F1 Rejection After Only 2 Questions: Mumbai Consulate, Strong Academic Profile

📍Location: Mumbai Consulate

✔️Interview Date: 22 May 2026

✔️Visa Type: F-1 (MSCS, University of Florida, Fall 2026)

✔️Result: Denied under 214(b), after just 2 questions

Profile:

- Male, graduated 2025 with a Bachelor's in Comp Sci Engineering, CGPA 8.3/10

- IELTS 8, no GRE

- Working as a full-stack and DevOps engineer since graduation

- Program 80% funded by education loan, 20% personal savings

- Applied to 5 MSCS programs (UW-Madison, TAMU, CU Denver, NEU Boston, SIT), rejected from UW-Madison and TAMU, chose UF for its HCC division

- First attempt at a US visa, never traveled outside India before

- Has distant relatives in the US, disclosed on the DS-160

Interview Questions:

VO: Pass me your I-20 and passport.
Me: Handed him.

VO: So which universities did you apply to?
Me: Listed the full names of all 5 universities.

VO: What does your father do?
Me: Told him his exact business title.

Then the officer typed on his computer for about a minute straight while I stood there awkwardly smiling, before telling me I was ineligible for the visa and handing me the 214(b) slip. My mind went blank, only 2 questions, both unrelated to the program or the university itself? It didn't even cross my mind in the moment to ask him why, or whether he had more questions.

What Hurt: No question at all about the actual program, the university choice, or funding, just university names and the father's occupation, then an immediate 214(b) with no further explanation.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/visarejections/comments/1tp0fqp/f1_rejection_with_only_2_damn_questions/ Not my experience, sharing with credit to the original poster.

Anyone else been denied this fast, with questions that had nothing to do with your actual study plans? Does mentioning distant relatives in the US on the DS-160 tend to weigh heavily even when they're not close family? And for anyone who's reapplied after something like this, what did you change going into round two?

If you've been through something similar or have any insight into what might have gone wrong here, I'd really appreciate hearing it, could help a lot of people who end up in the same spot.

Thank you!