Indians going to US for master’s degree a scam? Reddit user sparks storm

A Reddit user, who identified herself as a 26-year-old American woman, sparked a heated discussion across social media platforms about the rising number of Indian students pursuing master’s degrees at US universities. The Reddit user said that 99% of the students in her computer science master’s degree were Indians and wanted to know if this was a “scam” for a life in the US. The debate spread like a forest fire to X, where the screenshot of the Reddit post went viral.
In her post, shared on the r/Indians_StudyAbroad subreddit, the user expressed concerns about the challenges these Indian students face, especially those who come to the US with high hopes of securing a job and visa, but might become victims. She shared that the Indian students who were in the US for a master’s degree were “burdened with debt” and wouldn’t get jobs as they expected.
According to data from the US government, there were 268,923 international students from India in the United States during the 2022-23 academic year.
The post saw massive engagement on Reddit, where users had mixed reactions. While some endorsed her views, others said it must have been a “scam college” that existed to extort money from foreign students.
“You will not find 99% Indians in highly ranked universities (say Ivy leagues),” wrote one of the Reddit users.
US-based Indian-origin tech influencer Debarghya ‘Deedy’ Das reacted to the post on X and said Indians going to American colleges for a master’s in computer science wasn’t anything new but the situation today was different from what it was a decade ago.
“The sheer volume of applicants and availability of funds/credit to fund the degree is way larger than it was 10-20 years ago,” said Deedy Das on X.
The 26-year-old woman, who had worked at a non-target university in the US, decided to pursue a master’s degree in computer science (CS) using her employee benefits. Upon entering the programme, she was surprised to find that 99% of the students in her cohort were Indian.

In her post, the Reddit user revealed that many Indian students enrol in these programmes, hoping it would be easier to obtain a US visa and land a job. However, she believes the reality might be far more difficult.
The user, who eventually landed a job in the field of data science after months of job-hunting and leveraging her connections, warned that these Indian students might face similar struggles in securing employment.
“I have since gotten a job in Data Science—but mainly through a connection after months and months of searching. I kind of feel like it’s going to be really hard for all of these kids to get jobs in the US — it’s already hard for American kids,” she said.
The Reddit user expressed “sympathy” for the Indian students who come to the US for a better future, only to find themselves burdened with debt and potentially unable to land the jobs they expected.
“I think this is kind of a scam these Indian kids are falling victim to. They are coming here going into debt, the professors aren’t even good, and they probably won’t be able to get a job in the us. I feel bad for them honestly,” the user, claiming to be a 26-year-old woman, wrote.
Not just that, the Redit user also attacked the behaviour of Indian students in her cohort for their behaviour in the class.
“The other thing is the Indian kids have brutal classroom etiquette like they are LOUDLY talking while the professor is, which would never ever be tolerated in a typical American classroom,” the woman added.
The post, which was shared by the study abroad handle, saw a massive response on Reddit and then was picked up and discussed on X. On Reddit it had nearly 300 comments.
Some Reddit users saw in the high number of Indian students a reflection of the rise of Indian tech companies. One user said the Indians would find a job.
“They probably have more connections in those companies than Americans now. Amazon and Microsoft are over 70% of Indians. I’m guessing outside of the top 7, every tech firm (the likes of Oracle, Adobe, Salesforce) are just Indian firms at this point. If not, they have staffing firms and other ways to get employed. It has been a decade since I graduated, I have not seen a single person go back from America because they could not find a job,” wrote a user on Reddit.
Another user cast aspersion that the Reddit user must be from a low-ranked college for it to have 99% Indian students in a master’s degree computer science class. The user called it a “scam college”.
“If Indians constituted 99% of your class, then the college must be lowest ranked one — one of those scam colleges that only exist to extort money from foreign students. It’s true that a lot of Indians spend money to get into such colleges just to immigrate to America. This is happening in Canada and Australia as well. You will not find 99% Indians in highly ranked universities (say Ivy leagues), because it’s tough to get in them,” wrote the user.
Another user said that the Indians didn’t come to study, but to settle down in the US.
“Do you think people sell lands and getting bank loans are coming to study? Their endgoal is to get settled in America. Study visa is cheapest yet one of the successful options for Indians to get into the US as compared to other visas which are costly (buisness visa),” the Reddit post read.
Another user seemed to agree to the argument and described a pattern.
“It’s not a scam but a self-reinforced delusion that many Indian students go through. Come to America for MS, any university, work 3 years on OPT, make tons of money. Get the H-1b, make more money. If no H-1b, go back to school or go to Canada. And then rinse and repeat. If only it all worked this way!” wrote another user.
US-based tech influencer Deedy Das revealed how the situation changed on the ground over the decades. His post has gone viral on X.
Das, a former Google employee and a tech investor, explained that Indians going to the US for a master’s degree in computer science was nothing new, but the situation had changed now.
“There are many companies whose job is to place applicants to second- and third-tier universities who make money on the cash cow masters,” Das said.
“The sheer volume of applicants and availability of funds/credit to fund the degree is way larger than it was 10-20 years ago. The job market today in tech is the worst it’s been in a while,” he added.
The tech influencer also shared a post that said that those going to the US and attending such colleges were mostly “backbenchers” whose parents had “huge black money”.
If the Reddit user, who said she was a 26-year-old American, who triggered the storm was actually going through the reactions would know that she studied in a low-ranking college with “backbenchers” from India as her classmates. The opinion she has built isn’t holistic and doesn’t reflect the brilliant students from India who went to the US and helped build the Silicon Valley.