How it started – all about the last one year!

What all are required for you to happily go for an F1 Interview – preparation required for higher studies.

I am not an education evangelist, neither a highest grader in my graduation days.  I have a bare minimum intelligence just enough to cross the bridge as soon as it appears.  Now, interesting aspect would be how this fellow with such an intelligence dream of getting big in the world and hopefully be recognized by a few people in this planet.  Everything that I have written above is perfectly correct and no second thoughts about that.

However, if the dreams are to be realised you need to start working on that and harness your thoughts and in the process make your way as simple as possible.  That is where I had the privilege of having good friends and later a wonderful resource – I would highly recommend people like me who had very little intelligence and lots of dreams.

I feel I have achieved the first step very well and all the hard work I put in the future should help me achieve in the subsequent steps – if at all.

It all started roughly one year and two months ago – when to take the GRE and TOEFL if at all planning for a Fall 2008 admission in one of the top notch universities in the United States(Why US? depends on a lot of factors, best left for the reader to understand).  I have prepared, well you can say I equally messed it up.  Preparation for these kind of exams requires intensity rather than intelligence.  That is what happened and I managed to be a normal grosser scoring a 1300 in the CBT(Computer Based Test). This score is considered as a not-so-big or not-so-small given the fact, that our Indian students without proper verbal skills try to achieve a 600 on 800 in the Verbal abilities section.  I would like to avoid a discussion on this – fruitless, mindless and above all wastefull.

After this came the TOEFL, which required a little bit of practice – Thanks to the company I work for, which didn’t allow me to compete like the rest who had equal time a patience.  Result was clear – again a bare minimum, which left me with a wagging chance of an admission from a quality institution.  They were two of my friends who also had this dream of pursuing quality education. One wasn’t as lucky as me, if you ask me ..I feel the universities in the US were not having the privilege of becoming the benefactor of this guy’s hard working attitude and zealous intelligence – thats the four lettered witch – Fate for you.  To add to the qualities of the person mentioned above – he was our UG college topper and the gold medalist of our department.  The other person was having wonderful command of what to do and what not to do based on his experience, as well as the experience of a community who had done all this before. I was coming to that, www.edulix.com this is a wonderful site to have – esp. if you are looking for first hand information.

There are many students, ex-students, professors, consultants and aspirants (in lots) who constantly update their knowledge and others as well – mutual co-existence at its best.  The energy levels and the attitude is best described by a set of friendly moderators and administrators – until you stretch the bearable limit and of course, relying heavily for even the least of the tasks – simple not acceptable in any community board sites.

The importance of such a community is heavily dependent on crucial factors – strength of information, attitude of people requiring/giving information, since this being a non-commercial venture.  Edulix has all and hence it’s been wonderful to gather information based on the needs.  There were days when I was waiting for my news on my admission to turn up, would make up listening somebody else’s success story with all attention and empathise with a decision that didn’t go their way.  Days passed and it has become a habit of logging on this site once in a while and get through all the information from the sticky threads marked to catch the attention of each and every user logged in.

With the vast information on the prowl, the Visa interviews were a cake walk for many and you almost expected a few questions as well.  I still  dont understand that Edulix has caught up with a few people from only a few states - As I see it the city of Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai(lots and lots of people here) and a few from my locality ‘Hyderabad’ and a bunch of cities like Delhi, Kolkata etc all of these from the bunch have very few number.  The community however, is not parochial as I tried to be in the above sentences. Rather, it is lingual and many of them try to communicate at their native language.

My Visa interview was done last week and after all the customary thanks to the community people, I felt that I need to advertise this site very much so that there will be many people benefitted by this idea and hence this post.  I may be useless in typing all these stuff for a person as insane as me, but I would be the most happiest if some sane person sees this and saves a lot of money while applying to the universities.

I would give a brief-up on the activities you need to take care of while starting the voyage of becoming a master degree holder from one of the reputed university.  Be professional, you are trying to get a professional degree na!

• Prepare for the GRE well – You need all this before you give this exam.
  
  • Preparation for the Verbal Ability Section
    
    • Read the basic book –’Word Power Made Easy, by Norman Lewis’
      
    • Tried to gulp the 45 odd word lists compiled in the ‘Barrons’ – around 3500 words are estimated
      
    • Practiced tests from the ‘The Big Book’ compiled again by the ‘Barrons’
      
  • Preparation for the Quantitative abilities section
    
    • High school mathematics is tested here – any good book with the contents of High school mathematics is sufficient.
      

      Most of the students with Engineering background – cannot help themselves but be overconfident about this section. I have seen people whose Quant score really hurting their psyche.
      

  • Preparation for the AWA sections – Analytical Writing Ability
    
    • The Issue and the Argument – you better catch hold of all your intelligence while answering this section. It requires a lot of thought process and equal skill in putting the idea in words. Like you can understand how bad I am at putting things – you can put me as an example of better avoid writing like him.
      
  • Go with a good list of universities which suit your taste and fall according to your score – 4 universities can be intimated of your score for free without the 15 USD per university and a service charge of 6 USD per 1-6 universities being charged from your pocket, later for every additional university.
    
• Prepare for the TOEFL well – My experiences again
  
  • Roughly you require a week with an intense preparation to go to the iBT(internet based test), as soon as you have completed your GRE.
    
  • Reading section – will be a cake walk if you are strong in understanding the central idea of the passage
    
  • Writing section – Is almost similar to the AWA abilities
    
  • Listening section – tricky, picking the accent should not be a problem if you are a movie buff esp. the Hollywood, otherwise a strong recommendation would be to listen to a varied set of conversations available as part of the preparation cassettes for the TOEFL.
    
  • Speaking section- many falter here without understanding what is being tested. You need to be crisp, clear, thought ful and meaningful and in cases polite about the speech you are giving for a period of 30 seconds to 60 seconds as it is tested.
    
  • Bottomline, be prepared with the list of universities you would like to apply for precisely
    
• University Selection
  
  • Quite a few resources are free in this planet – if you are willing to save a few bucks go to the site mentioned above. Not only, saving money but a correct estimate of the scenario is available.
    
  • Also, do your own research on the universities by browsing through the information on their websites.
    
  • Give a try at the www.i20fever.com for an initial list of universities broadly based on a number of factors – which are the deciding factors of your profile.
    
  • I will try to update this section as I get to know in the future.
    
  • Shortlist them to 6-8 universities(remember you are not joining all of them – you would go to only one university)
    
    • As my friend says, it is better to select 20% of your universities in the ambitious category – the Stanfords, the CMUs etc.
      
    • The next 30% would be for the moderate category – where you might stand a chance
      
    • The next 50% would be for the sure-shot category – which can be safe bets for you
      
    • The gamble is certainly fool proof, as it was proved in thousands of cases.
      
• Documentation required from the applicants end
  
  • Get ready with your statement of purpose – Briefing about why this course, why this university, what have you achieved to ask for one admission – most of the top notch universities heavily scrutinize this document, unless and until you are a genius or a prodigy.
    
  • Get ready with the transcripts from the first year of your UG till the current semester/degree
    
  • Work experience generally helps – common sense says, you have been practical – the US likes this. Try to highlight this.
    
  • Check for the university rules, dates and what not? Devour the information on the website and pester(not really) for more to satiate your hunger.
    
  • Apply well before the time and get to see your application is hassle free.
    
  • Start communicating with your fellows, co-appers and put your thoughts on the networking/community boards.
    
  • Build a rapport with the seniors and the professors who work in your line of interest and try to get an assistantship(doesn’t work out in all cases though!).
    
  • Get a good recommendation letter from your professor/manager/head of the department/CEO/COO whatever.
    
• Application
  
  • Once all your documentation is ready, and your universities are finalized follow these steps.
    
    • Get a credit card allowing international transactions.
      
    • Make sure that you have sufficient covers and small stationery kit to parcel your applications to the US
      
    • Take a print out of the university address and your address in a small bold paperlets – easy to paste on the courier cover.
      
  • Almost all the universities are nowadays availing the usage of the paperless online e-application
    
    • Email your professors to send in their recommendations online.
      
    • Upload your SOP and resume online.
      
    • Fill in the application online – no signatures required.
      
  • Pay the fee and submit your application after iteration-based cross-checking(pretty important to avoid confusions and embarrassment later).
    
  • Give a sufficient time to your application to be reviewed and frequently be in touch with the co-ordinator or in case with the online application system to help them complete your application process quicker.
    

Everything from now on, will be a result based next step and in some cases dicey too!

Keeping your fingers crossed until you hear from the universities is what ultimately we all do. Need to be a lot patient all along these days. Enjoy these moments with updating everybody of your application process and share a lighter moment with your family/friends – as the days ahead are a bit tough.

Once if you allow yourself a good back up of universities (remember 20-30-50%) you will be mighty pleased with your dream taking the initial shape. No hiccups and you will be in a position to decide whether to go for a particular school. This is something similar to the many choices you make in your life – only important as this is going to decide your life forever. You cannot change yourself more than this in your career is what I feel.

After these things are done – you need to apply for the Visa interview – www.vfs-usa.co.in allows you to book a slot for your interview, but you need to have a receipt from HDFC after paying the Visa application fee USD 131.00 from January 2008 charged in Indian Rupee after the cost calculation. This is mandatory and be early in this case, as the dates for the slot of interview are a rarity in the Southern consulate of Chennai.

Ping me to help you in case you need any suggestions on how to take the interview – as it is not appropriate to put everything here.

Find me on Edulix, maybe you would be over-awed to forget about me, who has shown you the path to the oracle a database with prophecies.

Cheers till then!