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STUDENTS PROCESS
Students who wish to study abroad has to complete many process and need to
provide many forms and certificates which ever required by the university and
the abroad country which he/she try's to go.
students wishing to study master degree or PhD's has to write the entrance
exam's depending on the course he/she wishes to study. for instance students of
technical background should take GRE (Graduate Record Examination). and business
background should take GMAT or SAT. And other exam is TOEFL (Test Of English as
a Foreign Language) or IELTS. This Toefl or Ielts should be taken depending on
the country the student wishes to study for instance IELTS has been recognized
by the countries like AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND ENGLAND and Toefl by most
countries USA, CANADA and most parts of EUROPE these English proficiency test
exams should be taken if the student had studied in the country where ENGLISH is
not a proficiency. students from the country's le India, china, Japan, pakistan,
bangladesh, srilanka and others are mandatory to tae the English proficiency
test.
One major thing is that student wishing to study master degree should have
studied four years bachelor's Degree or equivalent degree of the country which
they wish to study. And they should have been studied in the same field.
After completing GRE and TOEFL they need to have their degree certificates
and transcripts which should have been written in English. they should prepare
their SOP (statement of purpose) and LOR (Letter of recommendations) from three
professors who have guided the student.
Register your exam and exam center through www.ets.org register the exam center at your
convenience place and at convenient dates. But register it early as possible as
exam dates will be filled up..........
prepare your exam at least 3 months for GRE as verbal section will be
difficult were as analytical will be easy before you take up the exam. where as
Toefl is simple for one who has good speech and converse in english who can
prepare Toefl in 15 days (both exam study dedicatedly).Dont be
careless.....................
When and how to start?
It all depends on when you take your GRE and TOEFL tests. In general, process
of apping should start at end of sixth semester (i.e. 3rd year) in 4
years course or end of 2nd year in 3 years course. For Indian
academic system, that means July-August. So approximate time that I will refer
to, will correspond to months starting after 2nd or 3rd
year as the case may be. First problem for most Indians is English. So, work on
it. Start reading English comics, novels, magazines, newspapers from the first
year onwards itself. The more you read, the more your vocabulary and speed will
improve, and that is important. And of course, watch Hollywood movies. They will
come handy in understanding accents in TOEFL tests. A good starting book is Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis – a little red book costing
about Rs.90 (in 2002), but very useful and interesting. Finish it in first year.
Start apping work in June-July, assuming that you are already working for your
GRE. Apping process is best coordinated in groups, where help can be sought,
doubts can be clarified and contacts can be used. But don't worry, if you don't
have a group or group does not cooperate then you can manage yourself.
Time tabling of activities
Rough time table for all the activities is presented here. Obviously you are
not supposed to stick to this, but this will give you approximate guideline and
you will know if you are too late.
| Booking GRE |
About 5 to 6 months before the date you plan to GRE is
preferable if you want favorable day and date, also possible up to 3 months
before but depends on the crowd. |
| Taking GRE |
Previous January is preferable, till July-August is also
acceptable but must before October ends. |
| Booking TOEFL |
About 5-6 months before the approximate date, though no
preparation is necessary, crowd is more for TOEFL |
| Taking TOEFL |
Any time after GRE (though before is also possible) keep
one week usually for preparation |
| Univs selection and browsing |
About May-Jun-July, use summer for this, though best
done after your GRE |
| Asking for paper application forms |
In August end or September beginning. |
| Apply for transcripts at college |
September end or October beginning – assuming one month
to process |
| Running for recos |
August end to September beginning – it may take from one
week to two months (or even longer!) depending on your
professor |
| Preliminary SOP outline |
September end – keep thinking and keep reading other
people's SOP |
| SOP finalization |
Should be over before you dispatch your
application! |
| Collect transcripts |
November beginning – check if they are sealed and
signed |
| Apply to univs |
About 25 days before posting date – usually November
end |
| Collect recos |
About 20 days before posting date – but keep asking
profs again and again |
| Posting |
About one month before univs deadline, avoid Christmas
period – December 20th to Jan 5th, since most of the univs have holidays and
postal department is overcrowded |
How much will it cost?
At current rate (as of SEPTEMBER 2008) GRE is 170 u.s $ and TOEFL will cost
you about 165 u.s $, plus transportation cost if your city is not a test center.
Main and very useful component of apping is browsing and if internet is
not free then it may cost a hell! You can estimate the expenses for about 100
hrs of browsing at least! Other major component is university fee — which vary
from zero to $100! In general, higher the univ is in reputation and ranking,
more is the fee and the vice-versa. On an average you can estimate fee about $40
per university. Posting etc. will cost about Rs.700 per half-a-kg (3-4
application packets) or per application packet (rates are based on DHL charges
for courier to US) depending on how you send them!
Selecting Universities
This is very crucial phase of apping for two reasons: first, chances of
admission and your career (to some extent) depends on what you app to, and
secondly, it is most confusing and tiresome. But it is important as well. So
lets start! There are few factors which constrain your universities selection.
They are your GRE score, your TOEFL score, your undergraduate academic
performance (GPA), your
co-curricular performance (only for exceptional cases), "reputation" of your
undergraduate college, your graduate degree objective, your financial
requirement and your SOP, and recommendation letters to some
extent. If you are going for MS/on
full funding/belong to "not-so-reputed" college/have low grades/low GRE or TOEFL
score, then you have to choose "lower" (in ranking, may be not in quality)
universities. On the other hand, PhD and exceptional co-curricular add to
positive chances. Any combination of above factors will determine your course
and best way to go about it is the EXPERIENCE. Not, of course, yours, but your
senior's. Ask those who had similar characteristic factors (as measured above)
like yours and judge their success. Spend a lot time on browsing and find a
program which suits your interests — if you have any particular! we give you
tips on characteristic requirements of some universities which can be taken with
precautions. After all it's a gamble!
US universities: admission.
Once the personal application forms have been filled out and sent along with
the test scores of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and other
exams like the GRE (Graduate Research Examination), the admission office of the
university applied to usually intimate the student of their acceptance through
a letter.
The candidate is asked to comply with various requirements, including the
provision of proof of financial ability more than once. It is also possible
that the preferred university may offer only waiting list status to the
applicant, in which case it is prudent to accept the offer but confirm a place
at a second or third choice university, though one risks losing the initial
deposit. Most of the colleges and universities in the
USA offer separate orientation or briefing sessions for
foreign students upon arrival on campus. It is important to attend these
sessions to get a sense of not only the academic structure of the university
but also know one's rights under immigration regulations.
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