In this three part series let me walk you through a step by step process of how to go about selecting the right universities to apply to
PART 1: UNDERSTANDING YOUR PROFILE AND EXPECTATIONS.
Your profile and expectations can be broadly classified into:
- Your Academic/Career profile
- Your career aspirations
- Expectations from a Master’s program
- Your budgets
When it comes to your profile, here are factors that matter
Key Factors
- GPA/Academic performance
- Your undergrad university/college reputation
- GRE Scores
- TOEFL/IELTS Scores
Add-ons
- Research projects and internships experience
- Research publications in your name if any
- Full time professional work experience
- Your SOPs and application Essays
- Recommendations
- Interviews (for select programs)
GPA/Academic performance
This is by far the most important aspect of your profile. Universities give a lot of importance to your GPA. While a high GPA does not necessarily mean you would make it to a top university, but a low GPA will almost certainly get your application rejected. Here is a rough guideline of the general GPA requirement vs. the university rankings.
| University Rank | GPA requirement |
| Top 20 | 9+ |
| Rank 20-40 | 8.5+ |
| Rank 40-60 | 8+ |
| Rank 60-90 | 7+ |
Factors related to your GPA that matter
- Consistency is important.
- GPA in the Junior and Senior year (3rd and 4th year) matter more than the GPA in the earlier years
- GPA in your core subjects matters; higher the better.
- Backlogs/year drops matter – they negatively affect your chances of admission
Your undergrad university/college reputation
Like it or not, your undergraduate college reputation does play a role in your admission decision making process. Most top ranked universities do give preference to students from IITs, BITS, NITs etc. Being from a top ranked college in India definitely helps.
One way to assess how a particular university abroad would rate/rank your ‘college’, is to see how many of your seniors have successfully managed to secure admission in that particular university.
GRE Scores
Again a very important criteria in your admission process especially amongst most US universities. All 3 sections of your GRE score matters. For engineering/mathematics/quant based programs, the Quantitative section of the GRE is more important than the Verbal section. Here is a rough mapping between the GRE Scores and University rankings
| University Rank | GPA requirement |
| Top 20 | 325+ (with 165+ on Quant), 4+ on AWA |
| Rank 20-40 | 320+ (with 165+ on Quant), 3.5+ on AWA |
| Rank 40-60 | 310+ (with 160+ on Quant), 3+ on AWA |
| Rank 60-90 | 305+ (with 158+ on Quant), 3+ on AWA |
Notes about the GRE scores
- Programs offered by business schools, prefer students to have a more balanced score rather than a higher quantitative score.
- If you have multiple attempts at the GRE, universities consider the highest of the attempts. Some universities consider sectional highest too.
- AWA scores matter. A high AWA score may not
- Some universities do not give much importance to your GRE scores
- Some university do NOT require the GRE for certain programs
TOEFL/IELTS Scores
TOEFL or IELTS scores are used by universities to assess students’ abilities to communicate in English. Although universities have minimum TOEFL/IELTS criteria set for admission, a high score always helps. Some universities use TOEFL/IELTS as just a qualifier (where they ensure that the applicant has met the minimum score required by the university), many consider the score while making admission decisions. A 100+ on the TOEFL (with a 25+ in each section) or a 7.5+ band on the IELTS (with a 7+ band in each section) is considered to be a high score.
TOEFL/IELTS minimum requirements of each university are mentioned on the university’s application page.
ADD-ONS
Research projects and internships: Having worked on research publications and internships does help, especially if the work that you have done is aligned with the program that you intend to apply to.
Research publications: While research publications do have an impact, the journal in which they are published matter more. Having several papers published in journals with low impact factors don’t help.
Full time professional work experience: Some programs, especially professional programs, or those offered by business schools, do give importance to your full time work experience. Many technical programs also do prefer applicants with work experience, but prefer those with research based experience.
SOPs & Essays & Resume: A lot can be said about the SOPs and Essays, but in a nutshell the SOP is an opportunity to tell the university ‘Your Story’. The SOP should focus on : What are your career and/or research goals and what are the important educational and work experiences that you believe have prepared you for graduate studies. Why have you chosen to apply to this university.
Note: The SOP is not your life story. The SOP is not a verbal description of your resume either
Recommendations: While most universities require recommendation letters , this is how university’s evaluate recommendation letters
- Who is writing the recommendation
- What is being written
Note: If your recommender knows or worked with a faculty of the university you are applying to, it makes a high impact.
Interviews
Some universities for some programs conduct interviews where they try to assess your career goals, your past background, and your reason for choosing to apply to that program. Interviews are not technical in nature.
Co-Founder of Academy One