2. Outline
Why MS?
Application Process
Relevant Exams
University Selection
SOP
Letters of Recommendation
Your Questions
How to help chances?
Getting aid
Life @US
Current areas of research
Jobs/Internships etc
Questions
Links
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3. Why MS?
Graduate Education
Has become almost necessary (MS/MBA/PhD)
MS/MTech gives an exposure to
Learn advanced concepts desired area; opportunities to extend
it by research
Meet people with different schools of thoughts
Makes you eligible for advanced technical opportunities
Tradeoffs?
Better understanding of the field
Better job profiles, salaries, career advancement opportunities
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4. Application Process
GRE
Assessment of English, math and analytical abilities.
Good score is 1300 – 1400+
Relevance of score is subjective
TOEFL
Tests basic english language abilities (listening, speaking etc.)
Relatively easy exam compared to GRE
Subject GRE
Necessary for some universities (sometimes not explicit)
Gives a better shot of getting into top universities if score is good
Questions are not very difficult but its difficult to get a high
percentile
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5. Selection of Universities
Check US News Rankings
Disclaimer
Ranking process is highly controversial but a good avg.
indicator
Getting into a lower ranked university may not be strictly
easier than getting into a higher ranked one
Check for individual areas by visiting the CS department
websites and seeing people working in your area of interest
Strictly course oriented MS
CMU INI, Cornell Meng. etc
Good, if coming to US for just for a job
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6. Selection of Universities
Check the profiles of already admitted students and make
a honest judgment of your profile
Admission criteria is usually
Undergrad institute
Undergrad GPA, Subject GRE score
Nature of projects/papers
Letters of Recommendation & SOP
Test Scores, Work-ex (if applicable)
Test Scores become more important as rankings of
universities decreases
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7. SOP
Statement of purpose for application for a particular
degree goal in a particular area of interest
Do not describe everything achieved in your life
Resume should cover this information
Describe your projects in detail
Describe key learning, obstacles from the projects
See online samples from a decent source
No fancy quotes, fluffy literary material
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8. Letters of Recommendation
The recommender should know you really well
Can help him by reminding of the class grade, projects etc.
Able to give a brief overview and describe your
performance in courses, projects and be able to rank you
quantitatively amongst other students
Should not describe intangible or irrelevant details
Punctuality, honesty, attendance have little value
Make sure the recommender does not use strong words like
“very”, “extremely”, “genius”, “child prodigy” etc.
Realize how you should stand out in a global pool of
applicants and convey the same to recommender
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9. How to help chances?
1st Year/2nd Year
Do good projects
Papers/Posters at national conferences rather than footechfest at
NIT foobar.
3Rd Year
Internships
Paper, posters…
Tests
4th Year
Tests, Subject GRE
Get relevant product/research based work experience
Work ex also helps fund the application process
Many students also enter the PhD program after MTech at IITs/IISc
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10. Funding
Getting aid is subjective and very university specific
Overall aid situation is healthy
Better ranked universities, research oriented universities
have better chances of financial aid during admission
Usually, one will get some form of job to cover living
expenses
Tuition expenses (& living) covered by TA, RA, GA
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11. Life @ US
Again, subjective
Dependent on which city you end up in
Financial Aid
Overall,
A funded MS is very comfortable and offers a good standard
of living
Indian student organizations to help you settle in, keep
culturally close to India
Tradeoff between staying away from home country and
being exposed to the better opportunities
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12. Jobs/Internships
Usually available in abundance (limited by your own
abilities)
Current Situation
Recession is global
Bad idea to define long term career goals on recession cycles
Graduate applications are expected to rise, application
process more competitive
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13. Conclusion
Graduate application process, long drawn but rewarding
Long term planning usually helps the process
Being a good student with high GPA and good projects is
helpful
Graduate experience is very rewarding
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14. Links
Rankings
http://grad-
schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/com/search
GRE/TOEFL/Subject GRE etc
http://www.ets.org
India internships for undergrads
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/jobs/intern/about_india.aspx
http://bangalore.yahoo.com/labs/
Other product based internships
Application Info
http://www.edulix.com/forum
http://www.urch.com/forums/
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Editor's Notes
Internships at IITs, MSR Bangalore, Yahoo Research Bangalore