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| After GRE? |  |
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Ok - so you have taken your GRE test. What is the next step? The first thing to do, if you haven't done so already, is to write to the universities and ask them to send you their application packet. By the time you write your GRE, you must have short-listed the 40 or so universities you are going to apply to. Write to those universities and ask them for the application form and the graduate catalogue. If you haven't short-listed your universities, a good place to start is Peterons (www.petersons.com) The site has a powerful search engine, in which every US and Canadian college is listed and by searching for the field of your choice, you can see the complete list of the colleges that offer the course you are looking for. Another great site is www.gradschools.com - the advantage of this site is that it has a built in form, a sort of online pre-app form. Using this form, you can directly request the schools of your choice to send you their application booklet. This site too has a great search engine, using which you can get the list of the colleges that offer the course of your choice. The application packets usually take about 2 - 6 weeks to arrive. It is good if you have your SOP - Statement of Purpose - drafted already. This is the essay that cites the reason behind you applying to a particular field in a particular college. Almost every college asks for this and this is a very important part of your application packet. You also need the college transcripts - your score sheets, duly attested by the University and/or your College Principal. If getting these signatures is difficult, you can approach the USEFI. For a fee, USEFI will attest your transcripts. The recommendation letters you send also carry a lot of weightage. Usually, colleges ask for three recommendation letters - preferably from your teachers. If you have work experience, then it makes sense to get two letters from your teachers and one from your boss. Work experience counts a lot - so if you have been working for a couple of years after college, you stand a very good chance of getting into a good university. If you are applying in Arts (Photography, Designing, etc.) or Communications (Journalism, Mass Comm) fields, you will also be required to submit a portfolio. This could be anything from a collection of the photographs you have taken to video tapes of your documentaries. Added to this, students applying to these branches will also be asked to write specific essays - but this depends on the individual colleges and departments. Criteria for short-listing your universities - Usually, students end up sending the final application packet to 10 - 12 universities. Many factors are involved in arriving at this final 10. Some of them are: 1.Course fees - chances are that you might not get funded in your first semester. So it makes sense not to choose a university whose tuition costs are on the more expensive side. The application fee usually is an indication of this. 2.Area - Indians usually tend to prefer the West coast - California abounds with Indians. But so many Indians have migrated to the US, many of them students, that except for a few areas, most of the states in US contain a sizeble number of Indians. There is usually an Indian Students' Association attached to the university, in addition to the International Students' Association, which helps the Indian students in finding apartments, room mates, etc. The area where your college is located also plays an important role because it decides your cost of living. Whether you get funding or not, you are not going to gain much if most of your money is spent in paying for your apartment and food. 3.University rank - Universities are usually ranked according to many factors. UCLA, for example, is ranked #5 in most departments. It is a good practice to apply with this ranking in mind - find out the University ranks for your department - then choose a few top-ranked, a few middle-ranked and a couple of lower-ranked universities, to play it safe. - Lavanya |
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