Six years gap with little to show for (from India)

[jon_snow316]

Hi,
I graduated from high school in 2006 (ISC 73 average, 90 in English, 86 in Computer Science and 78 in Maths) . In 2007,I started doing a b.tech degree in Computer Science under an Indian University. I cleared several of the core subjects of that degree with good grades, though I did not completely pass any of the semesters of the course. I then discontinued my B.Tech. I was facing a few personal problems at that time. Also, I found the education system here quite frustrating, 'cause of the heavy emphasis placed on memorization and rote learning (as opposed to critical thinking and problem solving) .

So, from mid 2006 to mid 2012, I have nothing to show, but my discontinued degree.

In late 2012 I started working as a freelance software developer. In January 2013 I joined a company and stared working initially as a 'Junior Software Engineer' and later as a 'Software Engineer'. I would be having 2 years experience by the end of this year.

I want to pursue an undergraduate degree (Bsc Major Computer Science, minor maybe english) in Canada. I am planning to take the SAT, and hope to get admitted into an university (in 2015) based on my work experience and SAT scores.

I understand my background/history isn't really the greatest, and hence I am posting here to inquire about my chances of getting a visa, even if I do get admitted into one of the universities.

I would be able to show funds for one year's tuition(maybe two depending on the fees of the particular university) and one year's living expense. The rest would be taken as a loan based on our property.

I shouldn't have much trouble with IELTS/TOEFL.

So, can you guys tell me my chances? Is this just a futile endeavor?


Thanks
Jon_Snow316

 

[jessica1]

GAP are considered very seriously and there is only little chance that you will get VISA if you show gap , look for your friends who are working in company, ask the HR manager to give you experience certificate which can be verified, all done, my friend did the same and he got visa after a 6 years gap

 

[jon_snow316]

GAP are considered very seriously and there is only little chance that you will get VISA if you show gap , look for your friends who are working in company, ask the HR manager to give you experience certificate which can be verified, all done, my friend did the same and he got visa after a 6 years gap

So other than the two years of legitimate experience I have in a company,you reckon I should 'procure' experience for six years of gap and not show my discontinued education at all? ( I had been hoping it might be possible have some of the credits transferred from my discontinued education as I had good grades for quite a bit of papers)

Can you detail me more on your friends background and the university where he got into..? Was he also trying for an undergraduate degree? Would greatly appreciate more details regarding his case.

Thanks
Jon_Snow316

 

[hviveka]

My 2 cents:
If I may say so (and not trying to take the moral highground here), can I suggest you to refrain from "procuring" such documents based on someone's freinds experience? A lie usually never gets you far.
Why dont you apply with a strong SOP? You may have some personal problems or, just trying to figure your way as to what is good - or, just helping your family business - etc.
In my opinion , you could show your progress in your recent assignment and how well you did. You can definitely say that the teaching approach and curriculum did hinder the academic progress.

 

[jessica1]

My 2 cents:
If I may say so (and not trying to take the moral highground here), can I suggest you to refrain from "procuring" such documents based on someone's freinds experience? A lie usually never gets you far.
Why dont you apply with a strong SOP? You may have some personal problems or, just trying to figure your way as to what is good - or, just helping your family business - etc.
In my opinion , you could show your progress in your recent assignment and how well you did. You can definitely say that the teaching approach and curriculum did hinder the academic progress.

yeah, apply with GAP and whatever documents you will submit whether a strong SOP or anything, you will get rejection for sure. There is nothing wrong in getting experience certificate from the company as long as it can be verified from there. you are just filling the gap by showing that you worked at some place , many people did this and got visa, also if an experience letter or appointment letter can be verified from the company then how it will be fake in view of visa officer ?

 

[jon_snow316]

My 2 cents:
If I may say so (and not trying to take the moral highground here), can I suggest you to refrain from "procuring" such documents based on someone's freinds experience? A lie usually never gets you far.
Why dont you apply with a strong SOP? You may have some personal problems or, just trying to figure your way as to what is good - or, just helping your family business - etc.
In my opinion , you could show your progress in your recent assignment and how well you did. You can definitely say that the teaching approach and curriculum did hinder the academic progress.

yeah, apply with GAP and whatever documents you will submit whether a strong SOP or anything, you will get rejection for sure. There is nothing wrong in getting experience certificate from the company as long as it can be verified from there. you are just filling the gap by showing that you worked at some place , many people did this and got visa, also if an experience letter or appointment letter can be verified from the company then how it will be fake in view of visa officer ?

Thank you both for your replies.

@hviveka I get where you are coming from, but from what I've heard from agencies and jessica1 so far, it seems getting a visa to Canada would be pretty difficult with huge gaps. I'm hoping I can get advise from people with similar backgrounds here, so that I can make an educated decision, but as it stands it doesn't make much sense for me to invest my time(preparing for SAT) and money into this unless there is a decent chance of getting a visa. So I'd either have to drop my plans for Canada or think about 'procurement' and am currently leaning towards the latter(as much as it shames me to say so). Regarding my real work experience, it is again nothing to write home about. It is just in a mid level company, and am not really sure how much weighting it'd carry (though I do have decent amount of knowledge in computer science/s/w development field) . It is my hope that I'd be able to get into the universities based on my experience and SAT score, but I'm not convinced such details would be useful for visa purposes, given my glaring gap. While the teaching approach and curriculum IS one of the legitimate reasons, I'm again, not sure if they would accept such reasons, give the number of people who DO pass in this education system.

@jessica1 Can you tell me about the background of your friend's case..? It'd be greatly helpful for me to get a better picture.

 

[jessica1]

friend did BBA and then he prepared for government jobs but didnt make it there, he tried for like 5 years and got 5 years gap and then he applied for visa with proper work experience which can be verified and he got visa.

 

[mead]

friend did BBA and then he prepared for government jobs but didnt make it there, he tried for like 5 years and got 5 years gap and then he applied for visa with proper work experience which can be verified and he got visa.

getting visa is not the end of everything u need to get PR too and citizenship too at which point if a background check is done and ur friend is caught he will loose a lot. never lie on ur application it stays on record forever and if it is caught after getting citiznship ur citizenship can be revoked too....never lie

 

[jessica1]

if the experience letter and job letters are from registered company and can be verified then where is lie in it ?

 

[on-hold]

I would be more concerned with your finances -- I don't think you are going to get a visa with 'funds for one year's tuition, maybe two, living expenses for one year'. Frankly, this sounds like you don't have enough money to pay tuition AND live for even a single year. And your gap doesn't help either . . .

 

[on-hold]

if the experience letter and job letters are from registered company and can be verified then where is lie in it ?

The lie is that he is submitting a document attesting to work that he didn't do. To recap:

So, from mid 2006 to mid 2012, I have nothing to show, but my discontinued degree.

You recommend:

look for your friends who are working in company, ask the HR manager to give you experience certificate which can be verified, all done, my friend did the same and he got visa after a 6 years gap

He writes:

So other than the two years of legitimate experience I have in a company,you reckon I should 'procure' experience for six years of gap and not show my discontinued education at all?

Where the quotes indicate a lie -- why would you use quotes if you are telling the truth in that sentence? Finally, you write:

if the experience letter and job letters are from registered company and can be verified then where is lie in it ?

Where you seem to be confused about what a 'lie' is. See, if I get a letter from a company that says I am the Senior Manager of Research, when I am actually just a guy who dropped out of college, it doesn't matter if the company is registered, and it doesn't matter if the company agrees that I am Senior Manager of Research, that does not actually make it true. It is a 'lie', and I have 'procured' a false document.

Or to put it simply, it is a lie because he says right in this thread that he didn't do jack all for 6 years, and you are telling him to find a friendly HR manager to produce a document that says otherwise.

 

[mead]

OP doesnt seem to be a genuine student as he discontinued his prior education.OP did not do anything during 6 year period even if he worked in that time it shows he is not interested in education but work. OP works in a company which gives him a title software engineer without a degree. everything seems shady. looking at OP background and explanation as to why he left education what is stopping him from doing the same thing here in canada?
all in all chances seem to be slim to none.
best bet for OP is to complete his bachelors and then apply.

 

[mead]

I agree completely with on-hold who is a senior member on this forum. after 4 years if the friendly HR is not there during the PR background check how is OP going to prove his experience then?

 

[jessica1]

My point of filling gap is with proper degree and relevant work experience. like MSc in computer science degree and then computer field experience.

 

[jon_snow316]

Thanks for the replies.

To clarify a few things, the company that I've been working for the past 2 years, is not 'shady' by any means. It is a proper company (though it is no big multinational) . I got the job 'cause I was good at what I do. I did put 'procure' inside of quotes to indicate it would be a lie if I do go about getting 'experience' for the 6 years. I did give the legitimate reasons for my discontinued education in my first post. I do understand if you guys find my reasons to be tenuous, and I feared the visa office would feel the same. That's why I posted here, to get different perspectives before I committed to anything.

Regarding the funds, I would easily have for 1 year of tuition + fee. The rest I would need to take loan on the basis of the property we own before I apply for visa.