Applying To American Graduate Schools in Engineering and Fine Arts

Applying to American
Graduate Schools in
Engineering and Fine Arts
A Handbook for Indian Students
Diwaker Gupta

c 2008 Diwaker Gupta. All rights reserved.
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Contents
Preface v
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Note to Fine Arts Applicants . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Before 5
2.1 Do you really want to go to grad school? . . . . 5
2.2 When to start applying? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 What universities want? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.5 Where to apply? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.6 MS or PhD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.8 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3 During 23
3.1 Online Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2 Résumé . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
iii
3.3 Statement of Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.4 Recommendation letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5 Approaching faculty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.6 Sending the application material . . . . . . . . . 31
3.8 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4 After 35
4.1 Visa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2 Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3 Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.5 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5 Conclusion 41
A Packing 43
B English words
for common items 51
Index 57
iv
Preface
First, a word of warning: this book is an experiment. I always

wanted to write a book, but it was one of those things that
I kept postponing for a much later time in my life, when,
through age and experience, I would have become wiser and
acquired expertise in the subject matter. Writing a book is a
big commitment too, so I never had the time or the inclination
to take the plunge. Not to mention that I never felt that
writing was my true calling, though I do enjoy writing and
sharing information that might be useful to others.
Having said that, I have tried my best to make this book
concise and informative. The material for this book originally
appeared on my website as an article titled “Apping for Dum-
mies”, and for a while it was the most popular content on my
website. Besides a few minor updates, that article remained
largely unchanged for several years, until recently when I was
approached by some good friends (see below) with the sug-
gestion that I turn it into a book. At first I thought they were
joking! In my mind, that article was hardly worthy of formal
publication, let alone as a book.
But after giving it some thought, I figured if I was ever
going to write a book, now was as good a time as any, and
I would give the same advice to all of you secretly-wishing-
to-be-authors out there. It was also a good opportunity to
make the much needed updates to the article. In the process
I have also tried to get inputs from people in areas other than
engineering so that the material can be more accessible and
v
applicable for people in all disciplies. Thus, this book was
born.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Asim Shankar, Abhay Agarwal, Manav
Ratan Mittal, Sravanthi and Shantanu Sharma for their com-
ments, suggestions and contributions. I’m also indebted to
Arindam Chakravorty, Akhil Gupta, Ambuj Tewari and Mahim
Mishra for their valuable inputs. A special shout out to Ab-
haya and Jaya for pushing (well, nudging really) me to write
this book! A special thanks to my advisor, Amin Vahdat for
his valuable insights from the other side of the fence. And last
but not the least by a long shot, I’m indebted to my fiancée
Surabhi for her support, encouragement, feedback (specially
on aesthetics and formatting), and for designing the cover.
Feedback
Much of this book would be impossible without feedback
from you, the readers. I would love to hear your comments,
compliments, complaints and criticisms. Heck, I’d love to just
hear from you! I can be reached at diwaker@floatingsun.net.
Diwaker Gupta
San Diego, CA
August, 2008
vi
Chapter 1
Introduction
So you’ve somehow dragged yourself through 4 (or 3, as the

case may be) years of undergraduate studies, and you find
yourself at the crossroads (yet) again — what next? There
are options aplenty: the job market in India is fantastic these
days, you could always opt for an increasingly lucrative Mas-
ters in Business Administration (better known as MBA), you
might want to join the Indian Administrative Services (IAS),
or if you really like Newton’s laws of motion, you might be
perfectly happy continuing what you were doing: study fur-
ther.
Perhaps you are really interested in learning more; or you
just don’t want to do an MBA or go for IAS, which leaves
further studies as the only option; or you haven’t given much
thought to the matter, and having got decent grades, are tak-
ing the common course of action. Whatever the reason for
going to graduate school 1 , most likely you will have a lot of
doubts about many things and a lot of questions will come
up throughout the application process. This book is my at-
tempt to answer some of those questions, borne primarily out
of the frustration and confusion I went through when I was
applying for grad school. But be warned that this is based on
my experiences and passed down word-of-mouth knowledge
and is by no means an exhaustive treatise.
1 for brevity, I will say grad school when I mean graduate school
1
The key to a successful application process is planning.
Applying to grad school is both expensive and time consum-
ing, so make sure you plan well ahead and meticulously. An-
other very important point is to be realistic, but I’ll come to
that later. Applying to grad school can be a frustrating ex-
perience at times. Applicants often feel helpless — to the
point of paranoia sometimes — at the perceived lack of con-
trol on the whole application process. The key is to make
well informed decisions, give it your best shot and hope for
the best.
This book is divided into three broad sections:
• Before you start the application process: the essential
questions that you need to answer and the key things
to think about.
• During the application process itself: all about résumés
and other documents required for the application.
• After you get admitted: how to plan for your first visit
to the US?
Although this guide started out for applicants in Com-
puter Science, it has ended up being quite general and I hope
that people from all fields can find it of some use. As al-
ways, I would love to hear your comments and suggestions
to improve the book further.
1.1 Note to Fine Arts Applicants

Engineering and Fine Arts might seem like an unlikely
combination for a book covering the graduation application
process. For the engineering related material I obviously
draw upon my own first hand experience as an applicant,
as well as inputs from numerous others. But you might be
wondering about my authority on the Fine Arts graduate ap-
plication process. I have a pseudo first hand experience by way
of my fiancée, who is currently doing her Masters in Fine Arts
in the US. Despite my previous experience with grad school
2
applications, going through the application process with her
was still just as confusing and frustrating, primarily because
of the lack of information on the process for fine arts. At the
same time, there were several common elements (such as tak-
ing TOEFL and getting recommendation letters). With this
book, my hope is to bridge some of this gap.
To this end, each chapter in the book includes a section
dedicated to fine arts, which outlines any differences, pecu-
liarities and idiosyncracies in the process for fine arts in the
context of that chapter.
1.2 Resources
Needless to say, there is a wealth of information on the
grad school application process. I conclude each chapter with
some online resources that complement the material covered
in this book.
• http://gradschool.about.com/: an assortment of grad
school related articles on About.com.
• http://people.csail.mit.edu/mernst/advice/: lots of
useful advice to students and researchers compiled by
Michael Ernst from MIT.
• http://www.artadvice.com/advice/index.php: Art Ad-
vice by Sylvia White.
3
Chapter 2
Before
I’ll mention this point again and again throughout this book
— planning is critical in the application process. So even
before you begin the application process, you need to put in
some time and thought to it. Questions like when to start
applying, where to apply, do you really want to go to grad
school etc are handled in this section. But most importantly,
the question that haunts many a prospective grad students —
whether to do a MS or PhD — is also discussed in this chapter.
2.1 Do you really want to go to grad school?

Actually, I’m not a proponent of the reasoning behind this
question, but for the sake of completeness I will touch upon
it briefly. Most people would tell you that you should apply
only if you are really interested in the subject, if you think
about problems and issues beyond the classroom and if you
actually want to learn.
While there is nothing wrong with this line of thought,
it certainly isn’t always practical. I for one know many peo-
ple who had no clue as to what to do after their bachelors,
and decided that studying a bit more may give them some
more time to figure things out. Student life can also become
addictive — it is a nice sheltered environment where we feel
safe and cozy in our comfort zones. Besides, good jobs may
not be forthcoming right after an undergraduate degree, and
5
who wouldn’t like a good stipend just for studying!
At the end of the day it is your call — after all, it is your
life. Of course, it is not to say that the matter should be
taken lightly. In fact, since your decision will affect (at the
very least) a couple of years of your life, don’t be hasty or
impulsive. If you have thought through all other options and
think that you want to study more for whatever reasons and
have the required patience and commitment, go ahead with
it.
2.2 When to start applying?

You should start thinking about applying around a year
and a half before the intended date of joining. For instance, if
you plan to join in September 2010, you should start planning
and booking test dates around January 2009. Try to take all
your tests so that your scores are available (in hard copy) by
the time you start filling out applications. This way, you are
less likely to have problems in getting your scores reported
to the universities as well. I would recommend getting over
with GRE and TOEFL by October at most, if you’re applying
for the next fall.
In the meantime, start working on your application mate-
rial, specially the résumé and the statement of purpose. And
most importantly, talk to your mentors or professors for the
letters of recommendation. Make sure you have all the let-
ters ready by December. Give enough notice and time to your
letter writers, and be patient but persistent. Most letter writ-
ers will typically have busy schedules and might want to put
off writing your letter to the last minute. A timely notice and
gentle reminders will ensure that you get your letters on time
and that they are not written hastily.
You should finish filling out the online application forms
by December at most, since some universities have deadlines
in early December. Most universities also explicitly mention
6
two sets of deadlines: a preferred, early deadline and a regular,
hard deadline. I strongly recommend filling out your applica-
tions as early as you can — the sooner your application lands
in the hands of the admission committee, the better chance
you have for consideration.
2.3 Tests
For applying to grad school, you will be required to take
a few tests. Pretty much all of these tests are designed and
administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). At the
very least you will have to take TOEFL. If you an engineering
graduate, you will also have to take the GRE General Test and
perhaps, the GRE Subject Test (known earlier as the AGRE)
as well. Here we look at each of these in detail.
GRE General Test

General Information
GRE is the Graduate Record Examination and is required
by most US universities for admission. These days, GRE is
only administered as a CBT (Computer Based Test). Though
you might hear often that GRE is a piece of cake, don’t take
it lightly. Besides the fact that you are spending US$ 170 on
it, its very easy to mess up your scores if you are not careful.
It is best to take the GRE as early as possible. Try to take it
before your final (senior) year begins — gobbling up the word
list will be much easier at that time. It might be difficult to
get yourself into that mindset so early on, but trust me, it will
pay off tremendously! It is best to get over with the hassle
of GRE as soon as possible, more so since over the last few
years the number of GRE takers has shot up dramatically and
you will have to rush to get a date of your choice. The GRE
bulletin can be downloaded for free from the ETS website
(http://www.ets.org/gre).
7
GRE is scored out of (800 + 800 = 1600) + 6 points.
Verbal: 30 minutes, 30 questions, scored on a 200–800 scale.
Quantitative: 45 minutes, 28 questions, scored on a 200–800

scale.
Analytical Writing: 30 + 45 minutes, 2 questions, scored on

a 6 point scale.
Total testing time is up to three hours. The Analytical

Writing question usually appears first, so prepare accord-
ingly. The Verbal and Quantitative sections may appear in
any order. Some times the CBT will also include unidentified,
unscored sections for statistical analysis. As fas as you are con-
cerned, however, all sections are equally important, so treat
them that way!
Adaptive Test
The GRE CBT is an adaptive test - which is to say that it

adapts the questions according to your performance. So if you
are doing well, you are likely to get harder questions than you
would have had you not been doing so well. Important: never
ever try to estimate your performance or second guess the
difficulty of the upcoming questions based on the hardness
of the questions that you have already answered.
Quantitative
The quantitative section is clearly the easiest with mostly

8th grade math. You should try to get full marks on this
section — go slow and easy, since there will be plenty of
time. Pay special attention to the graphs and plots in Data
Interpretation Questions — its easy to make mistake on those!
Besides that, this section should be smooth sailing.
8
Verbal
The Verbal section is probably the most intimidating to

most students, presumably because you have heard that one
needs to have committed thousands of obscure words to mem-
ory to ace this section. This is of course an exaggeration, but
going through some word lists will certainly help. Barron’s
How to prepare for the GRE is one of the most popular books
on the market. However, I think that any decent word list
should serve just as well. It is not easy to mug up all of the
3500 words — but you should certainly go over the complete
word lists a few times and keep refreshing the words from
time to time.
Analytical Writing
The Analytical Writing (AW) section involves two tasks,

each requiring you to write a short essay-like answer. The
Issue task you will be presented with two topics. You have
to choose any one of the topics and present your perspective
on it. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers
in this section. While you will be evaluated on the content
of your answer, the main focus is to evaluate your writing
skills. So long as you present your thoughts in a clear and
concise manner, are able to articulate your argument and dis-
play a general proficiency in writing, you should be just fine.
You will have 45 minutes to complete this section. There is
a common misconception that incorporating elements from
American history in your answer has a better chance with the
evaluators. This is simply not correct. Play to your strengths,
and use the context you are most familiar with. In particular,
Indian history will work just as well.
The Argument task involves a logical argument that you
have to find faults with. These faults will be purely logical,
so don’t worry if you don’t know much about Middle Eastern
politics! For instance, there might be some hidden assump-
tions in the argument, or decisions reached on the basis of
9
insufficient data and so on. Again, the emphasis is on orga-
nization, structuring, a healthy vocabulary, demonstration of
a clear thought process and the ability to communicate your
ideas well. Going through the categories of faults that gener-
ally appear in the sample GRE essays should give you a good
idea.
TOEFL
TOEFL is the Test Of English as a Foreign Language. It
is designed to test your basic skills in English — including
reading, writing, listening and speaking — hence no special
preparation is really required. If you are comfortable with
using English on a daily basis, you can just walk in and take
TOEFL any day you feel like it. Among other things, it might
involve the following:
• an audio clip will be played and then some questions
will be asked based on the clip. The main challenge
here is to stay focused and listen carefully to the clip.
Since the actors in the clip often have a strong American
accent and they speak reasonably quickly, if you lose
focus, you might have no idea what the clip was about!
• some really simple grammar questions, like sentence
completion
• reading comprehensions, often involving locating words
with a given meaning
Like the GRE, TOEFL is also normally Internet based (iBT).
The iBT TOEFL is scored out of 120 points, comprising of four
sections worth 30 points each. While no special preparation
is required, I highly recommend going through a couple of
sample iBTs before taking the actual test. Most universities
are happy with a score of 100+.
Since the number of people taking TOEFL is much higher
than the number of people taking GRE (because TOEFL is
required by almost every professional going to the US), you
10
better get your dates as early as possible. Besides, since no
special preparation is required for TOEFL, I would suggest
you take it even before your final year starts. In any case
you should take it no later than October. The TOEFL bulletin
may be downloaded for free from the ETS website (http:
//www.ets.org/toefl).
GRE Subject Test

The Advanced GRE (AGRE) or the Subject GRE is usually
not required, but recommended by most US universities, and
required by some. Among other streams, usually pure science
streams like math, physics and chemistry require the AGRE.
Prepare for the Subject GRE as if you were preparing for the
entrance examination of a Master’s degree program in India
(for example, GATE). To give you a flavor of the level of depth
required, here is a brief overview of the topics you should
cover in preparation for the Computer Science Subject GRE:
1. Be very sure of your theory: automata, complexity, com-
putability: I think these topics form at least 30-35% of
the test.
2. Algorithms: worst and average case performance of the
common algorithms and how they work.
3. Basics of programming language theory, including lambda
calculus.
4. Computer organization and architecture, computer net-
working basics.
5. Operating systems material: scheduling, mutual exclu-
sion, virtual memory etc.
There are also several questions that can at best be de-
scribed as vague. For instance, on the Computer Science
AGRE, you might be asked to describe what type of network
is the Internet. The test preparation booklet from ETS is very
useful. Go through it in good detail to get an idea of the kind
of questions asked and the emphasis on each area/topic.
11
The rest
TSE is the Test of Spoken English. Many applicants are
confused as to whether they are required to take the TSE
or not. In most cases, it is not required to take the TSE.
However, it is best to confirm with the university that you
are applying to. In some cases you might be required to
take the TSE after you have been admitted, to qualify for a
Teaching Assistantship for example. In any case it is a much
simpler test than GRE or TOEFL, so even if you do find that
you need to take it, it shouldn’t be a problem.
2.4 What universities want?

Universities take into account a lot of factors while con-
sidering prospective applicants — you need to think from the
universities’ perspective to get a better feel. It also helps to
talk to people at the places you are applying to. Try to get in
touch with seniors, friends and acquaintances and ask them
about the school, the working environment, the faculty and
so on. But please, be considerate when you approach people
— never spam or pester any one for information — it will do
you more harm than good.
The admission criteria are never public. Admission is usu-
ally handled by a committee of faculty and some times other
grad students, few others have much visibility into the ad-
mission process. The criteria also vary vastly from school to
school, and more so from field to field. So the admission cri-
teria in fine arts will not surprisingly be quite different from
those in engineering schools. However, there are still some
commonalities, trends and just common sense.
In my opinion, the priority for science and engineering
schools goes something like this:
1. Letters of recommendation
2. Grades
12
3. Performance in entrance examinations (if applicable)
4. Work experience
5. Statement of purpose
6. Publications (if applicable)
7. Test scores
As you can see, test scores count the least — they’re just
like coarse filters to make a cut-off among the applicants.
While bad test scores are likely to hurt your chances, hav-
ing great test scores is not going to significantly boost your
chances for the final admission. So shoot for a decent score in
the tests, but there are plenty of other things that you should
focus on as well.
Now, publications are usually not as much under your
control as, say, your GRE score. Of course if you’ve been
guided properly, you might already have a few papers by the
time you apply, in which case you are among the minority.
Which is precisely the reason why publications can be very
important. Note that publications at random/mediocre work-
shops and conferences don’t count much. If you have top tier
publications , however, they can easily compensate for other
factors such as grades. And good publications will often be
accompanied by good recommendation letters, so that helps
too.
If you don’t have publications , play to your strengths. The
next most important document is your statement of purpose.
I can’t emphasize more on its importance — it can really make
or break your selection. I spent a lot of time on my statement
and then came up with a totally ordinary looking piece. The
reason? I had already looked at some other “sample” state-
ments. Moral of the story — be original! More on the SoP in
Section 3.3.
Having good grades always helps, but their importance
might depend on your field. In arts, for instance, grades really
don’t matter too much. Even in science and engineering, it
13
helps to be at the top of the pack, but it doesn’t guarantee
admission. Bottom line: if you have wonderful grades, good
for you but don’t become complacent; and if not, don’t lose
heart since you might still be able to make up for it elsewhere.
Résumé’s are mostly factual, so while they are important,
they really don’t offer that much scope for innovation. A
statement of purpose (SoP), on the other hand, is where you
can really shine. I cover SoPs in detail later in section 3.3, but
for now just suffice to say that it is one of the most important
documents in your application. Note that recommendation
letters are by far the most powerful documents in your arse-
nal — far more powerful than a good statement of purpose,
simply because there are very few “exceptional” statements.
Getting a personal and strong letter from a faculty at your
undergraduate institution is much harder, and consequently
much more important.
Performance in entrance examinations, in particular the
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE, the qualifying exam for the
IITs) can matter a lot as well. This might come as a surprise to
some of you, it sure did to me! It seems counter intuitive that
some exam that you took before your undergraduate should
still matter. But the fact of the matter is that often times
the applications of Indian students are so similar that the
admission committee has little recourse but to look at grades
and JEE ranks as metrics for evaluation.
In fact, if your grades are not spectacular but you had a
really outstanding rank in the entrance examinations, it might
be a good idea to highlight this fact. The basic idea is that
even if your final grades aren’t that great but you were one
of the top rank holders, it gives some confidence to the com-
mittee that you have the capacity to do well in a competitive
setting, which is one of the qualities they look for in good
grad students. Of course, try to be a little smart and strate-
gic about how you mention your rank. Here are a few style
depending upon your rank:
14
• 20th rank among 120,000
• Among the top 0.05% examinees
• 99.999% percentile
A solid work experience has a strong positive impact on

your application, especially if your employers are well re-
knowned in their areas. In science and engineering, having
real life industry experience at research labs or companies
counts a lot. If your employer is well known in your particu-
lar application domain — for example, Microsoft Research in
Computer Science — or if you have done some really good
projects in your company, it adds more weight to your appli-
cation. The same holds for business schools. In fine arts, the
more professional experience you have with exhibitions and
performances, the better it is. Work experience could also
take the shape of internships at other academic institutions
(even international) or some other form of non-academic em-
ployment relevant to your applications, perhaps demonstrat-
ing your leadership or team building skills.
2.5 Where to apply?

This is perhaps the most crucial step in the application
process. While deciding which universities you want to apply
to, you will want to take into account a number of factors:
• Reputation of the university in your areas of interest

(PhD students should focus on the research groups or
the individual faculty members, and not university rank-
ings)
• Responses received from faculty (if any) Please refer to
section 3.5 for more details
• Your own credentials
• Other factors like financial aid, geography, type of pro-
gram and so on
15
First off, do not blindly follow rankings, whether from US
News or any other source. Rankings inevitably trail reali-
ties and are usually biased towards to strenghts in one or
two “popular” areas. Of course, you should probably always
turn down an offer from the “top 3” schools for any other
“top 10” school. Talk to your faculty about which universi-
ties are doing good work in your areas of interest and then
pick the ones you want to apply to from among these. An-
other approach is to think about what you want to do after
grad school, then look at what recently graduated students
in different schools are doing.
It is not unusual to have a situation where the top stu-
dents from different colleges in India all apply to the same
top 6–8 universities. While this is to some degree inevitable,
it is not necessarily in the best interest of everyone. In par-
ticular, try to talk to other applicants within your school and
ask which schools they are applying for. If everyone with a
better application than you is applying to the top 10 schools,
you might have a better chance at one of the top 20 schools
instead. Besides, blindly applying to the top 10 schools will
not help even if you are at the top of the pack at your college,
because it is highly unlikely that any top school will make of-
fers to multiple students from the same college. So selecting
schools simply to ensure “coverage” is not likely to increase
your chances, and in fact might hurt your fellow applicants.
Be smart and apply to the places you really want to go, not
just the “top ranked” schools.
If you want to approach this a little more formally, here are
some guidelines to organize the application process with your
fellow applicants. Note that this is probably most applicable
to science and engineering:
1. List out all applicants along with areas of interest and

perhaps also their respective letter writers.
2. Check out the last few years’ trend at your college — if
students have been receiving admissions from the same
16
set of schools, then your chances might be better at those
schools.
3. Make sure that at most two or three applications are
sent to any one university from each department. Of
course, this should be done bearing in mind the areas
of interest, and consent of everyone involved.
I must point out, however, that universities have enough

experience with Indian applicants that their admission pro-
cesses have been appropriately adjusted. For instance, if four
people with a 9.8/10 grade point average from the same
school apply, it doesn’t necessarily diminish the chances of
a student with a 9.5/10 GPA from the same school. In other
words, the universities realize the absolute value of a high
GPA. If they end up taking many students from the same
school a particular year, it simply means that they will adjust
the intake from that school in the next few years. The depart-
ments know where they stand relative to the applicants and
other departments.
Another common question is how many universities should
one apply to? There is no right answer, but the typical num-
ber is between 6–10 schools. Keep in mind that applications
usually come with a fee, and shipping your application ma-
terial might incur additional expenses. Don’t spread yourself
too thin and apply to too many schools — preparing applica-
tions takes time and effort and you don’t want to compromise
on the quality of your application. When choosing universi-
ties, also make sure to pick out at least two universities that
you consider as “safe” — that is, where the likelihood of you
getting admission is relatively high. It might not be your fa-
vorite place to go, but it is always good to have a backup
option that has a good chance of working out.
Last, but not the least, your choice of program should also
be considered while choosing universities. Whether you want
to go for an MS or PhD can have significant impact on your
choice — read on the following section to find out more.
17
2.6 MS or PhD?
For many people this is really a no-brainer. If you already
know what you want to do, you are all set. This section is
for those of you who are unsure of what they would like to
do, not quite sure if they will enjoy the research life of a PhD
curriculum and don’t want to make the commitment to a PhD
program up front.
Lets get the basics straight first. If you want to get into
teaching, academia or any kind of research position, you most
likely want to do a PhD. If you just want to further your
education and then find a nice job, or perhaps do an MBA
later on, you want to do an MS. Also, funding for an MS
is extremely rare. You might get funded after you join, but
there are no guarantees. So if you are financially constrained,
really want to study further but are not able to generate the
funds by loans etc, getting into a PhD program might the
only alternative. Of course, PhD programs are a lot harder to
get into than MS programs, so there is a trade off.
The reason most PhD students will get funded and MS
student will not is because to the university, a PhD student
is like an investment. The university expects that you will do
good research which will benefit the department directly or
indirectly.
A lot of students want the best of both worlds — a funded
MS. It is rare, but it does happen, so you should definitely
try to find funding for MS programs as well. However, since
there are usually no “officially” funded MS programs, people
came up with a round-about method — take admission into
the PhD program, and quit after an MS. Sounds good, doesn’t
it? Well the bad part is that in many cases, you won’t be able
to pull it off without spilling some bad blood. Of course there
are short term consequences, like parting ways with your ad-
visor on bad terms. But there are long term repercussions
as well. For instance, it might build a negative impression
about your undergraduate college or even about Indian stu-
18
dents in general. This might impact future admissions and
funding for prospective applicants to your university. Clearly,
I strongly recommend against this approach.
Note that people leave PhD programs all the time, but with
good reason. There might be personal constraints, or you
might feel that it is just not working out for you, or you want
to switch fields or advisors. So a PhD program is not like a
jail or a contractual agreement that you are bound to honor.
As long as you have a genuine reason, you will always find
a reasonable way to resolve the situation.
The final decision is of course yours. If you can handle
the expenses and are not sure of your commitment, go for an
MS. If you know you’re made for research, PhD is for you.
If you are hanging somewhere in the middle, perhaps the
best option is to go for a PhD and who knows, maybe you’ll
indeed finish it.
Funding
There are usually three types of funding (or financial aid)
given by universities. These are:
Fellowship (FS) This the best type of aid. Basically, you’re
getting paid for doing nothing. Well not quite, you will
still be working, but it is certainly the least pressure
funding source.
Research Assistantship (RA) This comes next. As the name
suggests, you will assist a faculty member with his or
her research work. If you are a PhD student, this usually
means that you are getting paid to do you research,
which is not a bad deal at all. One can make productive
use of an RA — getting papers published, learning new
things, bonding with the faculty and so on.
Teaching Assistantship (TA) As a TA your job will be to
assist a faculty member with a class that he or she
is teaching. Your responsibilities might include grad-
19
ing, preparing exams, proctoring exams, holding office
hours and taking tutorials, among other things. While
this type of funding is the least productive in terms of
the time you get for your own research, it is nonetheless
a valuable learning experience. And if you are shooting
for a faculty position — whether at a teaching school
or a research school — having been a TA is not just
recommended, it is required.
Very often, most online applications will ask if you are

interested in getting university aid (and who wouldn’t!) and
if so, your preferred funding source. Make sure you check all
the relevant options, which in most cases will means checking
all three — FS, RA and TA — in that order, if you are allowed
to specify ordering.
Typical stipend amounts will be in the range of $1500 to
$1900 per month, which is usually more than enough to cover
all your living expenses. If you are in states like Texas or
Kansas, you can live royally in $1500. But if you land in
California, then $1500 will just about cover your expenses.
This stipend is excluding your tuition fee, which will usually
be waived in any kind of funding scheme. Typical tuition fee
would be anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000 per annum,
depending on the university.
As I’ve said before, if you are going for a PhD program,
you can be almost 100% sure that you will get funded. The
type of aid you get will depend on a number of factors —
like the funding amount available with the department, num-
ber of admitted applicants and your standing among those
admitted. If you are applying to an MS program, ask the
admissions office in each university for funding options. Un-
fortunately Indian students are not eligible for the majority
of scholarships and fellowships. Another alternative is to try
contacting some faculty in the department (see Section 3.5). If
you can interest a faculty enough, they might consider sup-
porting you. Most commonly though, students often come
20
without funding but generally manage to find some funding
source within the first year — usually as a TA or RA, or some
other on campus job.
But if you are indeed going without funding, make sure
you know what you are getting into. If your parents can
afford it, then nothing like it. Otherwise, be prepared for
taking an educational loan. These days, there are excellent
schemes for study-abroad loans from several government and
private banks. Getting the loan is usually quite straightfor-
ward, provided you can supply the bank with the requisite
security/collateral. If you do take a loan, make sure you have
all the supporting documents when you go for your visa in-
terview (see Section 4.1).
As far as living expenses are concerned, they vary highly
from place to place. So it’s difficult to give a general estimate
which would be applicable everywhere. However, one can
safely say that your living expenses would be a direct function
of your housing expenses since that is the dominant expen-
diture. Typical housing expenses would range from $300 to
$600 per month. Monthly expenditures for food and utilities
should be in the $200–300 and $50–100 range respectively.

Unless you are doing an interdisciplinary course that in-
volves engineering, you should not have to take the GRE.
Some fine arts programs do require that in addition to TOEFL,
you to also be measured by the International English Lan-
guage Testing System (IELTS). The IELTS is similar to TOEFL
in structure and spirit, but there are key differences in the
methodology and the scoring. For instance, the speaking
module in IELTS requires a face-to-face interview with an
examiner.
Just as good publications can compensate for non-superstar
grades for engineering applicants, high quality art work can
21
more than compensate for non-superstar degrees for fine arts
applicants. One of the primary challenges for fine arts in In-
dia, especially for grad school applicants, is the lack of good
undergraduate curriculums. Very few art schools in India
are well known and acknowledged in the international art
circles. As a result, if you don’t have the stamp of a great
school on your résumé, you need some other way to make
yourself stand out. And there is no better way than to let
your work do the talking for you. If you have held solo exhi-
bitions, or done collaborative projects with other promiment
artists, or participated in group shows or performances, make
sure to highlight them in your application.
Except art history, most graduate programs in fine arts
do not offer a PhD. The implication is that there is a high
probability that you will have to fund yourself — at least for
the first semester or so. Check for merit based and need based
scholarships with your school. Also explore options for part
time on campus employment in each school.
A final aside: from my understanding, the grades don’t
matter as much in fine arts as it does in engineering. Work
experience helps in both, but perhaps more so in fine arts.
The more shows/performances you have, the better it will
be.
2.8 Resources
• http://www.mnemonicdictionary.com — fun and easy
way to build your vocabulary using mnemonics, word
tests, games and more!
• http://www.usingenglish.com/ — several tools, refer-
ences and tests for learing English as a second language.
• https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/gre.htm — to help
you improve the performance in the verbal sections of
various tests.
• http://www.english-test.net/ — Free English tests
for GRE, TOEFL and other tests.
22
Chapter 3
During
Once you have made up your mind about applying to grad

school, you need to actually start the application process. Be-
sides filling out applications, this is a good time to take care
of other important things as well. This chapter will cover
several topics such as writing a good résumé and statement
of purpose, prepping up your online presence and advice on
recommendation letters.
While you’re filling out the forms (most of them online),
you should have your résumé and the statement of purpose
ready and you should get to work on those recommenda-
tions. If you have a credit card of your own, thats great.
If you don’t, make sure you make some temporary arrange-
ments, because the ability to make payments online makes
the application process much simpler and faster and allows
you to focus more on other important things than just filling
out application forms. One possible alternative is to ask your
seniors who are already in the US (or anyone else in the US
you feel comfortable asking this favor) and have them make
the payments for you. You can send them the money later at
your convenience.
3.1 Online Presence

To start off, make a simple website, simple being the op-
erative word here. Avoid Java appplets like the plague, and
23
stay away from flashy Javascript, DHTML and Flash content
as well. I also strongly recommend against putting personal
details such as horoscopes, photographs and your various
favorite lists on that website. Put all your professional in-
formation on this website — résumé, details of projects and
internships, courses taken, perhaps even grades. Now you
can simply include the URL to this website in your emails
and other documents rather than attaching files.
The Internet is a very powerful tool, and you can leverage
it to work in your favor. However, the flip side is that it is
equally accessible and available to everyone else as well. It
is not uncommon at all for the members of the admissions
committee or even other faculty members to look you up on
various search engines. Make sure you search for yourself
on all major search engines and are satisfied with the search
results. Of course, if you have a very common name, this is
usually not something you can do much about.
Be particularly wary of your presence on various social
networking websites such as Orkut, Facebook, and MySpace.
These days it is quite common to find faculty members on
these social networks as well, and so you can rest assured
that someone somewhere is bound to look at your social net-
working profiles as well. Before you send out your applica-
tions, make sure you go through all your social networks and
“clean out” your profiles — remove any material (comments,
pictures) that might come back and bite you from behind later
on.
3.2 Résumé
Your résumé is mostly factual, so in that sense there is
not much creative wiggle room. Make sure it is short and
sweet — no nonsense, and full of information. List out your
achievements (academic and otherwise), skills, research inter-
ests, publications (if any) and hobbies (optional). Don’t gloat,
just state facts. Try to itemize or enumerate as much as possi-
24
ble – no paragraphs! Keep in mind that the person scanning
your résumé probably has several hundred résumé’s to go
through, and so he or she will not be able to devote more
than a minute for a first scan of your résumé.
Whenever you’re sending out your resume in email, send
it in plain text format, or attach as a PDF. Never send a Mi-
crosoft Word or OpenOffice document, or an HTML page.
Make the résumé available on your website as well, perhaps
in different formats — plain text, PDF and HTML. Make sure
the résumé looks professional — unlike the statement, it is
OK to use standard templates to format your résumé. Always
keep your resume up-to-date. When mentioning awards and
achievements, do not go back earlier than high school (so skip
everything under 10th grade).
3.3 Statement of Purpose

The statement of purpose (SoP) is probably one of the
most important documents that you will author for your ap-
plication. So be very careful in preparing your statement.
Remember, the SoP should not resemble your résumé put
in paragraph form. It should convey information which is
not available through your résumé. A résumé is just a place-
holder for factual information about yourself, while the SoP is
a platform where you get a chance to present yourself beyond
the facts. For instance, a résumé may show that someone
did particularly bad in one semester, and the SoP gives one
the opportunity to explain the situation. Perhaps it was due
to bad health, or a lack of interest in the subject, or a bad
teacher, or simply some other priorities. Whatever the reason
may be, it can not be brought out in a résumé, so the SoP is
a perfect place to discuss it. The SoP also lets you talk about
your ideals, philosophy and your dreams. Think of it as a
window into your own personality, that you are opening up
for others to look inside. Since you control the window and
what appears on the other side of it, you should make the
25
most of this opportunity.
A SoP typically consists of the following sections:
Objectives and motivation This section should focus on why
you want to pursue higher education, the factors that
shaped your decision, and perhaps your future plans.
Background and research interest Here you can give some
details about your education (like how you got inter-
ested in your area), your family background (education,
economic status, values etc) and your research interests.
You can talk about what you found exciting in your
courses, projects and about your internships and publi-
cations.
Other relevant information Here you can talk about your
activities and interests outside of academics: sports, fine
arts, hobby projects, social work etc are some examples.
Why you wish to join the program Try to give a specific and
to the point answer. As a general rule, stay away from
boilerplate answers. People who read your application
and SoP have seen every possible kind of response, so
they will know in an instant if it is a generic “template”
based answer or you really had something genuine to
say. Make sure you’ve done your homework and re-
searched the department well — mentioning specific
projects and faculty may prove helpful.
Just as with the résumé, skip everything before high school.
Only mention incidents/experiences that had actual impact
on your thinking — don’t just make up stories that sound
dramatic and impressive! Avoid trivia like school day stints,
they will not impress your readers. Focus instead on your
research work or course projects you really enjoyed.
The most important thing is to be original. Focus on the
content, what you would like to bring out in your statement,
and not how others have written theirs. An original state-
ment will go much further than a really polished statement
26
that lacks originality. Of course, you should have other peo-
ple proof read your statement for formatting, errors and in-
consistencies — it is always a good idea to get feedback from
as many people as you can.
Never ever copy anyone’s SoP, whether in style or con-
tent. A statement is meant to be a personal document, and
is expected to be unique to every individual. It might help
to look at other peoples’ statements to get ideas, but I rec-
ommend against doing even that. Once you have looked at
a statement, it is hard to pretend as if you never saw it, and
directly or indirectly it will taint your statement. A good strat-
egy might be to start from scratch and once you have a first
draft of your statement, then you can take a look at some
other statements to refine your own.
Also avoid going over factual information unless abso-
lutely necessary — that is precisely what the résumé is for.
Don’t be verbose either. A typical SoP will be no longer than
2 pages. Write clearly and concisely: your goal is to commu-
nicate, not impress the committee with your command of the
English language. It might be a good idea to prepare two
versions of your statement — a short one-page version, and
a longer two-page version. Depending on university require-
ments, you may chose to use whichever is more appropriate.
Keep in mind that writing is an iterative process — once
you have a first draft of your SoP, read it over and over again.
On each reading, you will find something that can be im-
proved. Remember the PQP rule for writing: praise, ques-
tion and then polish. That is, identify what you like, critique
what can be improved, and then use this feedback to refine
your writing. Rinse and repeat till you are satisfied with the
outcome.
27
3.4 Recommendation letters
A strong and personal letter is by far the most powerful
addition to your application — even more important than a
strong résumé or SoP. The reason a great letter is so valu-
able is the same reason that it is rare: establishing a strong
personal relationship with a faculty or mentor during your
undergraduate education is not an easy thing to do. It takes
time, commitment, maturity etc — all qualities that are mark
of a great graduate student as well.
A strong recommendation letter can give a significant boost
to your application, even compensating for other factors, es-
pecially if the letter writer is well known and respected in
his or her field. Give your letter writers enough warning, so
ask for letters well in advance. Some students are shy in ap-
proaching faculty for letters. Don’t be. If you have worked
with the faculty and feel that they would be willing to write,
just go and ask them. Remember that as mentors and faculty,
most people already expect that students will come to them
for letters — it is a part of their job. And in the worst case,
they might say no, in which case at least you know who not
to approach for a letter in the future!
I should note at this point that there are rare cases where
a recommendation letter might have a negative impact. These
are typically called negative recommendation letters. Ethical
letter writers will generally tell you if they will not be able to
write a strong or positive letter, in which it is better to politely
back away. Why would some one ever write a negative rec-
ommendation? Reasons are usually highly context specific, so
it is impossible to generalize. A letter writer might not have
had the best experience with a student and may feel their pro-
fessional responsibility to let potential employers know about
their experience.
Getting good letters also requires some long term plan-
ning from your side. If you just blend in the crowd, no one
will be able to write a very strong letter for you. Remember
28
that just as boilerplate resumes are not popular, boilerplate
and generic recommendation letters are not very helpful ei-
ther. For a letter writer to be able to write something specific
about you, they need to know you better. Classroom interac-
tion can only go so far. Try to build a professional relationship
with potential letter writers. Get involved with projects and
activities outside the classroom. Share ideas with them and
ask them for advice.
3.5 Approaching faculty

One of the ways of increasing your chances of admission
and/or funding is to approach some faculty in the university
you are applying to. Having a faculty be interested enough
in you is an indicator to the department that he or she might
be willing to fund you should you be given admission1 . This
can work in your favor.
Basically the goal is to identify faculty members that you
would like to work with, based on the research they are doing,
the projects that are going on in their group, other students
in their group and so on. The idea then is to approach such
faculty members and try to get them interested in you. The
responses you get from faculty members might also give you
hints about your prospects at a particular school.
You might also want to take into account age when de-
ciding who you want to work with. Younger professors —
especially those that have yet to receive tenure — are typically
more energetic and driven. But they are also likely to be more
demanding from their students. So if it is a fast paced, high
energy, high effort environment that you seek, you might pre-
fer younger faculty. Senior faculty might be more laid back
with their students, but then they might be less “adventur-
ous” with their research interests. There are other trade offs
as well: younger faculty might be hard pressed for funds, se-
1 Though I keep saying funding from the department, usually the money
to pay for grad student stipends comes from grants given to faculty members
29
nior faculty might be busy with administrative duties and so
might have less time for their students, younger faculty might
be more aggressive in driving their own research agenda
thereby leaving less freedom for the students to chose a re-
search topic of their liking and so on. As with all sweeping
generalizations, there are always exceptions. The bottom line
is that you might want to keep the seniority of faculty in mind
when choosing a potential advisor.
But approaching faculty is delicate matter and should be
dealt with as such. Most faculty members have a strong bias
against unsolicited emails from foreign students seeking their
attention. You can rest assured that they have received hun-
dreds of such emails in the past, and depending on their ex-
periences in the past, they might not even open your email.
So you want to make your approach as gentle as possible.
As with most other things that I have talked about, the
best approach is to be honest and genuine. If you really like
their work and have something intelligent to say about their
research or any particular project or paper, just sending an
email giving your comments is a good start. At the other
extreme, if you have actually used his/her research for your
own work, sharing your results and contributions with them
will leave a very strong impression. Once you have opened a
line of communication, you can mention at some point that
you are considering applying for grad school in that univer-
sity.
Boilerplate and template based emails are a sure shot invi-
tation to the spam folder and might even strike your chances
down. Faculty members are often sensitive — and ruthless
— about spam. Whatever you do, never send mass emails
trying to blanket cover all faculty members in all areas in all
the schools that you are applying to. Faculty members do
talk to one another, even across departments and schools, so
any such mass mailing behavior will get noticed, and it will
never work in your favor.
30
It is always a good idea to go through a faculty member’s
web page before sending them an email. You will often find
a list of their current students, which is a good way to find
out how many of the students are graduating. Faculty mem-
bers with recently graduated students or with students who
are about to graduate are more likely to be looking for new
students. Sometimes contacting a faculty member’s gradu-
ate students first might actually be more useful than directly
contacting the faculty member.
When writing to faculty members, never “request” them
to consider your résumé or profile. Don’t attach your résumé
or publication list or anything else unless explicitly asked to
do so. A good rule of thumb is that the size of your email
is inversely proportional to the chances of it actually being
read. You may instead point them to your webpage (or just
put the URL in your signature). If you send an email and
don’t get a response, it is probably best to just leave it at that.
If you still feel strongly about it, send a gentle reminder after
a couple of weeks. And then if you still don’t hear back from
them, just let it go.
Note that at least in engineering schools, faculty members
can only influence admissions in the PhD program. So if you
are applying to the MS program, it is probably not worth
the effort. MS admissions are typically controlled completely
by the admissions committee and faculty have very little say
since they are not responsible for funding admitted students.
3.6 Sending the application material

Back in the day, applications had to be filled out on pa-
per and individual mailed to all the universities. This was
not only expensive, it was time consuming, error prone and
wasteful as well. Thankfully, these days the majority of the
applications can be filled online. In fact, most schools will
simply email your letter writers and have them submit your
letters of recommendations electronically as well.
31
Your test scores will also be reported to the universities
electronically. Typically, when you register for a test (say GRE
or TOEFL), you will have the choice of reporting the test
scores to four schools of your choice — this is included in
the test fee. However, for additional schools that you want
the scores reported to, you will have to pay an additional fee
per school. Unfortunately, this electronic reporting is not al-
ways perfect. There have been cases where the universities
never received the electronic scores or didn’t get the scores
in time. So to be safe, it is a good idea to make copies of
the hard copy of your test scores and ship the copies to the
universities. Most schools are fine with processing your ap-
plication just with the photocopies — they only require the
originals for the final admissions paperwork.
Some of the application material will always have to be
shipped, such as your official, sealed transcripts. Some schools
still require the letters of recommendations to be sealed and
shipped as well. If you are shipping some documents any-
ways, it is a good idea to include your résumé and statement
of purpose as well.
International shipping is quite expensive, especially with
the rising oil prices these days. You probably want to use a
reliable service that provides you with a tracking number, so
that you can monitor the progress of your shipment online. It
will be quite expensive and inefficient if you were to ship sep-
arate packages to each university individually. Instead, find
a reliable friend or family member in the US and ship all the
material for all the schools in one big shipment. Make sure
to still make separate packets for each school, clearly marked
with the school name and address. Then your contact in the
US can simply ship each packet to the respective school do-
mestically. Most courier services in India (like DHL) have up
to 50% student discount on packages destined to universities,
so make sure you check with your courier service for any
applicable discounts.
32
Fine arts applicants are also required to submit a statement
of purpose, but the content and structure of the statement
differs significantly from that for engineering students. The
goal still is to go above and beyond what your résumé can
cover, but the focus is on describing your art practice, your
inspirations, the philosophy behind your art and where you
see your art going in the future, among other things. Often,
schools might have specific requirements on what they are
looking for in a statement of purpose. Please check with
your respective universities for any such requirements.
But perhaps the most important difference from the en-
gineering application process is the Portfolio. Your portfolio
is a show case of your work, so that a potential employer
can quickly assess the quality and scope of your work. It is
critical that you prepare your portfolio professionally — any
sloppiness will cost you significantly. Also keep in mind that
because of the sheer diversity of the different kinds of media
that people work in, it is difficult to prepare the portfolio in
a canonical, standard manner. As a result, different schools,
and very often different departments, have widely disparate
guidelines for preparing portfolios. Pay very close attention
to all the rules and specifications, and adhere to them to the
best of your abilities.
It is good practice to prepare the portfolio for each school
independently — don’t blindly make copies of the same DVD,
for instance. It also helps to have a professional website
to along with the portfolio. For non-digital media (such as
sculpture or even photography), pay special attention to the
required formats. Similarly, take special care with digital me-
dia on issues like image formats, audio/video codecs used,
naming conventions for files, CD/DVD format and so need
careful attention to detail.
As I mentioned before, since most fine arts programs don’t
offer a PhD, it means that most faculty have little or no influ-
33
ence on the admission procedure or the funding of students.
Which in turn means that if you do approach faculty at all,
don’t let funding or admission be your motivation. Estab-
lishing a rapport with faculty members prior to admission is
still helpful professionally, and if you do get admitted, these
same faculty may become valuable source of advice and men-
torship.
3.8 Resources
• http://www.gradspot.com/Career/Preparing+for+the+
Job+Hunt/Cleaning+Up+Your+Online+Profile — Clean-
ing up your online profile.
• http://people.csail.mit.edu/mernst/advice/request-recommendatio
html — Requesting a letter of recommendation.
• http://www.artschools.com/articles/portfolio/ —
Preparing Your Portfolio for College Admissions.
34
Chapter 4
After
You should start hearing back from universities sometime

around March/April. Some universities send out interna-
tional student notifications only after they have notified and
heard back from domestic applicants, in which case you might
hear back from them much later. If all goes well, you hope-
fully will have a few universities to choose from. Besides
deciding which university you actually want to go to, there
are several other things to be taken care of at this stage, which
are the subject of this chapter.
4.1 Visa
The first and foremost requirement is of course the visa.
If you’re funded, then you needn’t worry much — getting
the visa should be a breeze. If you’re not funded however,
then you might considering consulting a Visa professional
who could help organize your interview and plan your doc-
uments. While it is rare for students to be denied Visas, it
does happen. Your best bet is to do everything you can to
cover all your bases. The fewer holes your documents have,
the fewer opportunities you leave for error, the better your
chances will be.
You will be applying for an F-1 visa. It is a non-immigrant
visa for international students in the US. Since the procedure
for getting the F-1 is a bit involved and often changes from
35
time to time, I am not going to describe it in any great detail.
Please, do not treat the material here as authoritative as far
as the visa application procedure is concerned. You will be
much better served getting the information directly from the
US consulate(s) in India.
Here is a high level overview of the application process
(please visit the VFS website at http://www.vfs-usa.co.in
for more information):
Step 1 Pay the application fee at a designated HDFC bank.
Save your receipt, it will needed later.
Step 2 Schedule an appointment online through the VFS web-
site. This will require filling out an online application.
Step 3 Show up for your interview at the scheduled time.
You will need to carry all supporting documents, a valid
passport, photographs, receipt for the fees etc. Again,
check the VFS website for details.
Note that before you even begin your visa application,
you must have received your I-20 from the university that
you have finally decided to join.
Once you’ve scheduled your appointment, start preparing
the documents. Its best to put everything in a big folder with
separators. If you’re on university funding, you will need the
following documents:
• I-20 and offer letter
• Proof of property or some other fixed asset to show
binding ties
• Your undergraduate degree and grade sheet
• GRE/TOEFL and other test scores
• Responses from other universities, especially rejects
• Print out of your online visa application forms Visa
forms
• Photographs
36
Actually the only critical item is the I-20. But you don’t
want to take any chances, so carry all possible documents
— leave nothing to chance. It is also a good idea to take
some bank statements or other sources of funding to show
some extra financial support. If you’re not getting funded,
then you need many more supporting documents — mostly to
establish financial ability. If you have an educational loan, get
documents from the bank for proof. Also get bank statements
for your checking and savings accounts, mutual funds and
investments (if any). The more money you can show, the safer
you will be. A statement prepared by a certified Chartered
Accountant (CA) detailing all your funds and assets should
also suffice.
The US Immigration Services has laid out very specific re-
quirements for the photograph. You will find the details on
the printed receipt that you get. There are precise require-
ments for the background, the position of the head within
the frame, the maximum dimensions of the head within the
frame and so on. Check your local photo studios — it is
highly likely that you’ll find some that are already aware of
the rules and are well equipped to take a professional picture
meeting all the requirements.
4.2 Housing
Housing issues and requirements vary greatly from uni-
versity to university. In places like Texas, on campus housing
is more expensive than off-campus, and people prefer to live
off campus. On the other hand, in states like California, on
campus housing is much cheaper, but people are forced to
live off campus since the wait list for on campus housing
runs into years at times!
The first thing you should do is find out other Indian stu-
dents who are going to your university that year. Try to get
in touch with them and get into a group of 2/3/4 so that
you can share an apartment when you get there. Next, get in
37
touch with seniors or other acquaintances in your university
and talk to them about housing. See if they can make some
temporary arrangement for you so where you can stay while
you look for a more permanent accommodation; or if they
can do some permanent arrangement directly. Often univer-
sities already have procedures in place to manage housing for
incoming students. For instance, there might be an Indian
student association responsible for taking care of incoming
grad students.
Most landlords will ask you to sign a contract/lease be-
fore you take the apartment. Typically, you will have to de-
posit some security money and also pay 1-2 months’ rent in
advance. Note that most non-trivial economic transactions in
the US, including housing leases, are subject to what is known
as your credit history or your credit score. Your credit score is
basically an indicator of your credit rating — that is, given
your economic history, how likely you are able to fulfil your
debts. Of course, since you don’t have any economic history
in the US at this point, you basically don’t have a credit score
either. Similarly, the Social Security Number or SSN is also an-
other vital piece of information typically required to sign up
a housing lease. You will not get your SSN for atleast a few
months after you reach the US.
The upshot of all this is that it is unlikely that you will be
able to sign a lease entirely on your own. If you are eligible
for on-campus housing, it is not likely to be an issue since
the universities already know that you don’t have a SSN or
credit history. For off-campus housing, you might want to
consult with other students and specially your seniors for
advice. Often times senior students will be happy to put their
name on the lease. Once you get your SSN, you can transfer
the lease in your name. Of course, even off-campus leasing
companies realize that you can not possibly provide them
with a SSN or a credit score, so most apartment complexes
agree to work around this requirement, provided you pay a
much higher deposit and/or 1–2 months’ rent in advance.
38
4.3 Travel
Since July — September is a rush season, make sure you
book your tickets in advance. Most airlines will allow you to
block tickets much earlier and you can purchase them at a
later date when your plans have been finalized. A few years
back the only way to get a good deal on tickets was to get
the booking done through “travel agents”. While this is still
certainly a feasible route, particular for Air India, you should
be able to find equally competent deals online yourself. I
personally recommend http://www.kayak.com but there are
several other good ones such as http://www.makemytrip.com
and http://www.yatra.com.
If booking through an agent or directly through an air-
lines, do check for student discounts. A form from your un-
dergraduate college may help. You may also try using the
International Student Travel Card (http://www.istc.org).
Pack your baggage carefully. Most airlines will allow 2
pieces of roughly 24-lbs (roughly 11-kgs) each. There are also
usually dimensional restrictions — check with your airlines
for details. Try and stick to the rules to avoid any unwanted
hassle. If you are changing flights (as you most probably
will), make sure you book your luggage straight to the final
destination. Don’t carry any knives, scissors or liquids in
your hand luggage. If you have any doubts whatsoever, talk
to your agent or someone experienced.
Depending on whether you are going to the east coast
or the west coast or somewhere in between, the prices of
the tickets may vary from route to route. For people on the
east coast, generally flying via Frankfurt or London will be
cheaper. While for those on the west coast, flying via Singa-
pore, Kuala Lumpur or Hong Kong might be cheaper. There
is a trade off between flying time and ticket prices — if you
don’t mind a few hours extra layover, you might be able to
find cheaper tickets.
There are a lot of very good options to fly these days.
39
Several airlines such as Continental, Jet Airways, American
Airlines and Air India fly direct non-stop flights from India
to select destinations in the US (usually on the east coast).
When booking your tickets, make sure you specify meal pref-
erences (if you have any) — this is especially important for
vegetarians. Always reconfirm your tickets two days prior to
the day of travel. I personally prefer aisle seats for longer
flights — it is easier to move about the cabin and go to the
rest room — but if it is your first time on a plane, you might
want to take the window seat!

Post admission there is not much difference between engi-
neering or fine arts applications — it is pretty much the same
for all students essentially. Some things to keep in mind while
travelling though. If you plan to transport bulky items (such
as large paintings or canvases, or sculptures etc), make sure to
call your airlines in advance and enquire about their policies.
Another minor (but unfortunate) practical consideration
is that the number of Indian students in fine arts is far fewer
than in engineering. As a result, it might take a little more
effort to arrange for housing or even pickup when you first
land. But as I mentioned earlier, most schools have dedicated
resources to help international students with precisely these
kinds of things.
4.5 Resources
• http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/index.shtm — US Trans-
portation Security Administration (TSA) guide for trav-
elers.
• http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/ — more informa-
tion, straight from the horse’s mouth.
• http://www.usjournal.com/en/students/info/visa.html
— more info on student visas.
40
Chapter 5
Conclusion
The reasons for getting a graduate degree are as varied as

the numerous degree programs out there. Regardless of the
motivation, all applicants aspire to get admitted to the best
graduate schools out there. The grad school application pro-
cess spans several months, non-trivial planning, significant
expenses, and most of all, it requires patience and optimism.
But the sheer amount of information out there can be over-
whelming for many students. Compounded with the number
of doubts and confusions one might have, the application pro-
cess can become quite challenging without proper guidance
and support.
This book does not aim to be the bible of the graduate
school application process. My goal was to to present infor-
mation relevant to Indian students applying in engineering
and fine arts in a clear, concise and accessible fashion and
I hope that this book delivers on its promise. I would still
strongly recommend that in order to make the best informed
decisions, you should talk to as many knowledgeable people
as you can — information is the best form of preparation.
In the appendix you will find two “lists” that I wish I had
known about when I was applying:
• things you might want to pack for your first trip, and
• a handy English ⇔ Hindi dictionary of non-obvious
items
41
Appendix A
Packing
While I recommend traveling light in general, your first trip

to the US might be an exception. It is not that you won’t be
able to find something in the US — most of the things listed
below are readily available — but it might take a few days
to a few months before you are able to comfortably move
around on your own. Your goal when packing should be to
carry essential things to sustain yourself for the first month
or so. Depending on where you are going in the US, Indian
food and spices may or may not be easy to come by, in which
case you might want to pack in some more of those.
I have tried to exhaustively enumerate the things that you
might want to pack for your first trip. As always, one size
doesn’t fit all, so use your own judgement and discretion.
Though I have tried my best to include everything, the list
is by no means complete. Please feel free to suggest any
additions. Also note that this list was original made with
guys in mind. I have since tried to make it gender neutral, but
if you see any anomalies, rest assured it is only my ignorance
in editing and not due to any sexist bias. And finally, don’t
take this list too seriously! Think of it as a list of things
you should keep in mind while packing, and not necessarily
things to pack.
43
A.1 Documents
S.No Item Qty Comments
1 Passport with
stamped Visa
2 All relevant letter of financial
correspon- aid etc
dence with the
University
3 I-20 1-2
4 Grade sheets 2-3
5 Test scores
6 Photocopies of 3 sets Leave 1 at home
all the above and carry 2 with
you
Table A.1: Documents
A.2 Financial
1 Travelers’ make sure you
Checks don’t sign them!
and have different
denominations
2 Cash don’t carry too
much
3 Credit card(s) 1 have the cus-
tomer care number
handy in case of
losses
Table A.2: Financial
44
A.3 Apparels
1 Formals 2–3
sets
2 Casuals 4–6
sets
3 Linen
Bedsheets 4 Double bed size
Pillow covers 4
Light blanket 1
4 Footwear (ladies exempt!)
Formals 1
Sports 1
Casuals 1
Bathroom slip- 1
pers
Socks 1
dozen
5 Miscellaneous
Traditional In- 1-2 for festive occa-
dian outfit sions
Handkerchiefs 1 if you are like me
dozen
Towels 2
big, 3
small
6 Winter clothing might be better off
buying this from
US
Sweaters
Scarf/Muffler
continued on next page
45
continued from previous page
Woolen cap
Table A.3: Apparels
A.4 Stationary
1 Scissors 2
2 Regular/Packing 2
Tape
3 Permanent 2
markers
4 Writing instru- 6
ments
5 Course notes As much as you
and related can gather
books
6 Books for ca- 2-3
sual reading
7 Handbook for 1 Obtained from
Indian students USEFI
Table A.4: Stationary
A.5 Medicine and First Aid

1 Antiseptic 1 bot-
tle
2 Bandaid 1 pack
3 Common With prescriptions
medicines (if required)
46
Cough and
Cold
Diarrhea
Constipation
Fever
Mouth ulcer
4 Cosmetics enough to last a
quarter
Deodorant
Moisturizer
Hair oil
Shampoo
After shave
Shaving cream
and spare
blades
Table A.5: Medicine and First Aid
A.6 Kitchen
1 Utensils
Pressure cooker 1
Extra gaskets
and safety
valves
Vegetable 1
peeler
Kitchen knives 2
Spoon, Fork, 6
Plate
47
Non stick pan, 2-3
tava
Utensil holder 1
(sansi)
Tea strainer
Strainer spoon 1 for deep frying
Kadhai 1-2
Wooden spatu- 1-2
las
2 Cooking material
Pickles
Spices
Specialized
masalas
Pulses
3 Recipe book 1
Table A.6: Kitchen
A.7 Utility items

1 Toiletries
Toothbrush and
toothpaste
Toilet soap and
soap case
Shaving kit 1
Soap and soap 2
case
2 Screw Driver Small
toolkit
48
3 Shoe brush and
polish
4 Mugs
5 Detergent pow-
der/bars
6 Sewing kit get some extra but-
tons
7 Umbrella
8 Torch/Flashlight
9 Lock and key 2 sets
10 Plastic bags
11 Indian postage
12 Nail cutter
13 Safety pins
14 Combs 2
15 Backpack
16 Handbags
17 Big bags soft bags
18 Passport size
photographs
19 Telephone
diary
Table A.7: Utility items
49
Appendix B
English words
for common items
One of the challenges students face in a new country, specially

if the language is unfamiliar, is to identify familiar things by
their local names. Here I have tried to compile English names
(as used in the US) for common items in India. Of course,
I have left out obvious things such as potato and tomato,
with the exception of items whose common English names
as used in India are different in the US. For instance, bhindi
is not called “lady fingers” in the US.
B.1 Vegetables
Hindi name English name
Arbi Colocassia
Baingan Egg plant
Bathua White goose-foot
Bhindi Okra
Bhutta/Makka Corn
Chaney ki bhaji Bengal gram leaves
Chauli/Chavleri Amaranth
Chukandar Beet root
51
Chukka bhaji Red sorrel
Dhania Cilantro
Dhoodhi Bottle gourd/Opo squash
Flas beans French beans
Goochi Mushrooms
Gowaar phali Cluster beans
Gulsuchal Salad leavs
Halim Gardencress
Hari Phool Gobhi Broccoli
Jaitoon Olives
Kakdi Cucumber
Kamal kakdi Lotus stem
Karela Bitter gourd
Kasmi saag Lettuce
Khatti bhaji Indian sorrel
Kunthroo/Goli/Tondli Gherkins
Lauki Bottle gourd
Lobia Cowpea
Makhanphal Avocado/Butter fruit
Masoor bhaji Khesari leaves
Moonga / Seeng Drumstick
Muranka bhaji Drumstick leaves
Musli / Shatwar / Soot- Asparagus
mooli / Halyan
Paniphal/Tikora Arrowroot
Petha Ash gourd
Shakarkand Sweet potato
Shalgam Turnip
Simla mirch Bell pepper
Simla aloo Tapioca
Singhara Water chestnuts
Suvabhaji Dillweed
52
Tinda Gentleman’s toes
Toraii Ridge gourd/Zucchini
Table B.1: Vegetables
B.2 Fruits
Aadoo Peach
Aloobukhara Plum
Amrood Guava
Ananas Pineapple
Anar Pomegranate
Anjeer Fig
Anwla Indian gooseberry
Bel/Siriphal Bael/Stone apple/Bengal
quince
Ber Zizyphus
Chiku Sapota
Falsev Blueberries
Jamun Jambul fruit/Java plum
Kat-hal Jackfruit
Kela Banana
Kharbooja Mashmelon/
Muskmelon/ Cantaloupe
Khoobani Apricot
Lichee Chin fruit
Mosammi Sweet lime
Nashpati Pear
Pomelo Chakothra
Sheh-toot Mulberry
53
Sitaphal Custard apple
Tarbooj/Kalinda Watermelon
Table B.2: Fruits
B.3 Lentils/Legumes/Whole grains

Besan (Bengal) Gram flour
Chanal daal Bengal gram / Yellow
split peas
Chhole Chick peas / Garbanzo
beans
Jwar Oat
Jwar bhusi Oat bran
Jwar aata Jwar flour
Lobia Black eye beans
Moong daal (dhuli) Green lentil (skinned)
Moong daal (khadi) Green lentil (whole)
Rajmah Red kidney beans
Toor/Arhar daal Toor daal (?)
Urad daal (sabut) Black gram (whole)
Urad daal (chhilke waali) Black gram (split)
Table B.3: Lentils/Legumes/Whole grains
B.4 Spices
Ajmoda Parsley
Ajwaiin Carom seeds / Thyme
Amchur Mango powder
Dalchini Cinnamon
54
Elaichi Cardamom
Haldi Turmeric
Heeng Asafoetida
Imli Tamarind
Jaiphar Nutmeg
Javitri Mace
Jeera Cumin
Kalaunji Onion seeds/Nigella
Kardi/Kusumbha Safflower
Kari patta Curry leaves
Khas khas Poppy seeds
Laung Cloves
Methi dana Fenugreek seeds
Rai Mustard seeds
Saunf Aniseed/Fennel
Tej patta Bay leaf
Til Sesame
Tulsi Basil
Table B.4: Spices
B.5 Nuts
Akhrot Walnut
Badaam Almond
Kaaju Cashews
Khajur Dates
Pista Pistachio
Table B.5: Nuts
55
B.6 Dairy Items
Dahi Curd/Yogurt
Ghee Clairified milk
Malai Cream
Mattha, Chhachh Butter milk
Paneer Cottage cheese
Table B.6: Dairy Items
B.7 Miscellaneous Items

Gud Jaggery
Isabgol Psyllium Husk (?)
Kesar Saffron
Khameer Yeast
Maida Refined/Bleached flour
Murmure/Laee Puffed rice
Nimbu ka sat Citric acid
Phiti Shakkar Castor sugar
Phitkari Alum
Poha/Chewda Flaked rice
Saindha Namak Rock salt
Sevaiyan Vermicelli
Sirka Vinegar
Sooji Semolina
Vanaspati etc Vegetable Oil
Table B.7: Miscellaneous Items
56
Index
analytical, 8, 9 PhD, 5, 18–20, 31

planning, 2, 5, 28
CBT, 7, 8 portfolio, 33
Computer Based Test, see publications, 13
CBT
Computer Science, 2 quantitative, 8
deadline, 7 résumé, 2, 6, 14, 22–28, 31–

33
Educational Testing Services, recommendation letter, 28
see ETS
ETS, 7, 11 SoP, 6, 13, 14, 25–27
Statement of Purpose, see
Graduate Record Examina- SoP
tion, see GRE
GRE, 6–8, 10–13, 21, 22, 32, TA, 12, 19–21
36 TOEFL, 3, 6, 7, 10–12, 21,
22, 32, 36
I-20, 36, 37
IELTS, 21 verbal, 8, 9, 22
visa, 21, 35
letter of recommendation,
see recommendation
letter
MS, 5
negative recommendation,
see also recommen-
dation letter
57

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Applying to American

A Handbook for Indian Students

First, a word of warning: this book is an experiment. I always

So you’ve somehow dragged yourself through 4 (or 3, as the

1.1 Note to Fine Arts Applicants

2.1 Do you really want to go to grad school?

2.2 When to start applying?

GRE General Test

Verbal: 30 minutes, 30 questions, scored on a 200–800 scale.

Quantitative: 45 minutes, 28 questions, scored on a 200–800

Analytical Writing: 30 + 45 minutes, 2 questions, scored on

Total testing time is up to three hours. The Analytical

The GRE CBT is an adaptive test - which is to say that it

The quantitative section is clearly the easiest with mostly

The Verbal section is probably the most intimidating to

The Analytical Writing (AW) section involves two tasks,

GRE Subject Test

2.4 What universities want?

A solid work experience has a strong positive impact on

2.5 Where to apply?

• Reputation of the university in your areas of interest

1. List out all applicants along with areas of interest and

I must point out, however, that universities have enough

Very often, most online applications will ask if you are

2.7 Note to Fine Arts Applicants

Once you have made up your mind about applying to grad

3.1 Online Presence

3.3 Statement of Purpose

3.5 Approaching faculty

3.6 Sending the application material

You should start hearing back from universities sometime

4.4 Note to Fine Arts Applicants

The reasons for getting a graduate degree are as varied as

While I recommend traveling light in general, your first trip

A.5 Medicine and First Aid

A.7 Utility items

One of the challenges students face in a new country, specially

B.3 Lentils/Legumes/Whole grains

B.7 Miscellaneous Items

analytical, 8, 9 PhD, 5, 18–20, 31

deadline, 7 résumé, 2, 6, 14, 22–28, 31–

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