Expert: Bruce - 2/9/2008

Question
QUESTION: Dear Bruce,
  I am a student of final year of Bachelor of mechanical engineering from Mumbai University, India. I appeared for GRE and TOEFL-iBT in July 2007 and October 2007 respectively. My results in each of them are as follows:

GRE: Analytical: 800/800 ( 94 percentile), Verbal:650/800 (93 percentile) Analytical Writing: 4/6.

TOEFL-iBT: 107/120, (Reading:30/30, Listening: 29/30, Speaking: 24/30, Writing:24/30).
The average percentage I could score throughout my bachelor degree is 62%. ( I dont know the GPA conversion, Our university doesnt rate us in GPA.)

For this profile, what range of colleges shall I choose so that I can get RA or TA or some kind of financial Aid? Some of my choices for MS would be Aerospace, Nuclear, Operations research.
I am going to apply for fall 2009. I am completing my bachelors course in 2008 and I have decided to have one year experience, either industry or reserach, between 2008-09. which one of them shall I choose as far as my CV for Grad applications is concerned?

ANSWER: Raghunath,

Your GRE scores are very solid, and they will produce some options for you. Anything you can do to beef up and confirm your English language proficiency will be important. Your writing in English seems to be pretty good - but this is alwys an issue for grad assistants coming from abraod - how good is their English on a day to day functional level. So, keep strenghtening that skill.

If I were you, I would choose a range of schools to apply to, in terms of "prestige."  You might also want to look at PhD programs - sometimes those students get priority for aid over masters students."

In my part of the world, the major universities are:

University of Buffalo
University of Rochester
Syracuse University
Binghamton University
SUNY Albany

All good schools. You'd need to look at them more closely to find the program you want.

Before you apply, you should have a good idea how much of your own funds you have to use for grad school. This will be important to you as you look, and also as you file the paperwork needed for the I20. Also, if your final bachelors degree college records are not in English, have them translated and certified by an approved agency.

I'm sure this will work out OK for you, though, you seem like a very bright person.

Bruce

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Bruce,
Thank you so much.. Well, I have spoken with some of my professors and friends and I decided to opt directly for a PhD rather than MS course. Does this affect my university selection also? I mean, would I be able to get admission into a comparatively better university than before and with RA and TA? As per funding is concerned a partial help will do but I will prefer full funding.

Answer
I think the PhD will present you with more options - I don't think that there are many stand alone masters programs in the fields you are looking at (except for operations).

Be sure to select a variety of schools, a doctorate in these fields is going to take you places - you don't to have one from the top "name" school. Your large state universities is a good place to start looking.

I'm glad to answer more questions as they arise.

Best Regards.

Bruce