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About original Ivy League Universities, read this first. Public Ivies are a set of 8 universities known for academic excellence. In 1985 author Richard Moll coined the term “Public Ivies” in his book The Public Ivies: America’s Flagship Undergraduate Colleges. At that time, Moll identified eight universities as public institutions that “provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price”. In addition to academic excellence, other factors considered by Moll include visual appearance, age, and school traditions as well as certain other Ivy League characteristics. The eight universities Moll identified:

• The College of William and Mary


• Miami University of Ohio


• The University of California at Berkeley, **


• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor


• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


• The University of Texas at Austin


• University of Vermont


• University of Virginia.
  

** some scholars include the other campuses of the UC system also.

Several schools considered as “Public Ivies” are consistently ranked among the top schools in the multitude of surveys on American colleges and universities undertaken by U.S. News & World Report. For instance, half of the top 12 ranked national universities for undergraduate teaching in U.S. News and World Report are of the original Public Ivies listed by Moll. Public Ivies can be found in the top ten ranked graduate schools in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine. Howevr, just in the case of main or private Ivy Leagues, it must be understood that this is a classification based on certain academic and non academic criteria. This does not suggest that these are absolutely the best 8 public universities in the US.

The College of William and Mary is the second oldest college in the US, now a cutting-edge research university. According to W&M website, “We’re highly selective, but also public, offering a world-class education without the sticker shock….We believe in original, hands-on research, something that’s missing from most liberal arts educations. That’s why our undergrads-from their very first class-are given unprecedented opportunities to work with peers and experienced faculty mentors on projects that inspire them.

To highlight The College of William Mary, we shall publish an interview with former student (class of 1965) and incoming Chancellor, The Honorable Robert Gates, former secretary of defense. Dr. Gates is the first defense secretary in the nation’s history to serve under presidents from different political parties. He is also the first and only entry level CIA employee to rise to the position of Director Central Intelligence. He also served as the president of Texas A&M university from 2002 to 2006.

Ref: Wikipedia, W&M website.

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Dr. Mithas worked in the most admired business group of India – the Tata group for about a decade and then decided to pursue his PhD from Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. At the end of his PhD, largely due to quality research work and publications, he was a much sought after candidate for the Assistant Professor position. He is now an Associate Professor at the Smit School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. He was identified as a 2011 MSI Young Scholar by the Marketing Science Institute. His book titled “Digital Intelligence: What Every Smart Manager Must Have for Success in an Information Age” is creating a buzz these days and we decided to interview him earlier this week for the app2us inspirational interview series. 

Dr. Mithas said, “It is likely that those graduating from say top 50 programs may have higher earnings (but they also cost more) than those graduating from say lower ranked programs, but I am yet to see any definitive study documenting higher returns for those graduating from the most expensive programs. In general, rankings are very noisy measures of a school’s quality.” About the book, he says, “The 4D framework for governance of digital resources focuses attention on four salient dimensions: decision rights, dollars, department role and configuration and delivery of IT services. It is important for firms to get the configuration of these four aspects of governance right vis-a-vis a firm’s strategy. From a top management perspective, I will first start with determining dollars or overall investment levels in IT consistent with a firm’s strategy as I discuss in the book.” The complete interview is published here 

According to him, the book is intended for general managers and students who want to improve their digital intelligence or digital IQ. The book espouses the belief that ITracy is an important competence that global leaders need to have in today’s economy to become more productive and informed members of the society and to enhance the performance of their organizations. The book lays out the most basic competencies and skill sets for thinking about IT and IT-enabled changes that all managers should have. The book can be purchased at Amazon.com
or Createspeace 

app2us.com recommends the book for any MBA or MIS student who wants to understand the importance of IT to the success of business. It is also recommended as a casual reading for CS and CE students to better understand the real life applications of all their research. If you are a twitter user, you can follow app2us at twitter.com/app2us and Dr. Sunil Mithas at twitter.com/ITisIMP 

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Most MIS prograns accept either the GRE General Test or the GMAT score. The MS in MIS degree is significantly different as compared to MS in Computer Science. While a degree in CS prepares you for a job in Software development, an MIS degree equips you with both technical and business skills. Students in the area of MIS can expect to work in the consulting companies like Deloitte – in the area of technology consulting. 

Here are some of the leading Universities that offer MS programs in the area of MIS/IS:
Carnegie Mellon University (Heinz school): Master of Information Systems Management (MISM)
University of Maryland, College Park (Smith): MS in Business: Information Systems
Purdue University (Krannert): MS in MIS
University of Arizona (Eller): MS in MIS
Texas A & M University (Mays): MS in MIS
Cornell University
University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign
The George Washington University
The University of Texas at Dallas
University at Buffalo – SUNY
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Florida
University of Michigan
Rochester Institute of Technology
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The University of Texas at Arlington
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
University of Denver 

For those who wish to understand more about the importance of technology to businesses, this is a good suggested reading. Digital Intelligence: What Every Smart Manager Must Have for Success in an Information Age

For deeper understanding of related issues and some common questions that the applicants to MIS have, app2us.com shall publish an interview next week with the author of this book, Dr. Sunil Mithas, associate professor at Smith Shool of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. You can email your questions to feedback AT app2us.com, we shall include some of the interesting questions by our readers. 

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21 (2008): Based on a true story, MIT senior math major Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is accepted into Harvard Medical School but cannot afford the $300,000 cost. Despite a 44 MCAT score and top grades, Ben faces a fierce competition for the prestigious Robinson Scholarship that would pay entirely for the medical school. He and five other MIT students get trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently take Vegas casinos for millions in winnings, under the guidance of a MIT professor! 

3. Princeton University 

**A Beautiful Mind (2001): Based on a true story of the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. He graduated from MIT and started to teach there. But his career gets derailed due to . Much later, the head of the Princeton mathematics department, who grants him permission to work out of the library and audit classes. Years pass and as Nash grows older he learns to ignore his hallucinations. Eventually he earns the privilege of teaching again. In 1994, he won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games, based on the work mostly done four decades ago.  

4. Carnegie Mellon University 

Wonder Boys (2000): It stars Michael Douglas as professor Grady Tripp, a novelist who teaches creative writing at an unnamed Pittsburgh university (not CMU). He has been unable to finish his second novel, his young wife has left him, and he is sleeping with the Chancellor of the university (Frances McDormand), who is the wife of the chairman of his department.Wonder Boys was filmed in Pittsburgh, including locations at Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, and Shady Side Academy. 

Smart People (2008 ): An unexpected romance with a charming former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) and a surprise visit from his wild adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) conspire to turn the life of widowed professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) upside down. Smart People was filmed on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including several scenes at Carnegie Mellon University. 

5. University of Texas at Austin 

Man of the house (2005): The movie is a crime comedy starring Tommy Lee Jones. A group of cheerleaders from the University of Texas at Austin witness a murder. Lt. Roland Sharp (Jones), a lonesome Texas Ranger goes undercover as an assistant cheerleading coach of UT Austin to protect the cheerleaders 

6. UCLA 

Old School (2003): A comedy film starring Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell as three thirty-somethings who seek to re-live their college days by starting a fraternity, and the tribulations they encounter in doing so. The film is set in La Crescenta, California. Filming locations included UCLA and USC. 

7. UC Irvine 

Creator (1985): Harry Wolper (Peter O’Toole) is a Nobel laureate in biology, obsessed by the possibility to clone his beloved late wife, Lucy. Helped by a student and a egg-donor girl, Meli, Dr. Wolper finally succeeds in the cloning process, but the events leading to this achievement create strong bonds between hims and Meli. The Neuroscience labs and exteriors of UCI were featured in this science fiction-comedy film. 

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972): A science fiction film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It is the fourth of five films in the original Planet of the Apes series. Several of the (then) futurist buildings at UCI were involved in the filming. The School of Social Science was transformed into a violent training center for simian slaves, and its courtyard became an ape auction block. 

Ocean’s Eleven (2001): UCI continues to attract movie makers even in the 21st century. In the movie, the building where the crew steals the EMP device is actually the Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility located in the College of Medicine. 

8. Marshall University 

** We are Marshall (2006): Based on a true story of the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 37 football players on the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team. The team’s new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.It addresses the rebuilding of the program and the healing that the community undergoes. It stars Matthew McConaughey as head coach Jack Lengyel. Truly inspirational movie, a must watch. 

9. Naval Academy 

Annapolis (2006): The film revolves around Jake Huard, a young man who dreams of one day attending the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. This picture was made without the support of the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense, thus not allowed to be shot at the Naval Academy. 

10. USC 

Do to close proximity with Hollywood, the USC campus has been the location for many famous films. The Graduate, A League of their Own, Mighty Ducks II, Being John Malkovich, Forrest Gump, For Love of the Game, Legally Blonde, Krippendorf’s Tribe, Thirteen Days, What Women Want…the list goes on. 

Source: Lots of movie watching, Wikipedia and IMDB. 

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By now, most MS/PhD/MBA applicants are done with GRE/GMAT and TOEFL tests and submitted the applications. After months of being very busy with the application process, now there is not much to do for the next two months, except for to wait for the decisions. This period can be very stressful for some. Here are some tips to avoid stress:

1. Take a break from the applications and universities related activities.

2. Meet your friends and family in real world (not facebook). From March to June you will get busy with visa and travel plans and then shall be gone to USA.

3. Check your application status online, but do not overdo it.

4. It is very common for the application status to get reflected late, as the universities are very busy with the applications – status update is always low on their priority list. Do not call the universities about your status.

5. Do not bombard professors with emails. After getting admitted, you may contact one or two in the universities where you got admitted.

Our next blog post (comimg up tomorrow) will have some additional ideas to have fun.

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1. Getting a job in the US after the degree
For most of you this is the reason for thinking of USA as a place to study. So what is wrong with this goal, don’t we all study to benefit from it somehow? While most international students do end up getting jobs and some of them really well paid jobs but this should not be the main reason. One cannot count on getting a decent job – it is not at all guaranteed. And we are not talking about recession of economic downturn here – getting jobs has always been very tough for international students. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The job search process can be too prolonged and grueling and it is not for everyone to mentally survive that kind of ordeal. So if you are getting a fully funded admission, go for it, it does not matter if you do not find a good job. Just return with your degree – you lost nothing. On the other hand if you took loans (or your parents sold their home and land) for the degree, then not getting a job in US is no more an option.


2. Getting a job before completing the degree
Some ‘consultants’ and ‘agents’ in Hyderabad, India and elsewhere may try to convince you that they will help you get admitted to such a dream university that you will attend classes in the evening and make dollars during the day from the day one. More technically, they will offer CPT from the first semester. Sorry, your dream is over, such ideas could lead you to humiliation, deportation or jail-time or all of these. Not to mention a GPS enabled tracking device, meant for people accused of having committed a crime. This did happen actually. Read more.


3. To be with someone
Getting reunited with your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife is an honorable idea indeed. However getting admission in some random university, just to get an I-20 and a F-1 visa so that you can enter the US is a bad idea. With little effort and determination this could be converted to a good idea. Stretch yourself, study hard for GRE, and with same motive, apply to reputable universities in the area, that will enable you to be in the US, and gain a quality education.


4. Green card
Many people plan on the lines of “I want to get a permanent residency (green card), so I want to pursue a degree in USA/Canada/Australia…” In USA, unless you have a PhD, it is very difficult to get a green card for people from India, China, Mexico and Philippines. It takes from 2 to 8 years after the degree to get a green card. For more unlucky people who get laid off or change jobs early during the process, it can take much longer.


5. US Citizenship
With all the recession and losing its economic might, US remains a very interesting and welcoming country for talented people worldwide. So there is no harm in dreaming to be a US citizen someday. However that is not a good reason to try to study in USA. Faster paths exist, for example, the diversity lottery program etc. Moreover the day you acquire US citizenship, not much will change career-wise. It is not as if people with green card or citizenship get paid more or get a promotion. If citizenship itself was so helpful, then millions of educated Americans won’t be jobless today or at any given time. Having said that, the citizenship does help in job search and one becomes eligible for more jobs, particularly those related to government and national security.


6. Having a good time
Some people apply to US universities for having some fun in USA. Get a tourist visa instead and go visit Las Vegas. Why waste the time and energy and other valuable resources, when someone better focused can do better if admitted.


7. Your current situation sucks big-time
Well, it could be worse in the US. If you are unable to handle the pressure of studies or job in your own country, where the environment is familiar, chances are high that life could be more miserable in the US.


8. For doing an MBA in the future
As ridiculous as it sounds, there is a good number of applicants (including app2us users) who apply to MS programs for the sole purpose of applying to MBA programs ‘few’ years later. Please apply to MBA programs directly.


9. To return to home country with very high prospects
This could be a good reason, if you are headed to good universities. It is listed under bad reasons for a reason – to warn you against studying in non-reputable universities. If you study at MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Stanford etc., no doubt you will command professional respect worldwide. However world is a well-connected place, and a degree from an unknown university in US does not impress people anymore, in any country, not even in the third world. Why pursue a degree that will make you a laughing stock worldwide. “Hmm… this guy was not good enough for anything here, so he went to this XYZ US University…”


10. Desire to be super rich
Again, not a bad idea, but the expectations management is the key here. As long as you understand that millions of Americans who study at US Universities are not millionaires, (despite having the advantage of language and culture), so getting a degree from even a top university, does not necessarily equip you for this. However, you can try. Statistically, some of you reading this will indeed have a great future in the US which includes the possibility of becoming multi-millionaires or even billionaires. Just don’t count on it. Good luck!

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Most of the application deadlines are coming up and this is the crunch time for applicants. Unfortunately in some countries the test taking slots outnumber the applicants and some of them end up getting a test date very close to or even after the application deadlines. But there is hope.

Applicants who find themselves in this situation should focus on submitting the online application on time, irrespective of the availability of the test score. If the GRE, GMAT or TOEFL score is not known, leave the field blank. If the field is mandatory just write 0 and submit the application. But the application must be submitted on time, else there will be no hope. After submitting the online application, the applicant should send an email to the graduate admission office of the University and graduate advisor of the Department, explaining that her test score will be delayed and requesting to consider the application as soon as the score is reported. The applicant should again inform that University and the department soon after taking the test – and report their unofficial score or the range, as available.

The applicants are strongly advised to follow up with ETS about the score being reported to the University, and also follow up with the department via emails, but do not overdo it. Meanwhile you can check the application status online, but for most of the universities the application status is woefully behind the real-time, specially during the peak months of January and February. While a “GRE score received” always means that the score was received, but “GRE score not received” does not mean much, as the University is busy with processing the applications rather than updating the online status.

Please bear in mind that not all universities are equally flexible but above guideline is a good way to move forward, should you find yourself in the tight spot. Good luck with the applications.

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Effective August 2011, the GRE General Test is being conducted in a new format which includes a new scoring pattern. Whether or not a scale of 170 makes any sense is anybody’s guess. But applicants need to understand the new system in order to apply to Universities where they fit in.

In the old format, both Verbal and Quantitative sections were scored out of 800 each, and in the Computer based test, a test taker could score 200 to 800. In the new format, each section carries a maximum score of 170, with the possible range being 130 to 170. If one gets all questions wrong, the score will be 130, for all correct answers the score will be 170.

Since test takers, books, admission committees, professors, all are used to the scale of 800, and more importantly, a good number of applicants still will apply with older scores, the best way to understand the new pattern is to understand the equivalence with the old pattern. Let us consider an example where a test taker scores 166 in Quant and 151 in Verbal. 166 in Q is equivalent to 800/800 (94th percentile) and 151 in V is equivalent to 460/800 (51st percentile). If this applicant is applying to science or engineering or economics, this could be considered an excellent GRE score.

Now addressing the classic question, “How much is a good GRE score?”. First read this. Candidates should try to do well as per best of their ability. GRE General Test is one of many parameters and certainly not the most important factor for graduate admissions. For top Engineering programs a Quantitative score of 161 (86th percentile) and Verbal score of 153 (62nd percentile) should be good enough to get admission anywhere, provided other parameters are strong. This corresponds to good old 770/800 in Quant and 500/800 in Verbal.

Ref: GRE Guide to the use of scores

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In an important development related to the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University, the University President Dr. Graham Spanier was fired today, along with Joe Paterno, who is among the most successful football coaches ever. The Penn State board has named Dr. Rodney A. Erickson, executive vice president and provost, as the interim president of the University. Tom Bradley, assistant coach, has been named interim head football coach.

The Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal is a child sexual abuse scandal involving allegations against former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and allegations of a university coverup of those incidents. Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator under head coach Joe Paterno, retired in 1999 but retained access to Penn State’s athletic facilities. A 2011 grand jury investigation reported that Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant, told Paterno in 2002 that he had seen Sandusky performing a sex act on a 10-year-old boy in Penn State football’s shower facilities. Paterno then reported the allegations to Penn State athletic director Tim Curley. In November 2011, Sandusky was arrested on 40 counts of molesting eight young boys over a 15-year period. In addition, Curley and university Senior Vice President Gary Schultz resigned after being charged with failing to report the incident to police and lying to a grand jury regarding what they knew about the incident. Paterno and University President Graham Spanier were not charged, but both received criticism for their handling of the allegations. Earlier today, Paterno announced he would retire at the end of the season, but hours later, Paterno and Spanier were formally removed from their positions, effective immediately, by the Penn State Board of Trustees.

After a series of cover ups and failing to uphold high moral standards, finally the board of trustees have taken a tough stand, which will hopefully lead to a safer environment at Penn State and elsewhere and set high standards of accountability. Those applying to Penn State should continue with their plans. We express solidarity with the Penn State community and with the victims of abuse.

Note: The matter is under investigation and all accused are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Dr. Spanier is not charged with a crime so far.

Ref: Penn State announcement

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On October 14th, Professor Pradipta Banerji joined IIT Roorkee, India as Director. app2us.com is the first media organization to carry his interview as Director. He talks at length about his plans for the future of IIT Roorkee, research at IITs and his experiences as a student in the USA. Prof Banerji has completed his MS and PhD from University of California, Berkeley. He worked at IIT Bombay from 1988 till 2011 as Professor of Civil Engineering and has been the Dean of Alumni and International Relations at IIT Bombay.

As we understand, the interview has created a lot of buzz worldwide. Here are some interesting feedback we got from some students and alumni of IIT Roorkee: Rajat Gupta, a student of B Tech Electrical Engineering 3rd year, and president of IEEE student chapter at IIT Roorkee said,”Hope he brings about some real and visible changes, as promised in the interview.” Digendra Singh Rathor, a student of B. Tech. 3rd year Mechanical Engineering, and Marketing Head of IIT Roorkee Motorsports, said, “He can transform IIT Roorkee to the IIT Roorkee of my dreams. He has the vision and potential to bring IIT Roorkee among the top 3 IITs within next couple of years.” Sharad Gupta, Industrial Engineering graduate of 1998 and currently Vice president of strategy at OCBC Bank in Singapore and Mckinsey Alumnus said, “Looks like a great choice for the Director position, I especially liked his pragmatic outlook”. Arvind Panwar who graduated in 1995 and the President of IIT Roorkee Alumni Association of Bay Area chapter said,”It is good to know the vision of Professor Banerji for IIT Roorkee, there is a lot of excitement among the alumni about his ideas and plans. We wish him great success.”

What can an applicant to US University learn from the thoughts of Professor Banerji? Professor Banerji, in his exclusive interview to app2us.com said, “Study in the USA, if you get a scholarship or can afford the high cost of education. Although the standards are showing a dip because of many years of reduced funding from state and federal sources, it is currently still the best education system in the world. Study there and imbibe the best from that system. Then return to your country and try to apply in an innovative manner some of the things that you have taken away from the US system.” The full interview is here.

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