2. SOP
3. LOR
4. Transcripts
5. Resume
6. GRE TOEFL score reporting
7. Financial Aid form
8. Covering letter
9. Financial support form
1. financial support form
2. bank certificate
3. affidavit of support
10. How to send the Package and tracking>>Student’s way to get into MS (This is what we Indian students do )
1. Take GRE
2. Take TOEFL
3. Get Transcripts(from your UG university)
4. Before searching for universities decide your area of interest in MS.
5. After exams search for universities to apply
6. Look in the university’s web site for the list of document to be sent and the address.
1 Application forms:
Most of colleges provide an online application form. The naming convention is very important in this regard.
First name: your original name that is there in mark list and passport.
Middle name: This is not a common thing related to Indian students.
last name: family name or fathers name is last name.
Other thing is the GPA which is asked in application forms. Please do not convert your Indian scores into GPA. Fill in the scores as such given by your university.
The application fee should be paid using credit cards.
Other things are common in application forms. You can easily fill those details.
2 SOP- Statement of Purpose:
Questions you got to answer before writing sop:
1) Unusual things about you-any silly thing for that matter. your up bringing and college.
2) Who and what are your intellectual influences are?
3) Which writers and articles u like most in your particular field of study?
4) Favorite professor and reason. How they influenced u?
5) Best paper in your under grad?
6) What is most important book/play/novel and how it influenced you?
7) Single most important concept u have learned
8) Words of professor or elders which have influenced u and when?
9) where was you and what were u doing when u first thought of pursuing this particular field of study
10) How has your interest evolved and what specific turning point u can identify
11) What work experience led u to feel that u can do grad studies?
12) Any experience as volunteer or travel has influenced your career direction
13) what experience from family life led to ur choice?
14) career goals def needed
what u want to become?
split a page into two
and right side right true motives
and left side right means of achieving it
15) How have u prepared yourself for graduate study?
16) what knowledge will u take while leaving for study
17) what lab skills will u take from under grad
18) what personal attributes or physical char will u take from here
previous education
19)Biggest achievement of lifetime
20)what research project
21)personal citation *
leave it for now
22) Sports leisure hobbes
23)About city in which u re applying
24)what would u do before joining?
…………………………………………………………..
Write true details of all these as you are the only one going to have these. These would be handy while writing sop and is a self assessment process. So after finishing these details write an SOP.
Main contents of SOP:
1. Why USA
2. Why that particular university
3. Why that particular course
4. Area of interest
5. Ambition/goals
6. Academic background/work experience related to course of study
These are the things generally found in any SOP. Prepare a generic SOP and then read the Statement of Purpose question that is given by university and change according to that.
SOP making is a continuous process and don’t finish it in a week. Have many drafts of it before you finalize. SOP may determine your admission in many cases and so be careful about that.
3.Letter of recommendation( Lors)
Every university requires you to submit two to three Letter of recommendation. It’s called as Lors and from now I will be using Lors for this. Look in the college web site for number of letters of recommendation required. Some universities would be giving format for that. In that case you should follow those formats.
Consider that the university asks for 3 Lors. Get two from your department staff and one from non department staff. If you are working then you can also get a lor form your employer. Get the Lors from your senior officers rather than your peers. You can also get the Lor from ordinary lecturers in your college. It is not necessary that you should get from dean or HOD. Your Lecturers can comment better about you compared to HOD.
What is the content of LORS?
It is actually a letter of recommendation written by your faculty member about you in general. University uses it as a parameter in admission. Every applicant differs in these letters.
Approach you lecturers and ask them a letter but most of Indian college professors do not write a recommendation letter. The lecturers will ask you to give them a letter and they will sign in it. Most of us have written Lors ourselves and this would be only read and signed by them. So it’s become the student’s duty to prepare LOR in India. Be careful that the language used in letter should not be yours. Ask some of your close friends proficient in English to convert the content of your letter in their language.
Finally print the letter in your college letter head. I got around 40 letter heads form my college office on request. You can also do the same in your college. It’s mandatory that you should get these letters in college letter head. After getting signed in the letter head fold and keep inside a small envelope. The envelope should be signed and sealed across the flaps. And ask the recommender to sign in all the letters and don’t take the photocopies of one letter and send it to all the universities.
4 Get Transcripts From UG University.
A transcript means a set of photocopied documents. While taking photo copies leave an enough space in bottom of page so that it can be attested there.
Note: only the university which issued the mark sheets can attest and your college should not do this. If your college is your university then no problem.
1. Mark sheets individual 8 in no.
2. Consolidated mark sheet if provided by university
3. Degree certificate if available or provisional certificate
All these documents are attested by your university transcript office. These attested copies should be put inside a cloth cover and sealed and signed across the flaps too. I advocate you to get two transcripts set more than the required because for assistantship application you need to send one more after getting admission. Transcripts may be required for many purposes other than admission.
Note: Every university requires two transcripts to be sent.so,do conform it from University Web Site.
5 Resume:
Some university asks for a resume. A resume is your own way of describing your potential. So it is your wish to present it. But make it formal and education oriented. This is similar to the job resumes. But here please give area of interest as your core area to be studied in that university. Also see the purpose for which resume is asked. Keep a resume only when asked.
6 GRE & TOEFL score reporting:
GRE score Reporting:
All US universities require GRE and TOEFL scores to be sent directly to university from ETS. After completion of test you can report scores to 4 universities free of cost.
Please visit the ETS website for additional score reporting.
If you are convenient with American accent you can also report scores by phone call. It’s also good.
TOEFL SCORE REPORTING:
You would have your own TOEFL IBT account for booking dates for toefl tests. You should login that account and with the help of credit card you can make additional score reporting. TOEFL score reporting is most convenient and easy one compared to gre.
I personally advise you to keep a photocopy of the score report along with the application package.
7 Financial aid forms:
In some colleges financial aid(assistantship and scholarship) is decided based on applicant and there will not be any separate forms.
There are many cases
1. This may be a small check box in application form where it will be asked “whether the applicant wish to consider himself for a financial aid”
2. Separate forms may be given by university and to be filled and submitted by the student at the time of application
3. Separate forms may be given by university and to be filled and submitted by the student after the admission
In most universities based on academic calibre of student the assistantship and scholarship are given and is not a need based award. So don’t mention in any place of application that you need aid because of lack of finance.
8 Covering Letter:
A covering letter will give a good finish for your application. Though it’s not mandatory it gives a professional look to the application form. So kindly keep the covering letter along with each application. A sample covering letter is provided below.
SAMPLE:
Date: ___th of November 20__
From ____
YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS.
Email :
To
Office of Graduate Admissions,
University of ________-,
__________________,
, NY 12222
USA.
Sir/Madam,
I am ________, from India and I am applying for admission to the Graduate Program in _______. I have completed Bachelors of Engineering offered by ________ University with the Electrical& Electronics major in the year may 20____. I intend to join the fall/Spring 20___ semester for my Masters Degree.
Here along with this letter, and as per the University Admission requirements, I have enclosed the following in this envelope:
• Official Transcripts(2copies)
• Copies of GRE and TOEFL scores
• Financial Affidavit form
• Bank Statement and Notary public statement.
• 3 Letters of Recommendations.
• Resume
• Application fee form
• Assistantship form
Already sent documents:
• Online application only.
I have also requested ETS to forward my GRE & TOEFL Score report and I hope the score reports are on their way. I would be eager to hear from you about the status of my application and the receipt of its arrival.. In case of missing documents or any other clarifications and information required please e-mail to applicant’s mail id.
Hoping for an expedient response,
Regards
Applicant’s name
9 Financial support documents
1. Form of financial support given by university
2. Bank Certificate of sponsorer.
3. Affidavit of support
1) Form of financial support given by university
This will be given by all the university.. This form will give an approximate amount of funds required for first year of study. So you have to show that you got the money to pay for the first year of study. At this point of time you got to show the money in bank. If you are going to take a loan for studies I am very sorry you got to arrange money by some means and then get bank certificate. For those of you who have enough money can show that the funds required are available in the bank account. Even if you have money in two or three banks its acceptable. The money should be only in your Sponsor’s account.
2. Bank Certificate:
The bank certificate is a letter from the bank stating that your sponsor has got so much of money in his account with the bank as on date. Remember the date should not be more than 6 months from the date of application.
SAMPLE:
ON THE BANK LETTER HEAD.
DATE:___________
This is to state that Mr. ______________ has been maintaining savings bank A/C with us since ____________. He is one of our respectable customers and the present balance in his savings bank account no. ________________ is Rs.__________(Rupees __________________) (Approx. American Dollar ————– @ Rs.
It is clarified that the information furnished is without any risk and responsibility on our part more particularly either as guarantor or otherwise.
This certificate is issued at the specific request of the customer for seeking admission for his son’s for his studies abroad.
BANK MANAGER SIGN AND STAMP
———————————————————————-
Format of solvency Certificate:
———————————————————————-
Note: On the bank letterhead
Date: ________
The Bank Certificate
To whom so ever it may concern,
This is to state that MR……………… Has been maintaining savings bank with us since…. He is of our respectable customers and can be treated as good up to a sum of Rs…………… lakhs (Rupees…………..(in words). (Approx. American dollars……….@RS………..)
It is clarified that the information furnished is without any risk and responsibility on our part more particularly either as guarantor or otherwise.
This is issued at the specific request of the customer for seeking admission for his sons/daughter for the postgraduate course abroad.
To be signed by the bank manager in original with Bank stamp.
———————————————————————-
3. Affidavit of support
This is a statement that shows the relationship of applicant with sponsor and his willingness to sponsor your education.
SAMPLE
Affidavit of Support
This document should be printed in Rs.100 Stamp paper. And also attestation by notary public is required for this document.
I, the undersigned, Mr._____________ , residing ________________________, Mumbai-, India
Hereby solemnly affirm as under:-
• I declare that ______________________-, citizen of India, is desirous of visiting abroad for his further studies.
• I declare that we will be the guarantors of ___________________ and we undertake to bear the maximum amount of US $ ___________for his tuition fees and living expenses.
• I affirm that we know and understand the contents of the affidavit signed by me and that the statements are true and correct and we authorize the release of the pertinent documents of the students to Government officials if requested.
Sworn and subscribed at Mumbai on this the ……….nd day of …….. (Month/year)
(…………..)
Identified and explained by me. Before
10 How to send Packages and tracking:
So now you have all the documents ready to be sent to various universities.
Arrange the entire document required by the university. Keep the covering letter by the side and check whether the documents are in order. Use a cloth cover which will not tare easily. I have also seen some of friends use box type cover. But on the baseline it’s important that your package reaches university safely.
Inside the main envelope it’s your convenience to keep the documents. You can keep all papers in a stick file or individual ordinary covers. Kindly check the address where it should be sent. Some university may give more than one address where the application package has to be sent.
The university may give you Student identification once you pay the application fee. Kindly write the SID student identification number on all the application material.. In some colleges there may be online method for sending LOR and SOP. So in these cases kindly don’t neglect the SOP or LOR that you have sent online. Please do send it again.
Send the package through a system which has tracking as these documents are very important. SPEED POST, DHL, TNT, FEDEX are a reliable system of sending. After sending the package do mail the person responsible in the university that you have sent the package. These are trivial things but helpful.
Finally…
Document whatever you do. Record things you completed for the universities. It’s always better to keep record of those things under the name of university in a separate note. Don’t miss out any documents. Communicate with the university often to know about the status of your admission. Some university will have online method to check the status of your admission and be aware of those things. Go through the web site of university line by line. Follow the information carefully.
