Guidance For Pursuing M.S.
in
|
GRE Score reporting After you finish the exam your official
score is to be sent to the universities where you want to apply for MS. Since
ETS send your official GRE score to four universities free of cost. Since
that fee is included in your GRE application fee ( $ 140). So select the
universities carefully. Since these are the places where you can save your
money. If you want to apply for universities other
than those four then you must fill out extra score report form. You will get
the extra score report form along with your original score report from ETS.(
This score report for you will be given within 3-4 weeks after you appear for
GRE.) Also the extra score report form is provided in GRE bulletin. You may
also download the Extra score report form from the website www.gre.org Fill this form with the institution codes
where you want to apply along with the department code to which you would
like to apply. Both the ‘Institution codes and Department codes’ are given in
the GRE bulletin and are also available on the site www.gre.org
which is the official website. Along with this make a bank draft in the
name of ETS-GRE of the equivalent amount required for reporting scores to the
extra universities in US dollars. Presently for reporting score to one
university application fee is $ 15. ( Still for verification of this
information please visit the official GRE website or refer the GRE bulletin.) Send this extra score repost form along with
the application fee ( Draft) to ETS/GRE on its address at |
|
TOEFL Score reporting After you finish the TOEFL exam your official score is to be sent to
the universities where you want to apply for MS. Since ETS send your official
TOEFL score to four universities free of cost. Since that fee is included in your
TOEFL application fee ( $ 130). So select the universities carefully. Since
these are the places where you can save your money. If you want to apply for universities other than those four then you
must fill out extra score report form. You will get the extra score report
form along with your original score report from ETS.( This score report for
you will be given within 3-4 weeks after you appear for TOEFL.) Also the
extra score report form is provided in TOEFL bulletin. You may also download
the Extra score report form from the website www.toefl.org Fill this form with the institution codes where you want to apply along
with the department code to which you would like to apply. Both the
‘Institution codes and Department codes’ are given in the TOEFL bulletin and
are also available on the site http://www.toefl.org which is
the official website. Along with this make a bank draft in the name of ETS-TOEFL of the
equivalent amount required for reporting scores to the extra universities in
US dollars. Presently for reporting score to one university application fee
is $ 15. ( Still for verification of this information please visit the
official TOEFL website or refer the TOEFL bulletin.) Send this extra score report form along with the application fee (
Draft) to ETS/TOEFL on its address at |
|
NOTE: For the a particular
Department ‘the department codes’ to be mentioned in the score report form
are different for GRE and TOEFL score report forms for the same particular
University ( university / institution code for a particular university to be
mentioned in both the forms is generally same.). Hence please refer both the
bulletins or the websites for these codes. Now from here I have
discussed the matters which were discussed in abstract above. That is the
Academics, Standard Test Scores, Posting the applications ,Prof- Letting, |
|
SENDING THE FORMS/ APPLICATION
PACKETS Courier them – don’t be penny wise and pound foolish and send them by
post or something. Put your email ID on the cover. Two/three people sending
to the same university often send their packets together - do this if you want,
no harm. Also, universities ask for things to be sent separately to the
Graduate Office and the Department. Send them both in separate envelopes in
the same packet if required, with a covering letter stating clearly what is
what and whose. One more thing, Blue Dart provides 50% rebate scheme for
University application couriers. The scheme is on generally for 4 months and
generally starts from December onwards. But there are other courier services
also which provide the discounts. Enquire about them at your place. Even our
Indian Post is good enough. There are many other good courier services. You
can go for any one as per your convenience. Relax! Now everything regarding the Application is over. But now last impacts are
important to get a good finish. Here comes the tool Prof- Letting. This is what we affectionately call contacting faculty in the |
|
Pre-Application Prof Letting: So time has come to start prof-letting - what do you do? Make a
"Prof- Letter" - a covering letter of sorts that briefly details
the field you are interested in, and why you would like to work with the
particular Prof you are sending the mail to. Include things like your rank
(if good) and GRE and TOEFL scores, but don’t make it a second resume. Limit
it to one page AT MAX – Prof ‘s there get pained by thousand mails from all
over the world and do not REALLY care about you. Send to one Prof from each
university and wait for a few days - say 4-5. Avoid sending around weekends -
they pile up in the Prof's inbox and chances are he will just delete it in
the rush to clear his inbox. Profs who do reply usually do so in 2-3 days
max. In the event of no reply or unfavorable reply, suck someone else.
Sending 20 mails a week and not even getting one reply is often the case -
keep at it. Generally people do it before choosing the universities for applying.
If they get a good response from the Prof at that university they select the
university. If the reply is not positive just do not apply there. |
|
Post-Application Prof Letting: After you have sent your applications packets, send emails to Profs who
replied positively to you before applying informing them that you have sent
your application packet and that they should see it. Also send mails to Profs
who have NOT replied to you earlier, telling them that you have applied and
that could they please look at your application? Make sure to include your
resume in such new contacts, and mention important things like department
rank and stuff in the main mail itself. Don’t send more than one Prof at a
time in the same university - wait for 4-5 days for each fellow to reply.
This process can start in say late Jan. It can be pretty painful - just go
about it bravely. |
|
Some Things Really Matter…and
make you different “ If you have great zeal to do
the extra things other than I have elaborated above and you never get tired
of Acads.. then read this Also to be frank very few are able to do the
following things except IITans and few from other Brand Institutes… but it is
very helpful if you want to make your Application different from others and
to secure Admissions in the best GRAD schools with possible types of AID/
Schols .” Now there are few more important points for the undergraduate students
who are not yet in Final year or have not yet decided the Final year project
since they can change few more things to increase their chances of getting
ADMISSION with AID in a good university. These are all about Academics which
supposed to be mirror of your abilities. So be very sincere about this. |
|
Academics Fact of life - universities award scholarships based on academic
performance as measured by the GRADES obtained in your undergraduate
education (so if you think you are one of those people who have low grades
but high fundaes wake up). So for few Institutions it is your CPI, and for
other universities it is your aggregate percentage or whatever. People with
lower grades getting scholarships in better universities are the exception,
not the norm. Note that it is only the CPI of the first 3 years that is
usually taken into account, since the application forms for the univs have to
be sent by the second/third week of December, by which time the results of
the fourth year/seventh semester will not have come out (or can be
conveniently neglected). Universities know this and do not expect you to let
them know your final year performance - they base their decisions on the
first 3 years. So basically if you want a good graduate education at a
well-known university, start mugging. This said, universities do see other things besides grades while
awarding scholarships - it is just that they do not give them as much
importance. Notable among these "other things" are: 1. Participation and/or winning of science/math competitions like the
International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), Indian National Mathematics
Olympiad (INMO), Regional Mathematics Olympiad (RMO), Indian Physics Teachers
Olympiad etc. If you have participated/won prizes in any of the
above-mentioned or similar competitions, make sure you let the universities
know when the time comes. It would even help if you mentioned your IIT-JEE
rank if it is relatively good (ie say you are in the top 6-7 in your
department in terms of JEE rank or if you are in the top 100 overall). |
|
2. Projects you have done - this includes your main final-year project,
your seminar as well as any vacation project or summer internship you may
have done. In fact, it is a good idea to have a few good projects under your
belt anyway - they serve the dual purpose of giving you some fundaes in the
field you are doing the project in and giving you something that will look
good on your resume. Be careful in choosing the kind of project you are doing
and where you are doing it - it should be an enjoyable experience and not
just something you are doing for resume or recommendation. Places I now that
give interesting research-based projects are: a. IIT , IISc - the Indian b. CAIR - Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, c. TIFR - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, Pune and d. BARC - Bhabha Atomic e. JNCASR - f. ISI - Indian Statistical Institute, g. Many of the MNC tech companies - e.g. (in the field of CS and EE)
Texas Instruments, Sun Microsystems, IBM. I recommend doing projects outside your present institution (especially
if you plan to do so in the summer after your first or second years) as it
will give you a different perspective on research from what your institution
manages to give you. Many of the above-mentioned places have summer student
scholarships, which will defer any expenses you may have while doing your
projects. These projects are also usually sources for recommendation letters
("Recos") on which I have elaborated earlier. |
|
3. In the course of your projects/Final Year you may be doing something
that you think is novel and not looked into before. In this case you may want
to consider publishing a technical paper on your work. There are many places
where your paper can be published, and not all of them are worthy of mention
- there are many shady publications in the scientific arena as well. A
publication in reputed international journals (eg the IEEE for electrical
engineering or ASME for mechanical) is the best you can get, and if you do
make sure you let the universities you are applying to now of it - send
official reprints if necessary. Usually you will have to make do with publishing
in a conference - it is easier, and some of the conferences are pretty good
too. This is a topic you will have to discuss with your guide/advisor. |