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While this section
is very university and individual specific, one thing topmost on
every student's mind is: What do universities look for in an application
packet ? I'm no expert on the subject, but through personal experience
and speaking with prospective students, USEFI counselors, and university
admission committee members, I have pieced together the following
info:
Admission Committees
(AC) receive thousands of applications every year. A typical AC
consists of 3 to 5 people, usually all from the department of which
admission is being sought (this is for graduate admission only).
Therefore each person in the AC ends up reading hundreds of applications
over the entire admission period. In other words, each person has
only a few minutes to determine your fate. Use those crucial minutes
to influence this AC member positively and make his decision (to
admit you) as painless as possible.
Usually, the AC members
read all the applications and then place them in 3 bundles: a "Yes"
bundle, a "No" bundle and a "Maybe" bundle. Later, all the "No"
are sent reject letters, the "Yes" are sent an offer letter, and
the "Maybe" are relooked at. Sometimes they are waitlisted. The
size of the "Maybe" bundle is usually the largest.
The minutiae that ACs
look for in an application fall under the following categories:
Academics:
This includes the college / university you passed out from, the
number of years of study, the degree(s), diplomas and certificates
of special courses you possess, your specialization and, of course,
your academic performance. The acad performance is judged as a whole
throughout your school and college(s). So, a single year or so of
poor performance may not have a significant effect as such on your
evaluation. They are looking for enduring trends. You have to establish
that you have been a good (or excellent !) student in the long term.
Try to explain any minor aberrations separately, say in the SOP
or a covering letter.
Test Scores:
This includes scores obtained on all standardized tests required
(or desired) by the university, like GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, Subject GRE
etc.
Statement Of Purpose (SOP):
This is the single most important document that you are sending
to the univ that can determine your fate. And it is also the only
one that is completely in your hands. ACs have been known to change
the verdict of a student from a "Maybe" to a "Yes" (or from a "No"
to a "Maybe") based solely upon his/her SOP.
Recommendations:
The recos are also a very crucial part of your application packet.
They tell the univ what previous faculty and employers think of
you. A positive feedback from an authoritative source is very useful.
The committee looks at who the reco is from, how well he knows you,
what he is saying about you, and how he says it.
Relevance of Course:
The committee tries to determine how well you are suited to the
course and vice versa. It does this by evaluating (a) the linkage
between your previous study and the desired field of study (b) your
interest in the field, as outlined in your Statement Of Purpose
(c) a connection between your stated professional objective and
the course objective (d) a match between your research interest
and the infrastructural capabilities of the univ, faculty research
in the same area and university interest in the same area (this
is especially true for PhD students and for research assistance
applicants).
A shortfall in
one of these categories can be met in the others. For instance,
a poor academic performance in college can be countered by good
GRE scores, an excellent SOP, good recos and relevance of the course
to you. However, if you fail to meet 3 out of 5 criteria, then you
need to be careful.
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