Now aid comes in varied formats - as you may already know - could be a TA or an RA or some form of fellowship/scholarship. Now, TAs, in many cases, are students in the second year/PhD students - but again this depends from school to school. RAs just need to fit the requirements of the lab and beat other students who are competing for the positions - so basically brush up on you skills and some interview questions. For such positions such as RA and TA - you could as well start applying to professors who are already out there in those universities. Get to know their interests and start emailing them about a possible chance to work with them on the projects going on in their labs and how your previous skills and projects are in alignment with what is going on in his lab.
So as s next sep after getting admitted you could start to look at the website of your department at that school. Also, the other thing would be to get in touch with other students already at that school - and see if there is an Indian Students Association there. Try to become part of their mailing list. Also, look up communities on orkut or other forums of students who have gotten into that school. Get to know other students who are also admitted to that school. Finding out about your future classmates should always be fun.
Aside from that, if you are still waiting to hear from other universities - you could wait a bit - otherwise, you would need to get start on requesting the I-20 from the US university so that you can apply for a visa interview appointment with the nearest US consulate/embassy.
Congratulations on your admit! Dont forget to party!
]]>1: Shall I give Subject GRE? How much is a descent score?
Answer: Subject GRE or AGRE as its also known is not as important for applying to a terminal MS program (that is, a program which does not lead to a PhD after Masters). So, if youare applying only for a Masters and dont have an intention of getting into PhD program, AGRE is not required. However, having said that, I would also say that in case you have a messed up GPA or something in your profile is terribly wrong - it can be fixed by cracking the AGRE with a very high percentile. If you score a 90 percentile or above, i think that would really increase chances of admission at some great universities.
2: Does internships at start up count? Or they should it be at biggie organization only?
Answer: Yes to both questions. I think the best internship you can get it where you have a way to prove your contribution in the form of a paper or a product that was released etc. So, any where you can make a big impact, that is where you should work. Again, start ups allow one to contribute more than bigger firms. So that ways start ups can be a good place to intern at. Big companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, etc are good to have on your resume - so i guess you cant go wrong either ways. But the idea is to show contribution and how exactly you made an impact.
3: What kind of projects should be done? The research oriented or the -normal- user applications which shows that you know more languages, but doesnt involved more research?
Answer: Projects should show some sort of skill level. Now, skill levels in programming languages, etc are not that important. Skills in having grasped the fundamentals of the subject that you are studying are more important. No where is that more displayed than in having published a paper in a peer reviewed journal/conference. Or even may be technical fests/paper presentation contests etc. So, in that having research oriented projects makes more sense. But, in general, the idea should be to thoroughly grasp concepts in the subject and apply them to a real world problem.
4: Is it recommended to apply without work experience?
Answer: Well the amount of weight-age given to work experience depends from school to school. Some US universities give more importance to work experience than others (like SUNY StonyBrook). However, its not as important as having a decent GPA/GRE. Work experience can help you, but you are not terribly disadvantaged. However, i think the recent years more and more people with work experience apply to US schools. And hence, you may be competing with more people with work ex, however, i still think applying without work ex is not a big issue at all.
]]>Health Insurance is a must. Many people get cheaper ones that are available even before your travel abroad. In India, you can get more info from TATA AIG, ICICI Prudential, etc. Do not, even for a second, think that you may not get sick and that you are healthy so nothing is going to happen to you. Healthcare costs in the US are astronomically higher than anywhere else, and so its best to get at least some kind of health insurance. Better to get good ones rather than cheap/unreliable ones or the ones which dont cover a lot of injuries/diseases.
Tuition fees is going to be another very high drain on your resources. Unfortunately, unless you have taken a loan or have gotten a scholarship/some sort of funding in the university, you will have to pay in full. Books however, can still be purchased in India or you can have a family member courier them for you. Books, especially first hand books in the US are very expensive. This can reduce your cost per semester by a good $50-$300.
Housing rent and utilities also vary from state to state. People in California and New York city generally end up paying the most, but elsewhere this can be pretty cheap. It varies from $900 per month in California/NYC to $300 in places like Texas, etc. To cut corners, it is better to share apartments, as well as the utility bills. Sometimes, room heaters are more economical than using home-heaters.
In most cases, it is advisable to purchase a cell phone with either of AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint cellular providers. This is a recurring monthly cost of $40. But you can choose to not buy it initially, using landlines (usually free of cost with apartment - may be not) as a phone resource. This might help cut some costs.
Furniture is something you are going to have to buy if you take up a unfurnished apartment. In which case, be ready to shelve out good deal of money, as such things are not cheap if you wanna buy them first hand. Getting second hand could be a bit of a pain at the start, as transporting etc could cause issues. Furnished university housing at such times comes in very handy. You may use craigslist.org before even before you get to the US to start looking for cheaper housing and/or furniture.
Food - tricky. Not many people get the time to cook while they are crazy busy with school work. You will eat out most likely - food prices also vary from city to city - lesser variations within the State. Per day, eating 3 meals outside means around $20. The trick is to cook on weekends for the entire week, you will end up saving a lot this way. About entertainment, its mostly dependent on the person in question! Movies cost about $8-10 and similar cover charges in clubs/pubs (just in case you are interested!).
Needless to say, it gets cold in the US - and snows in most parts (not in California or Florida). So you will have to buy clothes which save you from the merciless winter - and these winters clothes and snow boots are not cheap. This is an expenditure which has to be made so be ready for it. You cannot buy such clothes in India as such winters are not anticipated there and so it doesnt make sense to spend money on them only to realize they are worthless in the face of a North American winter! Many times, you may not have a washing machine in your apartment - there are many pay-per-use machines located around residential areas in the US. They are usually cheap, but a way to cut costs on them is to buy many pairs of under-garments etc from India so that you are able to reduce your frequency of going to the laundro-mats.
Depending upon how far you live from your university - you may end up paying some money to the local buses. But usually local buses are free with university ID cards. In many cases, university itself runs bus services which are free for students.
Dependent and tax related expenses are something you cannot get out of. However, you will get back all the tax that you pay (in case you start working) - for the simple reason that unless you are getting paid a huge salary, you will not be able to meet the limit for taxable income.
(NOTE: The picture on the front page was taken from there: http://recyclican.blogspot.com/2008/09/snapshops-of-sustainability-or-poor.html)
]]>Hi all,
Its my pleasure to invite my senior - Abhishek Gutgutia to share some information about life @ Michigan Ann Arbor. He pursued his Masters degree there. Gutgutia is now handing his family business back in India.
* Entry Criteria:
- Approx CGPA range
The CGPA criteria depends on the specialization you want to do. A CGPA of 8.5 or more is good for most branches but for the in-demand branches it can be 9 and more too.
- Research Experience at undergraduage level.UMich is a basically a research institute. So any research done at the undergraduate level will be highly valued.
- Gre & Toefl scores range..
The GRE requirements also depend on the branch. 1400 and more should be good for most but in some cases it needs to be 1450 and more.
- Does the university require subject GRE?
No it does not require subject GRE.
- Typical Ranking range of the univeristy (just ranking is not a good idea.. it doesnt convey much)
Again, this depends on the specialization. For Mechanical engineering its in the top 5. For others its in the top 10. However, it is one of the few universities in the USA which is ranked in the top 10 for all its colleges (Engineering college, Medical school etc.).
* Aid scenario - #number of ppl who come in with aid, chances of aid after coming in, more details on RA/TA/small work around campus.
I think very few (maybe none) from India came with in aid. To be frank, getting aid in UMich is very difficult. Atleast in my time it was quite difficult. However, the reason behind this may be that Michigan as a state was doing quite badly then (and I suspect even now) and therefore the professors were not really getting funding for any projects. So if the profs don’t have funding, the students can’t get anything.
There is a lot of small work available around and they are fairly easy to get. You get anywhere between $8-$12 per hour for the work and this sum is sufficient to meet all your living expenditure. The jobs too are fairly simple ones like library assistant, grader for undergrads etc. I personally graded quite a few courses. The limit to your work is 25 hours per week (i think) in campus.
* how much money should one shell out for the entire course if it completely unfunded..
If you meet your living expense with part-time work and pay atleast 1 semester’s fee with an internship then you will need to shell out $30,000 (approx.) more. I advise that you take a loan after getting to the US where the rates are cheaper and its quite easy to get a loan there. Especially if you know someone who is a green card holder and is ready to sponsor you, then you can get the loan in 2 weeks flat. After the start of classes, you have 1 month to pay your tuition fees. Please note that tuition in UMich is one of the highest in the country.
* What are the living expenses?
$250 for rent, $25 for electricity, $25 for internet etc., $20 for mobile service, $150 for grocery etc. Overall you will end up spending anywhere between $600-$800 monthly depending on you lifestyle. Please note that living expenses in Ann Arbor on the higher side.
* Career opportunities after the course?
In my time, the outlook was not very good. Relative to the university we were studying in, it was quite a struggle to obtain a job. What is important to know is that location matters a lot in the US. So a lot of the Silicon Valley companies wouldn’t bother coming all the way to Michigan to recruit when they have a good enough talent pool in California. Only the top companies will come to your campus and so there’s quite a bit of struggle.
What also matters is of course what is the ranking of your specialization in the country. If your university is not strong in, say, signal processing, then the chances of companies coming there reduces drastically without regard to the ranking of the university.
* Typical Money made during internships?
you will get anywhere between $22 and $30 during internships and you can work 40 hours a week + overtime if the company allows. There are taxes too of course which will be deducted at source.
* How easy it is to switch departments?
Depends on the department head. In general, it is quite difficult.
* switch from Phd to MS?
Very easy. Everybody has to qualify for masters degree. So you can just take you masters degree and walk out.
* Any other issues/ inputs which will be helpful.
All I would say is that go to Michigan (atleast in Electronics) fore sure if you want to do research/do a phd. If you want a job after a quick MS, then be a bit more careful. It is not an easy place.
5. Presentation of Your Thesis Work
If a Master’s thesis had a climax, this would be it. The structure is highly flexible, and will depend much on the nature of your work. Whatever the thesis format, the objective is the one and the same: persuade your reader that you have done what you set out to do in writing a Master level thesis. Show all relevant evidence to support your position, and don’t weaken it with the mention of dead ends unless they too are relevant to demonstrating that you answered the question.
6. Thesis Conclusion
As with the thesis introduction, the conclusion section in Master’s thesis writing is not the same as it is in the simple essay. A typical thesis conclusion comprises three subsections: the conclusions drawn from your paper, a summary of the contributions your thesis has done, and a prospect of future research.
In the 1-st subsection, avoid amorphous summarizing, and strive for a clear and concise presentation of the conclusions of your work. From the most to the least important, describe the inferences that you could make as the result of your research, and be sure to relate them directly to the question of your thesis itself.
Then, provide the reader with an overview of the contributions to knowledge that your thesis has done. Make sure that you present these as new and authentic contributions; otherwise, the reader will overlook them as filler. Actually, this sub-section can overlap with the preceding one.
Finally, share your thoughts as to how your Master’s thesis can serve as the starting point for future research. This sub-section is developed for future thesis researchers who may be interested in taking your thesis ideas further.
7. Thesis References
Every reference made in the thesis body has to appear in the list of references. The list of citation references can be used as a measuring stick to assess the breadth of your research. A successful review of the literature, after all, is very important to good Master’s thesis writing.
The thesis reader will typically overreview the list of cited works to determine whether you have consulted the more leading works in the field. The reader may also search for his or her own publications if they are relevant to the Master’s thesis topic, so be sure to work those in as well.
Know that unlike a bibliography, which may contain titles that are not directly referred to in the text, every item in your list of references must be referred to in the body of the paper. The preferred way of organizing your citations is alphabetically by author surname, however you may also organize the list by order of citation in your Master’s thesis.
8. Thesis Appendices
Thesis appendices are a useful tool for presenting material that may otherwise interrupt the flow of the Master’s thesis writing, such as complex charts and graphs, lengthy data tables, extensive listings of any kind, etc. Generally this is information that is not absolutely essential for the reader to go on with the paper, but which ought to be available to the reader to back up relevant points in your argumentation.
Remarks on the Thesis Outline
This outline addresses the fact that the thesis reader has 2 main concerns. The reader wishes to know first whether you select a good question, and second whether you answered it. Sections 3 and 4 of the thesis paper reply to the first concern, while section 5 responds to the second. The rest part of the framework shoulders aside this body, making the reader easy into the problem and then drawing him or her back out again with a new comprehension of the question. This is the art of Master’s thesis writing.
A good thesis paper has 2 essential qualities: first, it identifies a good question; and second, it provides a satisfactory reply to that question.
Thesis question has to be unanswered. Its reply must serve as a contribution to knowledge. By persuading the reader that you have selected an excellent thesis question and that you have answered it, you have also persuaded the reader that you have made an original and significant contribution to knowledge.
This is developed as a guide to good Master’s thesis writing. A general thesis outline is given first, followed by a few remarks on the thesis outline and a miscellany of tips for keeping your readers engaged and happy.
1. Thesis Introduction
In the opening thesis paragraphs, your goal is to introduce the reader to the specific question your thesis is seeking to answer. Unlike in the traditional five-paragraph essay, in Master’s thesis writing the introduction is not merely a summary of points to be elaborated on in later sections. Rather, your goal here is to inform the thesis reader of what the question is, why it is important, and how your Master’s thesis will provide an answer.
2. Thesis Background Information
Master’s thesis writing often produces works of highly esoteric content. Some measure of background information relevant to the thesis topic is particularly useful when your work is interdisciplinary, in which case it is even more likely that the reader will benefit from a section that contextualizes the question and supplies the terminology and history so that the reader will be better able to follow the pages the come. It is frequently more engaging to use a specific title for a section on background information.
3. Thesis Review of the Literature and Research
The follwing step is to review the current state of research on the thesis topic entertained in your paper. This tells from a section on background information in that whereas background information remains more general in scope, this section concentrates on those aspects and issues of the field that specifically relate to the question you seek to answer. As such, this section has to also incorporate an examination of the varying standpoints surrounding your question, to orient the reader in the discourse of the field. Remember, nevertheless, that at this stage of the thesis paper writing your objective is simply to present these varying points of views, not to be critical of them. That comes later.
This section ought to also be given a topic-specific title, and has to be organized by ideas rather than by works or authors. Using subsections is a practical means of differing the various approaches to the problem.
4. Thesis Statement of the Question or Problem
Various disciplines use different words to refer to the central focus of the Master’s thesis. Whether it is a question you are trying to answer or a problem you are trying to solve, there are 3 essential steps to take in establishing the role of your paper:
* State the thesis question.
* Affirm that this thesis question to be unanswered.
* Argue why this thesis question is worth answering at all.
In stating the thesis question, clarity is of utmost significance. Here it is a bad idea to beat around the bush. Use concise, clear language and exact terminology to avoid misleading the reader.
In the 2-nd part, your objective is to assert that your question remains unanswered. It is in this phase of the Master’s thesis writing that you provide critical analysis of the information you presented in the preceding section. Take the different approaches that have been put forth in other works, and show that each of them fails to provide a wholly satisfactory reply to the question. Certainly, it is not necessary to pick them apart one by one. Since you organized the preceding section by thesis ideas, you can now take on whole classes of approaches rather than individual works or authors.
Now that you have established that your question remains unanswered, your last task in this section is to argue why it is worth replying this question at all. The reader needs to have some comprehending of the purpose of your thesis writing in order to be sympathetic to your views.
This section is central to the Master’s thesis, and the reader will definitely be looking out for it. You may actually wish to include the word “problem” or “question” in the title itself to make it stand out to the reader.
This article has been taken from : http://www.customwritings.com/
]]>On climate news from Yale - members of the Indian Youth Climate Network - speaking across India have been stressing the fact that places like Goa in India are going to be worst affected by climate change and global warming. Yale University graduate, Alexis Ringwald, and Yale engineering graduate, Caroline Howe, Abhishekh Bhardwaj and Deepanjali Gupta members of the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN), were speaking at the Goa Architecture College at Altinho. A group of 50 from the Network have been travelling across school and college campuses, villages and communities across India encouraging people to use renewable energy. Here is more about this (TOI).
And in other news - given the economic slowdown globally - a lot of top notch universities like Harvard, Princeton, MIT have put on hold certain expansion projects. So a lot of construction projects have been put on hold for sometime, amidst the growing uncertain economic landscape of the US. Analysts from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) say schools will most likely favor renovation and expansion over new construction.
]]>These are fine examples of how students from India, when they travel abroad, are still interested in solving problems plaguing the developing world. In this case, the solutions are going to have direct impact on the lives of people in countries like India, Nepal etc. Universities like Stanford are spring boards where creative is given the highest importance and thinking out of the box is greatly rewarded rather than relying on rote learning and lacking hands on experience. Find out more about this course at Stanford here.
]]>Tell stories (briefly). Use vivid language. Be specific. Be dynamic. Liven up a moment in the lives of those five professors trapped with those 500 applications. Maybe 600. Maybe more.
At the same time, be careful not to be glib. Don’t be slick. Don’t write your application in a sequence of haiku. Don’t put in photos. Just be yourself, but a more heightened version of yourself in words (since face-to-face nuance and gestures won’t be there to help).
Remember your statement of purpose should portray you as (1) passionately interested in the field; (2) intelligent; (3) well-prepared academically and personally; (4) able to take on the challenges of grad school; (5) able to have rapport with professors and fellow grad students — in other words, collegial; (6) able to finish the graduate degree in a timely fashion; and (7) a potentially outstanding representative of that grad school in your future career.
That’s a lot to cover in a few hundred words (the length of a statement purpose, as required by different schools, tends to be around 300 to 1000 words). “Passionate interest in the field” will be covered by the kind of hook I have described above. “Intelligence” will be conveyed by the overall writing, organization, expression, etc. of your statement. Being “well-prepared” can be demonstrated by using the lingo of the field (theory, craft, etc.), describing the specific kinds of coursework and other accomplishments you have in the field. Ability “to take on the challenges of grad school” can be shown by describing the rigor of the work you have done. “Collegiality” is not particularly important but is nevertheless a factor — if you can show yourself as a generally nice and cooperative person, that will do — just be true to your own style. Ability “to finish the graduate program” can be conveyed implicitly by your success thus far and more explicitly if you can tell some (brief) story about adverse obstacles you have overcome. Being a “future outstanding representative” can be implied by your being an outstanding representative of your undergraduate school — for example, don’t “bad-mouth” your current college or professors.
Often, grad schools will ask you to address other or similar qualities as I’ve listed above. Just use common sense in focusing on each. Don’t address them in the same order as the grad school has listed. Combine them; rearrange them; do whatever you need to do to show yourself as an imaginative person, not a parrot following a line of Brazil nuts to crack.
If you have some problematic academic background, address that as well to reassure the admissions committee. For example, let’s say that you got all C’s one semester. Take a (brief) paragraph to explain that you had some emotional setback that semester but then demonstrate how your grades have been sterling since then, and that you now have a 3.83 grade-point average in the discipline. If you spin this well, your story will enhance the admissions committee’s image of you as someone with the abilities to “take on challenges” and “to finish on time.”
Here’s an organization I would recommend: (1) passionate hook; (2) segué to your background in the field; (3) specific classes by title and professors you have had (especially if well-known in the field); (4) related extracurricular activities (especially if they hint at some personal quality you want to convey); (5) any publications or other professional accomplishments in the field (perhaps conference presentations or public readings); (6) explanations about problems in your background (if needed); and (7) why you have chosen this grad school (name one or two professors and what you know of their specific areas or some feature of the program which specifically attracts you).
I should probably expand on item 7. This is a practical issue as well. If you are applying to ten grad schools, it’s a mismanagement of time to write ten separate, tailored statements of purpose. Items 1 through 6 above can be exactly the same for all the statements. Then when you get to item 7, put in a different paragraph for each school. Remember this means the ten statements will all be as long, in terms of word count, as the shortest required length among the ten schools. If the shortest length is 300 words, probably that length will be okay for the 500-word school (in fact the admissions committee at the 500-word place may see you as savvy for not going on and on). But those 300 words will clearly not work for the 1200-word school, so you’ll need to expand that one. Don’t pad. Find other engaging material in your background.
About mentioning professors at each grad school: doing this will portray you as someone “who has done her homework,” as someone who is genuinely interested in the field, enough to have done some prefatory work in that area. Don’t just mention their names (anyone who can browse a web site can do that). Say something of substance about each professor by name, something that reveals you know and appreciate that person’s work. Don’t necessarily pick the most famous professor at the grad school; chances are many other applicants will do the same, and the admissions committee members will soon be unconsciously filtering those mentions out. (Besides, the most famous professor doesn’t always work with all graduate students or may be out of town half the year, and you may come off as naive if you say you’re looking forward to working with her.) Find a lesser-known professor whose work truly intrigues you (and truly is the operational word here). Then say something about what you know of that professor’s work — remember that person may be on the admissions committee. Don’t suck up — don’t be a sycophant. Be fair and honest.
Be sure to show your statement of purpose to several professors. Remember they will have different ideas about what constitutes an appropriate and effective statement of purpose. If one of your professors has a connection with a specific grad school, she may have some inside knowledge about what kind of statement of purpose will work best at that school. Make your final editing decisions based on what will convey you most accurately as you see it. Again, be specific, be dynamic, come alive on paper. Continue to get advice from your professors on later drafts.
Proofread your statement of purpose. Copyedit for consistency, accuracy, and style. Ask your friends to copyedit and proofread your statement; perhaps you can do the same for them if they are also applying for grad school.
Remember that style in writing can be parallel to style in dress: the second affects your image in person while the first affects your image when you may not be present. Leaving in typos and misplaced commas is like dressing in your grubbies for a coat-and-tie / cocktail dress event. Being too wordy is comparable to dressing in an evening gown or a tuxedo for a casual get-together. Being too glib, too mannered, may be like wearing a furry rabbit costume to a party which turns out not to be a Halloween bash. Be careful. Be a perfectionist.
Keep working on your statement of purpose even after you have sent it to the school(s) with the earlier deadline(s). You might have a later epiphany about your personal and academic background, your motives for applying for grad school, your long-term plans, and this epiphany may be just the thing that gets you into the school(s) with the later deadline(s).
To close, the statement of purpose, in the eyes of Department Heads, Program Chairs, and Admissions Committee members, can be the most important document in the application. Other parts of your graduate-school application — test scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, writing samples — do not say as much about you as a person as the statement of purpose can: your proudest accomplishments alongside your fondest hopes and dreams.
]]>