u/MedicalHunt7330

Hi everyone! I already booked my F-1 visa appointment in the Philippines, but I noticed a minor mistake in my DS-160.

For the intended length of stay, I entered “1 year” instead of around “10 months” based on my academic program dates/I-20.

Has anyone in the Philippines experienced something similar? Did you create a new DS-160 and update it, or did you just explain it during the interview?

Would appreciate hearing your experiences especially with the new US visa scheduling system in the Philippines. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I already booked my F-1 visa appointment in the Philippines, but I noticed a minor mistake in my DS-160.

For the intended length of stay, I entered “1 year” instead of around “10 months” based on my academic program dates/I-20.

Has anyone in the Philippines experienced something similar? Did you create a new DS-160 and update it, or did you just explain it during the interview?

Would appreciate hearing your experiences especially with the new US visa scheduling system in the Philippines. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I already booked my F-1 visa appointment in the Philippines, but I noticed a minor mistake in my DS-160.

For the intended length of stay, I entered “1 year” instead of around “10 months” based on my academic program dates/I-20.

Has anyone in the Philippines experienced something similar? Did you create a new DS-160 and update it, or did you just explain it during the interview?

Would appreciate hearing your experiences especially with the new US visa scheduling system in the Philippines. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I already booked my F-1 visa appointment in the Philippines, but I noticed a minor mistake in my DS-160.

For the intended length of stay, I entered “1 year” instead of around “10 months” based on my academic program dates/I-20.

Has anyone in the Philippines experienced something similar? Did you create a new DS-160 and update it, or did you just explain it during the interview?

Would appreciate hearing your experiences especially with the new US visa scheduling system in the Philippines. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I already booked my F-1 visa appointment in the Philippines, but I noticed a minor mistake in my DS-160.

For the intended length of stay, I entered “1 year” instead of around “10 months” based on my academic program dates/I-20.

Has anyone in the Philippines experienced something similar? Did you create a new DS-160 and update it, or did you just explain it during the interview?

Would appreciate hearing your experiences especially with the new US visa scheduling system in the Philippines. Thanks!

Is the U.S. visa scheduling website really this slow and buggy? 😭 It’s my first time applying for an F-1 visa from the Philippines, so I honestly don’t know if this is normal.
I’ve been trying to book my appointment for hours now, and I keep running into problems like:

- Consular post options and schedules randomly disappearing
- Pages taking forever to load
- After selecting a schedule and clicking “Submit,” the site redirects me back to the scheduling page
- The appointment page becomes blank again afterward

I’m not even sure if my appointment attempt was successful or not
This already happened multiple times. I’ve tried refreshing, re-logging in, and using different browsers, but it’s still happening.
Is this really how slow the USTravelDocs system is? Any tips that actually worked for you guys? 😭

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share an update on my previous post.

I’ll finally be going to Harvard this fall. Initially, I received around $3X,000 USD in financial aid, but shortly after, I was informed that I was nominated for a restricted scholarship. I’ve now been granted full funding, which I’m incredibly grateful for.

That said, living expenses will still be on me, but I’m prepared to cover them through part-time work and personal savings I’ve built over the years. I’m also still waiting to hear back from a private scholarship, which could help further.

Regardless, I made sure to prepare my finances in advance, so I’m ready to move forward.

Thank you so much to everyone who congratulated me and especially to those who shared advice and encouragement, it truly helped during the uncertainty.

Happy to answer any questions or help others going through the same process!

Hi! I’m an incoming international student for the Ed.M at HGSE (male), and I’m currently trying to figure out housing, and honestly, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the options.

My budget is around $1,200–$1,700/month, so I wanted to ask:

1. Is HUH (Harvard University Housing) doable within this budget, or is off-campus housing generally better/cheaper?

2. If I’m planning to have a roommate, do I need to find one now before the HUH lottery, or will roommates be assigned?

3. What’s the best way to find roommates (groups, platforms, etc.)?

Would really appreciate any advice, especially from current HGSE or Harvard students. I’ll only be staying for a year, so I want to make a smart (and not too stressful) decision.