Applying for MS

Lots of requests on how I went about the entire process. So here it goes, I ll try to cover as much as possible, comments strengthening the post are welcome.

Scenario – applying for MS for Fall (Univ Starts Aug – Sep)

This would be the ideal way according to me, although I differed a bit. Taking Fall 2008, I am giving you an idea.

1. January 2007 onwards – Do some research on the universities (try USnews.com or I20fever.com, googling might help, but it will be a pain as most of the links will mislead you.)
2. See what the fees, type of university (public, private or state, use wikipedia to know more about these), admission criteria and funding scenario in the department of the university.
3. Each department will have their own criteria, choose your department, plan accordingly.
4. Have folders for each university on your computer, do not have it in a haphazard manner.
5. Make a list, generally for a competitive branch, around 10 universities is a must. My branch being Industrial engineering, I started off with 22 universities in my list and finally applied for 8. Have 3 very top , 4 universities which ll match your profile, and 3 sure shot universities.
6. By February 2007 – Decide when you want to take the GRE and toefl. Dates open for registration 6 months in advance, keep in mind about the exams you might have in june-july. I prefer August mid for GRE and toefl one week later. You would need to enter the universities in the list there, so choose properly. Use ets.org and then go to tests, gre. You ll figure it out on how to go about it once you go to ets.org
7. Prepare for GRE, Toefl, use Barons or Princeton. No need for classes. Start preparing your SOP, I made 12 revisions, cousins helped me with the English, I was not very good at it. My friend’s SOP was too superb, but do not have some one write it for you, just ask them to make grammatical corrections, sentence reformation. Universities can relate you SOP to you academic profile and your GRE TOEFL scores. Honesty is always best.
8. Go to each university site, download the things they need you to send. Ex- Letter of recommendation, Statement of purpose, Their forms.
9. Take the GRE, TOEFL tests. (mostly in August mid, I took it in september and october respectively)
10. Start mailing professors in US, let them know about you, try to get some information. I mailed less than 20 professors, got only a few replies but that helped me.
11. August end, September start – By now, you ll have an idea to which universities you ll apply, register online in their sites, pay online, have backup of all documents, prints and copies of all things done online.(not necessarily prints, soft copies would do, but you might need it when sending them your packet). You do not need agents !! No VISU or Princteon or anyone, waste of money. Ask your seniors, friends for help whenever there is confusion, online sites are always there to help.
12. By September 2007 end – Get letter of recommendation from professors. Make a final SOP, do not copy from others’, resume and supporting things as wanted by the university.
13. By october mid – mail your packets to the universities. Many will have deadline of November, December, January. Most will have April as deadline. Earlier the better. Put each thing in one envelope, write your DOB, name, Application number and put it in one big A4 packet. Many sites will help you out with what to put in the packet. Google it. (sending it by october end will give you a very good advantage, I sent it late, say around December, very late!!)
14. Many of you might be doing it with your classmates, make sure, YOU choose your universities. Do not disclose your universities to your friend, samething with the SOP, resume. My friend was a bit angry with my decision, but have clear things etched on your mind. Cases like friends applying to same universities and one not getting through and the other making it just causes pain at the later stage. My friend’s unviersity list and mine did have a few common universities and both got admits.
15. At least from December 2007 till VISA interview – Have proper financial arrangements, do not try to show sudden amounts before going to VISA, being honest is very much needed. My documents and finances was perfect, so I had no problems. I have seen many being rejected because they do not have proper transanctions in the statements.

I will keep updating this post as often as possilbe. Comments will be added into the main post, idea is to give a complete picture.

Tagged: masters, MS, USA

Posted in: MUMBLING