MS in US
So you want to do MS in US? Well then I hope that this article will be very useful to you. I actually want to bring about every procedure that has to be followed for getting into any top graduate school for doing masters in US. Well the fact that I myself haven’t been exposed to all this means that you cant just follow me as I might very well make few mistakes.
Why???? :
Well now this is the obvious question in everyone’s mind. Let me give my reasons:
- Dream to pursue higher studies in the country where the latest technologies are developed or readily available. (man….how advanced are they?)
- Higher standards of studies in US universities. (wonder when will I be sitting in those lecture halls)
- The studies/courses are practical oriented and not just "learning by rote" studies followed in some universities in
- Faculties in the
- To pursue higher research,
- To get the STAMP of education in
- To get a good high paying job.(The salary slip that I will envy)
- To just get to the
Where????
Ok wanna do masters in US but then there are so many schools there and which is the right one, where should I study? This is what we might be thinking now. Well at the end of this article is the NRC ranking for aerospace Engineering in 1991-1992 is given. That gives almost a rough idea of the top 32 universities in aerospace in US. Ok with this question of rankings also come another very important question which one can I afford? This is a tough one to answer but as a thumb rule we can say that public (state run) universities are cheaper than private ones. We will deal in detail about costs little later. Also climate plays an important role so after deciding the schools, it is a better idea to visit the college’s website and know in detail about other details of the college. The internet is the most powerful weapon for unlocking all the details about the college’s and of course this article was mostly framed from the information in the net.
How????
Ok now the previous two questions were dealt with little ease but this one needs quite a lengthy answer. Well since I wouldn’t like to waste much of space wasting explaining, I rather have given the lists of things to do starting from April month of your pre-final year:
April - June (of your 3rd year):
Decide on your field(s) in which you wish to apply.
Write a draft statement of purpose/personal statement.
Visit Internet to find university links and learn more about them.
Start browsing Web sites to graduate programs and college catalogs.
Schedule the required standardized tests.
July-September:
Take standardized tests. GRE and TOEFL.
Report your scores sensibly. You will be saving $ 96.
Meet with faculty members that you know to discuss your personal statement and learn about possible programs.
Request Application Forms from graduate schools.
Start writing to faculty members of Prospective graduate schools.
Begin to develop your personal timeline for the application process.
October – November:
Based on your GRE scores determine the schools to which you plan to apply.
Finish your timeline based on each institution's deadline and financial aid deadlines.
Complete your personal statement, adjusting it to meet each application's specific needs.
Order transcripts from all post-secondary institutions (If fall term grades are expected, then check with staff in the registrar's office to see if a transcript including fall term grades can be sent in time to meet the deadlines of programs to which you are applying).
Complete application forms (First, do a draft on a photocopy of the form).
Approach your faculty members for Recommendation letters. Give your faculty all the information that they will need to write recommendations for you for each of your application schools.
December/January:
Prepare your applications. Get your bank drafts. Report your GRE/TOEFL scores if you haven't done so earlier.
Mail applications. Even if deadlines are later, it is good to get the applications in early.
February – April:
Wait for your admissions.
Keep track of your application forms .Check your online status regularly.
If you do not get financial aid, then decide according to the situation.
If you have obtained more than one admission, try to make up your mind about which program you will join.
Reject other offers politely.
June – August:
Contact your program coordinator to get more information.
Write to your guide and learn more about his/her latest research interests.
Block your tickets early. (Shop around for a good offer!)
Shopping! Prepare to leave.
GRE/TOEFL:
These are the two exams you will have to write if you have to go to any graduate school in US. First preparing for TOEFL isn’t that tough and I will recommend you to take GRE first and take TOEFL later. The idea behind this strategy is that preparing the verbal section of GRE will itself equip to almost tackle TOEFL. The TOEFL also tests some things different from GRE like listening skills and grammar skills. Now let’s see how we deal with preparation for GRE.
Preparation for GRE:
First I will suggest few materials for preparations, they are as follows:
- Barrons' Guide for the GRE - For Verbal prep only. Please buy the present edition.
- CDs for computer based testing ( I would suggest Kaplan, Powerprep and Princeton Review)
- Question papers, Verbal & Analytical exercises by Kaplan,
- Norman Lewis: How to build a better vocabulary & Rosenblum - These books can be used to strengthen your verbal skills.
Now since I hope that you can work out the schedule by yourself, I am not giving much detail about how to go about your preparations. But I can tell you that at least six months of continued preparations is required for cracking the GRE. First you can start by reading a vocabulary building book like the Norman Lewis one and then slowly go about going through the word lists of Barron’s. Well it’s a hectic work going through those unheard words but then its worth that hard work. Then finally one thing which is also widely accepted in GRE is that only way to improve your scores drastically is to improve your vocabulary.
Structure of GRE:
Going through any of the books on GRE will tell you more details regarding it like the system of scoring. First I can tell you that its not a paper based test and computer adaptive test (CAT). I can tell you simply that it adapts accordingly i.e. gives you the next question depending upon how you answered the previous questions. GRE has three sections: Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical writing sections. Quantitative section is easiest of the three for us and all it requires is not to be over confident, that’s all. Verbal section is the toughest and requires all the hard work that I prescribed you earlier. Writing section is something for which you cant do much as it is inborn talent in you. The only thing you can avoid is spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes etc Though GRE actually test you on your analyzing skills. The scores for each sections are : Verbal = 800, Quantitative = 800. Writing = 6 point scale. That doesn’t mean that writing isn’t important. All three sections scores are equally distributed. For engineering students quantitative is the most important section. Going through any of the books will give more details regarding these sections.
Conclusion:
I think that is good enough exposure for a novice at education in US. I haven’t dealt about the costs, financial aids, SOPS, recommendation letters, GRE in details etc since I suppose this being a general essay I need not be that exhaustive. Then I would like to conclude hoping that every reader of this article benefited something out of this. If anyone wants me to write another article on other particular topics of “MS in US” then it will be my pleasure to do the same.
3 comments:
Hey Asad... thats an awesome blog u have... great going dude
Vinu
This is really cool...good job
Nice idea with this site its better than most of the rubbish I come across.
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