Thinking about studying in the U.S.?

Steps to Find Your Perfect US University

Hi,
I am Harsh. I did my master's in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University (MTU) in 2017. Since then, I working as a Mechanical Engineer at Core Scientific, Atlanta, Georgia, US.

At Core Scientific, Atlanta, Georgia — USA

Through the Prarambh platform, I am going to share some of the valuable learnings that will be surely helpful not only for the ones who are:
- baffled in finalizing the perfect university amid the admits received
- But also, for the ones who have just started thinking of pursuing their further studies overseas

I’ll first brief about pre-requisites for pursuing MS abroad:
1. GRE (Depends on University. Few may not require)
2. English language proficiency test (IELTS/TOEFL)
3. Under-Graduation

Choose a major that’s right for you:

• People opt for a Masters program for mainly two reasons — to gain more knowledge in their area of expertise or a new field that they wish to explore.
• Firstly, you identify all the programs that you can go to. In the USA, program selection is not restricted to your under graduation field. For example, Mechanical engineers can select Industrial Engineering, Data Science, Metallurgical Science, etc. as well.
• You can even apply for more than one program at a different university. You can choose any of the master fields provided you fulfill the master’s degree prerequisites.
• It is important to keep a clear vision of what you want to do after graduation. You can check the current trends, job availabilities, and career shifting scenarios. This will help to keep your interest during masters and help you survive through all stresses you are signing up for.
• The best resource in all this ambiguous scenario is consulting alumni. Get in touch with students from the universities who already graduated or still studying at the same place you want to go. Most of the MS students use LinkedIn so you can reach out to them on LinkedIn.
• In case you are in a dilemma in selecting your major:
  1. Ask yourself, what do you want to become, and what subjects are required for?
  2. Take guidance from people with a similar profile on Linkedin
• Check the average profile of a student that usually gets in. Use your GPA, TOEFL scores, GRE score, etc. to get a general idea of what schools you are qualified for. These will be medium for you. Similarly, find out schools that you are underqualified for and overqualified for. It is extremely important to be brutally honest with yourself here. There’ll still be a huge margin of error here since admissions are based on more than just your GPA, test scores so keep that in mind (especially while choosing ambitious schools. Be realistic).

Finding the right University:

• Once you have finalized a particular major(s), the next step is to select the right universities that teach it. Our preliminary mindset — university rankings have a succinct role in this particular decision-making process. Until you are in Ivy League schools, the ranking doesn't matter that much. Or I would say apart from US university ranking there are many other parameters one should consider.
• First, let's understand the categorization of universities — Safe, Moderate & Ambitious. Based on your profile (GRE & UG Score) you can decide which universities are right for you. In a general scenario, I would advise you to distribute your matrix in this ratio: 30%, 40% % 30%.

1. Safe: You are fairly certain you will get admission there

2. Moderate: You have a fighting chance.

3. Ambitious: Dream schools, long-shot but still possible and worth trying.

Factors to consider while deciding university:

1. Why International Students Should Study STEM?

• STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Students with STEM degrees are allowed to extend the program for an additional 17 months, for a total of 29 months. It means post-MS one can stay for 3 years in the USA while after the Non-STEM program one can stay only for a year.

2. University reputation/rankings:

• Like is said it doesn't matter much up to a certain extent. Having said that in the USA, only the skills and learnings are valued more as compared to the University you graduated from. However, the quality of education, the ranking of students studying along with you, and the networking will surely vary.
• The ranking is done based on limited parameters and there are many factors that are imperative but aren't included as they cant be measured. 5 Reasons why university rankings are not perfect

3. Location & Job scenario in nearby area/states:

• Considering location as a factor while the selection of University eases finding and commuting for internship/Jobs
• Companies do prefer a local student more than one from a distant location

4. Tuitions Fees, Living expenses & Return of Investment

• It is important to find out how big of expenses you are going to have. Scholarship or any kind of financial aid information will not be revealed until you get admission. (Alumni can help you find out college behavior on scholarships though 😉)
• Be clear how you are going to pay for your tuition fees and other expenses for the next 2 years. I would highly recommend having an educational loan from India and pay back once you start earning. For the perspective, loan of $50,000 over 10 years payback period will not be a big deal, once you have the job paying $70,000 per year. Don’t push back the idea of going for MS only because of financial reasons.

5. Batch Size

• You might be thinking how would batch size matter — it’s also possible that due to large batch size you don’t get the subjects actually want.
• What will you do then? You can’t change your career path, right?

6. Semester Intake & Weather (Spring, Fall or Summer)

• It is essential to decide the semester intake you are opting for. Must read: Comparison of Fall vs Spring.
• Weather can be a matter of personal opinion. I did not want to go any hot and humid places so I avoided applying for universities in states like Arizona and Texas. I ended up in Houghton, Michigan with 202 inches of snow every year and in almost heaven (some people think it’s hell)

What can enhance the prospects of admission?

• In case you have research experience in work or published research articles in reputed international journals, you have better chance getting ambitious colleges.
• If you have work experience after B.Tech, all universities give weightage to that even though not explicitly mentioned. That can help when you have slightly lower than required GRE score for that particular university.
• There are many good universities with $0 application fee. You can apply as many as you like. Once you have SOP, LOR and other documents ready, it won’t be a big deal to finish the application.

My story

The journey of School — Nirma University— L&T — Michigan Tech

• I did my schooling from Gandhinagar. I still remember, as 12-year-old kid passing on SG highway and thinking of coming to Nirma University (NU)as a student one day and the dream came true and joined NU as the last intake student of Mechanical engineering batch 2008. ‘Mediocre’, you can use this term to define me when I joined NU in 2008, average in education, average in sports, average in whatever the category you can think of.
• NU brings out best out of you and that proved true for me as well. I graduated with 8.25 GPA overall and stayed a part of Team stallions (representing NU in Mahindra SAE BAJA India competition) & volleyball team. Nirma taught me about perseverance and stay focused.
• I can recollect of skipping classes of power plant engineering and machine design in 7th semester to prepare for campus interviews. I got selected in the first company itself — L&T & worked there for 3 years.
• I worked at Hazira plant of L&T MHI Turbine Generators as Manufacturing Engineer. Everybody has different motivation to go abroad and study. Working with L&T for 3 years my brain was confined to very narrow applications. I wanted to gain more knowledge & exposure to other areas.
• At L&T and Nirma, I was blessed to have awesome colleagues and friends whom I can rely on any day of my life. If you are thinking college life is tough, then let me tell you, game hasn’t started yet.

Landing to Michigan Tech

• 3 years after the graduation and forgetting all the mechanical engineering taught in college, I decided to do masters. I have been through the pain of preparing for GRE / TOEFL while working full time, I sympathize for all the aspirants out there going through the same.
• I was accepted at 5 universities and I chose Michigan Tech. Michigan is home of 3 big automobile companies and as an automobile enthusiast, I wanted to be in Michigan. So far, I am the only student from my ME class who came to the USA for masters.
• The experience of studying in the USA is totally different than studying in India. The curriculum is research-based and that is why assignments and projects are more weighted than exams for annual grades. Recruiters never ask for your grades in interview.
• I find myself making food, studying more than 6 hours a day, and doing this for 2 years during college. Just think of USA party life shown in Bollywood movie and it’s exactly the opposite of that.

First Job in the USA

• All the hard work, sleepless nights, half-cooked food, and zillion pages of reading and writing, I graduated in 2017. During my graduation, I did an internship at Bucher Hydraulics for 8 months in 2016. Now comes the best part, after graduation, I joined:
  Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation (2017–19)
  Fox Factory Inc. — market-leader in suspension manufacturing(2019)
• Currently, I am working as a CFD Thermal Mechanical Engineer at Core Scientific.

I am quite active on LinkedIn, please feel free to reach out. I will try my best to help you out.