B2 or F1 visa for someone interested in visiting US for short-term study?

[chariotsophyre]

Hi! A friend of mine from Colombia is looking to spend a month or two in the US during his next break from his university classes, and I am trying to help him figure out the best way to do that. His reasons for wanting to go to the US are because he wants to improve his (already pretty good) English to bolster his chances of being accepted by a US university next year for his study abroad semester (via taking English classes in the US), as well as to have the opportunity to get to see the US a bit in touristic terms.

As a result, he's trying to figure out which visa option will be the best option for him and give him the best chance to be approved. On the one hand, there's the B2 visa with which he could take up to 18 hours of classes a week (according to DOS guidance found in the link at the bottom of this post, which may or may not be outdated, I hope it's not for his sake , and on the other, there's the F1 visa, with which he could take more class hours. Assuming the B2 less than 18 hour thing is viable, I don’t see a huge difference between these options, in the sense that the programs he is looking at under a B2 visa tend to be about 16 hours of weekly study, and the F1 programs, 20-24—not a huge difference. As a result, his preference would just be for whatever gives him the best chance of being approved. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Relevant link: https://www.nafsa.org/Resource_Libra...nge_Of_Status/