Tutorials on Apping
This page contains some apping fundamentals from the people who have
mastered the Art of Apping over the years.
The info presented here is in the form of a course.
| Course Name |
Introduction to Apping on INFOLANKA |
| Course No |
AP 101 |
| Course Instructor |
Class of '97, UCLA |
| Tutor |
Gananath Wijeratne |
| Course Outline |
The course covers the various aspects of apping starting from giving
GRE to getting a VISA with emphasis on EE Depts. |
Tutorial 1 : GRE/TOEFL/TSE
References : Barron's Guide
It is very important to get a good GRE and TOEFL score. Take your GRE
as early as possible. Slog your balls out mugging the wordlists (from Barron's).
TOEFL is a piece of cake for anybody who has been conversing in English
during his Under-Graduate course. Some univs also require TSE for TA positions
... but it is not all that useful. Also remember that it costs $75 which
could pay the app fee for at least two more univs.
Even if you don't get a good GRE or TOEFL (not possible!) score, all
is not lost. If you have time to take it again, JUST DO IT, otherwise you
can always satisfy yourself with apping a bit low.
There is not much more to be said 'cause it all depends on you. If
you want a good school, you gotto work hard.
Tutorial 2 : Pre-Apping
References : Peterson's Guide
Generally pre-apping is done in the Summer vacs before the final year.
You can either pre-app by post or by e-mail. The advantage of sending by
post is that it is almost sure that the letter will reach there and also
it is a job of a few days writing all the addresses on 70 - 90 envelopes.
Also, the addresses are more easily available from Peterson's Guide.
For pre-apping on-line, you gotto have the e-mail addresses of the
Grad
Offices of various univs and a Sample Preapp.
It is much faster and at times the friendly Grad-Secy's reply to your mail
confirming that you will receive the app packet soon. The major hassle
is to get these e-mail addresses. Another disadvantage is that generally
it spreads over a greater time period. Anyway, the choice is yours.
The best part is that you really don't need to worry too much if you
don't get app packets from some univs `coz at the time of apping you always
get it from a friend or a friend's friend or ....
One more thing, at this point you might like to have a ranking list
of your department which can be obtained from :
Tutorial 3 : Sucking
References :
This is the most important part of the entire apping process. Sucking
is the process of writing to the profs in your field with your resume and
intent to join their univ. Important because this is what decides which
univs you would be apping to.
Start with making a good Suck Letter.
Do try and write your own suck before you cog one from the above link.
Bug your seniors as much as you can about the nitty-gritty details in your
suck letter. Anyway, ultimately all the suck letters (at least their structure!)
turn out to be nearly the same. I sometimes wonder when those profs out
there will start a standard format for the suck letters!
Nowz the time to get the e-mail addresses of as many profs as possible.
This is a major time consuming task made easy by Your's Truly ...
'coz towards the end of this tutorial, we give the e-mail addresses of
most of the profs in reputed EE univs ... places where an Sri Lankan would
app to!
Try and suck as many profs as possible ... Suck 'em Dry!. Don't
hesitate in sucking profs of higher rank univs.
Now wait for the initial replies and experience the thrill of making
the first step towards the land of stars and stripes. But beware of standard
replies ... which you might get from many profs.
Try and have some co-ordination amongst all the apping people at this
stage too.
Finally, as I promised the e-mail addresses of the profs. We at
UCLA, are broadly divided in several groups according to the field of research.
We give the links accordingly.
Tutorial 4A : Apping Begins - Some
General Fundamentals
References :
So, now that you have your suck replies etc., it's time to make one
of the bigger decisions about the places you will app to.
The task of deciding the univ is made easier if you try and co-ordinate
your efforts with at least the guys in your field from your institute.
By this stage, it would be very clear to you that an RAship totally depends
on the Prof. It is he who funds you if you have an RA. So, it is wise that
you guys try and follow the policy of "One Prof - One Student".
A TA on the other hand, depends much on the univ - and your luck. It is
here that your TSE and TOEFL scores might come in handy. This is totally
dependent on your calibre and there's not much a prof can do to get you
a TA-ship. Of course, if you are in for a Fellowship, man, you must be
some crackoo in life and there couldn't be anything better than that.
Tutorial 4B : Apping Begins - Details
References :
In this tutorial, we would look at the documents generally required
by each univ :
-
Form : The university form all filled up. Some univs have only one form
while others have two forms : One for the Grad Office and the other for
the Department. There's no need to elaborate more on this as generally
the univ catalogues explain the entire procedure very clearly.
-
Transcripts : Don't blindly take two Transcripts per univ. You will be
surprised to know that many univs require only one transcript. So, do count
and order the precise number you require plus two extra (just in case!)
-
App Fee : Try and apply for a deferral for both
the app fee and GRE/TOEFL scores : try writing to your prof Depts as well
as the Grad Office. According to my experience, EE Depts generally don't
defer the fee ... but there's no harm trying!
-
GRE/TOEFL Scores : Even if you don't get a deferral for these scores, generally
there's no need of sending the original copies (they cost helluva lot,
man!). Send in Xerox copies of these scores and if the univ desperately
requires the originals, they will contact you later and you can always
send 'em at that time.
-
Statement of Purpose : Here is the most trickiest of all the work. You
need to put in a lot of effort in coming up with a nice impressive SOP.
I am not sure how much of a role this plays in getting a schol ... but
somehow everyone considers it to be really important. Moreover, if you
finally come up with a nice one ... it'll make you feel very proud and
you can use it later for your jobs too! Here
we provide a lot of sample SOPs.
-
Other Documents : The other stuff which people generally send along with
their apps are Resume with Research Summary (tex file),
Recos (very important!) and some other stuff which I don't remember right
now :)
Try to send your packets as early as possible so that you can send it by
Speed Post rather than the other expensive couriers. Always be on the lookout
for friends going abroad. This is cheaper as well as faster.
Tutorial 6a : Waiting for the Sun ...
References :
Now that you have sent your app packets, you should write to all the
profs who replied. Do not hesitate in writing even to the ones who sent
standard replies. Of course, you would get acknowledgments only from the
ones who showed interest earlier on. The univs generally take at least
a month or two before giving out the final decision ... unless a prof.
is majorly interested in you and hurries things up just for you. Otherwise,
the decisions can come in as late as June-July. So, now what you have to
do is log into your account daily (there sure is going to be a lot of rush
in the PC Lab after the lectures) and just wait for the
You have new mail
prompt.
For the people who have a lot of choices and have to manipulate/negotiate
with one of the univs, I just have one piece of advice : Don't be too scared
of the April 15th (the D-DAY ... ) deadline, but do try and avoid getting
into the mess of rejecting one univ and taking up another one. Generally,
these ppl in the US are very considerate and understand your dilemma. So,
they do not take too much Nabad unless you have pained them a lot.
P.S: The title of this tutorial just suggests my fascination for The
Doors.
Tutorial 6b : Things to Take
References :
Sorry, guys, currently, I am coming straight to this section.
If you reach this tutorial, you have finally cleared all the exams
of the course and my heartiest for
the same. Now, all you need to do is Relax, wait for all the papers to
arrive and apply for your Visa. Simultaneously,
try and contact the Indian Association of your University and get your
fundamentals cleared about the place and it's requirements. Mostly, the
list of "Things to Take" will be
the same as the ones provided here.
Some other apping links:
The following are (almost) exhaustive links to U.S. univs in general
and their Electrical Engineering Departments.
Course Evaluation:
Write in to Gananath
Wijeratne: gananath@ee.ucla.edu
The rest of this page is still Under Construction
Wait for a few more days!!