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Engineering Education in USA Engineering Education in America, USA Masters in Engineering in USA
Engineering courses at
the Masters and the Doctorate level are the most popular courses among most
students going abroad to study. There are several factors that act together and are important to get you an admission. Getting one or two of them right is not good enough. All of them are equally important, give them the importance they deserve, and you will be on your way. List of Engineering Colleges in America
Why Study Engineering in America
The key factors that will get you an admission are: 1. Your Homework 2. Your Schedule 3. GRE Score 4. Academic Record 5. Statement of Purpose 6.
Recommendation Letters The first two points talk about the groundwork that you will need to do before applying. The subsequent points describe the key items based on statistics of students admitted in the previous years. The weightage given to
each of these criteria is about the same in most of the programs. The Doctoral Degree - PhD Program The doctoral degree (also referred to as a Ph.D.) is the highest degree awarded by the universities, and is done so after an extensive program of study and research in a specialized subject. The degree signifies a capability to assimilate the most advanced and recondite level of knowledge in the subject. The degree is crowned with a doctoral thesis, which is expected to be a thorough and intensive contribution to a specialized subject based on original research and inquiry. As is obvious from the above, a prerequisite for pursuing a doctoral degree is an active interest in, and the inclination to do, intensive research work. It requires putting in long and laborious hours of study at a microcosmic level on a specific subject. In this way, a doctoral degree is quite an antithesis of the master's degree, which covers a broad range of subjects in a particular field of study. Eligibility : A common misconception is that a master's degree is a prerequisite for the doctoral degree. It is an advantage but is not necessary. For 3-year degree holders, it is not possible to enroll directly for a Ph.D program. Some universities do consider admission into a Ph.D directly after a Bachelors degree, if pre-requisite scores, academics and experience are sound. You must demonstrate an inclination towards research and exhibit a good academic record. Experience of atleast two to three years in the relevant field is considered important for admission into a Doctoral program, by most universities. How the Doctoral Application Process works : The application process has to be initiated atleast one year to eighteen months in advance before the proposed date of reporting at the university. This is necessary since identification of professors, interaction with them and finalizing the program of research with necessary financial assistance can take a long time. For any graduate programme, more so for a doctoral, the applicant has to contend with two sets of requirements - those set by the graduate school and those set by the graduate department. You have to meet up with the eligibility requirements of the university and also find a match between your area of specialisation and the research interests of the department you will be studying in. Choose your subject : The first step towards applying is deciding on a subject for your doctorate. The essential aspect here is to focus on as specific a field of study as you possibly can; thus saying that you wish to do a doctorate in Electrical Engineering is not good enough, you have to be more specific than that (say, doctorate in Power Transmission and transmission losses, which is a specific field within the broad ambit of Electrical Engineering). Spend time on deciding this - the critical factor here is a very high level of interest in the specific field you choose. In fact, some experts recommend that you should have a rough idea of what your research topic in the doctoral program is going to be even before you apply for admission. Prepare for the standardised tests : The GRE is required for most doctoral programs in the engineering and other non-management related fields. In the top graduate schools, securing a doctoral berth is a tough proposition because they are very choosy about admitting research candidates. In fact, most schools have a strict ceiling of the number of doctoral candidates they admit, which can be as low as five students in a calendar year. Most universities require the general GRE test as well as the Subject GRE test, with excellent scores. Check this with the university you intend to apply to. You will also be required to take the TOEFL and the TSE. Choose Universities : Along with your test preparation for GRE, Subject GRE, TOEFL and TSE, you must start identifying universities that are good in the area that you want to specialise in. You must check the research interests of the department under which your research area falls. Contact the departments and Professors : After identifying a suitable list of universities and their departments, you should identify Professors who could be interested to work with you in your research area. You could do so by visiting the university web sites and getting the names and contact email IDs of the professors. Start corresponding with the professors by indicating your interest to work under them. Indicate as clearly as possible the subject of your research and what qualifies you to be successful at it. You must initiate this
process with as many universities as you can. There will be some Professors who
will not be interested in your research area. Identify those that are, and go
ahead and complete the application procedure of those universities. Project yourself well : An essential part of the application is the statement of purpose (SOP) which all graduate schools require you to write. This statement should clearly bring out your interest in the field in which you wish to do a Ph.D. Any previous research experience in that field will work to your advantage. Financing your
Doctoral Study : Getting financial aid for a doctoral programme is
fairly easy. Most universities will give you a full financial aid, which will
cover your tuition fees and living expenses. The aid is given either semester
wise or on yearly basis. You have to apply for financial aid by indicating your
interest in your admission application form. In the second and final
stage of the pre-dissertation study, you are expected to acquire expertise in a
specialized field within your chosen discipline. Thus, if your doctoral subject
was organisational behaviour, you may have narrowed down your research interest
to "leadership", an important element within organisational behaviour.
This stage too ends in an examination, including an oral one, upon passing which
you are considered ready to begin work on your thesis. Thesis research and preparation is a highly cognitive process. The culmination of the process is in the form of the final thesis defense, in which you are presumed to be an expert in your field and are supposed to literally defend your findings and conclusions on the subject in front of a committee. The completed dissertation becomes a public document, placed in the university library and also often published in the university journal or even on its web site in some cases. How long does it take? The entire process of getting a doctorate degree usually takes a minimum of three-and-a-half years, nearly two of which are spent exclusively in preparing the thesis. The degree usually leads to employment in the academic world, but in recent years, more and more doctorates are finding employment in the professional world at par with or even ahead of other professionals. Financial Aid - Engineering Programs Financial Aid is available to students in various forms. They are mainly merit based but can be need based sometimes. Though they are available, students normally get very few scholarships from universities other than that in US and Canada. For this purpose, scholarship information given below is meant for studying in these countries only. Sources of Scholarships
From among all these sources, the grants provided by the universities are the most accessible for students and most students avail these scholarships. There are different types of scholarships:
Complete Scholarship : This is a scholarship to cover all your expenses, and includes tuition fees and living expenses for the duration of the course. You can normally get such a scholarship by applying for the same at the time of admission. Tuition Fee Waivers : These can be in the form of complete tuition fee waiver, or part tuition fee waiver to cover say a certain percentage of the total tuition fee. Tuition fee waivers can be obtained before or after the start of your course. Teaching Assistantship: This involves helping a professor prepare for his/her lectures and presentation material, working at a lab in the university, etc. You are paid money for the work you put in. You normally apply for teaching assistantship after the start of your course. Please note that for a Teaching Assistantship, the Test of Spoken English (TSE) is mandatory with most of the universities. Research Assistantship: Very similar to teaching assistantship, and involves helping a professor in a research he/she is conducting. You are paid for the amount of work you put in. Like in teaching assistantship, you normally apply for research assistantship after the start of your course. Factors that get you Financial Aid - Your past academic background: Since most scholarships are merit based, your past academic background is a good indicator of your knowledge in your subject areas and is usually the most important factor that will get you a scholarship. - Your scores in the standardised tests: Your GRE and TOEFL scores are the next most important factors for getting a scholarship. You might also be required to take the TSE for teaching assistantship - Your inclinations and motivations: You have to project your ability to do well in your course through your Statement of Purpose. These are the non-objective factors which universities consider to know about your interest in the course you are applying to. How relevant is the course based on your past academic and personal inclinations and how important is it to fulfill your long term career and professional goals. How to apply for Financial Aid? From the university at the time of sending out your application form You need to mention your interest to apply for a scholarship in the University’s admission application form. There is normally no additional document you need to fill or no separate scholarship application form. You should check the Financial Aid application deadline from the university that you are applying to. The deadline to apply for Financial Aid is normally much earlier than the admission deadline and is usually by the month of December for admission to the Fall Semester of the following year and March for admission to the Spring semester of the following year. It is necessary to send out your completed application along with all required attachments before the deadline date. From the university after the start of your course If you are running late
to meet the Financial Aid deadline of a university or if you been refused a
scholarship, you need not lose heart. You can apply for aid even after you join
your university. Though most students who get scholarships get them after joining the university, we will not advise you to rely completely on a possibility of getting a scholarship. Before leaving for the university, you should arrange for finances for the entire duration of your study so that you can continue with your education even in an eventuality of not getting any financial aid from second semester onwards. And if you do, treat as a bonus or a saving. The scholarships after joining the university are mainly in the form of teaching or research assistantships. Which means you will have to work along with study. A Grant or Scholarship will be awarded to students for exceptional academic performance, based on merit. ( Source: http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/ ) List of Engineering Colleges in America Why Study Engineering in America List of Universities in America
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