I always knew that I’d do my MS. Always!! It all started when I was in 6th grade I guess. my fascination towards US. My trip to US took care of it. The vastness of the supermarket, the busy Airports, People who dont hesitate to smile at you though you just pass them, The very purpose with which ppl walked, and ofcourse Onion Rings and Chicken Nuggets at the Mc near my aunts house.
Third year, when I had to submit the option form with the choice of MS or Placements, there were no questions asked in my family. Amrika it was!! Then started the interview sessions with my seniors in coll. How do I get the transcripts?? Can I secure an admission for sure?? What abt GRE?? Who do I get reco from?? It seemed to be a very daunting task. Esp. for someone who is sometimes even lazy to eat!! Never really thought I could do it.
So many days were spent on GRE prep and then TOEFL. Not a lot of prep actually went for my GRE. My Dubai trip a month b4 my GRE exam, gave me exactly 10 days to actually ‘prepare’. It wasn’t so bad.. I got 1330, which again wasn’t so bad for my prep I guess. GRE was out.. TOEFL then. TOEFL was truly a cake walk.. 117.. YIPEE!!
The University search began. Edulix helped a hell lot with that. I remember spending like aeons of days on the comp browsing and browsing the Univ websites, searching for the courses, and seeing if I like them.
Once you start out, you will never know what is that you want. Some ppl will be posting stuff like I am interested in MS CS with interest in Natural Language Processing and I love the work this prof is doing in this field in this Univ”.. And you’d be like.. ‘WHAT??!??’ On going through the universities courses, the interest gets fixed. Soon it’ll feel as though NETWORKING/whatever has been your life’s interest.
Networking was mine, as of all the papers that I have written in the Univ. exams, that was the ONLY ONE that ever instilled a certain amt of interest in me. It kind of amazed me.. how the computers ‘talk’ with each other. So I searched for all the Univ’s were Networking was good and great. Then I formed my Univ list, It was kinda dynamic.. Meaning.. Always changing. But after a million days of delibration.. I came up with a final list.
Once the univ list is done, the SOPs and LOR’s had to be taken care of. There are a lots of websites which provide us with free SOP samples. Some say.. Read ‘em. Some say.. Dont. But basically its our own choice. So I read them, got an idea and started writing. The basic outline goes as thus, Make a basic list of all that you have done. Find a way to make them flow as a seamless text. Start with a reason and end validating the reason. Give the SOP’s to ppl to read.. By ppl I meant the seniors in Edulix or just other ppl whom you know. Get 3rd/4th/ millionth opinion. But if you are sure that your SOP is good enough, then go ahead with it. Make it college centric. (I’ll try and put up mine l8r sometime.) This is all that I learnt abt it. Something else that I learnt, Somehow ppl get all secretive during the application season. Nobody discusses the colleges that they apply to, their sop’s or even when they’re planning to send the packets.
Now the LOR’s. In my case, I had to write my own Recommendations. Again, Lots of Lor’s are available on net. See them for inspiration or for a basic idea. But trust me, this is the worst part of the Univ. prep. Its super difficult to write something abt yourself without sounding too pompous or too modest. You write and write and all that I do after writing a few lines is feel embarrassed, thinking if I really am ‘One of the best students I have tutored’, ‘Being the well talented and versatile gal she is..’ and just writing it almost made me barf. But keeping all those thoughts away I gritted my teeth and wrote abt myself in a way (I am sorry to have lied!!)that potrayed me to be the person that the univ’s are looking for.
Once the 6th sem marksheet comes, its like everything is in 5th gear now. You start working extra fast. Get the transcrpits, bug your dad to get the financial statements (can’t forget the amt of abuses I got frm dad, for asking him to make xx lakhs of money materialise in his account in one day!!), getting your profs to sign a million times on your reco’s. SO MANY THINGS!! When we have loads of work, we tend to get bored or irritated, But all the while you do THIS, you are not mourning, you are happy.. coz, this is what you have been wanting.. ALL ..THE ..WHILE..
You have to call GRE and ask for your marks to be sent to the univ’s, then go on-line to send the TOEFL to those univs, find the address of the univs, print them, get cover letters to go with the packets. My dad wanted me to go to DHL on a certain wednesday to send the packets. So the night before, I sat up till 4 in the morning.. never ever in my life have I ever done that..No matter how badly I’d prepared for a paper. So, I finished them and submitted the packets to DHL on 7th Nov finally.
It was like I had done something huge. It felt exhilarating the whole procedure. Unfortunately that was the last of action I was getting for a long LONG time. Then comes a period of lull. Nothing to do but wait for the Univ to send me a decision. You can keep checking the status twice everyday.. You can stare at your gmail account willing it to show an accept letter, but it won’t for a long time again. Then after some months, suddenly when you check your mail all groggy eyed from sleep.. You’d see..” Dear Miss. …, we are glad/pleased/happy to inform you that…” and then you’d jump with joy. So somebody finally wants you there in their school. It feels gr88.. All those days of you sitting in front of your comp, searching for univ’s and writing and re-writing your sop, its the best thing that could happen.. AN ADMIT.
Now that I am done going through the whole. long. tiring. but unforgettable (coz, this is the first time I’ve ever worked for anything at all) experience, What still remains in my case, is to decide which offer i’d be taking on, the Visa interview, the shopping, the packing and the good-byes… But I’ll have to wait for all those to follow.. SO LONG!!
