Compensating lack of work ex due to visa issues

[nuraV]

I am about to enter my freshmen year, majoring in financial math and computer science at a mid-size public college at US (similar rank to OSU, Rutgers). Due to my specific visarestrictions , I can't actually partake in any internships. Hence, I was wondering if doing a lot more research with professors/publications, and side projects on top of more advanced coursework would be enough to compensate for this lack of work experience. I am looking to get into masters program akin to Georgia Tech/Nyu Tandon level rankings.

Mainly, I am wondering what else I can do to compensate for this lack of work ex.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Seek out research opportunities with your professors in quantitative finance, machine learning, or computational math. Focus on producing tangible results like publications, presentations, or posters at academic conferences.
Create a GitHub repository showcasing projects in financial modeling, algorithmic trading, or data science. Use Python or C++ to build models, and document your code with clear explanations. Many of our members here are doing it

Projects

quantnet.com

Do Hackerranks, Kaggle, etc.

 

[nuraV]

Seek out research opportunities with your professors in quantitative finance, machine learning, or computational math. Focus on producing tangible results like publications, presentations, or posters at academic conferences.
Create a GitHub repository showcasing projects in financial modeling, algorithmic trading, or data science. Use Python or C++ to build models, and document your code with clear explanations. Many of our members here are doing it

Projects

quantnet.com

Do Hackerranks, Kaggle, etc.

I was thinking of following this route as well. But my biggest. concern was that would not having work ex 'hinderr' my applications in any major way?