THE APPLICATION
PROCEDURE
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 relocked 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. F
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.