May 03, 2002 09:55 AM
4296 Views
(Updated May 05, 2002 09:40 AM)
I was considering to go abroad for my Ph.D. but at that time internet and emails were not so popular. For this reason I have to do everything by post. It was a pain and I gave up quickly.During all this time I realised that not all labs, faculties or all departments are good. I also did understand that abroad does not means always a good university and a bright career. All this I am telling because many students do go for any university and will end up in spoiling their career.So go by the university reputation.
The steps you should go through are...
decide what you want to do. See what is your interest.
do prepare for GRE, TOFEL, GMAT etc. according to your need. TOEFEL, TWE are for testing your english capabilities. GMAT for commerce and GRE for sciences. There are also two types in GRE --general GRE and subject GRE. GRE subject is to check your capabilities in your subject. The score from all these scores are for US universities. There are some universities in Australia which also recognise them.
3.do survey of different universities. Consider english speaking countries first(I am considering here that you know english but if you know some other language like French then you can consider the country where this language is spoken). It will be useful, since you will not have to learn an extra language. Consider one more thing, countries like Canada has both french and english universities.
Doing survey is easy but do take time. You can go to the fairs arranged by the embassies of different countries. Contact to the embassies of these countries for more informations and exact dates.
Now a days best way is to use internet and also advice from some person from the area of your field. he can also suggest which country is good for your subject and what universities will be suitable.
Email to different people and faculties to get more information. faculties normally do like frequent emails and discussion because it tells them about you and if you are in contact with some faculty from your field for long time, he may develop a good opinion about you, which may help a lot in admission. But do not annoy him by over trying.
For information on US universities, try USEFI(united states education foundation in India) and british council lbrary for British universities. Both are in Delhi. I am not sure but I do think they are in other metro cities also (calcutta, Chinai, Bombay). You will get good counselling there.
To my opinion, studying in a foreign university is way expensive unless your scholarship do cover your expenses including the tutions. So you need to score good in GRE/... Something like 80% or higher!
- Application procedure....
You have to start procedure while preparing to take exams like GRE etc. You have to pin point colleges where you want to apply. After this internet and email era started, applying is not a big problem. Initial procedure can be pursued by these electronic means.
- Transcripts...
You should have all your transcripts in english since high school onwards. If they are not in english, make english versions and get them attested by some english professor. you may also face problem in evaluating them as per the university standards since we have different methods fo grading in India. some education boards use grades like A, A+ or A++ while others use percentage. You may have to take care of that part also. But these are minor things which can be taken care as they come up.
Chosing colleges should be based on some criteria. Besides your interest you might like to consider quality of education, fellowship offered (unless yoru parents are supporting you). Its a good idea to keep four five good universities and to keep a couple of average universities, so that you are not empty handed in the end. Your scores in GRE etc. also have to be considered. You should check out what are the standards of GRE/... scores accepted by the university you are applying at.
I think all this can give you a picture to begin with. Do well in future.
Best wishes
