J1 2009

Schlemm

Hey folks,

I was thinking of getting a J1 next summer and I saw that the 2009 J1 is starting on Monday (Nov 17th).

Just wondering, is there much competition in getting a J1 and what's the deadline for applications? And what sort of costs can you expect?

Cheers!

kazkiely

And I've a lil' question: booking through USIT or SAYIT or whoever, do you need to take their insurance or can you do that independently?

PeakOutput

you can book as late as a month in advance iirc

there is good competition and there are a good few offers on

i went to boston and it cost me 700euro inc flights and insurance

edit; you dont have to take usits insurance if you show them your policy covers the requirements.....with sayit you have to take the insurance

caffrey

there should be no problem getting one. Its not like the canadian visas. Costing is different depending on many factors. Will you need exam failure insurance? Flight costs to West of US are higher than East Coast. I went to boston twice, it was about 1000 euro(2/3 years ago) for flights, visa, insurance etc. If I am not mistaken the costs are less now. It is possible to get all of the forms etc from the american embassy but it is a real pain in the neck to do. It will save you money but my friend did it and said it REALLY wasnt worth it. I got mine from go4less. it was the cheapest at the time, another is USIT but they were more expensive both times I went.

kazkiely

PeakOutput wrote: »

you dont have to take usits insurance if you show them your policy covers the requirements.....with sayit you have to take the insurance

Cool, thanks

Hogzy

No competition for me last year anyway, i know someone who got their J1 in May and departed the start of June so i dont think thats an issue. Last year Usit did a deal where if you book before December 15th or something you got the actual J1 free. This does not include the SEVIS fee or the embassy fees. Sevis was 35 i thinka nd the embassy fee i cant remember off the top of my head. To be honest i regret going with USIT mainly because last year sayit offered a free stop over on your return journey, some of the lads in the group booked through sayit and got the stop over but at the end of the holiday they didnt use it cos they were out of money (all in the J1 experience IMO)

I paid €1010 last year for everything. That includes flight from cork to Los angeles, travel insurance which includes exam failure insurance of which everyone will highly reccommend but no one will use because its easier to just pay the fee to book early flight home than it is to claim through an insurance company for return of those fees. I dont think i explained that very well so if you want me to elaborate i will!!!

kazkiely

Hogzy wrote: »

I dont think i explained that very well so if you want me to elaborate i will!!!

Yes please :P

Where did you spend the summer and how was it? I'm hearing so many different things about so many different places I just dunno where to choose

Hogzy

kazkiely wrote: »

Yes please :P

Where did you spend the summer and how was it? I'm hearing so many different things about so many different places I just dunno where to choose

LOL

ok, with usit there are 2 types of insurance, Gold and silver

Silver is just like regular travel insurance
Gold is the silver insurance bundled with exam failure insurance so if u fail a college exam and have to repeat it in august and therefore must cut your trip short the insurance will cover the cost of the new flight home.
The gold package is a good 80 euro more expensive than silver.
When i was in the USA i changed my flight ticket to come home in the middle of august (due to diminished funds) and i rang USIT New York and they charged me €20 to change my flight, i had a choice of 7 flights to come home at that price. Usually the Mon-Thurs flights are the cheapest, a friend of mine booked a flight on a friday and it was €100 to change the flight. Basically what im saying is if your exam results are realeased a good bit ahead of the the date you may have to repeat them then there is no need for the exam failure insurance as its cheaper and less hassle (than dealing with an insurance company) to just ring up USIT new york and change your flight ticket home

I was in santa barbara... I wake up everyday in Ireland and wonder why i ever left the place. But then i turn on Sky news and look at all the forrest fire and say "oh ya thats why":p

From what iv heard from alot of people California is probably the best place to go, however i have never really heard of a disasterous J1 experience that was due to a bad choice of state or town or what ever. YOU'LL HAVE A BLAST!!!

kazkiely

Ah, I getcha. I always thought that exam failure thing was just about getting more money off us.
Lol! I never really thought of Santa Barbara, were there a lot of Irish there? What do the employers etc. think of the Irish? I know it'll be brilliant craic but it's just we can't seem to decide where to go because there's so many pros and cons to every place.
Was thinking Huntington then heard some crap stuff about it...grr!

Schlemm

thanks for the replies folks!:D

cooperguy

Id recommend not waiting till the last minute to get the J1 though or you could end up having to go for the interview in the embassy close to or during your exams which would be shitty also processing time means that some people couldnt leave till the middle of June which is a bit late

Hogzy

To be honest every where you go theres gonna be pros and cons, obviously your gonna hear wild stories from all over the place, the reason we didnt go to san diego last year was because we heard that people really hated the irish and sometimes drove there cars at them on the beach, which turned out to be a random incident where a drunk driver drove onto a beach in san diego where irish students "happened" to be!

TBH id try go somewhere where the rest of us paddys are not going, last year in santa barbara the main street (state Street) was like the new Patrick st (im from cork).. people do get sick of the irish when theres thousands of them around and lets face it we like to party so that doesnt help our rep!

kazkiely

Hogzy wrote: »

TBH id try go somewhere where the rest of us paddys are not going, last year in santa barbara the main street (state Street) was like the new Patrick st (im from cork)

Woo, same!
Any idea where the paddies mightn't be going this year?

Hogzy

Havent a clue, not going to USA this year and none of my friends are so i dunno what the scene is this year. If ur gonna try find a place where no irish people will be dont look at destinations on the usit or sayit websites cos there the top destinations for us paddies

jena!

hay guys!! if ur headn 2san diego visit our page n drop us a comment

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> http://www.bebo.com/j1sandiego