Is this really meaningful w/o knowing how many applied from each school and the number of students Stratford turns out compared to the cited Ivy League schools?

Excellent point. Instinctively, I assume everything the government and especially DHS does is a fraud to embezzle money from the public, but it would be handy to have numbers to back it up.

I think to some extent the point holds regardless of the detailed numbers. It's supposed to be bringing in people who are likely to excel, not just any random joe who can manage a two-year IT degree. I'm in favor of letting the latter immigrate just as much as I favor allowing farmworkers to immigrate, but it should be under a program that doesn't require paying a fortune to a school who knows how to work the system.

It could be restricted to a 4 year bachelors degree (or higher) from an accredited university in specific programs. But then again, the accreditation system is completely subverted now by these for profit schools.

Did anyone else misread Stratford as "Stanford"?

I saw Stratford-on-Avon and thought, "How would Shakespeare students qualify as STEM?! Oh, maybe that's the S."

This is just a small part of STEM application. Some of the tier3-5 univs apply way more than 700 apps each every year. Another thing to note is the lot of students graduating from STEM branches in IVY league schools are not F-1 visa holders but citizens of US.

To throw out some data, checked out the Stratford site, which is the education entity whose students overwhelmingly dominate the OPT STEM program. Looked at Software Engineering, Masters. All courses can be taken online. There are 5 core classes and 7 elective classes. Of the 5 core classes the one that sounded the meatiest was Software Engineering. The description made it sound pretty easy and shallow. Total tution cost for that M in SE is $22k. Overall impression from looking at their site is it is oriented to foreign students, and online-centric, and gave me impression of being a diploma mill. Getting a M in SE from them looks pretty easy and fast, as long as I cough up the $22k.

Do you need to be in the US to take these online courses?

Are there foreign students taking classes from outside the US, then coming in to work once they've finished and get into OPT?

good questions. not sure. it gave me enough of a vibe that it's like a cross between "vo tech" and a diploma mill that I didn't investigate further. Here's the link to their website if you want to dig in deeper:

http://www.stratford.edu/

What's DHS have to do with it? They're not the primary body on immigration and work visas, are they?

They are (USCIS is part of DHS). The INS was dissolved in 2003.

Geez. One more thing they screwed up.

DHS: 17-Month Extension of Optional Practical Training for Certain Highly Skilled Foreign Students http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1207334008610.shtm