Looking for options after F1

[howzzaat]

Hello 

I was a student on F1 and I graduated in 2009. I moved back to India immediately after graduation and never applied for OPT.

However, I am planning to move back and have been applying H1B visa for the last 4 years but the lottery hasn't worked out until now.

So i have decided to enter the US via an F1 visa to get another masters or a certification course

I have the following options:

•  Start another masters that finishes within an year and get an OPT after that
• I have also applied for a certification course from my past university which is eligible for an F1visa
  • After this certification which is only 3 courses (1 sem) I plan to
    • apply for a private university which provides CPT so that I can start working 
    • In parallel apply for H1B in April and wait for it to turn up
• Since I have never applied for an OPT, what are my options related to that?
• Is CPT a viable path? Does it hurt my profile in the long term?

Ideally i would like to start working as early as possible.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks

Sameer

[JoeF]

Forget CPT. No real university gives out CPT from day one. Abuse of CPT would kill your future in the US. Cut that acronym out of your vocabulary.