Northeastern University has a pretty popular program in Telecommunication Systems Management. We thought it would be helpful to aspirants to know more about what this program entails. We spoke to Sameer Marathe who is currently a Masters student at Northeastern specializing in Telecom Systems Management. Sameer took time out to talk to us in detail about the specifics of the admission requirements, work experience requirements, funding scenarios and a lot more. Here is more on Sameer and what he had to say:

1) Personal Information

Name: Sameer Marathe

University you are studying or studied: Northeastern University, Boston

Currently pursuing: Masters

Department/Program you are enrolled in: Telecommunication Systems Management (TSM)

Specialization, if any: Business

Undergraduate College: PVG’s College of Engineering & Technology, Pune

Undergraduate University: University of Pune

2) General profile/background of majority of Indian students who get admitted to your program in NEU.

a. Academics - GPA range or % range:

Sameer: 3.0 and above or 60% and above

b. GRE score range (including minimum cutoff scores if you are aware of):

Sameer: 1100 to 1400. Cut off for Quant is between 730-750. Verbal 350+

c. Do you see more students with some particular research backgrounds or interests getting more admissions in your program? If yes, please enlist the specific research backgrounds:

Sameer: Yes. Most of them have done their engineering in Electronics & Telecommunication. There are some students with BE in Computer Engineering too but they have work experience in Telecommunications.

d. Do you see more students with some particular kinds of work experiences getting more admissions in your program? If yes, please enlist the specific work profiles:

Sameer: Yes. 1 - 1.5 years of work experience in Telecommunication Industry as a Network Engineer, Device Engineer or have worked in Software companies.

e. Do you see more students from some particular undergraduate universities or colleges in India getting more admissions? If yes, please enlist some of the universities or colleges.

Sameer: Yes. Mumbai, Gujrat, Pune. Some colleges I have heard of are D.J Sanghvi, TSEC, Father Agnel, K.J. Sommaiya, COEP, VIT, Nirma University. I have hardly seen a student from a South Indian University studying TSM. They mostly choose ECE (PhD only) over TSM.

3) Funding:

a. Percentage of students getting some sort of financial assistance in the first quarter/semester (whichever applicable)?

Sameer: Top 10% of the students admitted to TSM in Fall 2007 were given a tuition waiver of 33%. I am not aware of the current scenario.

b. If one doesn’t get any funding in the first quarter, how good are the chances of getting funding in the subsequent quarters/semesters?

Sameer: If you are an extra ordinary student then you might end up getting NUTA. (Northeastern University Teaching Assistantship) with a tuition waiver of 50%, but only for 1 semester. Only 1 Fall 2007 student has managed to get that. Else there are no chances.

4) Current research scenario in your program,

a. Please enlist some of the research projects that are currently being undertaken in your program/department?:

Sameer: TSM is a non-research program.

5) Which other universities have similar good courses in US?

Sameer: The ENTS Program at University of Maryland - College Park, ITP at University of Colorado - Boulder, TCOM at University of Pennsylvania, Telecommunications and Networking program at the University of Pittsburgh, TNM at Syracuse University, RIT, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City. These universities have a dedicated Telecommunications Program. There are some universities which offer Telecommunications as an elective in their ECE Dept.

6) What job opportunities are available to students like you after their degree completion?

Sameer: A TSM student has 3 tracks to chose from - Networking, Systems and Business. Some of the job profiles I am aware of are Network Engineer, Systems Engineer, Device Engineer, Telecom Software Engineer, VoIP Engineer, Business Development, Business Operations, Business Analysis, Marketing, Data Analysis, Information Analysis, Telecom Public Policy. Telecom is a booming industry. You just need to keep your eyes and ears open and you will definitely get a good job.

7) What advice would you like to give to the students from India applying to NEU for your program?

Sameer: The first advice would be to work for at least 1-1.5 years in India, preferably in telecom Industry before you apply to NEU or any Telecommunications Program. This will give you a good idea of what you expect of the program and where you want to be. Students with such kind of experience go for a 6-8 month Co-op right after their 1st semester. The program is not that hectic. Most of the students take 2-2.5 years to complete the program as they participate in the Co-op program where you work for around 6 to 8 months in industry. With regards to curriculum, UMD-CP, Colorado-Boulder and Upenn are better than NEU, Upenn being a very hectic course though. If you dont get into any of these, then come to NEU. The best thing about TSM program is the flexibility to chose courses from other departments and from Graduate School of Business and School of Technological Enterpreneurship. No other program in NEU offers this kind of flexibility. Most Important: Please look at the market conditions in US and then decide.