MS for Dummies! - Part 2

Now that you're done with the most difficult and time consuming part of applying for a MS; the pre-application, the next step is a lot easier and quicker. Infact, if you've done your work during the pre-application stage...this step is just putting it together..thts it!

Application:
1) The "application" can as such be classified into 2 types: The online application and the offline application. In this day and age of internet and the WWW, the online application is a no-brainer! Its a lot faster, reliable and most of all, cheaper. Infact, most universities insist on the student sending an online application instead of a printed application form.

2) Since I myself only applied online, i'll discuss about the same only. Every university application has an "electronic" as well as a "paper" part to it. Typically the electronic part consists of an online application form and payment of the application fees. In many cases, at the end of the online application, you might receive a student or application ID. Note this down and provide this number in all your correspondences with the university, online or otherwise. The application fees typically vary from as low as 25$ to as high as 85$ per application. Credit cards can be used for the very same. The paper part of the application basically consists of all the documents (SOPs, LORs, transcripts, financial statements/affidavits and in some cases additional forms prescribed by the university) required to verify the claims you have made in your online application form.

3) The transcripts and letters of recommendation must be signed/stamped on every page and must be sealed in individual envelopes, also bearing the signature and stamp on all the openings. Other documents can be put in individual sealed envelopes. All the envelopes must have your name, student/application ID, date of birth and must state the contents of that particular envelope. All the individual, white envelopes can then be placed in a larger, FIBER envelope. Also put in a single page stating the documents you have provided, your full name, date of birth and your application ID in the fiber envelope. Seal the fiber envelope properly. On the outside, write the TO address boldly and legibly in black ink. The TO address will specifically be mentioned in your application page. If in doubt, send an email over to the university. Typically, each department has a slightly different address. Apart from this, on the lower left corner, also provide the FROM address i.e YOUR address along with your telephone number (complete with the country code 91 and the area code).

4) Once you've filled the forms online, payed the application fee and organized/packed the application envelopes...do a final check as to if everything is in order as per the requirements of the university. This is when, all the work AND the lil diary i asked you to maintain in the previous step will help you out a LOT!

5) Now, you can send these applications via courier. FEDEX, DHL, UPS are the most well known courier services. But they are pretty damn expensive (even after factoring the "student" discount). On an average, they charge about Rs.900 for each packet. What you could do instead is send your packets through "agents" who'll charge you exactly HALF of what FEDEX, DHL etc charge you and ultimately your packet gets routed through FEDEX, DHL etc. only. One such agent is "Parla book house" near the McDonald's in Vile Parle. There are a few more if you bother searching/asking. Insist on a tracking number so that you'll know exactly where your packet is.

You are officially DONE with the application step. Typically you should have finished this stage by the middle of your 7th semester...sometime around October-November...LATEST by December.

TIP: Each time you pay the application fee online, either PRINT or SAVE the application confirmation page. It proves indispensable in case of any hiccups. Also, within 3-4 days of sending the application packet, send an email over to the concerned person in each university telling them that the packet has been dispatched on such and such a date and asking them to acknowledge the receipt of the same. You might not get a reply most of the times, but keep the mail for your record.

MS for Dummies!

I am (almost) at the end of the MS right of passage. Come the interview on the 27th of this month, and hopefully, all the running/writing/begging/cursing/screaming/shouting/sleepless nights and what not should bear fruit.

This blog might prove to be very useful for a LOT of people. Unlike what you will find on many websites, handbooks or what your stupid, daft counselors will tell you, this is a "hands on" view to "approaching" MS in the USA. This is what i had to go through; the good, the bad and the ugly. There were times i made some really good decisions for which i pat myself on the back now. But there were also a few for which i need to kick myself on my posterior.

Note:This blog is not GUIDE (official or unofficial) of any sort. This is being provided purely for your reference. Im simply listing the procedures and processes i followed. If you screw up..you cannot hold me responsible for it.

On that "serious" note..lets begin the journey throught the intrepid and often frustrating world of MS! The "approach" to MS can broadly be classified into 3 stages:
i. Pre-application
ii. Application
iii. Post application

Because of the length, i will be splitting this blog based on the 3 stages. Lets look at the most important, pre-application stage today.

Pre-application:

1) Engineering students who intend applying for a MS in the USA need to start scratching their heads from the 4th sem vacations itself. Wrap up your GRE/TOEFL at ANY COST in your third year itself. I recommend you take the TOEFL first. Its easier, and will get you familiar with how computer based testing works (..and the hospital like exam centre atmosphere..). Another reason you might want to finish off your GRE/TOEFLs is because, by chance (or because of your laziness/stupidity/GF/BF :p) if you screw up your tests, you'll still have some time to retake them without adversely affecting your application process.

2) You must realize, YOU and YOURSELF alone are the ones who are going to attend the MS program in the university. NOT your friend...NOT your counselor. I cannot emphasis how important it is to research/select the universities of your choice. If you are lucky, you might find a guy/gal who'll do this day in and day out (:D)..you could piggyback on them to save sometime. But the more efforts you put into this process, the more it'll save u hassles and heartburns later on.

3) This list of universities should initially consist of approximately 20 odd universities that broadly meet your requirements (fees, location, course, faculty, research, job prospects etc.). Every university has loads of information regarding these. Take some time out and go through them. You can start eliminating them on specific grounds a little later. Prepare this list if possible, BEFORE you take your GRE/TOEFL so that you can make use of the facility to automatically send your respective test scores to the universities (upto 4) you select. Trust me, this will save you gob loads of time, effort and money later on. Also, beyond those 4 universities to which your scores will automatically be sent, for the remainng, make use of the FAX services provided by ETS (the agency that conducts the GRE/TOEFL). Its cheaper that the phone services and much faster than the postal service.

4) One very important point to remember. PLEASE for the love of god..REFRAIN from using those silly rankings lists to select your list of prospective universities. This is what 90% of the people do and they end up burying themselves in cow dung. Many courses in universities in the 50-60-70 rank range are equivalent or sometimes better than those in the top 30 odd. And you stand a much better chance of getting an admit in one of these. Another point, certain university courses are MUCH better than others. For example, The Retarded State Univ. might have excellent CS courses..but stupid EE/ECE courses, even though its overall rank is high.

5) Organize all the information regarding the universities in a book or diary. By information i mean the postal address of the department you are applying to, the telephone number, fee structure, course structure, GRE/TOEFL codes and other remarks/doubts you may have. Try not making a soft copy of this, as this piece of paper will prove indispensable later on.

6) Run around, in your 6th sem..so that by the end of sem 6, when your results are declared, you can get your transcripts and letters of recommendation stamped/signed and ready for dispatch.

7) Take some time, to read/refer statements of purpose (SOPs) online. It shouldnt be more than one page long. Be very precise and dont try to fit in 3/4th of the dictionary. It'll not help you in ANY WAY.

8) By now, you should have your prospective list of univs, LORs, SOPs, transcripts, bank statement, affidavit of support (stamp paper ascertaining your finances) ready. Your sem 6 vacations would be going on. With this, you are ready for actually APPLYING.

Pre-application from my experience, apart from being the most important, is the most time/effort consuming stage. But, the more you work now and the better you manage your time, i can assure you, the more resources you save later on.

TIP: When selecting your list of prospective universities, irrespective of the number, select as many "middle tier" universities as you can. Lets say, if i am applying to 8 universities, 2 can be the higher ranked/rated ones, 4 of them..solid middle tier univs with a good repute and a reasonable acceptance rate and the remaining 2 being lower-tier, sure shot bets. How you classify them, depends on how much and where you look for info.

Half a year..

Has it ever happened to you...some ONE event or a series of events taking place over a period of time, entirely changing your perspective about, well...EVERYTHING? It's so earth-shaking, you start questioning every single belief of yours; WHY is this happening?..WHAT purpose does all of this serve?..WHEN it is ever gonna end..if at all?..WHY is it just me?..WHERE is this all gonna lead me to?

At this point of time in life, you only have questions...a lot of them, cropping up in your head. Its like this endless spiral. If this never ending twist towards nothingness ever ends...it ends with a HUGE "?" staring at you. Try as you may...none of anything thats happening seems to have any reasoning, explaination behind it. Its not the fact that strange things are happening that bugs/frustrates/irritates you...its the very lack of ANY reason/substance behind those occurances that drives you up the wall...repeatedly.

Afflicted (or AFFLiC73D ;) ), that's what i called myself the last few months. Why? Because thats exactly how i had been feeling. Its like having the Midas touch...but working the other way around. Anything i touched...either went up in vapours...or dangled long enough in front of me to get my hopes up just before it disappeared into oblivion.

I started the application process for pursuing a Master of Science course in the U S of A in the month of November. Having joined a counselor (Kraft Education Services....highly NOT recommened!!)..i got the ball rolling. Back then, everything seemed nice and dandy. Looking at everyone and everything around me, i realized i stood just as good a chance of getting into a decent university/course of my choice as anyone else. I had decent academics (atleast on par with those around me)...decent extra-curriculars (..again atleast on par with others) and whatever else thats needed to land me in the U S of A. Or so i thought...

After the endless running around for everything from recommendation letters to financial documents to a hundred copies of what not...i started applying to universities..one by one..from the last week of December. After much deliberation and spending exactly infinite hours over the internet, i zeroed in on 7 universities that piqued my interest for various reasons and which seemed to accept students with a profile similar to mine. Neways, to list them out...University of Southern California (applied a lil later), Syracuse Univ, Northeastern Univ, Illinois Inst. of Tech, Rochester Inst. of Tech, Auburn Univ and Louisiana State Univ. This was a list of moderate to safe universities...hadn't applied to any of the "ambitious" univs since i didn't want my dreaded LUCK to play any part in my admissions. Having finshed sending the online applications in the 1st week of January and the application packets by the 2nd week...now all i could do was wait an watch.

Since i had poured in months worth of research into the university selection procedure, i thought my admission procedure was gonna be pretty undramatic. I mean, based on a number of factors, i sorta knew where i would almost definitely get an admit and where the chances were a lil less. So neways...it became a daily ritual of sorts now...checking the application status for each univeristy one by one...it was the first thing i did when i woke up every single day. 3 weeks or so went by uneventful...i slowly started hearing about people getting admits/rejects here and there. Neways,i had to wait till the 7th of February to get to know my first DECISION. IIT replied...and much to my surprise...in the negative; apparently my academics were LOW! (Since when is a MU 1st class LOW?! :). Ranked a distant 84, this was by far one of my 100% safes. I still cannot believe that i got a reject from these guys... Neways.."6 more to go.." i consoled myself. Oh, how stupid i was...

12th February, Syracuse Univeristy kisses me goodbye..and unlike IIT, they didn't even bother giving me a reason for my rejection; even after i explicitly sent them an email asking for the same. "5 more...quite a bit left.."...Come 20th February, RIT sends me a mail saying..."you suck, ciao". To tell you the truth...the RIT reject is what completely changed my outlook towards the whole "Applying for an MS" thingy...this university wasn't in the top 100...accepted almost everyone ..people with MUCH lower profiles had got in with SCHOLARSHIPS. I was stone cold stunned to get a reject from them. Neways...completely heart broken...i waited for the remaining "REJECTS". And i soon got one from Auburn on the 6th of March and this one gave me the most mailto:%21@#$ed reason of the lot for my rejection. Apparently, everyone from MU whom they had accepted had a "First class with distinction" in every semester and i ONLY had a pass class in my /first/ year (thanks to Mech!). These guys seriously think of us as daft fools who'll aceept whatever bull they throw at us...but then again, i dont think we have any option but to do so...Neways...3 more to go...and at the rate things were going, i had almost completely ruled out ANY chances of me going to the US for a MS this time arnound. I had immediately ruled out ANY chances of gettin into Northeastern or LSU (..i was proved right later in case of NEU...LSU, i deferred the app thinking of trying for Spring'08). By this time, everyone had atleast ONE admit..and trust me, with ONE in hand...a 100 rejects are inconsequential.

I still don't know why i did it (probably the fact that effectively only one more Univ was left..USC and the fact that pursuing an MS has been both mine and my parents dream since eons..led me to do it)..but i applied to 2 more universities...George Washington Univ (same league as Northeastern, Auburn etc) and SUNY Binghamton..ranked 124, on the 17th of March. Once again, i was kinda sure SUNY wud reply in the affirmative...but these guys were the swiftest in telling a NO..one week flat. With a reject from a univ ranked 124...i officially gave up ANY hope of an MS and decided to stop thinking about it and get on with life. But i couldn't..not with someone or the other getting an admit every alternate day or so...i had forgot how it felt to get a sound sleep. It had been weeks since i /SLEPT/ and not just lie flat on the bed staring at the nothingness. My mom was depressed...although she tried to make the best of it. Dad, well...ego getting the better of him, would be totally "OK" about it all infront of me...but i've heard plenty of times about how worried/sad he was about the whole thing from my mom.

March went by, so did April...and most of May. Each day seemed to last forever. USC were mum...they had a standard reply (if they ever replied that is!)..."Few more weeks.."...and GWU was well..stagnant too. By now almost everyone had wrapped off their application phase and moved onto the visas...And i was well..living each day as it came. Until the 24th of May that is. I doubt im gonna be able to forget this day ever in my life. Just as i was studying for an exam...during one of my routine breaks i sat down to check my mail. I had just 2 new messages...one bull...and the other not-so-bull. It was from GWU's ECE department. My hands were trembling (..i was accustomed to this by now...) ... and although i was used to rejection by now...the thought of ANOTHER was proving to be heart achingly painful. I opened the mail after some 2mins...and inside lay a very non-descript message...

..." A decision regarding your application has been made. We cannot reveal this decision to you over the phone/e-mail. Kindly wait for 2-3 weeks to get a post regarding the same." The lack of the usual CONGRATULATIONS or other such HAPPY words in the message, which i had seen in everyone elses admit messages sent shivers down my spine. In my mind, i was 99.99% sure this was yet another reject. But i just wanted to CONFIRM it for my satisfaction. I logged into GWUs online application status page...AND I SAW IT! I BLOODY SAY IT FOR THE FIRST TIME! The words..."Congratulations!"...frankly...I did not bother reading ANYTHING after that! I didn't matter!...Congratulations can only be a GOOD thing (unless they were VERY VERY sick saddists..) and a GOOD THING HAPPENED TO ME! I finally had an admit...after SIX long, agonizin, painful, depressing months! And the best part...this was from a pretty damn decent university WITH consideration for a scholarship/Assistanceship! I mean...univs one and 3 ranks above this had rejected me (Auburn/NEU)...but these guys WANTED me! I was thrilled to infinity...my dad and bro who were at home then...were elated...many calls were made in a matter of few seconds. My mom, who had gone out came back home to see 3 guys...jumping around SENSELESS!

I frankly dont care for USC anymore...but yea, if it does come..it'll only make me feel even better (..alhtough confused too) and i might take that up...but i dunno...lets just see how things pan out.

At the end...some (...all those who bothered reading it till the end!) must have found this blog to be a drag..some a pain..some inspirational..i dunno. To each his/her own. All i can tell you is...live life as it comes...each day. You have to accept the fact that many things in life aren't in your hands...you just gotta accept what comes to you..and try and make the best of it. All this...and the fact that application for MS in the US..is a game of poker where you need luck by your side...and a LOT of it. Oh this, and the fact that counselors are !##$in USELESS. Anyone thinking of applying for an MS...drop in a line via email guys...i'll help you out however i possibly can.

Bu bye

P.S: Aditi, Shweta, Uddip..guys you've stuck with me like glue through this mess...love u all (..Uddip, in a non-gay sorta way :D)..and to everyone else who stuck by me and didn't let me lose hope..THANKS A TONNE! U dunno how much it meant to me! :)