How to get into YOUR

DREAM school

Takian Fakhrul
Assistant professor
Department of mme
30 April, 2015
 Universities I applied to:
US News Material US News overall
University Science Ranking Engineering Rank Decision
1. MIT 1 1 Funded Admission – Fellowship 1st
Semester
2. Stanford 4 2 Rejected
3. UC, Berkeley 6 3 Funded Admission -GSR
4. UC, Santa Barbara 2 23 Rejected
5. University of Illinois, 4 6 Funded Admission -RA
Urbana Champaign
6. Northwestern 3 21 Funded Admission -Fellowship

7. Georgia Institute of 6 6 Funded Admission-RA

Technology
8. University of Michigan, 10 6 Rejected
Ann Arbor
9. Purdue University 9 6 Admission – Didn’t contact professors
(EECS DEPARTMENT)
10. UC, San Diego 28 17 Admission- Declined before I got a
funding offer
1. Plan Ahead

2. Build your Academic Profile

3. Build your Research Profile

4. Take the Standardized Tests (GRE/TOEFL/IELTS)

5. Do your homework

6. Get your documents ready

7. Make your university list

8. SOP/ DIVERSITY STATEMENT/LOR/CV

9. The Application Process

10. Pray
1. Plan Ahead
 1. Plan Ahead
Very crucial to have an aim in life! (preferably by
your sophomore year!)

What do you want to do after graduating?

Masters? Where?

Research your dream school

Post on College Confidential
2. Build your academic profile
 2. Build your academic profile
• If you messed up your first two years focus on
your Major CGPA-( 3rd and 4th year)

• Academic honors and awards

• Try to be on the Dean’s list and merit list at

least once!
3. Build Your Research Profile
 3. Build Your Research Profile
• Can you beat someone with a higher CGPA??!

• Graduate school is training in research . When a graduate school looks at

your application, their principal question is, "Is this person going to be
good at research?“

• So make sure you have publications before applying to schools- at the very
least conference publications!

• Work with different research groups which will help you maximize
publications!
4. Take the Standardized Tests
(GRE/TOEFL/IELTS)
 4. Take the Standardized Tests
(GRE/TOEFL/IELTS)

 Start studying EARLY.

 Start studying before or during your SENIOR YEAR.

 4. Take the Standardized Tests
(GRE/TOEFL/IELTS)
GRE To-Do list:
1) Start studying AT LEAST 3 months before your exam.

2) Make sure you have enough time to sit for 2 tests just incase you mess up in the first!

3) FOCUS ON THE QUANT SECTION- (Best Source-Manhattan and ETS)

4) Don’t waste time memorizing 3500 words! 1000-1500 will more than do the trick!

5) RC- Practice Practice (Source-All the ETS books and Big Book)

6) TRY TO AVOID BOOKS FROM KAPLAN, PRINCETON AND BARRONS and FOCUS ON
MATERIAL FROM ETS.

7) SUBSCRIBE TO MAGOOSH-if you can’t at the very least read Chris lele’s blogs

8) Study materials- ETS, Big book, Manhattan (Quant), Magoosh

9) GIVE THE 6 TESTS FROM MANHATTAN AND POWERPREP 1 AND 2 BEFORE YOUR
EXAM.
 4. Take the Standardized Tests
(GRE/TOEFL/IELTS)
TOEFL To-do list:
1. Sit for it after the you have taken the GRE.

2. If you aren’t confident about your English skills study for at least 2 weeks

3. Speaking and listening section: Practice, Practice!

4. Reading Material: ETS, TPO

5. Do your homework
 5. Do your homework
 Keep a diary

 Make a list of the deadlines

 Make a list of your usernames and passwords for each school

 Give extra importance to overlapping deadlines- e.g. 15th Dec, 1st

Jan, 15th Jan

 Read up on the research interests and projects of the faculty in the

schools/departments/programs.

 Read publications from a faculty of interest.

6. Get your documents ready
7. Make your university list
 7. Make your university list
Ivy league schools?
• Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, Cornell University, Brown University, Columbia
University, Dartmouth College and University of Pennsylvania.

 Private or Public?

 US News Ranking/Times Higher Education

• Take into consideration the materials Science and also the overall
ranking
 7. Make your university list
National University overal ranking US NEWS:
1) Princeton University
2) Harvard University
3) Yale University
4) Columbia University
5) Stanford University
6) University of Chicago
7) Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8) Duke University
9) University of Pennsylvania
10) California Institute of Technology
 7. Make your university list
• Which schools match your credentials?

Types of schools you should be applying to:

1) Dream schools: 3
2) Safety schools: 3
3) Low ranked in your perspective: 2/3

 Apply to a total of at least 8 schools!

8. SOP/ DIVERSITY STATEMENT/LOR/CV
 8. SOP/ DIVERSITY STATEMENT/LOR/CV
Dear Takian,

Let me begin by wishing you a Happy New Year (albeit a few days late). What better way to kick-off 2015 than with some good news!
On behalf of the Graduate Admissions and Fellowship Committee and the Faculty of the Department of Materials Science and
Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, I am excited to inform you that you have been recommended for admission to the
Ph.D. program. A recommendation for your acceptance has been forwarded to the Graduate Division requesting that they formally
offer you admission. You will receive the official acceptance from Graduate Division in due time, but please accept this message as a
placeholder for that acceptance.

To begin, let me say that this is a major honor. This year we had close to 500 applicants out of which we will admit less than ~10% and
your package stood-out amongst all of those as one of the premier candidates. Your combination of academic
achievement, research experience, citizenship, and letters of recommendation are truly
exceptional. I will also note that your package is currently being actively considered for financial aid through potential fellowship
and in-department funds as well. As a faculty member, I can honestly say that it is students like yourself that make doing this job so
rewarding and make me confident that the field will be in good hands in the coming years. Top programs, such as ours at UC Berkeley,
are built on the innovation, hard work, and world-class research that can only be accomplished by students like you. All of this said, we
do hope that you will choose UC Berkeley as your venue for graduate studies.

Cheers,
Professor Lane W. Martin
Chair, Graduate Admissions and Fellowship Committee

PS – I was personally moved by your application and your successes to date Congrats on your efforts. I would
be happy to chat with you more about our research group.
8. SOP
1)Why did you choose your undergraduate major?

2) Why did you choose your research topic(s)?

3) What are your career goals?

4) Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

a) What do you hope to accomplish?
b) What drives you? What motivates you?

5) Why did you choose the graduate school you are applying to?
8. My SOP
1) 1st Para- HOOK

As one of the headlines in today's paper laments, most women in South Asia rarely
pursue careers after completing engineering degrees but then that is hardly
surprising when you live in a part of the world where the likes of Malala are having
to take a bullet to fight for women's basic right to education!

2) 2nd para- Why I choose MME

3) 3rd para : Academic honors and awards

4) 4th para: Research interests- discuss undergrad/ postgraduate research/thesis/

papers you wrote

5) 5th para- work experience /other experiences/ECA

8. My SOP
 6) 6th para- Why I choose UC BERKELEY?

• UC Berkeley being one of the world’s top producers of women engineers,

certainly holds a lure for a South Asian woman like me.

• From world renowned teaching staff to top notch research facilities the
Materials Science and Engineering Department at UC Berkeley has it all. Throw in
the breathtaking scenic campus and its proximity to the tech hub Silicon Valley,
and the deal is sealed.

• 7) 7th para- which professors are you interested to work with? Why?
8. My SOP
• 8) 8th Para- Where I see myself in 10 years? Compelling conclusion!

• Ten years from now, I see myself as a world class scientist and educator working
alongside some of the greatest minds (hopefully my mentors at UC Berkeley),
learning from them and together making great strides in my research field.
Without doubt, there is no better place than UC Berkeley for an aspiring scientist
like myself to continue unlocking the secrets of Mother Nature and empower not
just her many sons but also her many capable daughters.
 8. SOP Do’s and Don'ts
• DO NOT COPY LINES FROM OTHERS SOPS.

• A statement of purpose is not a narrative of your accomplishments.

• Make absolutely sure that your statement contains no misspellings, grammatical or

factual errors, and that your prose is as lucid as you can possibly make it.

• Your statement should be tailored to the particular institution to which you are
applying.

• Have strong opening and closing paragraph.

• Stay within the page/word limit.

• The best SOP is an SOP that is written with enough time, so keep at least a months
time to plan what you want to write.

• Ask for critique, revise and edit.

8. Diversity Statement
Describe your leadership, work experience, service experience, or other significant involvement
with racial, ethnic, socio-economic, or educational communities that have traditionally been
underrepresented in higher education, and how these experiences would promote a diversity of
views, experiences, and ideas in the pursuit of research, scholarship, and creative excellence.
I am a woman of Bangladesh: a country so poor that 49% of its population lives below the poverty line. My South Asian Bengali
upbringing shaped me definitively into the woman I am today. Childhood marriage of girls is a reality here, and it acts as a lens shaping
one's perception of the world around……….

If admitted into the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Northwestern, besides promoting diversity by my race and ethnic
heritage, I would also enjoy enlightening my classmates on freeing the world from its prejudice against women in science.
8. Letter of Recommendation (LOR)
 The Important attributes your Professor should stress on:

1) Hard work

2) Independence

3) Creativity, problem solving ability

4) Ability to get along with people/ Interpersonal skills

8. Letter of Recommendation (LOR)
Mediocre letter
In truth, mediocre letters are actually bad letters. Since nobody every writes an outright
bad letter, everyone experienced in reading letters of recommendation know that a
mediocre letter is the worst thing that could be said about an applicant.

Good letter
Contains examples of personal experiences with you. Shorter than an outstanding letter

Outstanding letter
long/more detailed
8. The Application Process
10. Pray
Do girls have an advantage over boys?