Application Process for MS in US Universities
For Indian/International Students [with specific inputs for students of Uttar Pradesh Technical University(UPTU)]
The Application Process
Finalizing the List of Universities
The Art of Applying
Various elements of applications
Tracking the progress of all the elements
Topics on this page:
- Finalizing the List of Universities
- The Art of Applying – The application process
Covers - Managing the applications.
- Various elements of applications.
- General tips to make the application packet.
- Tracking the progress of all the elements (LOR, mail packets, fee) of application.
The first requirement before you start applying is to have a list of Universities where you intend to apply.
How do I come up with a list of Universities?
You need to do a lot of research on the Universities before you can come-up with a list. By the time you are preparing your list, you might have given your GRE and TOEFL. You’ll have to make a rational decision as to what are your chances in various Universities that you are evaluating. You'll have to evaluate the department and program ranking of the University and whether the researches and courses align with your interests.
How many Universities do I apply?
It depends on your profile, your personal mindset, and the money that you have kept aside for application. Generally an application for MS will cost you anywhere between Rs.4000 to Rs.6000 (All inclusive of the application fee, courier cost, GRE/TOEFL reporting fee, transcript fee and other small expenses). This is what the average cost was in year 2008.
Most people I saw in various forums apply to about 8 to 12 Universities in general.
How do I make my list a balanced list?
Generally people have a simple logic of choosing Universities. You need to divide your list into 3 categories of :
- Ambitious – The ones that are your real dream Universities, but you think they are a bit unapproachable given the profile you have.
- Moderates – The Universities which you believe that you have a fair chance of getting in. You have researched that people of similar profile have gone through such Universities before. But you still cannot be very confident of an admit.
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Safes – The Universities that you are
confident that you should get a call from. You have checked various forums and
edulix uniSearch and you are pretty sure that with your profile, you should
get an admit from this University.
Depending on your personal approach, you can choose 2-5 universities in each of the categories mentioned above. For ex: If one decides to apply in 10 Universities, he may opt 3 Ambitious, 4 Moderates and 3 Safe Universities.
Different people have different logic for the composition of ambitious, moderates and safes. I divided my list heavily in the favor of ambitious and had very little moderates and safes in my list. There is one faction of people that believes that ultimately you have to go in one single University, so having too many safes in your list will result in a couple of safe admits too. Hence one school of thought says that having more moderates/ambitious in the list at the expanse of safes can be justified. If you get lucky and get on ambitious University, you are on the top of the world.
EDULIX forums can be of immense help in your University selection process. As I wrote earlier, edulix is a wonderful place for such things. You can join edulix forum and start posting in the Engineering/Sciences forum. You are required to post your detailed profile and the list of Universities that you have short-listed. Many other aspirants and seniors will help you out to shape your list. There are so many other similar posts that are there. You need to read various posts in which people have discussed the chances for a University for a particular profile. You can read all the posts to have a fair idea of various Universities.
Apart from the forums, edulix also offers the infoBank and uniSearch features. Go there, understand the features (specially uniSearch) and make full use of them. They’ll immensely help you in your short-listing process.
Even if you are going at a very fast pace, you’ll require at least one weeks research to come up with a decent list.
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Tip - (The way I managed it) | |||
Whenever you are browsing the admission
website of a University, note down various deadlines, requirements, links
(URLs), online application link, institution code for GRE/TOEFL and
other admission related information. By doing this you may not require to
search this critical information all over again when required later.
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Does sending applications early gives an advantage?
In most cases, Yes !!
Some Universities follow a rolling process of applications. Rolling process means that the University will not wait for the deadline to begin its application evaluation. Universities with rolling process of admission will evaluate applications as and when they come. If they find an application suitable, they'll send the offer. In such cases, sending a application early will definitely improve the chances. In some other Universities, where they start processing the applications only after the deadline, I don't think there is any substantial advantage in send the applications early.
However, as a principle, you should never wait for the deadline and send/submit application as soon as possible. This will help them to check whether all aspects of your application are complete and they can revert back to you in case something more is expected. You should always leave enough time for such contingencies.
For students who are applying for financial aid from University, it is imperative to send applications very early. In fact, most Universities have a separate early deadline for students applying for aid.
Various elements of Application:
A application for MS in a US University
consists of various elements. I'll discuss the most common requisites of
an application below:
GRE Score reporting: In almost all cases you'll have to report your
official GRE scores to the University. Universities won't accept the
photocopy of your GRE scorecard. You need to report the scores directly
from ETS. Score is reported by calling the phone numbers given at the GRE
websites. You will require the Institution code and the department code of
the University before you call. Keep your GRE registration number and
credit card details ready when you call. You will need to key in the CC
number on the IVRS. Each additional score will cost $20.
TOEFL score reporting: TOEFL scores are also required in almost all the Universities. The information at the admission website will specify whether TOEFL is required or not. You need to log in to your iBT profile at the TOEFL website to order additional reports.
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Tip - Always order your GRE and TOEFL scores well in advance |
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There are huge delays and goof ups in score reporting during
the peak time of Dec/Jan. It took 6 weeks for ETS to send my TOEFL score
to one of the University. Hence, order your GRE/TOEFL scores as soon as possible. |
Statement of Purpose/Resume: Most online applications (specially those on applyyourself.com) facilitate uploading the SOP and Resume on the online application itself. Otherwise you'll require to send them with the courier packet. In case you are uploading your resume, you can also append scanned copy of various certificates to the resume.
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Tip - Scan all your documents |
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You can scan all the certificates/degree/marksheets
and keep digital copy of all of them with you in a folder. This will allow you to
append various certificates to the resume when uploading online. Normally Universities will specifically prohibit you to attach any supporting documents (like co-curricular certificates etc.) when sending documents via post. This is because normally they scan all the material you send via courier and put the scanned copies in the folder created for you. This folders has all the application information for an applicant and this is where your material will be picked from, when evaluating your profile. Hence, even if you send extra material, they may not scan it and therefore it will be not be included in your folder. When you are uploading your resume, you can take this liberty of attaching the scanned copies of the certificates with your resume. Any material uploaded online obviously won't need any scanning on their part. |
Letters of Recommendations: You will need to send your letter of recommendations. Most online applications now-a-days allow LORs to be submitted online. Submitting LORs online is easy and convenient for student as well as professors. At the online application, You need to give the email addresses of the professors who will be giving your LOR. An automatic mail will be sent to all the professors with the URL of the page where they'll need to submit the LOR. Most interfaces facilitate uploading the pdf/word file. You can ask your professor to draft a LOR on MS-Word and upload it while submitting your LOR. An online LOR usually has some general questions in form of checkboxes/radio buttons and a place where the LOR can be uploaded. All applications on applyyourself automatically convert document in any format to pdf while uploading.
In cases where submitting online LOR is not possible, the applicant is required to take LOR in sealed envelops from the professor and send it along with the application packet that will be sent to the University. You can read more about the LOR in Phase-II.
Transcripts: Transcripts are to be sent by post. You need to send them in sealed envelops by courier/post along with other application material that is required.
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Tip - Check for Universities that allow sending unofficial transcripts |
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A very few Universities will allow you to send your
'unofficial transcripts' via fax/email with a pre-condition that you'll
need to produce official transcripts in case you are offered admission.
Now, I hope you realize the opportunity in this. Johns Hopkins University allowed me to send my 'Unofficial transcript' (which is nothing but scanned copy of your transcript) via email for my MSE-CS application. I uploaded my LOR, SOP, resume online. Hence, I did not send them any packet via post. So, my entire JHU application was complete and submitted within one hour and in about Rs.2400 only ($25 application fee + gre/toefl reporting fee). There is no harm in sending 'unofficial transcripts' when they allow it. I sent scanned copy of transcripts in two Universities and got offer from both (including JHU). |
Financial documents to be sent with applications: Some Universities ask some financial documents to be sent along with the application. These documents maybe custom documents/forms that are to be filled and sent back with bank seal etc. Basically they may ask for financial proof for some amount of money. Most students who will avail loan for their studies are not in a position to send those documents at this time. Ideally you should send authentic proof of whatever amount that is possible. In case it is not enough to cover the expenses they have asked for, you can write a simple application stating that since you are planning for a bank loan and it is not possible to initiate loan processing without a offer from University, therefore it is not possible to furnish specific loan documents at this point of time. Further you can write that you will get the loan processed and send the documents if you get a offer. You can take a clue of such a letter from a sample letter here. Such a arrangement works fine and since this is a genuine problem, the Universities generally consider such cases.
The application packet to be sent via post:
There are a few documents that are to be sent via post. Transcripts, LORs
(in case you are sending written ones), Resume, SOP etc. are a few
documents that are sent via post. Basically whatever documents/proofs that
aren't uploaded in the online application are sent via post.
What should be the contents of the application
packets?
Take one large A3 size envelop and put all the documents inside this big
envelop. A group of documents can be grouped and put in a envelop. Don't
forget to write a cover letter mentioning all the documents you are
putting in the envelop. You may take clue from a
sample cover letter
here.
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Tip - Always write all your basic details on every document you are sending. |
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You should always write your name, email-id, online application id on all the individual documents and
envelops you are sending via post. applyyourself online applications generate an application id when you submit the online form. Quote that in all the documents. You can write all these details on the upper right corner of all documents/envelops. |
Which courier should I choose?
There are various couriers you can send the documents. Even speed post delivers in about 10-15 days. In case you need your documents to be sent in shortest possible time, go for DHL. DHL's University express program enabled students to send application packets to USA in mere Rs.1037 (in year 2008). I sent every packet to universities via DHL and they take precisely 3 days to send the application. In one case where I really escalated the matter with one of my shipments, DHL were prompt enough to send the docs in 2 days time.
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Tip - Maintain a online profile. |
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You should make a comprehensive online profile and put
all your certificates/degrees/resume there. You can put all things that you
could not send to the University because they did not ask for it. I made online pages for quiet a few Universities. Take a look at http://shivampatel.net/certificates to understand what I mean. In such a page, you can put all the extraneous information that you would like the admission committee to see. There is no guarantee that anyone will be seeing it, but you should do whatever you can to make your application strong. Note: The admission page of University of Pennsylvania suggested maintaining such a online page and mentioning it in the resume. Taking a clue from UPenn, I did this for many Universities. Thereafter, you can mention the URL in your resume and in appropriate columns in your online application. Anyone who is going through your application can click the link to see your certificates and other acheievements/activities that you didn't send in the application package. This is a very nice way to put up any extra information. There are many places (like googlepages) where you can set up such a page. deccanhosts.com is one such company that provides free web hosting to MS aspirants. I'd definitely recommend to get a free hosting account with them and host a professional profile with resume, projects, other work etc. Afterall its free - it won't hurt. Showcasing your work/resume on your personal website definitely helps. However keep in mind that marksheets and transcripts are personal documents. If you are uploading them as well, you may want to remove them from internet after your application process is complete. |
In case you are applying to 8-12 Universities, you may find it difficult to
track the progress of all the applications.
A application is considered complete by the University when it has received
all of the following:
- Application Fee (remitted online via Credit card or through bank draft)
- Online application (duly submitted).
- SOP, Resume etc. submitted online or sent via postal mail.
- Transcripts (sent via post)
- Letters of Recommendations(sent via post in case of paper LORs or received from Professors in case of online LORs)
- GRE and TOEFL score reports from ETS.
You may require to adopt some tracking method to keep track of the status of various application at various point of time. MS-Excel can
come in handy here.
You can make a excel sheet (application_tracker.xls) with a row for each
University. Something like this:
You can maintain all pertinent information of an application in a single row. As
and when you keep completing various elements of the application, you can choose
to color the cell with a color (say green).
When all the elements of the application are individually green, you can color
the entire row green to denote a complete application (as in row 2 in image
above)
You will get notified by email (or your online application login will get updated) whenever any of your professor completes your online recommendation.
I made similar sheets to track various credit card payments
that I made and to keep the DHL AWB numbers of all the shipments I sent. This
made the process pretty easy for me.
Most of the things I have mentioned are just pure common sense that anyone of
you will anyways follow. I just document it so that you may get some idea and
maybe it can make things efficient and easier for you. In remote cases, if you
want to look at the excel files, you can ask me for that. I haven't put them for
download here since they are nothing very ingenious and anyone can make similar
log of applications.
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