Many students from India prefer to go to consultants than do their own research in selecting universities for pursuing higher studies. Its not a recommendable approach. Selecting universities is a painstaking and time consuming process and many chose to rely on consultancies for this task than doing on their own. These consultancies usually try to send people to universities for which they get huge commission.
So how to select universities..heres my approach
First of all you need to check the following
- Tuition fee
- Chances of getting a scholarship (R.A/T.A./G.A)
- Location
- Climate
- Suitable program
- Reputation
- Part time jobs and jobs after M.S.
So after checking these factors..come up with a tentative list.
If you are puzzled where to start then talk to your seniors, friends,professors and relatives. Ask them about the universities they know.
Do not rely on rankings, rankings are based upon surveys and consider a lot of factors which might be useless for us to consider. So make a tentative list including your dream schools, schools where your friends are studying and schools suggested by your seniors and professors.
So after coming up with a tentative list, you need to inquire more about those universities to make sure whether you should apply to it or not. First check out the tuition fee of the university, you would be surprised to see many applicants do not care even to check the tuition fee of the university. Be prepared for the worst case, go forward only if you have two years of tuition fee in your budget..Do not have ideas like “I can get aid after first semester so having the first semester fees will suffice”..these are the typical words of consultancies to mislead people.
Now you have enough tuition fee in your budget so whats next ? You need to check if your required program is available or not, check out the department website and program website, most probably it will contain all the information you need.
The next step is to know about part time jobs and chances of funding. Make best use of online resources like edulix, facebook. Post your profile in edulix and get evaluated it by seniors. Checkout the university specific threads in edulix…they contain hell lot of information so make best use of it. Also make a unisearch profile in edulix. Search your universities there and see the profiles of students who got admit and reject there.Compare with your profile and see where you stand. This will give you a rough idea.
Most of the universities have Indian Student Associations (ISA’s) and in most ISA’s website there will be FAQs answering almost all your doubts about funding and part-time jobs. For example check out ISA’s of University of Utah and Arizona state university.
You will have to look about climate too, you can get accustomed easily but you will have to take care of that if you have any specific needs.
Location also plays a role in selecting university. If the university is located in a big city then there are more chances of getting an internship and job after M.S. but the cost of living will be high, if the university is situated in a small town then the cost of living will be low but chances of getting internships will be a bit difficult compared to the universities located in cities.
Be careful when you post your profile for evaluation in fall groups, most of them are amateurs, so don’t take their words seriously and get misleaded. Do not go to universities which make you feel “why I came here!”. Its not worth of your money and time. See this guy’s experience who felt depressed and cheated after all his dreams were shattered. Also listen to what this fella says about the nature of consultancies . Don’t forget to check another student’s painful experience with these consultancies. Be sure to check and recheck before taking any decisions as this crazy decision gonna change your life either in a good or bad way.
Most of the people feel that getting good GRE score is enough for getting admission in top universities. Trust me GRE isn’t useless but its just one factor, they will consider your total profile like your academics, papers published, certifications etc. Getting 340/340 doesn’t guarantee your admission to Harvard or other ivy league university. On the other hand, if you have good academics, research papers and overall a good profile you can get into ivy league with ordinary GRE scores.
Selecting universities for US is no easy task, it can be overwhelming in the beginning but its your life and you are investing huge amount of money. Do you want to leave all of that to an unknown stranger who is profit oriented and a business minded person ?
thanks for the advice….
Thanks for your valuable information.
can you please tell us what are the universities which u applied for and your profile ?
I applied for Oregon State university, University of Cincinnati,Oklahoma state university- stillwater,University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee,University of Utah, Utah state university.
University of Waterloo in Canada.
Got admits from Oklahoma State university and UW-Milwaukee.
My profile Gre 317(v-56 q-161) Ielts-7 UG(ECE)- 74%
Thanks for sharing your profile.
Do you have any papers published.because most of the universities look for papers published.can you throw light on this topic.
A small request..can you suggest universities suitable for my profile..
B.Tech-73%,OCJP certification,Gre-330(V-165,Q-165),Toefl-110.
I would like to apply for UTA austin,dallas,UNC-Chapel hill,GIT.
I know the chances for these universities are less but still i wanted to ask is there even a slight chance of getting through.
Please suggest the universities for my profile..atleast three universities i know it is some what time taking but still hope you’l do so..
Thanks in advance..
Dude..I am an MS aspirant like you …so I am not a expert and dont want to pretend to be one..
Post your profile in edulix and tag some seniors there to get your profile evaluated…
find seniors from the colleges you want to apply..they can help you..
Hope it helps…
can you post how you are done your application process.it can helpful for everyone by doing by own.take one university write everything about how you done.
Thanks for this. I am thinking of studying in Europe and America and Canada for my M.sc and I am trying my best to get high scores on both TOEFL and GRE. My challenge is that my GPA is low (13.67 out of 20) and that doesn’t meet to the minimum GPA required for many schools. Isn’t futile to apply to those universities that my GPA doesn’t meet their required minimum?
[…] Tips for selecting Universities […]
Could you please let me know about universities which offer computer networks
hii harsha
i watched you video in youtube
am native of rajahmundry studying in vizag
i have soo many doubts about gre
plz
im pursuing my b.tech 3rd year mine iz 5yea dual degree course(b.tech+m.tech)
at ANDHRA UNIVERSITY VIZAG…!
now am planning 2 prep for GRE..?
WT 2 DO ?
give me sme suggestions…?
my profile
10 – 91%
+2 – 91%
cgpa till now 7.62/10
wt i hv 2 do…?
wch kind of prep..?
iz any coaching iz required..??
i need you advice
when should i take gre? by beginingof my 4th year or begining of my final year(5th year) which one is better?
what is an ideal gre score ?
is any scholarships availabe?
for scholarships how much we have to score?
what financial aid is offered by us universities for indian students?
what should be the ideal score for toefl?
i am bothering about verbal?
so what to do in verbal.?
other than verbal which part i have to concentrate?
i am strong in maths when compared to english..
so what to do?
from now onwards i have to start prep on verbal ? or not?
i hope you will give me the best advice
i want to masters in Computer science in Canada or US. I have got many questions in my mind :
1)is MS in canada a better option over US and if so reasons ?
2)are job opportunities good in canada (after the completion of MS) ?
3)If Canada is a good option then , Which all the universities best for Embedded systems or computer architecture
Sorry for late reply. I will answer your question in a separate blog post.
Hi Harsha,I will be giving GRE on 25th march n toefel on 22nd march..i will be aplying for fall 2014.I have done my btech in ece and have 5 years of experience in telecom sector and want to pursue MS in electrical and telecommunication.
PLease advice if u have any idea like work experience play a part in getting good job there and the funding….
WOrk experience will definitely help in your favor ! You will be able to get interview calls based on work experience but funding entirely depends upon the professor.
I am impressed while I read this post.
Very informative.
Good job Harsha
I have very low GRE score.
SPECIALIZATION – MS IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT – FALL’15
V-138, Q-143, AWM-3
IELTS – 7
ACADS – 65
INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS – 4
SOLID EXTRACURRICULAR
WORK EX- 17 MONTHS
WELL CRAFTED SOLID RESUME, LOR’s & SOP.
Please suggest universities. Thanks
ASU?
I m an ece student with no work experience, what are my chances of getting admit for mis major in universities like carnegie mellon, arizona state?
Hi, Please read the blog post and do your research on those universities. I cannot predict your chances to any universities, Edulix is might be your best source for this, post your question in university specific thread so that the seniors in those universities maybe able to address your question.
Are you going to do java tuts anymore?
harsha hii, could you please resolve my above query
hi sir my gre score is 310 (q161,v 149 awa 3) and my college cgpa is 8 and my branch is electronics and communication completed engg from govt engineering college ujjain and i am intrested in masters in information science (msis) please suggest some universities in which i can get admit and i have done internship from idea cellular ltd on automatic frequency planning
Thanks a lot Harsha.The piece of advice that you gave is really helpful for me in many ways
Hello, I have a GRE score of 306 TOEFL score of 93. My GPA is 3.55 and I have also got a paper published.
Please suggest some universities.
i have a score of 308 in gre and a score of 94 in toefl along with aggregate of 56%…and want to pursue software engineering in usa…suggest some universities which could have a quality education…please
GRE 304 , AWA 4.0/6.0
TOEFL 100 GPA 7.8/10
Work Experience 2 Years ( By 2016 Fall) – Oracle SOA Consultant at Larson and Toubro Infotech
2 Internships
Filed 2 Patents ( Invention relating to Mobile and Cloud )
Published 3 papers in International Journal
Developer of the Mobile Application Athena
3 Other Projects ( Web based application , Embedded Application , Android App )
Received Several Awards for the projects
5 Certifications
Currently Preparing 2 White Papers for Oracle Conference
Suggest me Universities for 2016 Fall/Summer MS Business Analytics!
I dont have the time to re take GRE
hello iam manoj rana nd im in b.tech final year mechanical engg so plz tell me how ican ms study in other countary
Please give all detail about ms
sir my name is ganta prabhakar . I am lot of confusion with my score what I have to do ,My score is 281 , I want to do my MS in Civil Engineering . I don’t known what I have to do ,I want to study in USA at California. I have only some amount with me , I don’t know nothing about the California and how should I have to apply
hi…
can anyone suggest me universities in canada for ms in mechanical engineering
GRE:300
Toefl: 87
10th: 90.5%
12th: 93%
B.Tech: 75.7%
1 internship in TAFE limited.
solid resume, lor and sop.
UG : 6.84/10
One national publication
GRE: Q-162 V-148 A-3.5
Toefl: 108
Please suggest me some universities for MS in Electrical Engineering
Hi
My GRE score:309(verbal:149,quant:159,AWA:3),TOEFL:87(speaking:20,listening:23,writing:22,reading:22)B.Tech:8.14/10(EIE).
I wan’t to do MS in Computer science.
Can anyone suggest me some Universities.
Hiii I got admit in university of Houston clearlake with no funding and university of Bridgeport Connecticut with $6000 funding. Can anyone sujjest which I should prefer to go?
can you evaluate my profile please…!!!
gre-308(v-145, q-163,awa-4.5)
ielts- yet to take
b.e- 83%
10th- 82.4%
12- 93%
can you suggest me some universities for MS in CS
Dear Sir,
I am preparing for MS (Electrical Engineering) in USA.
I will be going to give GRE & TOEFL
Experience: – 2 Years in Electrical Design and Customization Field
BE in Electronics and Telecommunication: – 68%
Will Experience in Electrical design and customization will be going to help me in the selection of University.
Hey Bro,
Loved the post. But just one question.
What if we don’t get a job after MS in USA or what are the chances of getting a job
What should we do to get a job apart from studying?
HEY I am confused between Oklahoma State University and cal state university, Fullerton…
Pls suggest me good university….
That’s great and Thanks for Sharing the Tips. I reckon One should choose their Desired Universities prior to the GRE Test and this helps to Concentrate more on GRE Test Preparation Prudently.