When you think of studying abroad at a master’s level, the first question that comes to your mind is ‘Which country should I go to?’ Let’s try to tackle this question by taking an objective look at some of the countries and discussing their pros and cons.

USA
USA is by far the most sought after educational destination amongst students from India, and is expected to remain so at least for the next decade. Reason being that the education system in the US is highly recognized across the globe, and the opportunities that students get during and after their US education make it worth the investment.

Facts about USA education:
- Most master’s programs are 2 years (20 months) in duration.
- Most universities insist on students having a 4 year bachelor’s degree to qualify for admissions. (Some universities have now started accepting students with a 3 year Indian degree as well)
- Taking the GRE or GMAT and the TOEFL examinations is required by most universities.
- While studying, students can work up to 20 hours/week on campus and are allowed to do an internship in the summers
- Students by default get a 1 year work permit after their education (can be extended by another 17 months for students with a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics degree provided they have a job with a company registered with the government e-verify system). Following this work permit, students have to opt for a work visa (H1B) to continue working in the USA

UK
UK is the most sought after destination by students with 3 year bachelor’s degree and who want to complete their master’s program in a year.

Facts about UK education:
- Most master’s degrees are of 1 year duration (except for a few high end MBA programs which are 16 to 20 months)
- An Indian 3 year bachelor’s degree is acceptable by most universities.
- Most programs do not require the GRE/GMAT but only the IELTS
- Students can work up to 20 hours/week during their education
- Most programs qualify students for a Tier-1 Post Study Work Visa that would let them work in the UK for 2 years after their master’s degree.
- To work beyond 2 years in the UK you are required to have a job with a salary of above £20,000 per year.

A word of caution about UK: There are many colleges and universities in the UK that offer admissions to almost any student who applies. Many of these are not recognized by the British High Commissions. Through a network of agents and through trade fairs, they try to recruit Indian students for their programs. Be careful before you select a university, because if your university is not recognized you may be denied a student visa. Even if you get a student visa, your degree may not qualify you for a post study work permit. Finally the quality of education at many of such programs is pathetic.

Ireland
Ireland is emerging as a popular study destination amongst Indian students. With the medium of education being English and the government of Ireland promoting the inflow of skilled immigrants into Ireland, getting job as well as permanent residency in Ireland seems comparatively easy.

Facts about Irish education:
- There are not many universities in Ireland, but they offer high quality of education
- Most master’s degrees are of 1 year duration (except for a few high end MBA programs which are 16 to 20 months)
- Most Irish universities accept a 3 year Indian degree but prefer students with good academic records
- Most programs do not require the GRE/GMAT but only the IELTS
- Students can work up to 20 hours/week during their education
- Many employment opportunities are available for students especially in the science, technology, an engineering category
- Most master’s program allow students to stay in Ireland for an additional six months after completion of the degree.
- If a student finds an appropriate job from an Irish based company, they can apply to live and work in Ireland under an Irish work permit or by applying for an Irish Green Card.

Australia
Australia is definitely a good place to study and has some really good universities and programs.

Facts about Australian education:
- Master’s degrees come in a range of 1 to 2 year duration
- Most universities accepts a 3 year Indian degree
- Many programs do not require the GRE/GMAT but only the IELTS
- Students can work 20 hours/week during their education
- On completion of a master’s program, students have to leave the country within 28 days or may apply for work visa and stay in Australia for an additional period of 18 months, following which your employer has to sponsor your visa.

A word of caution about Australia: If you intend to work in Australia after your master’s degree you will have to obtain a work visa known as the ‘Skilled Graduate Temporary Visa (485)’. This visa is issued only if you have completed at least two years of study in Australia. Hence if the duration of your master’s degree was less than 2 years, you won’t be eligible for the work visa. In such cases you might be required to complete an additional diploma or graduate level certificate program to compete the 2 years of education in Australia.

There are many other countries that students opt for; most common of them being New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, and Germany. Singapore as such is a small country with only a handful of institutions worth investing in an education. New Zealand on the other hand offers a fairly large choice of programs and ample opportunities to work in the country after graduation. Germany offers good quality education especially in areas of technology but having a good knowledge of the German language is essential to survive and work in the country. Canada is a good option too, but there are few good universities in Canada and admission procedures are pretty stringent with these universities.

In conclusion, each country has its own merits and demerits and the choice of which country suites you best depends on your individual aptitude, educational background, career goals and your financial capabilities. So before you decide on which country (and which universities within that country) should you opt for, find out more about the various options. A good counselor (who isn’t operating as an agent for a specific country or universities) can help you make a well informed decision.

“Is this the right time to go to the USA for higher education?”; “Will the recession affect my education and will I get a job after graduation?” As study abroad counselors, off late these are the questions we get asked most frequently by students. We understand the dilemma that students (and their parents) are going through. The significant investment required for US Education, current recession in the US economy, reports of job cuts all over the media, H1B visa restrictions; all these can make one really nervous. But before jumping to conclusions on whether it’s advisable to go to the US or not, let’s take an objective look at the situation, its impact on you as a student, and what’s your best way to combat it.

As a student about to finish your bachelor’s degree (or currently working and planning for higher education), you generally have three options. First, take up or continue your job in India, second, pursue higher education in India, and third, to study abroad. At a broad level I cannot advocate which of these options is the best choice, because it would vary based on each student’s individual backgrounds, career preferences, capabilities etc, However what I would definitely like to emphasize is that if you have already chalked out your plans and made up your mind about pursuing your master’s abroad, and have the financial capability to afford it, let not recession be the reason for change in plans. You need to understand that education is not a momentary fling, but an investment for lifetime. The returns are not just your ‘job after graduation’ but instead the benefits of your education would continue for life; throughout your career and even otherwise. So be careful before you shelve your plans for higher education; let them not be shelved forever. You can maybe, and that’s not recommended either, postpone your plans by a year, but make sure that you don’t procrastinate and completely miss out on the opportunity to pursue your higher degree. If you think that this is the right time for you to pursue higher studies, then just go for it. Let not fear of the recession stop you. After all the economy will improve in a year or two, and you don’t want to regret later for having missed out on an opportunity.

Having said this, let’s take a look at how the recession would impact an Indian graduate student in the USA. To begin with let’s consider how things were in a good economic scenario (say for instance, the case of students who went to the US in 2005 and graduated in 2007). On an average 60% of these students got some form of graduate assistantships (RA/TA) that included at least a partial tuition waiver and a monthly stipend. 30% of the students got a student job, which paid them enough to cover their living expenses (they still had to pay full tuition), and the remaining 10% of the students got no financial assistance (so they had to bear the cost of their entire education and living). Given the current economic scenario, of the students going to pursue their MS in Fall 2009, about 20% will get graduate assistantships, 30% will manage to find student jobs and the rest 50% will have to pay for their entire education. (The numbers would vary from university to university, but these are just rough estimates). What it means is that the competition is going to be tougher, and you will need to work hard (your luck counts too) to find a job on campus. You have to be on the lookout for opportunities, pursue them aggressively, meet professors and demonstrate (through class participation, through your projects and assignments, and of course your exam grades) that you can add value to the department as graduate assistant. Not trying is not going to get you anything.

When it comes to finding a full time job after graduation, you need to understand that recruitment in the US works differently than it works in India. Recruitment is an elaborate process which starts with companies collecting resumes, followed by a telephonic interview, followed by several rounds of personal interviews. Your first step is to understand how the system works, and prepare yourself to excel in it. Here are some guidelines for job search in the US.

Resume
The most vital step in your job search process is to have a presentable resume. For some strange reason, most Indian students have extremely unprofessional resumes, and are unwilling to improve it. A resume is like an opportunity to make your first impression with the employer, and if your resume isn’t impressive enough, you may never get a second chance to make that impression, however smart and qualified you may be. Understand how a professional resume should look like. There are enough samples and lessons on resume writing available on the web that you can refer to. You may also consider taking professional help in preparing your resume. Most universities have career centers where they offer resume critiquing/editing services. Use their services.

‘Job Search’: Your full time job
For about three months before you graduate, make job search your full time job. What it means is that dedicate at least 4 hours a day (and maybe more on weekends) towards job search. Search for jobs on various job portals and company job sites and apply to every job that meets your requirement.

Network
Yes it works. Talk to your faculty, friends, acquaintances and make them aware that you are on the lookout for job. Ask them if they could refer you to someone who might help you find a job. Ask for help. Most people you know will be willing to help you out if you ask. But at the same time don’t be too pushy and irritate them. And most important - ask with a smile. Don’t sound desperate, pessimistic, suicidal, or threatening 

Communication Skills
Improve your communication skills. Learn how to face an interview. Again, there is ample material on these topics over the net. Read it. At the same time many universities offer courses on improving your communication skills. Enroll yourself in them. They generally aren’t very expensive and it’s really worth the investment.

And finally the MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember is

Don’t Give Up
A lot of your friends and colleagues will try to scare you and demoralize you, saying that the situation is bad and getting a job is an impossible thing. Remember that it’s not true. Your key to success is to have faith in yourself and keep trying. Getting a job is not at all difficult if you give it a sincere try.

In short, Be Positive and Be Proactive

Educational Testing Service (ETS) and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board, announced plans to introduce two new question types in the GRE General Test from November. Here is what ETS has to say about the new question types.

“Test takers may encounter one of these new questions in the Verbal Reasoning or Quantitative Reasoning sections of the computer-based GRE General Test. The new Verbal question type is a text completion question that requires the test taker to fill in two or three blanks within a passage from separate multiple-choice lists. Currently, the Verbal section contains text completion questions that require test takers to fill in one blank within a passage from a single multiple-choice list. The new Quantitative question type will be a numeric entry question that requires test takers to type their answer as a number in a box, or as a fraction in two boxes. Test takers can review sample questions and additional information about the new question types on the GRE website.”

Most students, applying for an MS, make the mistake of selecting universities based solely magazine rankings such as US News Ranking. Though these rankings do provide a good starting point especially if you do not have any clue about universities, they should not be the only criterion for selection of a university. Rankings use their own standard for evaluation of universities which may or may not fit your background, needs and goals. So it is important that you spend some time reflecting on your goals and interests and carefully research schools that fit you.

There are many sources which can help you identify and research graduate programs. Some of the online sources include:
http://www.usnews.com
http://www.gradschools.com
http://www.petersons.com
http://www.phds.org/
http://gradschool.about.com/cs/programdatabase/

Once you have a broader list of universities using the above sources, you can narrow down the list. Some useful contacts to narrow down your list are:

• Alumni - Identify Alumni of your alma matter who are currently enrolled in graduate studies in your subject area. Even if you don’t know them very well, they might be more than willing to help you and offer advice.
• Personal Contacts – Poll all your personal contacts to see if they know anyone or have any information on the universities in your list. May be your dad’s friend’s nephew might have gone for higher studies and he might be able to offer some advice on good graduate programs in your area of interest.
• Professors at your college – Since most of the past students would be getting recommendations from your college professors, they might be a good resource to tap into to find out which universities do most of your alma matter prefer going to and they might even be able to provide some contacts of alumni.
• Professors at the school, you want to apply to – You might want to contact professors in target schools to find out more about the research and curriculum in your area of interest

Talking to past or present students not only provides you with a clear idea of what to expect during and after graduate studies and also enables you to make an intelligent and informed decision regarding the schools you want to apply. As an additional bonus, they also might give you good content to add to your SOP especially where you address “Why are you applying to this particular school”.

A resume or CV (as it is called in India) is a brief written account of your educational, professional and extra curricular experiences in a one page document.
Most Indian students applying for study abroad, especially for an MS degree, do not understand the importance of a resume. A resume is a primary sales tool which consolidates your achievements so the admission officers can learn about you in a glance. It also helps you to stick to word limits your statement of purpose (SOP) by providing a second platform to list your achievements that do not fall in the SOP theme. Your resume should also reflect your academic interests and research abilities and an objective stating your goal of entering that school’s program.

Some of the common mistakes which students make while applying with regard to a resume are:

• Since many schools do not list the resume as a required document, many students do not send a resume along with their application. Make sure that you do send a resume even if it is not listed in the required documents. As mentioned, Resume is a sales tool that you cannot ignore.
• Most students send the same resume which they have been using for applying to jobs. Make sure that you use an US style Resume which is different than the traditional Curriculum Vitae that you used to get a job in India. An American Resume has a different layout format and does not include personal details like your father’s name, sex, date of birth, passport details, sibling details, semester wise academic table. You can check school site for resumes of their current students to get an idea of the layout to use.
• Most students also make the mistake of having a resume running into multiple pages. Let your resume be confined to 1 (max 2 pages)