Thursday, January 14, 2010

Indian Students in the USA

The USA has for long attracted students from all over the world as a global leader in imparting quality education. With its flexible syllabus and booming opportunities, the USA has indeed become the cynosure for those desiring to pursue their higher studies abroad. India too is no stranger to this flourishing trend and as a result every year hundreds of Indian students set off to the USA in pursue of higher studies. So in this article let’s just talk about the life of Indian students in the USA.

Indian student population after China is the second largest population in the world that opts for higher education in the US universities. As a result there are a number of Indian students in the universities there. When a student arrives in the USA for the first time, he/she is helped by the fellow students there i.e. Right from picking the student up from the airport to settling the student in, help is always at hand. However it is imperative that the student has contacted his/her fellow students well in advance about their arrival.

There are many Indian communities or groups formed within the universities where all the Indian students can come close together and share their common interests and ideas. A feeling of togetherness is imbibed among the students at such times.

But this in no way means that Indian students are comfortable only among themselves. Students from all over the world come to the US so naturally a culturally diverse campus life is created. Being a part of such cosmopolitan environment is truly an exciting and exhilarating experience for the students. It is here that the students develop a completely different and a much broader perspective of life when they see and learn new things that ultimately help to develop their personality. It is here that they become global citizens in the true sense.

So life for Indian students in the US though a bit tough (considering all the part-time jobs and cooking one’s own meals) is not lonely. They have their friends and their teachers who understand them and thus help them in their times of need.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Getting your USA Visa

You have given your GRE, TOEFL, applied to the universities in USA and have even got accepted to the program of your choice and that too in the University of your choice. So now what? The biggest question of all- Will I get my Visa?

Getting Visa is the biggest concern of both the students and their parents who wish to pursue their higher studies in the USA. The day of the Visa interview is enough to give the jitters to the most confident of students as it is after all the deciding factor in whether the student will be able to pursue his/her dreams of studying in the USA. So let’s just talk about how to go about the Visa Interview.

Firstly and most importantly it is imperative to get your Visa interview appointment as soon as you decide on the university and get your I-20. Remember that your I-20 is required for your Visa. Also do remember that you take your appointment for the interview well in advance so that you can leave for the USA early and have enough time on your hands to settle in(because believe me there is seriously lots to do) before the actual commencement of your program.

The Visa interview may last for 3 mins or for 15 mins. It really depends on the Visa officer. Unlike any other myth the only thing that the Visa officer looks for in a student is whether how serious the student is about pursuing his/her studies once he/she goes to the USA. DO NOT LIE or exaggerate to the officer about your past or your goals for he is sure to see through the farce. Being honest and clear of your achievements and aims in life will only help you to get through your interview successfully.

Moreover make sure that you have all the required documents with you at the Interview (including the SEVIS receipt) and that they are neatly filed or arranged systematically in the folder (check how it is to be done). The Visa officer may not even see your file if he is convinced that you are a genuine and sincere student. The biggest of all- answer all the questions in fluent English as it is after all the official language of the US and is also the medium of study. So DO NOT become so nervous as to stammer or speak in grammatically incorrect English.

Remember it is only through your confidence and your veracity that you will pass your Visa interview successfully. All the Very Best.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

AWA- Analytical writing assessment

AWA- Analytical writing assessment

The analytical writing assessment section consists of two writing tasks- analysis of an issue and analysis of an argument for gre and gmat students

How are the essays graded ?

The responses of each of these tasks are scored on a 6 point scale , with 6 being the highest score and 1 the lowest. A score of 0 is given to responses that are offtopic, are in a foreign language, merely attempt to copy the topic ,consist only of key stroke character or are blank. The readers who evaluate the responses are college and university faculty members from various subject matter areas. These readers read your essays holistically – i.e they respond to the overall quality of your critical thinking and writing.

Each response is given to independent ratings. If the rating differs by more than a point, a third reader evaluates your finals score is the average of the 2 ratings.

What is the importance of AWA scores ?
Your awa score plays a vital role in fetching you your most desired admits although it has an indirect impact. First of all in case if two students are vying for the same admit in the same university for the sam e program,your awa scroe forms an important criteria for admits apart from your academics,extracurricular,etc…secondly your awa score acts as testimony for the admission council to tesat the authenticity of you rsops and essays.

Some strict DONTS of the AWA section :

1.Do no start attempting before reading and understanding the topic properly.
2.Do not start typing before brainstorming the points or preparing a skeleton of the essays
3.Do not use this section as a platform to showcase your linguistic skills like vocabulary ,proverbs and idioms. Use everything in moderation
4.Do not try to increase the length of the essay simply by circulating the points thinking long essays will fetch you high scores. It is just not the case.
5.Do not give/overdo the statistics until and unless you are sure of them.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

How to prepare for GRE quant?

The math’s section in GRE exam contains only three types of questions Graphs, Quantitative comparisons, and multiple choice questions .It consist of 28 questions and the time given is 45 minutes. The format is like 14 Quantitative comparisons, about 10 multiple choice questions and about 4 questions on Graphs. They may come in any order.

Before you start preparing for GRE quant keep in mind that in GRE the Mathematics skills tested are very basic, only 7th to 9th std algebra and geometry (Don’t worry no proofs) Knowledge is needed. But this doesn’t imply that Math section is easier...
It is kept at basic level so that students, who didn’t study math after their school years, will be able to score same as engineering, maths or science students. As said before the problems are based on basic maths will have simple solutions, but finding the simple solution may not be easy.

This section is designed to see how skillful you are at finding simple solutions, if you are doing long calculations you will not finish same part of the test as those student who can find short and simple solutions, So if you end up doing long calculations, and more of advance mathematics be sure you are going in the wrong direction..

Best way to start preparing is take a GRE Barron’s book, go through all the examples, tricks that are explained they will help you in revising your basics .when you complete exercises work out the tests .Don’t forget to revise Barron’s once or twice before your exam. After Barron’s there are few more books which give you more practice examples like Nova, cliff.

After that you can complete Kaplan’s 120 quant questions without difficulty. Last book to solve will be GRE Big book, at least try to solve 15-17 tests from the book, before starting to solve CD tests. In that also start with Cambridge or Princeton CD tests, which are easier if compared to others. Keep Kaplan’s CD for last 8-10 days , the scores you get from Kaplan tests are found to be parallel to the actual GRE scores.( only if you don’t spoil your exam ) so you will get the range of your score. After solving tests always try to find your weak areas and keep on improving them.

All the best…