What is status?
Status is not a physical thing you can touch like your passport of visa, status is a LEGAL CONDITION. Once admitted to the U.S., you are expected to maintain status, which in part means not staying longer than the amount of time you were admitted to stay. However, since F-1 students are admitted for “D/S”, this means you can stay as long as you pursue the objective of that particular visa that you were admitted. F-1 students are admitted to STUDY full time. You are expected to abide by the rules applied to your visa classification. If you follow the rule, you will maintain the “legal condition”, in other word “have legal status” to remain in the U.S.