Breyer said she and her friends have sometimes heard varying advice from different OISS advisors regarding the process of submitting their OPT applications to USCIS to receive their Employment Authorization Document card.
“We are all international, and we’ve heard different things,” Breyer said. “For example, my friends were able to file to get the EAD card two days before I was able to. The officer said I could only do it on Monday, and theirs said they could do (it) on Friday.”
For international graduates like Fang, staying in the U.S. long-term is not guaranteed — but they don’t consider leaving a failure.
He said he remains open to returning to Taiwan but sees OPT as part of a larger exchange between countries and talent.
“OPT can create a good environment for people from all around the world to come to study in the U.S. and also give back to the U.S.,” Fang said. “To give back their talents, no matter in journalism or in other professions.”
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