Education in United States: Tricks and Traps
Traditional way for getting into college:
- First search university where you want to do MS
- Look into the admission requirement of those universities
- Then fulfill those requirements
- Attend seminars conducted by USEFI if possible.
Student’s way to study Masters in US: (This is what most Indian students do)
- Take GRE/GMAT
- Take TOEFL
- Get Transcripts 10 sets from your university (from your UG university)
- Before searching for universities decide your area of interest in MS.
- After exams search for universities to apply (Don’t apply more than 10 universities, if u ask me I would suggest you to apply for 6 universities)
- Look in the university’s web site for the list of document to be sent and the address.
Index
I . Application Package
Application forms:
Most of the colleges provide an online application form. The naming convention is very important in this regard.
- First name: your original name that is there in mark list and passport. (Your name)
- Middle name: Provide if you have one.
- Sir name or last name: family name or sur name is the last name.
Follow this in all application.
In addition, if a person’s name is John Smith. You can call him as either John or Mr. Smith.
An important thing is the GPA which is asked in application forms. Please do not convert your country scores into GPA. Fill in the scores as such given by your university. And write near by that ‘Scores are not convertible’.
The application fee should be paid using credit cards but if the university is not having an online payment scheme then you have to take a Demand draft/money order in US dollars from any nationalized bank. The conversion fee should be nominal for taking US dollars.
Rest all are common in application forms. You can easily fill those details.
SOP- Statement of Purpose:
Questions that can help you preparing SOP (I’ll include few sample SOP for reference)
1) Unusual things about you-any simple things for that matter. Your up bringing and college.
2) Who and what are your intellectual influences?
3) Which writers and articles you like most in your particular field of study?
4) Favorite professor How they influenced you?
5) Best paper in your under graduation?
6) What is most important book/play/novel and how it influenced you?
7) Single most important concept you have learned
8) Words of professor or elders which have influenced you and when?
9) Where and what were you doing when you first thought of pursuing this particular field of study
10) How has your interest evolved and what specific turning point you can identify
11) What work experience led you to feel that you can do grad studies?
12) Any experience as volunteer or travel has influenced your career direction
13) What experience from family life led to your choice?
14) Career goals and
what you want to become?
15) How have you prepared yourself for graduate study?
16) What knowledge will you take while leaving for study
17) What lab skills will you take from under graduation?
18) What personal attributes or physical character will you bring from you
previous education?
19) Biggest achievement of lifetime.
20) What research project ?
21) Personal citation
22) Sports / leisure / hobbies
23) About city in which you are applying
24) what would you do before joining?
Write true details, as you are the only one going to have these. The points would be handy while writing SOP and is a self assessment process. So after finishing these details write an SOP.
Main contents of SOP:
- Why USA
- Why that particular university
- Why that specific course
- Area of interest
- Ambition/goals
- Academic background/work experience related to course of study
These are the things generally found in any SOP. Prepare a generic SOP and then read the Statement of Purpose question that is given by university and change according to that.
SOP making is a continuous process and don’t finish it in a week. Have many drafts of it before you finalize. SOP may determine your admission in many cases and so be careful about that.
Letter of Recommendations:
Every university requires you to submit two to three Letter of recommendation. It’s called as LORS and from now it will be mentioned as LORS for this section. Look into the college website for number of letters of recommendation required. Some universities will have specificformat for that. In that case you should follow those formats.
Consider that the university asks for 3 LORS. Get two from your department staff and one from non department staff. If you are working then you can also get a LOR form your employer. Get the LORS from your senior officers rather than your peers. You can also get the LOR from ordinary lecturers in your college. It is not necessary that you should get from dean or HOD. Your Lecturers can comment better about you compared to HOD.
What is the content of LORS?
Letter of recommendation is written by your faculty member/supervisor about you in general. University uses it as a parameter in admission. Every applicant differs in these letters.
Approach your lecturers and ask them a letter. Most of us have written LORS ourselves and this would be only read and signed by them. So it’s become the student’s duty to prepare LOR in India. Be careful that the language used in letter should not be yours. Ask some of your close friends proficient in English to convert the content of your letter in their language.
Finally print the letter in your college letter head. It’s mandatory that you should get these letters on college letter head. After getting signed in the letter head fold and keep inside a small envelope. The envelope should be signed and sealed across the flaps. And ask the recommender to sign in all the letters. Don’t take the photocopies of one letter and send it to all the universities, you need to send original letters.
Get Transcripts From UG University:
A transcript means a set of photocopied documents. While taking photo copies leave an enough space in bottom of page so that it can be attested there.
Note: Only the university which issued the mark sheets can attest and your college should not do this. If your college is your university then no problem.
- Mark sheets individual 8 in no#
- Consolidated mark sheet if provided by university
- Degree certificate if available or provisional certificate
All these documents are attested by your university transcript office. These attested copies should be put inside a well protected cover, seal it and signed across the flaps too. I advocate you to get two transcripts set more than the required because for assistantship application you need to send one more after getting admission. Transcripts may be required for many purposes other than admission.
Resume:
Some university asks for a resume. A resume is your own way of describing your potential. So it is your wish to present it. But make it formal and education oriented. This is similar to the job resumes. But here please give area of interest as your core area to be studied in that university. Also see the purpose for which resume is asked. Keep a resume only when asked.
GRE TOEFL score reporting:
GRE/GMAT score reporting:
All US universities require GRE/GMAT and TOEFL scores to be sent directly to university from ETS. After completion of test you can report scores upto 4 universities free of cost.
Please visit the following website for additional score reporting. Click Here
Kindly mail the additional score reports to the ets office and don’t fax. If you are convenient with American accent you can also report scores by phone call. It’s also good. Go through this web site for further details.
TOEFL Score Reporting:
You will have your own TOEFL IBT account for booking dates for TOEFL tests. You should login into your account and with the help of credit card you can send additional reports. TOEFL score reporting is most convenient and easy one compared to GRE/GMAT.
I personally advise you to keep a photocopy of the score report along with the application package.
Financial Aid Forms:
In some colleges financial aid (assistantship and scholarship) is decided based on applicant and there will not be any separate forms.
In other cases:
- There may be a small check box in application form where it will be asked “whether the applicant wish to consider himself for a financial aid”.
- Separate forms may be given by university and to be filled and submitted by the student at the time of application.
- Separate forms may be given by university and to be filled and submitted by the student after the admission.
In most universities based on academic caliber of student the assistantship and scholarship are given and is not a need based award. So don’t mention in any place of application that you need aid because of lack of finance.
Covering Letter:
A covering letter will give a good finish for your application. Though it’s not mandatory it gives a professional look to the application form. So kindly keep the covering letter along with each application. A sample covering letter is provided below.
From 23 th of November 2007
John Smith
123 Street,
City-123456
State
COUNTRY
Email: your email id goes here
To
Office of Graduate Admission
University of XXXX,
UAB 121
Albany, NY 12222
Sir,
I am John Smith, from [country name] and I am applying for admission to the Graduate Program in CNSE. I have completed Bachelors of commerce/engneering offered by XYZ University with the Commerce/ Electrical& Electronics major in the year may 200X. I intend to join the fall/spring 200X semester for my Masters Degree.
Here along with this letter, and as per the University Admission requirements, I have enclosed the following in this envelope:
- Official Transcripts(2copies)
- Copies of GRE and TOEFL scores
- Financial Affidavit form
- Bank Statement and Notary public statement.
- 3 Letters of Recommendations.
- Resume
- Application fee form
- Assistantship form
Already sent documents:
I have also requested ETS to forward my GRE & TOEFL Score report and I hope the score reports are on their way. I would be eager to hear from you about the status of my application and the receipt of its arrival.. In case of missing documents or any other clarifications and information required please e-mail to xyz@gmail.com. I promise to fulfill the application requirements at the earliest.
Hoping for an expedient response,
Regards
Applicant’s name
Financial support documents:
- Form of financial support given by university.
- Bank Certificate of sponsorer.
- Affidavit of support.
1) Form of financial support given by university
This will be given by all the university. This form will give an approximate amount of funds required for first year of study. So you have to show that you got the money to pay for the first year of study. At this point of time you got to show the money in bank. If you are going to take a loan for studies I am very sorry you got to arrange money by some means and then get bank certificate. For those of you who have enough money can show that the funds required are available in the bank account. Even if you have money in two or three banks its acceptable. The money should be only in your parents account otherwise unnecessary question may be asked by university.
2) Bank Certificate
The bank certificate is a letter from the bank stating that your sponsorer has got so much of money in his account with the bank as on date. Remember the date should not be more than 6 months from the date of application.
3) Affidavit of support
This is a statement that shows the relationship of applicant with sponsorer and his willingness to sponsor your education. A format is given below.
Affidavit of Support
This document should be printed in [value of currency] Bond paper. And also attestation by notary public is required for this document.
I, father’s name ___________________________
S/o. ____ grand father’s name_________________________
residing at ‘address’. Do hereby solemnly affirm & State that ‘students name’ who is seeking admission in your college is my Son.
THE FAMILY HAS AMPLE FINANCIAL RESOURCE TO PROVIDE NECESSARY FUNDS FOR THE EDUCATION OF MY SON AT YOUR UNIVERSITY TILL THE COMPLETION OF HIS STUDIES.
Father’s signature
Mother’s Signature
How to send Packages and tracking:
So, now you have all the documents ready to be sent to various universities.
Arrange the entire document required by the university. Keep the covering letter by the side and check whether the documents are in order. Use a protected postal cover which will not tear easily. I have seen some of friends use box type cover. But on the baseline it’s important that your package reaches university safely.
Inside the main envelope it’s your convenience to keep the documents. You can keep all papers in a stick file or individual ordinary covers. Kindly check the address where it should be sent. Some university may give more than one address where the application package has to be sent.
The university may give you Student identification once you pay the application fee. Kindly write the student identification number on all the application material. In some colleges there may be online method for sending LOR and SOP. So in these cases kindly don’t neglect the SOP or LOR that you have sent online. Please do send it again.
Send the package through a system which has tracking system, as these documents are very important. Speed post is a reliable system of sending or you can use FedEx/DHL to sending the documents and you can also track every moment of the shipment. You will get SMS alerts on your mobile each day notifying you the status of your shipment. FedEx/DHL charges will on higher end. After sending the package do mail the person responsible in the university that you have sent the package. These are trivial things but helpful.
Finally…
Document whatever you do. Record things you completed for the universities. It’s always better to keep record of those things under the name of university in a separate note. Don’t miss out any documents. Communicate with the university often to know about the status of your admission. Some university will have online method to check the status of your admission and be aware of those things. Go through the web site of university line by line. Follow the information carefully.
All the best!!
