Popular option: 12.4% Indians chose UG courses in US in '15

Chennai: The admission season in US universities is at its peak and varsities are recording an increasing demand for UG courses from Indian students.
About 64% of Indian students joined PG courses at US universities last year, while 12.4% chose UG courses, show statistics of the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) at the US Consulate here.The figures may be comparatively low, but USIEF sources say the number of those choosing UG courses has been steadily rising over the past few years.
USIEF regional officer (Chennai) said inquiries from high school students across streams for UG level courses had increased. "A main attraction is degree programmes offering dual options such as computer science with biology or physics with music. There is a good interdisciplinary approach at the UG level which is drawing students," the officer said. The numbers at UG level have always been lower than PG due to affordability but more families now appear to be willing to shell out the cost.
Overall, there has been a 30% increase in the number of Indian students going to the US over last year - 1,32, 888 Indian students are now in US.
Continuing the trend, most students opt for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) streams at UG level, with maximum (37.5%) choosing engineering followed by maths and computer science (31.4%). The next most popular options are business and management, life sciences, health, social sciences, humanities and English. USIEF attributes the interest in US universities to a strong research base and practical application of engineering to research. The US consulate gets most visa applications in April-June ahead of the academic year in August/September, with at least 1,500 visa interviews held a day. While 72,000 F1 student visas were issued in 2015 in India, Chennai saw a 97% jump in student visa numbers over the last five years.
Students keen on studying abroad should begin preparations at least 18 months in advance, said Sundararajan. Application deadlines range from November to January or longer depending on the university.