How to strengthen your profile for MS in USA

There are many ways to improve your profile before you apply to MS. Here are few things that can make the most impact-

Publish papers for thesis-based degrees

You can work with your college Professors to stay engaged in research. Publishing papers add a whole new depth to your candidacy by showing your research potential.

Freelance projects and build portfolio

Even if you don’t have clients, you can build interesting projects and publish on github. Shows you are a pro-active learner. (can do along with taking MOOCs in your areas of interest). Keep doing competitive coding, any accomplishments in there can improve your profile. Certificates directly don’t matter but participating in such things ensure that you stay hands-on and get to explore deeper concepts of programming.

Read papers on latest developments, connect the dots. You will start talking more intelligently about it. The biggest point where applicants stumble is that they have nothing intelligent to say in their SOP – everyone is saying ‘how they were attracted to computers since childhood’. The more you code, more you explore, better stuff you will be able to talk about. Your goals will be more specific.

Switch to a job closer to your area of interest if possible

One of my students switched his job from a business analyst role to a research based startup in ECE. First time, he did not get good admits but second time, he got into some decent schools for MS in ECE. He headed to UC Santa Cruz. The idea is to proactively push towards your passion. If your job is not helping in what you want to do, look for something more relevant.

Take MOOCs if you lack confidence in your subject

For people who have low grades or relatively less working knowledge of the subjects of their interests, doing online courses (reputed certified ones) can add some more credibility to your academic background. Read how much can MOOCs help you.

Get 320+ on GRE or 710+ on GMAT

Lastly, if your test scores are holding you back, get that sorted. There is no point in being held back if you think you can do much better on the tests. This becomes especially more important if your GPA is low.

What MOOCs are popular among Engineers?

It is not surprising that online courses (MOOCs) are helping many engineers compensate for their poor quality of education. Growing number of engineers who apply to graduate schools abroad are facing a massive challenge. With engineering colleges sprouting in every corner, the quality of education and infrastructure has taken a huge beating. With barely qualified teachers, students lack any avenues to learn and get the kind of exposure that would make them competitive against their counterparts from China, Europe and USA. So how do these students learn when their colleges are offering so little?

Enter the number of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), thanks to education startups like Udemy, Coursera and so on. With quality courses and online availability, an increasing number of students are resorting to taking such courses to augment their knowledge of popular subjects like Data Science, Basics of Computer Science and so on.

Engineers using MOOCs in their MS applications

Yasho Vardhan, an MIS applicant that I worked with, was feeling that his average GPA was putting him at a disadvantage in his applications. To further enhance his profile, he decided to take Introduction to Python for Data Science on edX and R Programming on Coursera. Since he was interested in Analytics which is growing more popular and competitive, he felt that he needed something more than his academics and work experience to differentiate himself. Further, such courses were highly recommended by his seniors at University of Maryland, the place where he is heading to this September.

Another popular online course is Machine Learning by Andew Ng on Coursera. When Sheelabhadra Dey, an Electronics Engineering student at NIT Trichy, started applying for MS in Computer Science (CS) programs with an interest in Machine Learning, he knew that CS is one of the most competitive programs. With a non-CS background, he needed to prove his mettle. So, he opted to complete online courses that would help him develop the CS skills that he could not in college. Now that he has admits from multiple reputed CS programs such as Texas A&M University, and University of Florida, he thinks his decision was a life saver.

The point is to gather the real skills and not worry about the certificate. Besides, developing good projects in these classes can be a great way to show you are a pro-active learner! These can also help to compensate for your low grades in a similar class you took in college or can fill in for lack of a formal education in the area you are applying to.

So, if you feel that you lack certain skill set that is hampering your career growth, it is time to go for a MOOC!

This article was originally written for and appeared in Tribune newspaper. 

Do MOOCs (online courses) help in MS applications?

MOOCs for Applications

Many students wonder if doing online courses (MOOCs) will help in their MS or college applications.

What are MOOCs

MOOCs are (Massive Open Online Courses) targeting open access for student participation via Internet. In a world where everything is just one click away, why should education be left behind? Why do we need to be in a physical classroom for gathering knowledge? This is why MIT and Harvard created edX in 2012 that hosts online university level courses. Soon, sites like Coursera, Udemy, Udacity and Khan Academy started offering a large variety of courses for academic, professional and interest based learning. 

Most of the engineering colleges in developing countries are struggling to find qualified faculty. While the courses are being taught for the sake of it, students are passing not by proving their knowledge but by last minute rote learning, copying assignments and solving previous year question papers. They say a true engineer never studies until the last two days before the exam!

But this jugaad engineering falls flat at the first contact with professional world. After all, you need to know and do things when you show up at work. Similarly, when a student applies to universities abroad, they expect you to be not only conversant in the basic subjects but also exhibit mastery over some of them. And getting into these top notch universities is not about cracking an entrance exam, but impressing with your overall profile – projects, grades, experience, scores etc. Poor Indian student realizes that his jugaad is not going to work here.

How to use MOOCs to enhance your applications

You can improve skills that are helpful in your college or graduate program by taking MOOCs. That is one way to improve your candidature for BS or MS in USA.

  • MOOCs can compensate for your low grades in a similar class you took in college. Or, they can fill in for lack of a formal education in the area you are applying to. For example, if you are expressing an interest in Computer Security and your college did not offer enough relevant electives, you can take such courses on a MOOC.
  • Developing good projects in these courses can be a great way to show you are a pro-active learner. These projects can go into your resume and add more talking points in your next interview. Few skills that can be advantageous during your hunt for on-campus jobs and assistantships are web development, perl scripting, excel modeling etc.

Case Studies of applicants using MOOCs to their advantage

Yasho Vardhan, an MIS applicant was feeling that his average GPA was putting him at a disadvantage in his applications. To further enhance his profile, he decided to take Introduction to ‘Python for Data Science’ on edX and ‘R Programming’ on Coursera. Since he was interested in Analytics which is growing more popular and competitive, he felt that he needed something more than his academics and work experience to differentiate himself. Further, such courses were highly recommended by his seniors at University of Maryland, the place where he headed to. 

For more info, read: What MOOCs are popular among MS applicants?

Where to find good MOOCs?

Here are top sites to access high quality free courses that you can look at:

While MOOCs are good for skill development, having a MOOC certificate alone may not help that much. There’s always a trust problem – who knows if you only took the MOOC certification exam or your friend? Therefore, let not the certificate be your primary motivation, try to genuinely learn something and reflect that in your story.