FOLLOW MY TIPS AND WIN THE GAME

All you need to do is to gather up a spoon of confidence and cup of efforts. Start with the biggest
headache GRE. Once you clear the exam the only burden that remains is the packet. Timings are
given on the proceeding pages, as to when to plan out things. For GRE all u need is a barron’s, and
Arcos or the BIG book. For boosting your score you refer Princeton review at USEFI, this will give
you the tactics to eliminate unwanted choices, etc... People generally go on reading wordlists only,
but it is equally important to put efforts on Anal and Quant too. Finish ¾ of 3 sections and take the
date fast, since it’s always a rush hour.

Toefl is very easy to prepare, so don’t worry at this point. Don’t worry if u get hanged up at 1600’s
in your gre, still it’s possible to get admissions in an avg. college. Don’t loose your heart, I have
myself seen people going states at just 1400 in gre and 200 in toefl. LETTER OF
RECOMMENDATION’s put a approx. weight of 20% on your entire application so do not prepare
letter of recommendations in haste.

How to make your Letter of Recommendation

Tips on making your letter of recommendation more attractive is given in usefi books, but what I
prefer is a bhel puri of MD’s stuff, previous 2 years and from duniya’s. All you have to do is to make
a masala bhel by cutting descent lines from samples and pasting it into yours, but be CAREFUL, I
strongly emphasize on CHANGE THE VOICE, univ people are very smart, they have scanning
softwares which entirely scans your letter of recommendation and then compares it with there
records of previous 5 years record and all those lines which are same automatically get highlighted,
so they can easily point out that this letter of recommendation is a CUT PASTE one. Avoid using
fundu words like esteemed, and fortes etc. since they make us look smarter, which we are not. I have
seen people getting GRE verbal score as 400 and making their letter of recommendation and sop full
of Barron words, this make a negative impression on univ. People, since they are smart and they are
professional in their jobs.
Stick to your abilities and do not give more raag ratan. Do not start with “TO WHOMSOEVER ...
Let it be descent. Generally, people make 2 from degree colleges, and 1 from the work area where
they have never worked, though this trend is old but it works well, but see to it that what you
elaborate in the letter of recommendation is true, I mean, you know all that you have written in the
letter of recommendation. Do not hesitate to write your weak entities since a lot of good qualities
rules over those little bad ones, and believe me, it makes your letter of recommendation look a
genuine one. Once your letter of recommendation is ready get it verified by some experts, since an
ideal letter of recommendation should not have any grammatical mistakes.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SOP

Usually people write atmakatha in their sop but that’s wrong, here’s a sample of sop that is an ideal
one. Its from a guy who got admitted at RPI.

I am a creative, industrious, and ambitious individual, interested in analysis and synthesis of

engineering systems. I love to learn how things work and to build new ones myself. Throughout my
school and undergraduate college education I have been highly motivated by the twin challenges of
understanding concepts and then applying such understanding to practical outcomes. It was quite
easy for me to select the field of electrical and electronic engineering for my diploma and B.E.
degree courses, owing to an early realization that this field provides a foundation for engineering in
the information age. Even so, I could not have anticipated the extent of fun and learning that came
from my studies and diploma and degree projects. These have reinforced my desire to continue my
education into graduate school and seek out greater challenges. I believe that engineering and the
sciences that support it come alive at the cusp of new applications. It is immensely enjoyable for me
to take a problem that appears to be at the threshold of a solution and proceed to actually solve it;
more so when such endeavor uncovers other latent problems that demand ingenuity in their solution
as well. There have been other tangible rewards from my passion for engineering. I earned the
second rank among students from the entire state of Maharashtra in my diploma course and was
therefore automatically admitted to the degree course. In the degree course itself, my standing is
currently in the top ten at my Institute. I have consistently secured first class in all my semesters. My
course project for the final year in the diploma course drew second prize at my institute's project
demonstration tech-fest. My current project in the final year of the degree course is funded by
Larsen and Toubro Limited, which underscores a recognition of its practical application. On the
personal side, I am a very amiable, confident person with a broad range of interests. I have very good
interpersonal and communication skills. I have organized several inter-collegiate activities at my
college and have participated in such extra-curricular activities as theater and debating. I am a
founding member of my school's IEEE student branch and have remained an active member since its
inception.
I aspire to a career of lifelong learning, research and new applications. I dream of creating a business
that is centered on new products or innovation. In this new economy that is propelled by knowledge
engineering, I understand that continuous expansion of one's personal horizons is the best guarantee
of a fulfilling career. I want to contiune this journey of merging my vocation and my avocation, with
graduate education in Computer Sciences and Engineering at .....[name of school]...., having studied
your curriculum and faculty research interests.

Please note this sample is to fundu so do cut down it drastically, what I mean to express is the theme
that you should follow and not the matter.

Anyway a few outlines on preparing the SOP is

 objective and experiences

 Hold attention of the reader
 Limited in length, no more than 1 ½ A4 pages
 why continue as student
 what do you promise as a student?
 candidate’s personality
 Giving atihasik eg. Rather than writing I m this. I m that ...
 Make a link, do not jump here and there.
 career goals
 make commitment.
 indicate reasons for ATKT if u want to be too much of harishchandra
 DO NOT write autobiography like “In 10th I got 90%, and then I went to ruia where I scored 96 ,
then to vivekanand etc
 Be précis and stick to truth only.

What I suggest for dummies is get there sop ready from a professional in a co. Or by paying 2000 to
MD Since sop puts 25% of weight on the application packet, no doubt your acads are equally
important, but still sop’s and letter of recommendation’s cover up your weakness in studies.
PLEASE NOTE THE SCHEDULE WHICH I HAVE GIVEN IS AN APPROX. ONE PLEASE DO
CROSS CHECK IT WITH YOUR CLASS MATES IN ORDER TO BE IN RHYTHM.

Typical schedule for planning your application if u r departing for FALL (August)

Timed Shot To be Done

Before Jan Make a Valid Passport
Jan Start reading GRE
Feb Send pre-applications to all univ
Mar Receive applications from univ, start compiling them, shortlist them to
25, send personal mails to univ profs regarding aid, facilities etc.

April Register for GRE in Aug and TOEFL in Sep

May Start getting your certificates, and marksheets attested true copies from
their respective colleges
July Give your semester 6 exams comfortably
Aug Give your GRE
Aug Prepare your shortlist more precisely to 15
Sep Give the TOEFL
Sep Prepare 3 LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION’s and a SOP
Dec Get the acknowledgment from the univ people
Jan Start contacting the univ profs for aids, yeah, I mean it
Feb Start preparation and inf. the VISA documents, contact your CA’s, they
are good at this business
Mar Receive I - 20’s from the univ fools
Apr to May Run for VISA
June Expletter of recommendation the univ profs, and beg literally for
research aid
Aug F O to states