Finally Got Accepted to my Dream University — Know How!

Hello there!😊 Now that you have stumbled upon this post, I hope you get a good idea of what kind of planning is required for getting those college applications ready and increasing your chance of acceptance. And if you are just cruising through blog posts then may you find my journey an interesting read.

Firstly let me tell you, start with the application process an year before!

There are so many small steps to follow before you submit the final application that an year will seem less! Specially, if you are a student or working currently, then this will give you time to get things done smoothly on both fronts. I was working as a software engineer in an IT company and simultaneously planning towards changing my field. Starting with the process an year ahead gave me time to relax and not get too tensed or frustrated midway. Now, lets move on to the next step which was quite important in my case.

If changing field, do courses or projects focused on the area you are applying for!

Since my interest shifted from core software engineering towards Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), I needed to reflect this on my application. Including courses and projects of your new found interest in your graduate application, shows that the applicant is sincere and thus gives you an edge. For me this step was kind of necessary as many colleges asked for a portfolio.

In order to explore the field of HCI, I enrolled in an User Experience Design course offered by Designerrs Lab alongside working on my job. I learned a lot about the design process while working on a project there. It was great working with people from various professional backgrounds and discuss their diverse approaches to solve a problem. I also attended workshops and conferences like the India HCI 2019 to understand the quality and type of work being done in this field. All these elements greatly improved my profile.

Highly motivated, I decided to pursue the field of HCI further. I left my industrial job and started working as a research assistant at IDC, IIT Bombay. This academic internship helped me show my sincerity and was a great learning experience. In turn, it cleared my doubts regarding a graduate program. I got to know about the various kinds of research work going on in this field and what is expected from a graduate student.

Next up, shortlist graduate programs to apply!

This is the step where you will get a clear picture of ‘Why’ of the application. This step will help you greatly in writing your statement of purpose as well.

Lets begin with the Whys. Why do you want to do your masters? There can be multiple reasons for this. And these reasons will be your filters while searching for that perfect program. I shortlisted according to the following list of criteria.

• Location of the university — I chose United States because of personal reasons. People even refine their search according to weather, economic situation and cost of living.
• Ranking of the program — Once decided with the location, I simply googled the ranking of MS programs in HCI. This saves time in identifying universities according to your profile.
• Course structure — I used courses offered and the research work being done under professors of the universities as next filter. This helped me understand which topics I am interested in and would like to pursue further in future. An interesting addition to your statement of purpose!
• Miscellaneous — In addition there are other things to think about as well according to your priorities. Fees, scholarship options, RA/TA opportunities, program duration, alumni network, class strength, etc.

Many of my seniors advised on following the 4+3+3 rule while shortlisting the universities — basically 4 ambitious, 3 moderate and 3 safe universities according to your profile. To get a clear idea regarding this, I joined few Facebook groups titled like “MS in HCI ….”. There you can post your profile details and people will give a rough idea about your chances of getting into your listed universities. Similarly, there are many other websites and university application help groups which you can make use of. After filtering, I locked 10 universities of my choice. You can select less than 10 also. But more than 10 is not required, as you have already taken three safe ones into account.

Be done with your GRE / TOEFL/ other exams as soon as possible!

After finalizing the university list, go through their application requirements and deadlines. This will give an idea regarding the minimum requirement of various exam scores needed for the application. Few universities need only one of GRE ,TOEFL, IELTS and PTE scores. While some universities mention that they judge an application on the whole, some have strict minimum requirements for certain sections. For the same reason even though I scored 24 in the speaking section of TOEFL, I gave it again to cross the minimum score of 26 mentioned on the application requirement of my dream university.

Now regarding the details, it took around three months for me to prepare for GRE while working on my job. I personally did not buy any materials since plenty of it is already scattered all over the internet. I used Magoosh Verbal mobile application and the Manhattan 5lb. Book of GRE practice problems. For practice test, I only took those that are given for free from ETS when registered for GRE. All this got me a score of 324 out of 340.

Coming to TOEFL, it becomes easier once you have taken GRE. It is better to be done with TOEFL within 2–3 weeks of your GRE, so you won’t have to again start from scratch. Only different part which is kind of difficult for non-native English speakers is the Speaking section. Not to scare you, its just that speaking into a microphone and making the correct choice of words on the go made me too much self-aware and nervous. This will not happen if you practice enough for this section. It is comparatively easy to score in TOEFL. I got 113 out of 120. I used Magoosh Verbal app specific to TOEFL and watched lots of videos on YouTube where people solve model TOEFL papers since not many TOEFL model tests are free.

Now start structuring your Statement of Purpose and Resume.

This is undoubtedly most important part of your college application. Keep in mind that different universities have different set of question guides that they want you to answer through your SOP. Log on to the application portals of the universities and get a clear picture of the expected materials and the rules of submission. It is best to prepare a skeleton of your SOP covering all the points you want the admission committee to know and later modify according to specific university format. Some of these points include your journey both educational and professional, study interests, future plans relevant to your field of study. But most importantly you should include — Why are you choosing this particular university? How can you contribute to their department? What qualities and experience do you bring which are relevant to the courses or research work?

Moving on to resume, keep it crisp! I made an one page resume that included relevant experiences, project details, education history, skills and courses, scholarships and awards offered, along with important links to websites and contact details. Remember to keep your resume and SOP as informative as possible given the page and word limits!

Letter of Recommendations —Keep them notified!

This is another important aspect of your college applications. Number of recommendations required vary with universities, usually it is three. It is advisable to choose your recommenders depending on the type of program you are going for, i.e., academic or industrial. Try to finalize the list early on and keep them notified about the application deadlines. It will be good if the person has mentored and worked closely with you since the committee might contact them to validate your application.

Finally, complete your checklist and submit the applications!

There are so many things to keep in mind that it is best to keep a checklist of all the documents to be submitted! My checklist included statement of purpose, resume, portfolio, transcripts, GRE and TOEFL scores, letter of recommendations, writing sample (research paper or bachelor project report) and other supplements. Do not keep it until last minute for submission as there can be unexpected checkpoints at various steps. It will be beneficial to maintain a calendar since different universities have different deadlines. At this point, sticky notes had completely conquered my study-room wall. 😋

Ahh! I still remember that jump of joy.

After weeks of waiting and incessant refreshing of email account, usually around March you will finally see that email titled ‘application decision’. If accepted, congratulations are in order! If not then do not lose hope. There is always next year. Somebody has aptly said it as the “‘March’ of rejections!”

My story is kind of off the track in the sense that my dream school was a little super-ambitious for my profile. Although I was confident with my experience and qualifications, my bachelors grade was slightly less than their usual average cut-off. Given that it is among the top 3 programs in my field, truth be told I was kind of skeptical. Then one fine morning, I received an email stating that the admission committee was impressed with my application and they have filed a petition to the Graduate School board for making exception due to my grade being lower than average. I read about this while researching about the program applications, but never thought that I will be on the receiving end! I was happy on being one step closer to my dream. Finally after one week on 25th March, 2020 1:59 AM IST, I received the mail ‘University of Washington Graduate School Application Decision’. I called my parents and we opened the email together. It was a great moment to see all that hard-work finally being paid off!

UW here I come! Go Huskies! 😃