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MEWE - Post 2 - Selecting a university for your masters

If you're reading this series, you're probably enrolled in engineering or some other equivalent professional course. You might be considering applying to foreign universities for a master's degree. Choosing the right universities to apply to is a tricky job, one even a seasoned counselor may not be able to fulfil. Keeping that in mind, I will enlist below some tips, some tricks, that I learnt during my search for the right universities. I didn't use all of them, and they won't apply to each and every student who goes for masters. But they're worth writing down, in case it helps even a few. One thing to keep in mind is these have been written keeping in mind an average or below - average profile. My profile is a good example, where I had moderate technical experience and a horrendous GPA. It may apply to those achievers as well who've lost out on their college of choice due to some small chink in their profile. Here goes nothing:

How to choose a university to apply to 101:

1. Look at the courses you are getting. The core ones and optional ones. Note down which ones you would be interested in taking up. Now obviously the course choices will change over time. But, doing this gives you a rough idea of what you will do if you take up that program (CS, DS) at that university. It also lets you know how much freedom you have in choosing electives and how bound you are by “the system” (like in MU).

2. Look up the Professors and Labs in the university. This lets you know who what sort of research work goes on in the university and if it aligns with your interest. RAships are key especially in fields like AI ML and robotics. If you are a ML student and the university doesn’t have any good ML lab or reputation, it doesn’t make sense to go there. Use csrankings.org to check your university’s reputation in your field of choice.

3. Look up the internship and co-op opportunities available. How many allowed, what companies come to campus in the fairs, What profiles they give, etc. This gives you a good idea of how hard you will have to fight in order to get an internship with your choice of profile. Also list down companies in that locality itself (because they will be much more eager to call you for an interview than one on the other coast.)

4. Don’t follow the crowd. NEU has an above average program. But it’s reputation in India is so good, way too many people apply there. Result? They reject the best of profiles. Look for good unconventional unis where people don’t apply at all (Like in the midwest) How many people have you heard of applying to Oregon State or Ohio State? Once your colleagues start talking about where they’re applying, you’ll see that a majority apply to the same places due to their counsellors’ advice.

5. You can compromise on the program. Oregon State has a great robotics program and amazing corresponding labs. However, it’s near impossible to get into the Robotics program. An alternative is to get into the CS program, build skills around robotics and get into a robotics lab as an RA and take up robotics courses (even if they don’t add to your course completion credits.) On a similar note, it is nigh impossible to get into MS CS at UC Berkeley. But it’s comparatively easier to get into an MIS there. If you get the join the MIS program, you get the Berkeley brand name, and you still get to choose the courses you want. Look for this in the universities you apply to - alternatives to the highly competitive MS CS to get in.

6. As a last resort, you can compromise on brand name. There may be a very poor university that has employed that one professor whose work you absolutely like and who is himself a very networked person. Go for that university. You will be a big fish in a small pond and hence you have a great chance of getting the best placements in the university. You will also be a first choice for an RAship under the professor. And - if you play your cards right - the professor might pull strings to get you into your desired job / Doctoral program. Thoroughly research the professor before you take upon this option. It’s highly risky but just as rewarding.

7. Lastly, remember - sometimes it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond.

Bonus

Use the following sheet to compare the accepts you have: Accept Comparer
Use the following sheet to assess the programmes and universities you are interested in: CourseComparer

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