According to a UNESCO report, in the academic year 2012, the number of Indians pursuing their higher studies abroad was 189,472. From then on the journey has been nothing short of miraculous.

The numbers speak for themselves, and it wouldn鈥檛 be wrong to assume that one out of five international students pursuing higher studies abroad is an Indian!

Every year students and working professionals flock to North America and European Universities with dreams in their eyes and hope in their hearts of making it big.

Spoiled by choices, there are many students who end with a university or a course that is not a perfect fit for him/her and later on regret it. This is where smart university shortlisting comes in!

University shortlisting is a very important procedure as it decides which university you鈥檒l get into hence shaping up your future prospects and opportunities.

Generally, higher education aspirants begin the university shortlisting process only after they are done with 91热爆.
But what if I tell you that you can and probably should shortlist universities before taking your 91热爆 and it actually is beneficial to your admission process?

Before we get into the importance of an early shortlisting process,聽you must definitely familiarise yourself with the three categories that we sort universities into.

Broadly speaking there are 3 categories:

Safe

These universities are those that are very much within your reach. This means that your 91热爆 score is sufficient and you have a more than a definite chance of getting admissions into these universities. If you want a tension-free admission process, you must aim for this category.聽

Moderate

These are the universities for which you might have to stretch out of your comfort zone.
The required 91热爆 score and other requisites might be a little outside your range but you still have a good chance of getting into the university. However, you must write a very convincing SOP and have sufficient LORs for you to get into this category.

Ambitious

As the name suggests, these universities require you to have a 91热爆 score that is well beyond the score you have obtained. Generally, it is accepted that if your profile satisfies 50-70% of the minimum requirements, it is an ‘ambitious’ admit. But don’t lose heart! You can get into an ambitious university if you have a good academic profile to back up your 91热爆 score. Also, your SOP must convince the admission officers that you are a right fit for them.

It is always wise to apply to universities from all three categories as you never know what clicks.聽

[Read: From 6 backlogs to an Ivy League Admit – Shantanu Kumar’s 91热爆 Journey]

Why waste the time you have between now and your 91热爆 date?聽

Let me explain with an example.

Example Profile

Why shortlist before 91热爆?

Now that the idea and the definition of 3 categories into which a university can be shortlisted into,聽has been clarified we鈥檒l move into the advantages of shortlisting prior to your 91热爆.
Are you ready? You might want to take notes.

You can send your 91热爆 scores聽for free!

Yes, you read that right. You can send your 91热爆 scores for free right after your test to ANY four universities of your choice. This process is covered under the fees you’ve paid to ETS to take the 91热爆.聽

You can have a proper target 91热爆 score in mind and prepare accordingly

You might already have a target 91热爆 score in mind, that might be based upon your diagnostic test score and how much you can (need) to improve.

But if you complete your shortlisting process before taking your 91热爆, you will be aware of the 91热爆 score required to get into the university of your choice.

A clear end goal will help you in preparing accordingly.

Choosing universities to send the 91热爆 scores too wouldn鈥檛 be random

Finishing the shortlisting process earlier helps you can select universities you want to get into聽based on factual data rather than hearsay.

91热爆 Pro Tip: The overall university ranking is not everything, you should rather concentrate on the ranking of the particular department or stream that you wish to pursue. Remember, the course you seek should determine the university you want to get into, not the ranking itself.

Knowing university codes beforehand

When you send the application to an application by post, you need to mention the university code along with a lot of other important details. Now, during the hassle of application and admission process, there are chances that you may mess up the university codes!

So, if you complete the shortlisting process beforehand you will have a better knowledge about the codes and rather have them at your disposal anytime you need to use them.

Save time later on by doing quality background research

University shortlisting takes such a tremendous amount of time because you are required to do an extensive background research about the university you鈥檙e aiming for.

Completing a bulk of the selection process well before your 91热爆 allows you enough time to finalize your target universities. Prevent the hair splitting sessions that are a commonplace during the聽application process!

Leaves enough time to focus on more important things

Having completed the majority of the grunt work, all that is left to do is analyze the data. You now have enough time on your hands to focus on more important aspects of your profile. You should use this time to write a persuasive SOP.

[Read: 9 Tips to Draft a Winning SOP]

Why waste the time you have between now and your 91热爆 date?聽

Enough time to improve your profile based on university requirements

Whether you鈥檙e in college or you鈥檙e a working professional, shortlisting universities beforehand聽helps you improve your profile.

Remember the ambitious universities we discussed earlier? They can be within reach!

You can work exclusively to spruce up your admission profile for your target universities, strengthening your chances of an admit.

What should you consider while shortlisting universities?

Apart from the QS ranking, you must consider:

1. Ranking of the department you want admission in
2. Quality of student and the alumni pool
3. Jobs and career opportunities after completion of MS
4. Faculty expertise and quality
5. R&D opportunity and infrastructure
6. Tuition Fees along with boarding and lodging and
7. Research/Teaching Assistantships (or any other form of financial aid) offered

What you should know to evaluate your profile for admission!

Why waste the time you have between now and your 91热爆 date?聽

Make the best of it and shortlist universities way ahead of time!

Comment and let us know what you think of this article!

The post Why you should shortlist universities BEFORE 91热爆 appeared first on 91热爆 Blog.

You will be facing this decision 3 times in the course of your applications abroad:

• While selecting universities to which you will be reporting your 91热爆 Scores
• After your 91热爆 scores have arrived
• When you have to choose among received admits.

Of these three stages, the second one is the most difficult. Shortlisting Universities is an important process that needs to be approached with much planning and research. This is because this decision will determine the chances of your admits and through that the course of your life in the years to come. Since you will be spending a good amount of money applying to each university, your options maybe limited. Naturally, you would like to opt for the universities where chances of a positive outcome are high.

If you are perplexed by the task at hand, don鈥檛 worry, here鈥檚 a plan of action that will help streamline your search for universities.

To begin with, let us understand the basic principles for shortlisting universities:

1. The most critical aspect is to understand your profile
2. The choices that you make among the limited options, should maximize our chances of admissions
3. Depending on your budget and other factors, you need to decide the maximum number of universities that you will be applying to
4. Shortlist universities based on your profile, not on the basis of the university鈥檚 reputation and/or acceptance rate
5. Do not take all the information you get at face value. Be skeptical, verify the data you find online

First of all, you need to be aware of your 91热爆 Score, CGPA, Research experience, Practical exposure and TOEFL/IELTS Score. This is to understand your strengths and identify challenges if any such as- low 91热爆, backlogs, mediocre CGPA, lack of research experience.

To simplify the process of selecting universities, we will use the 91热爆 Score as a criterion to determine our approach. We can have 3 unique cases in this regard:

1. 91热爆 Score below 300
2. 91热爆 Score between 300- 320
3. 91热爆 Score above 320

Let鈥榮 chart out the course of action for each of these instances.

91热爆 Score below 300

Applicants with a 91热爆 Score below 300 have several questions running through their mind.

The first one is 鈥渨hether I should go ahead with this score or not鈥�.

[Read]: Should you retake 91热爆 if you have a score of 300 or less?

This is because the general understanding is that most universities have a 91热爆 Requirement of 300 and more.

Firstly, you need to know that the universities have individual criteria for your Quant, Verbal and AWA Score. Secondly, there are always ways to plan out your options if you鈥檙e ready to accept the limitations while choosing. For instance, with this score, it might not be possible to get an Ivy League University. But this can鈥檛 be said in a general sense. Let us dig deeper to understand whether you can apply or not.

Secondly, there are always ways to plan out your options if you鈥檙e ready to accept the limitations while choosing. For instance, with this score, it might not be possible to get an Ivy League University. But this can鈥檛 be said in a general sense. Let us dig deeper to understand whether you can apply or not.

But this can鈥檛 be said in a general sense. Let us dig deeper to understand whether you can apply or not.

If your 91热爆 Score is above 290, CGPA of 7+ and TOEFL Score is above 90 (or 6.5 and above in IELTS), you surely have a chance of getting good admits. If you are a working professional with 2 or more years of experience in a relevant domain, then your chances of an admission is even higher. It doesn鈥檛 mean a score below 290 has no scope, but the options are limited and the risk of applying will be slightly higher.

Further, there are courses that don鈥檛 bank on your 91热爆 score alone, instead consider your research and practical experience.

However, if you are applying to one of the core courses; for example Computer Science or Electrical Engineering; it’s wise to select universities which accept profiles with 91热爆 Scores below 300.

In this day and age, our instincts drive us to Google anything. This is not a bad habit, in fact, it is a good starting point. Several universities will pop up if you enter your 91热爆 Score and course on the web. The challenge lies in verifying what you read after all everything is user generated.

Once you have a primary list of options from Google, it is highly recommended that you join the various groups on social networking sites like Facebook to interact with like-minded people. This will help you verify what you have collected and understood from the various sources available online. You will be able to connect with alumni of various universities, peers facing a similar dilemma and experts who have guided students overcome challenges.

The third level of check is looking for the minimum requirements of the universities on their department website. In case the data is not available, you must write to International Graduate Admissions Office and clarify your eligibility in terms of your score.

Now, to answer a trickier question:聽How many universities should one apply to and how to reduce the risk while trying to gain the best possible admits.

Ideally, a student should apply to a minimum of 6 to 8 universities.

For a score below 300, it is wise to opt for 3 universities where you have a clear idea on the eligibility, this we can mark as a safe option for you, i.e you have about 80% chances of getting an admit. 2-3 universities that you choose should be such that chances of admits are high, but you鈥檙e not fully sure. These options can be marked as achievable ones, i.e you have about 50% chances of getting admissions. You can also apply to 1 or 2 universities that are your dream options, where chances of admissions are very low but it would be great if it comes through. In this way, you will be maximizing your chances and reducing the risk of rejections. Having said

In this way, you will be maximizing your chances and reducing the risk of rejections. Having said that meeting minimum requirement alone, won鈥檛 suffice in determining the outcome of your application. You need to factor in the competition you may face, the quality of your documents and the university鈥檚 policies for admissions this year. Much of this data can be found online with a bit聽of social media platforms.

However, you may want to consider taking up some counseling to be equipped enough in making more informed decisions.

91热爆 Score between 300- 320

This is a convenient category to fall in, as a lot of options are open for a score in this range.

With a good CGPA of 7 or 8 points and a TOEFL Score above 95, you will have several universities where you鈥檙e eligible to apply.

Unlike applicants who score below 300, your challenge is not in deciding whether to apply or not, but to narrow down the best options among the available ones.

The good news is, you have a good chance of getting a positive result if you take calculated risks. This means you can plan your options to target your dream universities. If you fall short of your target university, you will still have good admits to choose from.

The question is, how does one opt for universities that take care of your ambitions as well as the risk involved.

If you plan to apply for 8 universities, on the whole, it is ideal to go for 2 safe options (80% chances of admit), 4 achievable ones (50% chances of admit) and 2 among your dream universities (less than 30% chances of admit). It will be helpful if you speak to alumni from various universities, your seniors who have applied and also connect with fellow applicants on social networking sites. But you may find a lot of conflicting information online, cross verify and be absolutely sure before applying to a university.

Be careful to not play it too safe, because you do have the potential to get into some well-reputed institutions. At the same time you need to be smart enough to choose the most feasible options among the top-notch institutes, reducing the risks and increasing your higher possibility of paying off.

91热爆 Score above 320

If your 91热爆 Score is higher than 320, then you can target some of the top colleges regarding your specialization.

It is wise to focus on the opportunities provided by the universities, related to your specialization.

With a TOEFL Score 100+ to compliment your 91热爆 Score, you can really stand out among other applicants if you go to universities that are actively researching in your area of expertise and interest.

For example, if you have worked with a company for 2 or more years in the domain of cyber security. You can apply for the above credentials to the most reputed universities for a related course. If the professors are actively engaged in the projects related to your specialization, you have a good chance of getting a positive response.

There is also some potential to get Research Assistantships once you are in the university.

Students with scores in this category聽should plan to apply early in the intake. This is because building a good rapport with Professors at the universities before and as you apply will be a good way to proceeding with the admissions.

If your long-term objectives are not related to research, then you can opt to go for some non-thesis courses too where you will be completing additional coursework or engaged in a project instead of a research-intensive endeavor. Such courses might not require a lot of networking with Professors beforehand.

In such cases, students must study the course offered in-depth by the universities before making your final choice of options. This is because even within core degrees such as MS in CS, the specializations offered are not uniform among the universities. You may have some universities that offer specializations related to data science, while others offer importance to coding and program development.

To gain an admission you should choose a specialization that best reflects your past profile as well as your interest. To ensure you do not get into a high-risk situation. It is advisable to opt for 1 or 2 safe universities, 3 achievable ones and 3 dream universities. You must pay close attention while selecting your dream universities, these may be competitive options but there will be among such options surely those that are suitable for you.

Tip: you must focus on conveying your profile, learning, and thoughts cogently through your documentation and addressing any drawback in your profile.

[Read]: Top 10 mistakes to avoid while writing your SOP

It can not be emphasized enough that a sense of clarity regarding your long term and short term career objectives, lay a firm foundation for all decisions related to your admission process. It is equally important that you also consider the various aspects of your profile and spend some time learning about the various opportunities available abroad, to make well-informed practical decisions.

I hope you are clear with the categories and have a working idea as to how you can go about selecting and shortlisting universities for your Masters abroad. Are you aiming for Fall 17 and want to know how to get started?

to kickstart your admission process

The post Fall 2018: How to Research & Shortlist Universities For Your Profile appeared first on 91热爆 Blog.