MS IN US: Selection of Universities

Hello friends

Today I will discuss about how to select universities after giving GRE and TOEFL/IELTS exam.

There are some specific points which must be in your mind while you consider your universities as application fees for them are quite high.

Coming to them one by one                                                                  

1.       Each and every university (95 % of all universities) has application fee ranging from 30$ - 75$ (1800 – 5000 INR)

2.       Depending on your scores of GRE there are numerous universities which belong to your score range. Each candidate can check their respective universities on www.stupidsid.com or just type stupidsid in Google. Create an account there and you can search for your universities according to your profile.

3.       If any student gets 320+ then don’t blindly apply to top universities (Ivy League). For that you need some things which need to be very clear. They will be good academics (8 cgpa + / 80 % +), excellent SOP, strong LOR, many internships in top companies and good papers & publications. BUT still if any candidate crosses the above GRE mark then they must apply to minimum of 3 universities from Ivy League.

4.       Apply for a minimum of 5 Universities and a maximum of 10 universities as applying and sending the required documents to all via courier will cost roundabout to 1 lakh in total.

5.       Rankings for U.S. universities can be found at www.usnews.com. Another source is the annual NRC (National Research Council) rankings.

6.       After taking your GRE and TOEFL/IELTS, you should decide to which universities you want send the test scores (other than the four you might have sent scores to during the test). You may report the scores by post or by phone. In case you wish to report by post, you can download the ASR (Additional Score Report) form from the GRE/TOEFL/IELTS website. Alternatively you can make use of the form provided with the official score report packet. Each university costs you $25 for a GRE and TOEFL report.

For IELTS the charge is 1250 INR for Air mail reporting via DHL or 250 INR for normal mail. The difference is nothing but that in Air mail the candidate can track the IELTS score card to university via DHL service. (This does not relate the topic of today but I think it imp in terms of sending score to universities).

       

Note:

·         Do not choose universities primarily based on the costs involved. Remember that even the cheapest U.S. universities charge fees in excess of $15,000 (7, 50,000 INR) PER year and so there is no logic in omitting universities on the basis of fees.

·         Another fact that you should understand is that the cheapest is no necessarily the best!

THANK YOU