Applying to US Universities

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Most of the top business schools tend to conduct a phone interview for the short-listed candidates. The interview is not to test the applicant’s knowledge but a general discussion aimed to understand the candidate better and to determine if the applicant is really interested in that business school.

Some of the commonly asked questions in the interview:

Tell us something about yourself. Speak for about two minutes highlighting your key strengths. There is no need to tell your academics or GMAT score. They have it

What diversity do you bring to our program? If you are a Indian male techie, this is very crucial because they presume you do not bring any diversity to a applicant pool already filled with your type. Think about all your achievements and skills far from IT and Computers and make a strong case.

What are your long-term goals? Be yourself. Make sure you do not contradict your essays.

Why our program? Your answer should reflect that you have really read their webpage and understood the main strengths of that B-school. Also project as if this is your top choice and you are very excited about the possibility of studying there.

If you do not understand a question request the interviewer to repeat it. In the end thank the interviewer for her time. Now the most important piece of advice if you are an international applicant - most people have a tough time understanding the English accent of people from other countries specially on phone. So in a phone interview you need to speak clearly and very very slowly with lots of punctuations.

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170 students will be awarded scholarships of $1000 and $5000. Application deadline is 15th May 2008. Winners will be declared by July of 2008.
The Tylenol Scholarship program is now in its sixteenth year. This year, up to $350,000 in scholarships will be awarded to future doctors, nurses and other health professionals.
Link to the application:
www.tylenol.com/page.jhtml?id=tylenol/news/subptyschol.inc

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“I am very much interested in pursuing graduate studies at your university because your University has world class research facilities” sounds impressive? Not to the admission committee. This sentence can be written by any applicant for any University. Consider this, “My research interest is in the area of Computer Graphics. I want to pursue my MS in Computer Science at the University of North Carolina, Chappell Hill because of the pioneering research being done in the area of graphics.” If other qualifications are similar, the second applicant with a clear specific statement is more likely to be selected over the first one.

Although Statement of Purpose has a similar requirement at most MS and PhD programs, some do have specific expectations, questions or word limits. After you have written your statement of purpose, rewrite it for each target University. Be sure to write the name of your target University at least once in your statement like in the above example. Also check if your research interest is an area of focus for that particular department; else mention your other interests which match the work at that particular University.

Do not write names of Professors in your statement of purpose because you do not want to narrow your sources of funding. Be very careful against errors in copy pasting. Double check you are not praising the artificial intelligence research of University of Texas in your statement of purpose for UCLA.

Your statement of purpose is one of the most important aspects of your Application to US Universities. If you are diligent and follow the advice outlined in this post, you will significantly increase your chances of admission. Got a question? Ask the question on our forum at www.app2us.com - all guidance is free of cost.

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University Language Services organized an essay contest and they found that the Students Who Attend Schools in More Than One Country See Benefits of Both.Following is a direct quote from the Press Relese.
Nervous about studying in America?
Don’t be.
Foreign schools are more rigorous than their American counterparts, say students who have studied in the United States and abroad.

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International students graduating from US Universities require either a valid visa like H1B or the OPT to work full-time. Those who fail to get an OPT or H1B must return to their native countries.

The H1B visa process is long and a new H1B worked can start to work on H1B status only starting October 1 of a particular year. Students complete their studies and graduate in December, or May or August or any other month depending on the schedule of the Universities or depending on their own thesis defense date. The OPT (Optional Practical Training) allows the students to work full-time from their graduation / completion date to the next October 1.

For the past many years the OPT was given for 12 months per degree level. Starting 2007 the H1B quotas got filled on day one itself resulting in many qualified applicants denied the H1B. Those who could not get H1B visa must stop working in the USA at the end of expiration of their 12 months OPT.

Due to this situation DHS on April 8, 2008 issues a interim final order to increase the OPT period by 17 months to a total of 29 months for qualifying students. The key criterion is that the degree major should be one of the STEM fields, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. MBA students do not qualify for the extension.

What it means to you the app2us.com user? This is good news for those applying to US Universities for Science and Engineering related programs. If you are an applicant to MS or PhD programs in the STEM list, you will hopefully get a 29 month OPT. This will give you and your employer two shots at your H1B application in two consecutive years. Even if you do not get or do not wish to get a H1B visa, in 29 months of full-time work you may be able to earn enough dollars to be able to recover the cost of your education. If you are undecided between your goal of getting an MS or MBS from a US University, please keep this factor in mind while taking a decision. Got a question? Ask the question on our forum at www.app2us.com - all guidance is free of cost.

Imporatant OPT extension related links:

NAFSA - 29-Month OPT Rule Updates

USCIS Page about OPT

DHS Interim Final Rule

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In state tuition and out of state tuition

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Private Universities have a flat fee. Public Universities offer a lower tuition fee to the residents of their own state. This lower fee is referred to as in-state tuition. Only US citizens and permanent residents who belong to that US state are eligible for in-state benefits. Residency can be acquired after living in that state for a certain amount of time, typically two years. Again international students studying on F-1 or J-1 visa cannot claim to be state residents even if they have been living there for any length of time.

The in state tuition rates are typically 30% to 50% of the out of state tuition. At some Universities international students who are working as TA/RA get to pay the in state tuition fee because they are considered to be state employees. Even the receipients of open scholarships are awarded in-state tuition. This varies from state to state. This facility is available in almost all public Universities of Texas.

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The 2009 US News Rankings are out. The online access costs US dollars 14.95. While we do not endorse the rankings or suggest that you buy the online edition, it may not be a bad investment if you can afford it. Rankings are a good starting point to shortlist the Universities. Once you shortlist a few Universities based on your academic profile, app2us.com can help you make the final selection. Visit our forum at www.app2us.com

Here are the top 20 Engineering programs:

1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. UC Berkeley
4. Georgia Tech
5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
6. Cal Tech
7. Carnegie Mellon
8. University of Southern California
9. Cornell
10. University of Michigan Ann Arbor
11. UC San Diego
12. UT Austin
13. Texas A&M University College Station
14. UCLA
15. Purdue
16. University of Wisconsin Madison
17. University of Maryland College Park
18. Princeton University
19. UC Santa Barbara
20. Northwestern University

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Now you can get a prestigious Chicago GSB Executive MBA at Singapore. The Executive MBA is a 21 month program. The program begins in June and runs for 21 months. In each quarter 2 courses are offered and face to face classes are conducted for 2 weeks during a quarter. The faculty at Singapore comes from the main Chicago campus. The MBA degree is awarded by the University of Chicago.

Neither GRE nor GMAT is required but those with insufficient academic preparation may be asked to take GMAT. TOEFL is not normally required but you can be required to take TOEFL if you fail to demonstrate basic English proficiency.

It is not required to be a resident of Singapore for enrolment to the Singapore campus. Many students fly from other countries to attend this program. Some of the companies that recruit at the Singapore campus include GE Money, Deloitte Consulting, Lehman Brothers, Cargill, ABN Amro, Microsoft, Motorola, and many more.

Website of the Chicago GSB Executive MBA Singapore campus.