For me the first hurdle was to decide where I want to study. And I mean really, really WANT to study. "I want to live in New York" is not a good enough reason. This has to matter. You have to want it more than children (given that you want children at all), more than you want a comfy retirement (which you might not get), more than you want to become a millionare (which you will definately not become anytime soon if you go to grad school). This is no backup plan. This is the wet dream of your academic mind.
One of the early steps in application process is to ensure good recommendations. My recommendations came from internships and work in US, Australia and Finland during the span of 4 years. Second thing is getting english proficiency test taken and aced. And reviewing excessively snobbish vocabulary for GRE (graduate record examination) with a side of math without calculator. Essays are also important. You sell your self to graduate school. Your pimp is not going to do it for you. Getting an interview is awesome. I prepared for it thoroughly. My interview was actually nice. The questions were not hard and they actually answered some of my questions about the school and program.
The e-mail I cheris for long time to come arrived a few days later. "YAY! I got in! To Virginia Tech!" This euphoria lasted for a day. Then I took a look at VISA requirements. Being married at this point is not a benefit. A month of stressing out and going through immigration law, VISA laws and personal assets should earn me a minor in immigration law. If I had wanted to study law, I would have gone to a damn law school. All is well that ends well. The VISA interview was fine. The thick stack of paper, trip to Helsinki (15 hours in train) and the two relatively large payments to cover necessary fees (MRV-fee and SEVIS-fee) did not go to waste. There is still no air-con at the waiting room of US consular office, but there you go. You can suffocate and melt in safety behind the armed guards.
Tie up all loose ends in home country....easier said than done since everything is closed for the summer. I am at the moment loosing my mind over vaccination records.
