New Delhi to St. Louis - Lessons Learnt as an International Student
- Connexio, Inc.
- Nov 20, 2019
- 3 min read
A lot of you would think that doing a Masters in the USA is a tough process because of these steps -
GRE
TOEFL
VISA Interview
Selecting Colleges
I think students assume a lot before starting their preparation and I was one of them. I wanted to do a Masters in Computer Science from the US but due to these assumptions, I was nervous and at the same time scared of starting my preparation. Now that I am here, I'd like to share my experiences and the pitfalls that every student aspiring to study internationally should try to avoid.
Start of Preparation
I started preparing for GRE in August, 2018 and I planned to give GRE by the end of October. As I was in the middle of my preparation the Product Manager of my company told me about Connexio and introduced me to the Connexio team. I believe, this introduction is the single biggest reason why I am here in US doing my Masters today.
Inputs from Connexio Team -
GRE - I was too focused on selecting universities, writing SOPs and LORs. I never realized that these were later steps and one should just focus on getting really good scores in the GRE. Specially in the Quant section for those with an engineering background. Connexio's guidance section helped me focus on what was important and provided resources for me to solve a lot of sample papers. Throughout my process of preparation, I was in touch with Connexio Team and the feedback that I got on every step was super useful for me.
Lesson Learnt - work on your GRE preparation. Spending money to get tutoring (if you can't prepare yourself) is better than spending money later on to apply to unnecessarily high number of universities.
University Selection - Once I was done with my GRE, I started targeting universities for my Masters. In this step, I got good amount of information about the universities from the Connexio App and also from the team. I was able to see my profile matches with universities based on the area of my interest and also my chances of getting into a program. All the way from selecting universities to applying to the program, the Connexio team gave me feedback on university culture and what discipline is good in a university.
Lesson Learnt - rankings don't matter. What matters more is your fit with a program.
SOP and LOR - SOP is the most crucial part after your GRE scores and you have to be really convincing in your SOP. I got samples for SOPs from the Connexio App and when I drafted my first SOP, I got feedback on my SOP within same day and that helped me in building an SOP that highlighted crucial areas in my profile.
Lesson Learnt - The Statement of Purpose is very important but only after you have cleared the minimum score requirement threshold.
Visa Interview - This was the most crucial part of my journey. This is the step on which everything depends and your whole journey is just decided in an interview of 2-3 minutes. Connexio Team helped in preparing for my interview by giving me feedback on my answers and the best part was that they setup Mock-Up interviews for me. It felt like I was giving real Visa Interview. I want to say that all credit for this step goes to Connexio.
Lesson Learnt - Don't read too many forums. These are echo boxes of negative experiences. Talk to people who have done this themselves and have been successful.
I should mention that through all this process, I was going through personal issues. If it wasn't for Connexio, I would have never have thought of successfully getting US Visa.
Beyond Admission
I started my Master's at Saint Louis University. I am concentrating on Machine Learning and Neural Networks for my research. It's just my first semester and I already have funding from research work that I am doing for a professor. I am also interviewing with companies like Amazon and HubSpot and hoping to land an internship soon. I am still in touch with Connexio and get advice on staying focused on the right goals.
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