Say you have a 4.0 GPA in your undergraduate Computer Engineering degree in from Kathmandu University, 85.5% PCM score from St Xavier’s College, near perfect score in GRE and TOEFL and outstanding recommendation letters. You would like to pursue your MS degree at a renowned US university that offers full tuition assistantship/fellowship/scholarship with a stipend (you deserve it after all). But you have no idea how to start the search for these ‘right’ colleges in US.

To those who have been successful in receiving such financial aid for graduate studies, how did you go about identifying your current university? Can you share your experiences?

You have everything perfect, I think. Go to Harvard, MIT or any other top school, I hope you will get a good offer.

yaha afulai community college le naliyera tension bhairacha, yo sathi chai yesto yesto perfect qualification ko kura garcha !

Kirsten,
first figure out what do u want to do masters in.Second, Rank all the colleges that offer and are good in that major.Then, find out out of them which univ. offers good assistanceship. Applying to all colleges would be spending alot of money so do ur research first and figure out depending upon the location,ranks and assistance.U seem to be really good .if thats u who u are talking about i don't think u would have much problem. Good luck.

ImI, thanks for the suggestion.

Still would like to hear from those who have received the so called full scholarships. What are the key tricks of the trade?

However, in a different note, I doubt is most universities will offer good help for MS ( and you expect stipend too right?)Most good universities are focussed on PHD. So, if you are thinking of a PHD, it would be a great idea to come to the US universities. However, competition is tough nonetheless. Hundreds of students are rejected despite having a good academic and research(important variable) background.

Moreover, GPA is not the only factor. The difficulty level of courses you have taken counts equally. So, you might want to think about these factors. Focussing on schools with higher rank only may not be the optimal idea. Try to match your research interests with those of the professors in those universities. Unless someone is doing something that matches your interest, you have less chance of getting in. Moreover, for graduate schools, I think you also have to pay application fees. So, you don't want to waste your money applying to schools you won't get in.So, think of some schools ranked around the 25-30 level.

You should first choose the school and then ask about the funding opportunities there. They will have assistanceship for even master students depending on the school. So, firstly you should ask them about the availability, and the next step is to apply and wait if u r happy with their answers.

First off all look the TOEFL , GRE, Advance GRE Score and try to find out in which university your score is higher than required. And look at their website specially deparmental criteria and all the required document. My recommendation is not to go for very very high ranked univeristy, try to apply in all the univeristy at least 15 and try to include very good , good and better univeristy. And always apply for GA,TA,RA, you will definitely be success as we became.

Leo_r, did you recommend applying to at least 15 universities? Isn't that a litte too many?

i think 5 at most is good enuff

The easiest way to get grad funding is to impress professor before hand. Before you apply to any university, write to bunch of professors. Unless you get any commitment for funding and they agree to be your supervisor, it's very difficult to get funding for the first sem.
Start writing to professors, dude. Good luck!

My impression is that if you are looking for US universities, you do not need to correspond with any professor, or you can but that does not matter. Why i am saying to apply at least 15 universities for graduate study because after that you will be accepted by at least 5-7 university and you will have several choice where to join!

leo-r
And you know that it costs a lot to apply to graduate schools...make the efficient choice which is optimal for your convenience...So, apply to select few where you have a decent chance...grad schools are not like undergrads where you can play a gamble..basically you can see yourself admitted or rejected beforehand...

hey i am sharing my experience, and i have one friend in nepal right now he applied more than 15 universities and unfortunately he was not selected anywhere for this fall. i directly came to one of the reputed university of us in graduate with full funding support in natural science. I have no idea about undergraduate but i have enough idea for graduate applicatio procedure and requirement. it does not cost too much, somewhere you do not need to pay application fee either, they will wave if you request and remainig cost is only posting and it does not cost too much if you use governemnt post office of nepal that the what i did. if you need more assistance please feel free to write i will reply frequently.

Kirsten - with those qualifications do you even need to think about where to apply?? you have everything you could possibly have, wouldn't any graduate school love to have you?? i mean what school wouldn't give you money to go there ke?? apply where you wanna go ke and i am sure you'll get a free ride! :) :)

definitely meeting the department ppl and some professors and talking about their research interests and yours are very helpful :-)

Being accepted in one's grad school of choice is one thing, and being fully funded is quite another. I am more concerned about the later. Having said that, I have begun to write to the professors.

Isn't it their tendency to bounce back saying "submit your application first, and we'll review it before promising you anything"?

Kirsten,
I will be a little harsh, but take it with a grain of salt. Getting into grad school is not a tough task. The challenging task is to survive and more so to be able to live that grad school experience.
The key to this is to find the right match. It doesnt need to be the one thats ranked #1 or #2. The goal in selecting a grad school should be "whats the place where I can grow the most in terms of social and professional attributes." You seem to have enough credentials to take you to any grad school of choice. I recommend you choose the one that will allow you to excercise your growth the most in all aspects. All my best,
Email me if you need any further assistance.

nails,
getting a 4.0 gpa isn't enough for a graduate school. the courses you have taken (their difficulty level and your grades in those subjects) matters a lot. moreover, if the professors in the schools are not interested in her research projects..then nothing will gain her admission...research experience is a great advantage...hence being over-ambitious is also not recommended..
and more, I don't think professors will ever promise any candidates before they sit down to make final decisions...
apply to some top colleges and a couple in the safety net...since you are looking for stipend for MS degree, I think your choices will be narrowed down greatly...

Talk to your professors, maybe they know professors at other schools you are interested in and hook u up. or at least give you a way to get in contact with them directly and not thru application and admin office

In some unis, you can get application fee waived. Check on that.

ALso, you gotta apply atleast 10 unis. Few from 1st tier and few from mid and lower tier. I do not know about the private unis but most state unis provide assistantship.

As someone mentioned already there are pHD programs and in some there are not. Assistantship is very competitive and soley based upon GRE for Sceinces and GMAT for mgmt; GPA; research; and expereince.

If your are in sciences then it is a good idea to find a professor and a reseach topic. However in CS most probably, there will be garduate coordianator to evaluate your credentials. You are adivced to contact him/her.

It is also adivible to take a trip to unis and meet the graduate coordinator direclty. However set up appintmnet beofre that.

You seemed to have good scores. SO, it will not be tough to get into mid tier unis.

FYI, I am totally from mgmt backgound and not from CS background. Also I have seen some frens getting rejected from good unis although having 600 + score GMAT and almost a perfect GPA.

So also the rep of u r undergrad uni also helps a lot. A good recommnedation letters from u r prof also make a very big diff.

peace out