Presenting the case study of AG’s successful MIS application journey.
AG graduated from NIT Allahabad with a great GPA of 8.55 and incredible GRE score of 332 (170, 162, 5). He had a Toefl score of 112 and will be finishing 3 years of work experience at Oracle before moving for his MIS program. His professional and academic projects gave him enough credibility for the IS stream. His goal was clear from the beginning to go for MIS and not normal MS in CS. This helped focus on exactly the programs he wanted. Sometimes, students are trying to apply for both and their efforts eventually get diluted. Since his profile was above average, he selectively applied to only the top programs – CMU, TAMU, University of Arizona and IU Kelley. His first interview happened for Kelley but the group case study didn’t go as well as he wanted, turning into a reject. However, he aced all apps after that getting into CMU, TAMU and Arizona.
Some lessons-
- Stay focused, understand your goals and apply selectively
- Do proper school research, talk to current students and reflect that in your essays
1 Comment
Hi Nistha,
I’m a 2013 EEE graduate, currently working @ Rs.6 Lac p.a. I am mediocre student having 10th-67%,12th-58%,64% in BE and from a middle class family.
If I get into any of the universities , I’ll be spending around 40-50-60Lacs for my MS. I’ll have to take a loan of 30 Lacs as I belong to a middle-class family.
People say that I can pay back the loan in 2-3 years if I live frugally in US. I plan to return to India after paying back my loan (Total of 5 years – 2 for MS and 3 for Loan)
From what I have been told, I should expect a salary,equivalent to 12-13 L in the current date, when I return to India.
So.. I take a heavy loan of 30 Lakhs to do my MS, spend next 3 years paying it back and then come back to India with almost no savings? Instead, if I continue working in India, I will gain 1 or 2 promotions over the next 5 years and may be earning the same salary as someone with MS coming from US. So, why should I go to US to study MS? Is it financially viable at all? Will the career growth from MS be way more than that from 5 years of working here.