POST APPING FUNDAS ------------------ Congrats !! Congrats !! So u have managed to get admission into a US Univ. for studies. But there's a lot of work ahead. Don't worry u can handle this. What I am going to say now is primarily for students going for graduate studies but undergrads can also gain some insight from this. All of the below is based on personal experience and conversations with other Indians in US. If you have got "schols". from multiple Univs. u need to choose carefully which one you are going to choose. Here's some guidance... 1) Choose univs. where there is very good job scope NEARBY. For software Californian univs. are ideal. But that doesn't mean u leave a 20th ranked univ. for a 40th ranked one. Its OK to go for a lower ranked Univ. if it is well located. Location DOES MATTER. Forget whatever crap people tell you about ranking and research. But location does matter, ESPECIALLY if u want to leave after an MS. So go for a good ranked Univ in a decent location. For CS, California, Massachusetts, Texas, Boston are some good areas. In case if u haven't got a schol. in one of the BEST areas, then look look for Univs. with good ranking and reputation. Note overall ranking and subject-wise ranking are different for graduate studies. Make sure you have the correct rankings. 2) Your friend/senior/uncle just told you that job scene in Univ. of XXXX is excellent in Comp. Sc. Every student gets 2-3 jobs. U are delighted...wow..I must go to that Univ. and u go there and ......... Job scene is important but so is important the field in which u are interested when you go for graduate studies. If u are interested in Networks or Operating Systems and your Univ. is not so good/reputed in these areas then what will happen is that the companies that will visit your Deptt. will not be particularly interested in you and you will also not find the job for which they are seeking people, interesting. So basically, others might end up with 2-3 jobs and u will end up with none ( hopefully 1). The reason is because in US, companies do not come for recruiting. Am I talking sense...! Well, people from individual groups within a company come for recuiting. So if a Univ. is good in Networks, only people from the networking group will visit that Univ for recruitment. So it will be tough for you to join other groups because they will not come to your campus. There is a VERY EASY way of avoiding all this business and getting a good job. What - do not have an interest at all in the beginning. Go to that Univ. see what Univ is good in and develop your interest in that area. This way u get to go to a good Univ, u get a good job also - best of both worlds. Consider these things very seriously as many people I know have joined very good Univs (top 15) but are not getting internships just because they are interested in something in which the Univ. is not good at. 3) The above points should help u choose among Univs. from where u have got schols. But suppose if u were unlucky not to get a schol.and just got an admit. Or maybe you got a couple of schols and an admit from a Univ. u would have preferred to go to. Don't worry. Thats's what everyone does. Plan startegically... thats what no one does...even I didn't do it and I regret it. So here's what u can do. If u just have admits, then its upto u whether u can afford to support yourself for at least 1 sem. in US. In most cases u will be able to get a Teaching Assistantship(TA) in either your Deptt. or some other if u land up 2 weeks before college starts. And mind u, in 80% of the Univs, if u get a TA, all your college fees are maaphed (no fees..!!!!) I should tell you that all grad. students who came to U.Wisc. got TAs in some Deptt. or the other in their first semester itself. No one had to go back for lack of funds. In case if u don't get funding in first semester, u SHOULD be able to find funding from 2nd Sem. onwards, unless of course you are a jerk. U don't have to be an IIT-ian or some nerd or bond or get a TA. TAing is generally for undergrad courses and undergrads here have bird brains and anyone can handle the courses they are taught here. In my first sem. I took a Lab of a course which basically taught students how to use various Microsoft products ( Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.). But that is the easiest TA one can get and I was LUCKY !!! Main point is that if you are interested in grad studies, oppurtunities are abundant for you to fund yourself. You can even work in some Univ. operated stored part-time and earn money. Now if u had got a schol. from Unix SHIT and an admit only from Univ COOL and u are interested in Univ. COOL., here's what u gotta do. Get your Visa and plan to join Univ. SHIT. Land in Univ. COOL 1-2 weeks before classes start and start talking to Profs., Grad-coordinator and u might get a schol. from that Univ. too. Else try looking for a TA in some Deptt. of that Univ. Chances are u will be LUCKY. See u have nothing to lose since u already have a schol. from Univ. SHIT and u are already in US, so go ahead man....just try. So if u fail, too bad, go back to Univ. SHIT ...and again apply for Spring Sem. Since u had already applied before, u will not need to send recos and all that stuff. They already have your scores, recos, etc. U might be lucky this time as u can talk to the Profs. by visiting that Univ or on phone and strengthen your case. So if u had got an admit previosuly from Univ COOL, your chances of getting a schol. from COOL this time are good unless u r a jerk or if the ranking difference between the 2 Univs is HIGH. In any case u can always try to get a TA in some deptt. or the other of that Univ. for the Spring sem. U have to work if u wanna go to a good Univ...phew ! If u had succeed in getting a schol. from Univ COOL after coming to US, then u must be a happy person. But wait, there is work to be done. If u get this schol. in your 2nd Sem. (Spring), then u do a credit transfer and join Univ COOL and u are done. Else if u had managed to get the schol. immediately after coming to the US then...hmmmm...the system here sucks. U shall need to go out of the country (US) and get your F1 again for Univ. COOL. People generally make a trip to Canada for this. But its OK and worthwhile. Here's some good news...if your old and new Univ agree then u can get an F-1 transfer done while in US itself. I've seen that happen..so u might get lucky too. The whole point is that if u want to rise higher and higher, u have to work for it and plan properly from the beginning. I didn't have such fundas when I came here. I did have an idea about all this but my COOL Univ. was not much higher than my SHIT Univ. and my SHIT Univ. was ranked 9, so I didn't bother. But here's something about which I could have bothered (i didn't....i tell u why later) Once u r in the US and studying at Univ. BEAUTIFUL, you realize that there is a Univ. SEXY somewhere (say California) that is probably better than BEAUTIFUL in terms of opportunities (job scene, reputation, ranking, location, area of interest). So who does not want to go for SEXY ! So, here's what u shd. do. Apply to SEXY and ask her to consider you. Talk to her guardians (Profs.) on phone and try to convince them that you are eligible and a good candidate. Visit her house (Deptt.) during some holidays during 1st semester and talk to them and see if u can patao her to take you IN. If u are intelligent and daring then u might try to attract SEXY, MARVELLOUS, PERFECT_10 also at the same time so that at least 1 will fall in your trap. But remember that if u get a positive sign from any 1, then u would have to go through the whole process again ( getting recos from India, sending GRE, TOEFL scores, filling forms..etc, unless u had applied previously there and got a kela) But if its worth it u shd. go for it. And here's the reason why I couldn't go for SEXY - I took panga with my Profs. back in India after I had got a schol. So I knew that I could not go to them for a reco. and so I would not be able to delight SEXY. The moral of the story is that SEXY is SEXY and to get to it you should not act crappy with your guardians (Profs. back in India). The number of people who go and get SEXY is less because people are ignorant, fools and don't have fundas and most importantly they become lazy after coming to the US. That's why I am writing this so that u fools can also get close to SEXY..... So now you have enough fundas of what to do in US. Lemme tell you some things of practical and monetary importance which should be considered when u r in US. RA (Research Assistantship) Back in India, people had given me a scary view of RA. The Prof. will make you sweat, you will be very busy.... Believe me, most of this is crap. Unless your Prof. is a maniac (or in some cases a Desi), you will end up working same (or even less) number of hours with an RA as compared to a TA. Advantage of being an RA over a TA is that you learn something. Even if you don't do something really worthwhile in your RA, your fundas of a lot of things will vastly improve. So its a good idea to get involved in an RA. People get an RA even in their first semester after coming here. If you have got a TA from the department and would still like to work for a Prof. then come here and talk to the Prof. and you might get lucky. Also, RAs get paid more than TAs. But one must be careful while going for an RA. This is because in some Univs. shifting from one Prof. to another (after 1 or 2 sems.) is tough. So if you initially get involved in a RA u don't like, u might be in problems as another Prof. might not give u an RA. (You can always shift back to a TA, but if u want to do Ph.D it might be a problem) So ask Indian students in the US university about the Prof. under whom you are planning to do an RA. Most Profs. will recommend their RAs for jobs. But some don't do. There is no use taking an RA under such a Prof. unless your aim is just to learn. So u need to find this information also. Desi Profs. will make u work slightly more than non-desis but then they will help you get a good job too ! It is very important that you do a complete background check (sounds funny) on the Prof. under whom you plan to do an RA and only then take up an RA. Also try to take an RA under a Prof. with contacts if your aim is to leave after an MS. Internship In case if you plan to just do an MS, then you should do a summer internship. Generally, people get a job offer from the firm they do the internship with. In case u are an RA, then u must find out if you work for your Prof. in the summer, will he help u in getting a job. If not, then leave him and go for an internship. Also, if u do an internship, it will hold value when u r looking for jobs and sitting for interviews. Doing research at the Univ. doesn't hold much value. Companies prefer students with internship experience. Drivers License Get your Driver's license as soon as possible. It acts as an identity and you don't have to carry your passport anywhere. Also, u can rent a car and drive around. Thats something I didn't do and I regret it. Also, if u lax then u won't get it till u start a job. And u should have some driving experience before u start a job. Travel to US Everyone says - sleep as much as u can during the flight. I say try to sleep only that much so that you are able to synchronize with the US time when u land here. So if u r going to land late in the evening, then u r better off sleeping less as this will result in u getting tired and when u land here u will get sleep immediately and shall wake up next morning in sync with US time. Profs. Profs all around the world are the same. Even they have biases, they have idiosyncranacies and some are not all that good teachers. So don't be surprised if a US Prof. shows some partiality to some student...everyone is human. You should try to either get into the good eyes of the Prof. or at least be known as an entity in the class in case if u are interested in getting a good grade. Its true that grades here reflect your work, but when everyone does good work (esp. in Grad. level courses where number of students is less), the Prof. has to make distinctions and lots of factors come into play. So don't go by the assumption that grading in US is perfect and absolute. Courses Do take courses that the deptt. is good in and those which are of your liking. It is VERY IMPORTANT to choose good project partners in projects as Indians MOSTLY make good partners as they are ready to slog it out. Don't try choosing arbitrary people (u don't know their skills ) from other countries as later u might regret it. Yeah, but do make friends with people from other countries. I did a project with a Romanian dame and it was fun and we were very good friends now (only friends..:) FUN Last but not the least, have fun while studying in US. Goto parties, pubs, discos. See movies. In case if your Univ offers some courses like Tennis, Ice-Skating, do take them. Such things help in reducing study pressure and do not take much time. I had taken "Ballroom-Dancing" this semester. Just studying will not improve your overall personality. So take advantages of the resources and facilites in US colleges towards this end. Enjoy your studies in US and earn good bucks. nitin Nitin Bahadur Graduate Student, Department of Computer Sciences University of Wisconsin-Madison