This post originally appeared in Coffee with Sundar.
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 …

We have already done a post on helping students decide between MS and other degrees as options for higher studies. We dealth with MIS vs MS. We thought this time we take a shot at MBA vs MS. Now, there are various ways of doing this. But here, we are basically talking about doing an MBA from India (or your country) versus doing an MS. These seem to the be the hot options among a lot of gen-X these days. A lot of students in colleges in India these just want to do an MBA because its what everyone seems to be doing. People have a tendency of following the herd. And the herd at this point in our economy …

Can you tell us about your background? Your undergrad institute and what you are doing now?
I have graduated from IIIT Allahabad in Information Technology. Before that, I did my schooling from my home town and secured a rank in IIT JEE in 2002. But that is an old story and I don’t think anybody is interested in those details.
After graduation I took a job in CSC India as a Windows System Administrator. Since 26 June 2006, I am bruising my ankles in CSC only.
Why did you think of applying to US universities?
I never thought of doing MS in my college. In fact I was surrounded by many talented technical geeks (whose life style scared me) and I used to think …

Management of Information Systems is a course which is pretty popular among a lot of foreign students in the US. We had the chance to meet an MIS graduate from CMU’s MISM program - Sudeep Agarwal. Sudeep works for Oracle now and has taken the time to talk with kaalEDGE.com and shares his experiences from the CMU program in MIS and his insights from the application process.
1. Can you tell us about your background in India - undergrad education, etc.?
Before MIS, I worked with Oracle India for 3 years. I did my undergrad in Chemical Engg from BITS Pilani.
2. Which program did you pursue and at which university in the US?

I got my masters in Information Systems Management …

Many students have expressed anxious feelings about deciding to go for an MS to the US given the current situation of financial institutions in the country. The financial situation inside the country has not been the best as compared to the last few years. In fact in many ways, its similar to the situation which was present in the 1987 economic slow down. However, many the dent caused will be felt slowly across many sectors. The first and primary harm is caused to the banks. Hence, a job in he financial sector is hard to come by - not too hard though as banks still need to operate and still need talented people - however, investment banking as …

Mrunal continues his series about the differences between MS and PhD - this time concentrating on the differences in funding scenarios between the two.
PHD is a long term commitment. Mostly in 99% cases students get admits from university if he shows a potential to be a PHD candidate and some professors finds him worthy to be working in his group. Professors control the funding. Professors have control on everything. They design the syllabus, teach, design labs, design exams, homeworks. They receive grants from different sources like industry, Government, national laboratories. The grants in US universities mainly arrive from Governments. National Science Foundation (NSF), Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), National laboratories are some of main sources which fund the …

In another one of the articles written by Mrunal G - he talks about what the difference is between a Phd degree and a MS degree. Every year, many students who want to apply to US univs are not sure which course they should apply for - MS or PhD. There are many advantages and disadvantages in both courses but here is an attempt to help you - the student - to put these in perspective. This will be a 2 part series, the first series will talk about differences overall and the second part will talk about difference in the funding scenario. Here is MrunalG.
When I was in India I often used to think what is a PHD? How …

Many prospective students are wary of even trying to opt for MS in US as a future career option. This is mainly because funding one’s education in the US can become a major hurdle if one does not have some sort of university job which covers at least a part of the tuition and/or living expenses. Though education loans are easy to come by in India now, and also many scholarships are available - it is still pretty hard for many students to manage finances to get to the US.
I spoke with Somik Raha, a PhD student at Stanford about his efforts to help students with funding their graduate education in the US with his project named SWAYAM.
1. …

Mrunal Gawade is a masters student in Jack Baskin School of Engineering, in Computer Science department, at University of California, Santa Cruz, USA. He is from Pune, India. He received his undergraduate BE Computer Engineering degree from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT), Pune, India. Here is a post from Mrunal about the entire process of applying to US universities for MS - covering almost the entire spectrum from thinking about applying for MS/Phd to visa interview. Here is Mrunal (mrunalg.com) himself:
Applying for higher studies could be made easier if you have the plans on your mind at least in some form during your undergraduate days. Like say you know that you would be applying for MS / PHD in future( …

We had a brief conversation with Sudipti Gupta who is pursuing Masters in Information Systems Management at Carnegie Mellon University currently. We talked to her about what MIS is all about, the career opportunities after it and what is the difference between an MIS and MS. Here is Sudipti with her views.
1. What course are engaged in right now and where?
Sudipti: Masters in Information Systems Management at Carnegie Mellon University
2. Why did you decide on MIS as your next move in your career after BTech in IT?
Sudipti: Didn’t want hardcore technical jobs, but more on management and consulting side.