Thanks for all the suggestions and comment on my profile.

Still then i have a few other queries to disturb you.

Firstly, who is this “Raghu” ? and how to approach him?

Secondly, you have suggested me Cornell, which was one of my dream destinations. But, the only reason i do not have Cornell in my list of colleges is because of my percentage in B.E – a mere 69%. I went through the site of CORNELL – where they say that a 3.3 GPA throughout is a must. My class highest was in the range of 82%.
Hence i think that my percentage will fall below that limit. Having said that , i must also add, that, i am not sure how the % to GPA conversion rule works. I am also not sure that whether they consider undergrad GPA when i have a masters GPA in the range of 3.5 ?
It would be great if you can comment regarding the above issue.
In fact – i have left many univs out of my list due to low GPA consideration.

Finally, i have another request, this is regarding SOP. writing a good SOP is hell of a job. Add to that, the problem that not much of SOP help is available for materials science on the net. Since u had got an admit to cornell, i can assume that u had written a good SOP. If you dont have any problems, can you forward that to me. If you agree, i will post my gmail id in this forum. I will not copy the SOP but it will surely serve as a good guideline.

Thanks & Regards;
Avradeep.

You seem to have a very good profile and I believe your chance of making into the ambitious schools is pretty good. I had got an admit from Cornell University too but they do not offer financial aid for MS, unlike the case of Phd. So, I wasn’t able to join Cornell. Anyway, for you Cornell seems to be a good choice.

I like your choice of schools however, I am not much experienced to comment much on the choice of schools as I myself had got very late while applying due to work pressure. Hence, had applied only to five universities which still had their deadlines open, not considering the financial aid or any other factor. Other than Cornell the others weren’t that high-ranked.

I shall therefore, suggest that you ask for Raghu’s advice as he would be able to guide you better.

P.S. -> One suggestion from my end: if any of your recommenders (your professor) is an alumni of some good school, you can also include that school in your list as it can have a positive effect. Would appreciate if Raghu can confirm this.

Thank you for such a quick reply and congratulations for getting selected with financial aid.

Was struggling to shortlist univs for PhD application. That is when i found u in this forum.

Since u have gone through the strenous process of apping in the same field of study as mine, i think your comments would be invaluable in shortlisting of the universities.

I Want to work in Electronic & Magnetic MAterials.

My profile is as follows:

MTech IIT Bombay : 8.61/10 (Now in 3rd semester)
B.E – Bengal Engg Science Univ Shibpur, – 69% (2006 passout)

GRE – 1390(M-790,V-600), AWA- 5
TOEFL – 108

No paper publications.

All india 49 in GATE 2008.

2 years of Work Experience in INFOSYS bangalore from 2006 to 2008

Lots of Extra curricular activities:
1. Indian Classical musician and composer; learnt and have been regularly playing in concerts; the instrument SAROD for the past 22 years.
2. Founder member of organizations like FOBECS – Forum of Bengal Engineering College students (Organization whose activities were to ensure smooth functioning of Quiz, Debate, Science clubs and launching, regularly Publishing the college magazine UNMESH).
Founder and subsequently secretary of PRODOSH (Bengali cultural forum & Magazine) of IIT Mumbai.
3. Awarded by INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES LTD. for regularly organizing and performing in cultural programs which were highly appreciated and applauded. Was also a very active member of the VOICE OF YOUTH team of INFOSYS.
4. Student convener of SPICMACAY (Society for promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture among Youth) in College.
4. Best music direction award in PAF (Performing Arts Festival) 2009 in IIT Mumbai.
5. Writing articles on Cricket. One article “Agony of a billion and success of a few” got published in CNN IBN website.
etc……………

I have the following univ in mind:

Ambitious:
Northwestern, Princeton,Univ of Florida,Penn state,Cornell

Moderate:
Brown, NCSU, Rutgers, RPI, Arizona state,Oregon state

Safe:
Univ of alabama tuscaloosa, Univ of Delaware

I will apply to at most 10 univs.
I contacted a lot of Profs. I have received very encouraging replies from NCSU, alabama.
I also received replies like” Good CV & therefore encourage u to apply” from profs. of all other univs mentioned above.

I would also like to know your thoughts regarding my chances in Univ of Virginia, UC San Diego, Univ. of Minnessota twin cities, Michigan state.

Please add or remove universities from the above list according to your experience.
I would like to complete the application process by November end.

Hope that u can find time to go through this rather lengthy comment. and if u eventually go through the whole comment then i would like to say “Congrats Madam – apnar dhoirjo shokti oshadharon”

Thanks & Regards;
Avradeep.

I will try my best to help you. I have joined the MS program in Materials Engineering in University of Houston. I have got financial aid in the form of RA. Here is a list of universities with their ranking in Materials Engineering program:

Top Ranked Universities offering Materials Science
Rank University Name City State More Info
1. Massachusetts Inst Of Technology
CAMBRIDGE MA More Info…

2. Northwestern University
EVANSTON IL More Info…

3. Cornell University
ITHACA NY More Info…

4. University Of California-Berkeley
BERKELEY CA More Info…

5. Univ Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign
URBANA IL More Info…

6. Stanford University
STANFORD CA More Info…

7. Univ Of Massachusetts At Amherst
AMHERST MA More Info…

8. Univ Of California-Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara CA More Info…

9. Pennsylvania State University
University Park PA More Info…

10. University Of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA PA More Info…

11. Carnegie Mellon University
PITTSBURGH PA More Info…

12. California Institute Technology
PASADENA CA More Info…

13. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst
TROY NY More Info…

14. University Of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON WI More Info…

15. University Of Michigan
Ann Arbor MI More Info…

16. University Of Florida
GAINESVILLE FL More Info…

17. University Of Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS MN More Info…

18. Case Western Reserve Univ
CLEVELAND OH More Info…

19. University Of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON WI More Info…

20. University Of Texas At Austin
AUSTIN TX More Info…

21. Ohio State University
COLUMBUS OH More Info…

22. University Of Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE VA More Info…

23. Lehigh University
BETHLEHEM PA More Info…

24. North Carolina State University
RALEIGH NC More Info…

25. Rutgers State Univ-New Brunswick
New Brunswick NJ More Info…

26. Univ Of California-Los Angeles
Los Angeles CA More Info…

27. Arizona State University
TEMPE AZ More Info…

28. University Of Arizona
TUCSON AZ More Info…

29. Columbia University
New York NY More Info…

30. Brown University
PROVIDENCE RI More Info…

31. University Of Akron
AKRON OH More Info…

32. Purdue University
West Lafayette IN More Info…

33. Johns Hopkins University
BALTIMORE MD More Info…

34. Vanderbilt University
NASHVILLE TN More Info…

35. Arizona State University
TEMPE AZ More Info…

36. University Of Utah
Salt Lake City UT More Info…

37. University Of Rochester
ROCHESTER NY More Info…

38. Virginia Polytech Inst & State U
BLACKSBURG VA More Info…

39. Drexel University
PHILADELPHIA PA More Info…

40. Rutgers State Univ-New Brunswick
New Brunswick NJ More Info…

41. State Univ Of New York-Stony Brook
Stony Brook NY More Info…

42. University Of Washington
SEATTLE WA More Info…

43. University Of Mass-Lowell
LOWELL MA More Info…

44. Georgia Institute Of Technology
ATLANTA GA More Info…

45. University Of Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH PA More Info…

46. University Of Missouri-Rolla
ROLLA MO More Info…

47. University Of Delaware
NEWARK DE More Info…

48. University Of Southern California
Los Angeles CA More Info…

49. Colorado School Of Mines
GOLDEN CO More Info…

50. Michigan State University
East Lansing MI More Info…

51. University Of Maryland College Park
College Park MD More Info…

52. Stevens Inst Of Technology
Hudson Hoboken NJ More Info…

53. Duke University
DURHAM NC More Info…

54. University Of Cincinnati
CINCINNATI OH More Info…

55. University Of Alabama-Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM AL More Info…

56. South Dakota Sch Of Mines & Tech
Rapid City SD More Info…

57. Illinois Institute Of Technology
CHICAGO IL More Info…

58. Oregon Graduate Inst Sci & Tech
BEAVERTON OR More Info…

59. University Of Houston
HOUSTON TX More Info…

60. University Of Notre Dame
Notre Dame IN More Info…

61. University Of Alabama-Huntsville
HUNTSVILLE AL More Info…

62. University Of Kentucky
LEXINGTON KY More Info…

63. University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE WI More Info…

64. Auburn University
AUBURN AL More Info…

65. University Of Vermont
VIRGINIA VA More Info…

Sorry, about the bad format. I can email you the proper file if you want and u can ask me any other details you want to know.

Thanks and Regards,
Tanushree Sinha

Hope, that u have made it to some very good US university with funding. I am possibly standing at the same juncture where you were a year ago. I have dome my B.E from Shibpur 2006 in Metallurgy & Materials and thereafter worked in INFY for 2 years. Currently i am in MTech IIT Bombay, and i too have no research papers and even then aspire for PhD in some good US Univ. Not much of help is available on the net for Materials science. So, can you help me in the university short listing process? My GRE score is 1390 ( V- 600, Maths – 790). TOEFL – 108. MTech CPI in IIT – 8.61. BE – 69%.

Thanks & Regards;
Avradeep.

I have already taken GRE and gt 1340 (V – 540, Q – 800) in Oct 08. I had also taken it 2 yrs back in Nov 2006 and had gt 1170 (V – 380, Q – 790). I got 111 in Toefl that i took in Nov 08. I completed my BE in Materials and Metallurgical Engg. in 2007 from Jadavpur University (Kolkata) and I have 1.5 year experience as a Software Engineer in Infosys. I would like to know if it is too late to apply for Fall 09 to get financial assistance. Should i directly apply for Spring 10. For Fall 09, I have selected the following universities for pursuing MS in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering:

1. U of Utah

2. U of Houston

3. U of TX (Dallas)

4. Texas A&M

5. U of Southern California

6. North Carolina State Uni

7. U of Cincinnati

8. U of Missourie – Rolla

Will it be better to apply for a PhD as in the future I would like to do a PhD. However, right now I doubt my chances of getting an admit as I do not have any research papers.

Thanks and Regards,

Tanushree