<p>Hello all...this is vandana...just finished my 2nd year of engineering<<in computer="" science="">>....from a pretty mediocre institute from india...</in></p>
<p>I really really want to get through to one of the top institutions to do my masters...<<read stanford,mit,yale,harvard,princeton,berkeley,caltech,chicago="" etc="">>>... which....many tell me....are WAY out of my league...but i really really want to try. I just am confused as to how i should go about achieving this.
I have an year n a half in which to prepare for and write my GRE and apply to the universities...so all im asking is...will u guys plz help me out here..? Tell me what i need 2 do get there...and i'll do it.</read></p>
<p>So far,i've got 93% in school{CBSE} and 96% in college....and in Com.Sci Engg. i've gotten 83% and 80% in 1st n 2nd yrs respectively. I'm a jack-of-all-trades type...totally into extra curricular stuff...not just into studies. won quite a few national level dance competitions...regularly participated and won in debates...i was always on the prefectorial board of my school,head girl of college and right now the class representative in enginering... will that in any way help???
and do i have 2 write both the general and subject GRE to apply to a university for my masters or will the general GRE suffice?? And what are the average scores i need 2 put in,to even stand a chance of being accepted to a good university??
I'm a new kid on the block and i really hope u guys can gimme some advice on what to do. Thanx.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars not related to your field of study are pretty much irrelevant to graduate admissions committees, especially in the sciences and engineering. It's not like applying to undergrad from high school, even though there are some similarities.</p>
<p>When you say mediocre, are you referring to a lesser-known IIT or something else? I've only ever met Indian graduate students from one of the IITs; I've heard a lot of times that for top university placements it more often than not comes down to English skills as everyone from IIT is a genius already. That could not be true though. I've never met an Indian graduate student in engineering at Princeton (or for that matter Notre Dame, my undergraduate school) who wasn't an IIT grad.</p>
<p>For engineering, you need above a 700 on the quant to not get your application thrown away, and quite a few get 800s. I got a 720 and still managed to get into Princeton though, so go figure. A lot of people think that the verbal section is unimportant, but actually quite a few engineering departments use it as a way to separate people out as nearly everyone has solid quant scores. I got a 660; most engineers get around a 550. </p>
<p>There is no subject GRE for engineering (though there used to be), so I wouldn't worry about taking any of them. The only people here I know who had to were chemistry and physics, and even then it was a small part of their overall application. Subject GRE exams are very difficult and unless you know you can do well on them, there's no reason to take one if you don't have to.</p>
<p>Why do you just want to do a masters at a US school? I think that might be exceedingly difficult to get into, though not impossible. How are you going to pay for it? Unlike PhD programs, masters students are rarely on fellowship, and the few who are work like dogs as TAs and RAs the whole time. Quite a few masters students here get tuition reimbursed through companies they work for.</p>
<p>Bazel, I am quite sure that this person is not from IIT. I live in India and I can assure you that no one who goes to IIT would ever make the following statement:
<p>@Bezel: You probably have only met IIT students cuz of the fact that most high end colleges flat out reject anyone who did not make it into an IIT from India!
There are subject GRE's in Computer Science.</p>
<p>@Badman: hehe , that is definitely true ;)!</p>