tips to crack VI ...........

The very next thing u prepare once u get an admit from ur dream univ is visa interview. Its not that easy if u are not aware of some important tips. VOs are there to give u visa until and unless ur profile is weak or presentation is dull. I have seen the case where a student has been rejected with a profile(GRE-1370 TOEFL-102 UG-79%) because of confidence levels and due to his presentation. So guys never giv a chance to consulate officers to eradicate u from embassy even though u have a very gud profile. Try to flatter them with your talkative skills project all ur positives first in front of VO. Never avert ur sight from VO always maintain a good eye contact.

These are some of the tips that u must be accustomed with and will help u definitely in obtaining an F-1.



F-1 Visa
Embassy Interview Tips
When you apply for an F-1 visa at an American embassy or consulate, a consular official
will interview you. The interview usually lasts only two or three minutes. It is good to
understand that the main purpose of the visa interview is for you to show strong reasons
why you WILL RETURN to your home country after finishing your academic program.
You can reassure the consular officials by talking about the things that tie you to your
home: family, property, and job opportunities when you return home.
Here are some specific suggestions to help you prepare for your visa interview:
1. You need to know and show what you will do with your degree from a U.S.
institution (or, if you want to attend an English language program, with your better
English) when you return home. You need to have good (plausible) future plans in
your own country.  You should know what the job situation is in your field in your
home country.
2.  You may be asked how you or your family will pay for your education at St. Norbert
College.  Be prepared to show the visa officer your parents’ bank books, not just bank
statements.
3.  You may be asked why you want to go to such a “small” or “unknown” college. Be
prepared to explain St. Norbert College ’s ranking in U.S. News & World Report.
Explain the advantages of a small university (2,000 students) compared to a large
university where you may not get much personal help and attention. Also, discuss the
major field you will study at St. Norbert College.
4. You should practice for the interview with friends. The practice interviews should be
no more than three minutes long and very unfriendly. While the consular officer will
probably be friendly in the real interview, it is best to be prepared for the worst.  If
you do not know very much about Saint Norbert College and the degree program that
you want to study, the consular official may refuse to give you a visa. Consular
officials may think that you are not really planning to go to school but are simply
trying to enter the U.S. to work.5.   If your financial status is an issue, you may want to pay tuition to the school in
advance and present the receipt to the consular official. The official will almost
certainly respect this gesture. Bank loans are NOT good evidence of financial support
for students. Consular officials think that people with loans are more likely to seek
employment in the U.S. so they can pay back the loan.
6.  You should be honest with consular officials at all times. For example, applicants in
some countries might not want to show their true financial status because they may be
trying to "shield" income from taxes. Thus, their financial statements may not show
this "black money" and so may not show enough money for education in the U.S.
      But, U.S. consular officials actually don't care at all if your family is hiding income
from your own government. They will, however, appreciate your honesty and be
much more likely to grant the visa if they know your true financial status.
      Conversely, if the consular officials believe that you are lying or have lied in a
previous interview--about anything--they will probably not issue the visa.
This page is adapted from the Oregon State University English Language Institute

-Be in your best attire.
-Don't wear dark colored shirts.
-Don't wear sport watches.
-Avoid wearing half-sleeves.
-Have a mild perfume.
-Trim ur hair perfectly don't be too hairy or small hair.
-Carry harmonium type folder arrange documents according to preference.
-Never talk to front or back persons in a line which will droop ur confidence levels.
- Have a light breakfast.
-Avoid beverages,fruit juices are fine.
-Be at embassy at least 30mins prior to ur appointment time.
-Never be more talkative or be too taciturn be moderate.
-Don't go with fancy beard or hair styles.
-Don't be too goldy too.
-No need of blazer.

ATB guys one can get VISA if the confidence is being maintained. According to me confidence comes first then comes ur presentation last but not least is ur profile..........GO VI WITH EASE THEN CRACKING VISA WILL BE VERY EASY.

all about GRE and TOEFL/IELTS

Please apologize me because this post should have been published before itself but i didn't do that.

Coming to the point in order to pursue MS u have to take GRE , TOEFL/IETLS accordingly as per ur need and univ's need. Of course these tests are no so easy as if u can do one day batting like in ur btech life. Minimum of 3 months preparation is required for GRE and 1 month for TOEFL/IELTS. 

ABOUT GRE:

W.E.F august 2011 pattern has been observed a tremendous change compared to the old one. This new pattern is of 340 marks of maximum, where quants-170 and verbal-170 and a separate section called AWA which is of 6.0 points where u need to score minimum of 3(my suggestion). All these 3 sections have their separate identities. In order to attain a admit from a top univ u need to have 80 percentile in quants and 32 percentile in verbal sections. Generally students face the problems while they start prep for GRE like which material they have to study so that they can get the most of it. I would suggest if u r going to any of the institutes say VISU they provide u the material where it covers all the syllabus required. Apart from that jus buy one BARRONS new edition and start ur prep. Remember all the tips and tricks given in the barrons. It is the best book for GRE preparation. First complete ur material and then turn ur vehicle to barrons workout whole book atleast 2 times and write the practice tests as many as possible. The main advantage in new pattern is we have no need to buttify 3000 or 4000 words. But minimum of 1000 words must b knownits a gud number. That help u out better in AWA and sentence equivalence. 

Lastly, score 300+ so that u have better opportunities from the univ and also there will be a chance for scholarship too.

NOTE: Never think that GRE can b done in 1 month i have seen cases where even 3 months prep left him with 290. The only thing is u need to have bean sized logic in ur brains thats enuf to fetch u a gud score.

ABOUT TOEFL/IELTS :

These both tests are almost similar but i dont have much knowledge reg IELTS as i didn't take it. Both tests will be having 4 common sections(reading,listening,speaking and writing). TOEFL is of 120 marks where u have to score minimum of 80 and IELTS is of 9.0 bands where u have to score minimum of 6.5. First section is somewhat crucial for those who doesnt have much capability in reading. Coming to 2nd one passages can b easily understand if u have habit of watching english stuff. 3rd section depends on ur speaking skill if u r a chatter box and can manage in english then its a section offering u minimum of 22 in TOEFL. 4th section is almost similar to AWA in GRE. For prep of these 2 tests jus have a better book like BARRONS or DELTA's for TOEFL. 

NOTE : never take ur TOEFL test in other than prometric centres because some univ are cancelling the scores if they are skeptic and will b a problem during ur VI.

Both of these GRE and TOEFL tests are not the things where u start them on friday evening and complete them by sunday night and take test on monday morning. Tons of hard work is required to satisfy the selection pannel of the university.

ATB guys..........

LANKA ANIRUDH

 

visa process and questions with answers(just for ur idea)

Once all your process is completed the next thing you do is start your VISA process. In order to book an appointment you have some steps to follow.
1- go to HDFC bank and buy an application. Once you buy ur application u wil be getting a
     bar code which takes 48hrs to activate.
2- once ur barcode activates u must fill ur DS-160 form.
3- now u can book the date accordingly.
4- pay SEVIS prior to 72hrs of ur visa date ( i suggest u to pay 1 week before)

Find this link in order to find out your nearest HDFC bank.
http://www.immihelp.com/india/hdfc-bank-usa-visa-fee-accepting-branches.html

Out of 100 students 95 become nervous during the VIs that leads them to poor performance. This disturbance occurs when you are not prepared for the VI properly or u have no proper documentation or u have low scores or it may b any reason for the rejection. Also confidence matters a lot.VO's are always kind they sit there to give us VISA but not for any other reason. Again Im insisting you never avert your confidence levels.
These are some of the best questions u must be prepared with. These answers are given for ur idea.
Please don't copy these or by hard these answers. These questions actually were prepared by myself when im about to attend my VI.

 Why do u want to go US?

To pursue master of science program in mechanical engineering at ___________ univ.

Why this univ?

Firstly I was impressed by the research work of prof._____ on ________ which is exactly I have in my mind and I definitely want to contribute my flair in that research work. Secondly, student to faculty ratio is very close to my mind which I thought, because the coordination between them makes every student to understand what the prof teach and also there can be a better interaction if this ratio is followed. Each and every individual can able to understand in this case.

Who will sponsor you?

My father, he is working as a __________ in _____________ since 23yrs.

How will u pay for ur stay in US?

I have fixed deposits of _____lakhs and also apart from that I have loan sanctioned for the amount ____lakhs from ____ bank which is sufficient for my tuition and for living till my masters is completed.

Why don’t u study this course in ur country?

It’s a well known thing that US has a world class education system than any other country in the world and they concentrate on practical side of the subject which helps students to grab the stuff easily and get injected to their brains, with this kind of approach students can become expertise in their particular subject. Of course these subjects are taught in our country but only to the extent of theoretical part and also to the examination point of view. So this is d reason y students like me are opting US for their higher education.

What are the other univ did u apply?

MTU,OSU,UMKC,SIUC,NIU,UTA.

Why have u chosen this course?

This course is relevant  to my previous course i.e bachelors. By choosing relevant courses we can easily get on that and can understand the subject in a proper way.

GRE and TOEFl scores.

Gre – _________

toefl – __________

Who are there in your family?

My parents and my sister.

What do u knw abt the course u have chosen?

Do u intend to work in US?

My main aim is to complete my masters with good grades which helps me in fetching a govt job in my country. If given a chance I will work for TA or RA which helps in my future prospects.

What do u knw abt ur univ?

BU is one of d best known univ for mechanical engg  in US. Also it is ranked 6^th in Midwest univ. As it is located near to Chicago it has better transportation. And student to faculty ratio is 1:13 which is the most important aspect that has be considered which helps the student to interact with his/her respective prof and gain the knowledge in the subject. Also the environment is very well organized by the univ that international students like me gets accustomed to it easily.

What wil u do after MS?

I have my dream job waiting for me in India. We have good opportunities in our country for MS candidate in central govt and state govt sectors. My dream is to be an senior section engineer in BHEL or IR.

How many yrs do u intend to stay in US?

Once I complete my masters I will be back to my home  country .

What is ur long term goal?

To work as a senior section engineer in BHEL/IR or work as a design engineer in any of the automobile sectors. I want to maintain my family only with my salary keeping my parents income in savings.

These are other type of questions:

Why masters?

I strongly believe that only by pursuing bachelors doesn’t enhance my knowledge in the field im interested in, so in order to attain that, masters is better option I have. Also if MS is done in countries like US I have very good opportunities in my home country.

Who said US is the best for studies?

It’s a universal truth that everyone is aware of. And by considering the latest top 500 university rankings throughout the world by usnews.com major part are from US itself. This example is enough to say why students prefer students for their higher studies. Also my seniors my parents my other family members also suggested me the same.

Ur GRE and TOEFL scores are low why?

I do agree my scores are low. Because these were exactly in the mid of my hectic curriculum in 3-2 where I have to balance my academics my mini project and also concentrate on my semester exams. But this was the very important phase in my life where I hav learnt how to tackle multiple things in my life.

What will u do if ur visa is rejected?

Im confident and focused on my career and I have prepared for that accordingly. And till now I have done well in this interview and I believe consulate officials like you always encourage students who are focused on their career like me. If that is the case job is my 2^nd priority I will gain some experience and apply for next FALL because MS is my aim since im in btech.

Scope of your course?

Yes my course which im about to do i.e specialization in Mech (mechine design) has very wide opportunities in India in firms like BHEL,IR,any automobile companies etc.

Also be prepared with every possible question so that we shouldn't give a chance to VO to screw us.

Will give you tips of VI in my next post.

ATB guys...................Do well never lose ur hope....

how to contact a professor of a univ?.....

Student who is aiming for PhD in united states the first thing he/she must do is find out what research is going on in the univ and contact the resp professor and know his/her works and decide to join under them. Usually every professor of the univ will be receiving mails from students like you in hundreds and thousands its very difficult to read each and every email. Don't stop sending mails if u dont get reply from them send,send,send.....send what all you have to do is till u get reply is just send.
But there are some guidelines to be followed while u email ur professor so that he will be comfortable in knowing about you and your interests. This is just for an instance.........

Advice for Prospective Research Students

Like most professors, I get several hundred emails a year from prospective students interested in coming to UVa for graduate school and joining my research group. I try to reply to all messages that are not obviously spam, but find most messages I receive make me less likely to want to accept the students sending them. This page provides some advice for prospective grad school applicants considering emailing me, but most of it probably applies to any other professor you want to contact also.

Who To Contact

Its a really bad idea to send spam emails to long lists of professors. These emails will never help you, and some professors will maintain blacklists of applicants who do this to make sure their application is rejected without consideration.

Your goal in sending email is not to contact as many professors as you can, but to identify a few professors who you might want as your research advisor and then to find which of those seem most promising as advisors and convince them that you would be a worthwhile student.

You should only contact professors with whom you have a genuine interest in working based on knowing something about them and what they do. You can find out about professors' research by looking at their web pages (professors who don't have web pages about their research are either not interested in recruiting students, not doing any research, or so famous they probably have someone to filter their email for them).

Do Your Homework

Before contacting a potential advisor, do your homework: read the advisor's home page (mine ishttp://www.cs.virginia.edu/evans/, and our group blog is www.jeffersonswheel.org) and at least one recent paper (links to my papers are available at http://www.cs.virginia.edu/evans/pubs/).

If doing this doesn't give you any interesting ideas, this is probably not someone with whom you want to do research so you shouldn't waste time contacting her or him. If it does, send a short introductory email.

First Email

A typical message should go something like this:

From: Flipper Wordsfish <flipper@adou.edu> Subject: Student Interested in TSU Problem	Make sure your from address and subject lines are useful
Dear Professor Nemo,	Greeting: its safest to be a bit formal here.
I will be finishing a BS degree in Underwater Mathematics at the Atlantis Deep Ocean University this year. I am considering applying to UVa's PhD program and would be interested joining your Octople Cryptology research group.	Briefly introduce yourself in at most two sentences. Don't tell your whole life story. Be direct and clear about applying to grad school.
I found your paper, "A Linear-Time Solution to the Travelling Sea Urchin Problem", on your website (http://www.smith.org/urchin.html). I was fascinated by your result, especially as I have spent several summers studying the similar travelling sea cucumber problem as an intern at Microshifty Corp in the Attle Sea. You can find a paper about my work on this at http://www.flipper.com/research/tscp.html.	Explain specifically what you read and where you found it (people sometimes publish several papers with similar names and forget which is which). A touch of flattery never hurts, but don't go overboard. If appropriate, relate it to your background and interests and briefly plug your work.
I believe your result is even more important than your paper implies, since it can be extended to solve the Travelling Salescritter Problem and thus to prove P = NP.	Concisely describe your insight or why you are interested in the work.
Do you think it would be worthwhile to pursue this line of research? If you are interested, I can send you a proof sketch.	End with a clear, simple question. Offer a suggestion on how to proceed.
Regards, Flipper Wordsfish (flipper@adou.edu)	Closing — make sure to include you name and email address.

Of course, your insight isn't likely to be so significant as Flipper's. But, you should make an effort to raise an interesting question about the work described in the paper, to suggest extensions or applications of the work, or to relate it directly to something you have done.

It is definitely worth taking time to write clearly and consisely using correct spelling and grammar. As with all emails, the message should be broken into short paragraphs, the sentences should be simple and straightforward.

What Not To Do

Never do any of these:

• Don't send information about your GRE scores, GPA, class rank, cholesterol levels, favorite movies, etc. and ask what your chances of admission are. Standardized tests and grades have minimal influence on your chances of admission and reveal very little about your potential as a researcher. No one can or should tell you anything about your chances of admission based on an email (other than that you are more likely to be rejected now since you sent an annoying email).
• Don't send a first email longer than a typical screenful. You should be able to get across everything you need in a first email concisely and use longer emails if technical depth is required in follow ups.
• Don't waste space and time telling me how hard-working, creative and smart you are — demonstrate it with the contents of your message.
• Don't waste space and time telling me how brilliant I am. The fact that you are interested in joining my research group is flattery enough.
• Don't make generic statements about being interested in my work or how well it relates to your interests. Most professors have projects in several different areas and can't figure out what you mean unless you describe a specific connection or interest.
• Don't attach anything to your email. If you want to provide additional content, you should do this by sending a URL (as plain text, not a link). If you are not able to create a web page, you probably shouldn't be applying to CS graduate programs.
• Don't use HTML encoded email or non-standard character sets.
• If you are a non-native English speaker, make sure your "From:" address appears using the English alphabet. If you have a name that is difficult for English speakers to pronounce or distinguish, it is to your advantage to use a name that English speakers can pronounce and remember. I do realize it is very unfair for us to expect you to change your name for our convenience and cultural ignorance! But, once you get admitted you can and should tell people what you want them to call you.
  Note that for your formal application it is necessary to use your legal name, so if you use another name in your email communications with faculty, it is important to also provide the name you use in your application so they can identify the corresponding application. This is probably not necessary in a first email, but is a good opportunity to refresh the relationship after you send in your application by informing your contact to the formal name used in your application.
• Don't use any fancy formatting in your email (including your message signature).

Follow Up

Since most professors get lots of email, there is some chance that even if you do everything right, your message will get lost in my inbox and you won't get a reply. If you don't get a reply after about a week, send a follow up email that politely asks if the message was received and includes the previous message. If you still don't get a response, that's a pretty good sign that the potential professor you are contacting either has an overly-agressive spam filter, or is not someone you want as your advisor.

Conclusion

Getting into a good PhD program is extremely competitive and professors are strongly motivated to identify and attract the best possible research students to their group. At any department you would want to go to (including UVa), the acceptance rate is usually in the single digit percentages. At the most competitive departments, only a few slots every year are awarded to students without recommendation letters from people the faculty know well.

It takes work to find the right PhD program and advisor, but contacting potential advisors directly is your best way to find a research group that matches your interests and goals well and possibly to improve your chances of being admitted.

Once you've read and followed these directions, please feel free to contact me about coming to UVa to do a PhD in Computer Science. Your goal is to start an interesting email conversation about research ideas.

If you find that my research does not fit well with your interests, feel free to contact me for general advice and suggestions on other professors to contact.

its all about LORs and SOPs...

Its not just enough to submit the distinction mark sheets of your education while applying for the grad schools in US. Also have to concentrate on LOR and SOP which play a vital role in profile selection process of a particular student. According to me these carry weight of 20% from our total profile. So why to give a chance to the university for the rejection? Firstly all our docs are viewed by the administrative department then in case if they found any of the docs are missing they send a mail to us, after receiving full set of docs then they forward the docs to respective departments (CS,ME,MIS,EEE,IE etc). Then the selection panel makes decision by examining all the factors. So be prepared to prepare a well furnished SOP and LOR. If univ founds the same profile as u have the next main aspect they consider is our SOP then comes LOR. Our SOP should be totally different from other student's SOP. Never copy your SOP ink all your own experiences and awards, portray yourself as an all rounder. Don't go on writing Mahabharata or Ramayana just add your pro's in just words below 1000 try not to cross this figure. At last remember one thing the best SOP and LOR with your academics you have the best accepting chances from your dream university.

ALL THE BEST.........................  :-)

new gre-------------> old gre score converter

With effect from august 2011 GRE pattern has been changed a lot apart from AWA section. The exam score has been brought to 340 from 1600 which is maximum marks. Many of the students are thinking that new GRE is little bit easier than older one but that is not a true statement. Case differs in both individual patterns both have their own pro's and con's but depends on individual perception of student. Generally students who takes GRE their score is valid upto 5yrs from the date of examination. So in order to convert old GRE to new GRE some of the students are facing the difficulty in order to minimize their problem the below concordance table which is a genuine piece of ETS has been posted.

New GRE Score Conversion – Verbal

OldGRE Verbal	Revised GRE Verbal	Percentile  Score
800	170	99
790	170	99
780	170	99
770	170	99
760	170	99
750	169	99
740	169	99
730	168	98
720	168	98
710	167	98
700	166	97
690	165	96
680	165	96
670	164	94
660	164	94
650	163	93
640	162	90
630	162	90
620	161	89
610	160	86
600	160	86
590	159	84
580	158	79
570	158	79
560	157	77
550	156	72
540	156	72
530	155	69
520	154	64
510	154	64
500	153	62
490	152	56
480	152	56
470	151	51
460	151	51
450	150	48
440	149	42
430	149	42
420	148	40
410	147	36
400	146	31
390	146	31
380	145	28
370	144	26
360	143	21
350	143	21
340	142	18
330	141	16
320	140	13
310	139	10
300	138	8
290	137	6
280	135	4
270	134	3
260	133	2
250	132	1
240	131	1
230	130	1
220	130	1
210	130	1
200	130	1

New GRE Score  Conversion – Quantitative

Old GRE to New GRE Math Raw Score conversion and percentile rank.

Old GRE Verbal	New GRE  Verbal	Percentile  Rank
800	166	94
790	164	91
780	163	88
770	161	86
760	160	84
750	159	82
740	158	79
730	157	77
720	156	74
710	155	69
700	155	69
690	154	67
680	153	65
670	152	61
660	152	61
650	151	56
640	151	56
630	150	53
620	149	49
610	149	49
600	148	44
590	148	44
580	147	40
570	147	40
560	146	36
550	146	36
540	145	32
530	145	32
520	144	26
510	144	26
500	144	26
490	143	22
480	143	22
470	142	19
460	142	19
450	141	16
440	141	16
430	141	16
420	140	12
410	140	12
400	140	12
390	139	10
380	139	10
370	138	7
360	138	7
350	138	7
340	137	6
330	137	6
320	136	4
310	136	4
300	136	4
290	135	3
280	135	3
270	134	2
260	134	2
250	133	1
240	133	1
230	132	1
220	132	1
210	131	1