Yes, I agree that at any of these top universities, the egregious cases are not that likely. However, I do think they still did not due proper diligence and were reliant on students to basically take a unit and handed out I-20s to go work at their desired workplace with little supervision or specificity in being defensibly related the program of study, thus they never really developed the machinery to truly vet. They are now being cautious so as to not accidentally lose their SEVIS permission over such a relatively small thing. My guess is the degree programs themselves will start incorporating more formal work experience similar to Canada, as the primary or an alternative path to satisfy degree reqs. This would make a much more robust justification for the student and the international office.

Not for you. Go ask your LLM that way, bitch.