I6MTW Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) I'm almost finishing my graduation, or rather I've essentially finished, just waiting for exams to be conducted . I have decided to study my masters abroad, I am a US citizen. Since , I'm not financially suitable to pay for the costs and expenses of a college education abroad, I'm planning on applying for loan/financial aid in the US such as tuition costs and living expenses. I have been doing research on the procedure of applying as well as acceptance rates of various universities. Had anyone gone thru a similar process and ended up studying there? If not USA, then what other countries have you ended up applying to? I am open to the studying in other countries such as Europe, Singapore Japan, Australia, Canada, etc. But the US is my top priority for now. And how was the procedure? I am planning on preparing for my test scores such as GRE, GMAT etc. It'll take me a few months, so I'm targeting the 2021 slot for admissions. My CGPA is around 7(6.8) to be exact. Do I stand a chance of getting into a decent university? I'm going to prepare to write my SOP , and get a LOR from my professor's. Some advice, or tip's and pointers would be nice. Edited July 4, 2020 by I6MTW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarke Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 9 minutes ago, I6MTW said: loving expenses Sorry for distracting, but this cracked me up. LordPrabhzy and velu 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 20 minutes ago, Clarke said: Sorry for distracting, but this cracked me up. Lol, typo. I've edited it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NameGoesHere Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 Unless I missed it, what course are you applying for? Your costs would vary accordingly, as would the advice. I did an MBA from the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 1 hour ago, NameGoesHere said: Unless I missed it, what course are you applying for? Your costs would vary accordingly, as would the advice. I did an MBA from the US. Oh right, I forgot to mention that . I haven't decided on a specific course yet. I've majored in Computer Science and IT. So it would be something related to the field like MS in CSC, or a MS in Data Science/Analytics, or MS in Cyber Security. I have not decided on the exact specialized course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velu Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 if you cant pay your collage fee by yourself , why dont you ask your parents to pay again ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NameGoesHere Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 29 minutes ago, I6MTW said: Oh right, I forgot to mention that . I haven't decided on a specific course yet. I've majored in Computer Science and IT. So it would be something related to the field like MS in CSC, or a MS in Data Science/Analytics, or MS in Cyber Security. I have not decided on the exact specialized course. Well then I can't give you advice. Best of luck! I6MTW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechEng Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, I6MTW said: Oh right, I forgot to mention that . I haven't decided on a specific course yet. I've majored in Computer Science and IT. So it would be something related to the field like MS in CSC, or a MS in Data Science/Analytics, or MS in Cyber Security. I have not decided on the exact specialized course. Apply to CMU and write a really powerful SOP to gain a chance. Good LORs are very important too. Edit: Do you have work experience? I suggest you work for few years if you are able to, before you plan to pursue your master's degree. Edited July 4, 2020 by MechEng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechEng Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 I won't be able to help you with the choice of courses because I'm not a CS guy, but having a competitive work experience is of high importance today. A friend of mine from undergrad days in India was an average student in academics but he then worked for Honda Motors in Gurgaon for 4 years before he applied to Clemson ICAR (one of the best schools in US for automotive field) and gained an admit to it. So having a good work experience not only opens gates to top schools but also helps when you want to find work after graduation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) 46 minutes ago, MechEng said: I won't be able to help you with the choice of courses because I'm not a CS guy, but having a competitive work experience is of high importance today. A friend of mine from undergrad days in India was an average student in academics but he then worked for Honda Motors in Gurgaon for 4 years before he applied to Clemson ICAR (one of the best schools in US for automotive field) and gained an admit to it. So having a good work experience not only opens gates to top schools but also helps when you want to find work after graduation. 1 hour ago, MechEng said: Apply to CMU and write a really powerful SOP to gain a chance. Good LORs are very important too. Edit: Do you have work experience? I suggest you work for few years if you are able to, before you plan to pursue your master's degree. Okay, I do have an job offer, but that is from Infosys, and they usually take a year after graduation to recruit. Plus the salary, and work is below standards for a fresher. So, I was searching for other jobs and for better offers but no luck so far. Doing a master's was my main idea even then. I am actually a little weak in Programming, in the sense I know only the basics. So advice from my professors was that studying further would help broaden my prospects. Since you mentioned Carnegie Mellon, their acceptance rates are very low especially for CS since their one of the best universities. Would an SOP with LOR really broaden the prospects of a student with 7 CGPA (approx) and an estimated GRE score of 310-320(say on average)? Edited July 4, 2020 by I6MTW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, velu said: if you cant pay your collage fee by yourself , why dont you ask your parents to pay again ? Well If I could, I wouldn't be needing financial aid now would I? The cost would range from anywhere around 60k-100k USD depending on the university, and living expenses in that locality . Edited July 4, 2020 by I6MTW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechEng Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 1 hour ago, I6MTW said: Okay, I do have an job offer, but that is from Infosys, and they usually take a year after graduation to recruit. Plus the salary, and work is below standards for a fresher. So, I was searching for other jobs and for better offers but no luck so far. Doing a master's was my main idea even then. I am actually a little weak in Programming, in the sense I know only the basics. So advice from my professors was that studying further would help broaden my prospects. Since you mentioned Carnegie Mellon, their acceptance rates are very low especially for CS since their one of the best universities. Would an SOP with LOR really broaden the prospects of a student with 7 CGPA (approx) and an estimated GRE score of 310-320(say on average)? Did you get your undergrad degree in US? Because your gpa should be out of 4.00 scale and not out of 10.00. Anyways, you have a job offer from Infosys? Take it!!! If you have a year's free time, use it for honing your coding skills and if possible work on personal projects on anything you find interesting like creating a game using Python. But do join Infosys and learn from there! Trust me, any work experience has more value in the US than academic knowledge. I won't leave out my personal details here, but I took some of the toughest courses in mech department at my uni where instructors came from MIT and none of the recruiters or HR cared about them, they were rather more interested in the work I did before pursuing master's degree. 330 is a safe GRE score for CMU. But I'd say it again - work experience is very important, if you have experience and did master's, you will be favored more for the job than the candidate who did master's straight after bachelor's degree without work experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I6MTW Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 9 hours ago, MechEng said: Did you get your undergrad degree in US? Because your gpa should be out of 4.00 scale and not out of 10.00. Anyways, you have a job offer from Infosys? Take it!!! If you have a year's free time, use it for honing your coding skills and if possible work on personal projects on anything you find interesting like creating a game using Python. But do join Infosys and learn from there! Trust me, any work experience has more value in the US than academic knowledge. I won't leave out my personal details here, but I took some of the toughest courses in mech department at my uni where instructors came from MIT and none of the recruiters or HR cared about them, they were rather more interested in the work I did before pursuing master's degree. 330 is a safe GRE score for CMU. But I'd say it again - work experience is very important, if you have experience and did master's, you will be favored more for the job than the candidate who did master's straight after bachelor's degree without work experience. Okay will take all of this into account. I did my Bachelor's in India, hence the 10 scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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