In recent months a lot of students are asking this question. Since it may be of interest to many of our users, we decided to respond in detail. There are different ways to look at this. Before we proceed please be reminded that GRE is one of many factors and a great GRE score does not guarantee admission or funding.

A simple answer to this question is the applicant should do her best and try to score as much as possible.

Some students are always trying to find out how much GRE is good enough to get into top 10 universities. Let’s assume for a minute that the answer is 600 in verbal and 780 in quant. But nobody is stopping you from scoring 700 in verbal and 800 in quant and increases your chances, rather than apply with minimum qualifications.

It is really important to understand your potential and how much you can possibly score, rather than how much you should score. Once you understand your potential and study for the test, chances are that you will achieve it. For anybody who received an engineering degree from anywhere on the planet, a score of 780 is realistically possible. But most applicants who take GRE do not score 780 plus. Out of the vast number of applicants with science and engineering background, those who really score 780 plus are those who complete the test and mark all right answers except one or two wrong answers. Does it take a mathematical genius to answer 37 out of 37 GRE questions correctly? No. But it does take practice, concentration, timing and accuracy. Not everyone can do this in a stressful environment. It is those who cannot take the stress end up with scores below 750.

To estimate the potential score in verbal is rather complicated. The score gradation is not like quant, and scoring is not as easy. Score of 790 in quantitative section approximately corresponds to 90th percentile, but only 640 in verbal corresponds to 90th percentile. To put it differently 700 is easy to score in quant but very difficult and rare in verbal. If you are not a native speaker of English, but had lifelong studies in English (like students from India/Singapore) 600 is a realistic goal, if you were one of the better students of English at your school and college. Otherwise 550 might be a challenging target. If you started to learn English late in life and are not fully conversational, then after considerable studies, you might be able to score 500A lot depends on the individual but above gives you some idea of what can you possible score. But the best part is even if you score 400 in verbal, admission committee might be able to ignore it based on your country of origin and your other accomplishments.

So the bottom line is, understand the difference in scoring pattern of the two sections, study for the test practice for the speed and give your best shot. At the end of the day applying to US universities is a competitive process and performing very well in the GRE General Test is a good way to keep you ahead of other applicants.


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My mind is full of mixed feelings while I write this article on the day of my graduation commencement ceremony, which is Stanford’s 118th commencement. A year has passed so quickly but I still vividly remember the first day at campus, arrived here as a curious visitor new to US system. Now I see my life and the world around with a whole perspective, this is what Stanford has given me. Past year has taught me more things and given unique experience which could not be even compared to previous 10 years of my life. It was a full action packed roller-coaster ride, once you are on board there is no turning back.

A typical day started with morning class at 8 am followed by further classes, seminars, assignments, papers, group meetings, project work etc. and lasts till 7 or 8 pm with a squeezed in lunch break somewhere in between. For stress reliving I usually went to the gym or surfed the net and again back to work. Getting an internship during tough markets like these is a big challenge and same is true for me (although most people said me that, you are from Stanford and need not worry). I applied to numerous places, got few interview calls but none turned out to be fruitful. I felt dejected and thought, what good is this Masters degree if, it cannot even fetch me a summer internship and thus almost made my mind to go back to India for this summer. But during the third quarter just one month before the beginning of the internship, I received an email from my one of my professor about an intern position at a company in Washington D.C.; I applied to the firm and got a telephonic interview call, which eventually turned into my favor. The story does not end here, the twist is that, I had already given the interview for another very big construction company in the Bay area a month ago and was waiting for their reply. The day I got to know about my acceptance as a VDC (virtual design and construction) engineer in the D.C. firm, an approval email for internship from Bay area construction company also came. This for me was one of the biggest dilemmas of my life- to choose between two very good choices. I ultimately chose to go to D.C. (due to multiple reasons) and explore the east coast.

With three quarters finished and only one more to go, I wish, I had some more time. Some of my close friends suggest maybe I should stay longer and do a PhD. I truly feel obliged and honored being a part of Stanford community. I would like to thank my parents, friends and relatives for being the supporting pillar in all the ups and downs during this wonderful journey.

Kushagra Mittal
M.S. program in Construction Engineering & Management
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Stanford University

Editorial comments: Stanford University rules allow students to walk in the graduation ceremony even if they have a semester more to go. The views in this post are of the contributer, Kushagra Mittal, and do not necessarily reflect those of www.app2us.com

We recently interviewed Mr. Alberto Aleman-Zubieta, the Administrator and CEO of the Panama Canal Authority. With this exclusive interview we are trying to build a series of interviews aimed at inspiring our readers. First interview was done with Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of C++ programming language. In the future we will be interviewing professors, professionals, university administrators and successful students to bring you insights into the academic and professional like in the USA. We hope to inspire you to aim high and achieve your fullest potential.

During the interview we discussed the latest developments at the Panama Canal and about his experiences as a students in USA. In reply to a question, Mr. Aleman said, “I commend you for the free service you provide through app2us.com. I think that you bring the experience closer to home, making it easier for students in foreign countries to ask questions in a less formal environment.”

The full interview is published here at app2us.com. Please tell your friends about app2us.com, forward them this email.

This is a very frequently asked question at app2us.com. Why a post for Indian students? 2 reasons: A. Indian students form a sizable number of student population at the us universities. B. A high number of app2us.com users come from India. We will strive to write articles that benefit students from China, Korea, Japan, Germany - and any other country which accounts for high number of applicants to US universities. We understand that those looking the answer of this question are looking for any source of funding that can be used by them. It may include any open scholarship, or fellowship, or something explicitly for students from India. One blog post cannot do justice to this topic, so the contents here are by no means exhaustive.

US Government / USIEF Scholarships for Indians:


The United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF), the Fulbright Commission in India, offers fellowships and scholarships open to Indian citizens for 2010-2011. In addition to providing opportunities for personal, academic and professional growth, Fulbright-Nehru and other exchanges promote mutual understanding between the people of the US and India. India and USA signed a historic new Fulbright agreement on July 4, 2008, increasing India’s contributions to the program and thus the fellowships are now known as Fulbright-Nehru Fellowships. Some of the scholarships and fellowships that support degree-seeking students from India are:


Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships for Leadership Development
International Fulbright Science and Technology Award
International Fellowships Program (Ford Foundation Graduate Fellowships)
East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowship Program


If you live in or around Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai or New Delhi, we encourage you to visit USIEF. More information can be found here.

BPCL Scholarship:
BPCL is India’s leading oil company. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited awards scholarships to students who have demonstrated all around brilliance and have a passion to achieve excellence in their chosen field. BPCL scholars are a group of Indian students who seek assistance from BPCL. There are age restrictions, and it is only for Masters degree (not for PhD). When contacted by app2us.com, Chidambareshwaran Raman, a 2004 BPCL scholar, said, “BPCL Scholarship helped me gain confidence to pursue my higher studies without worrying about financial support. I would encourage students to apply for all the
scholarships available for higher studies. A Scholarship is a recognition for your hard work through the years and an investment made in you for the good you are going to do for the society.”


More information about BPCL scholarships can be found at:
http://www.bharatpetroleum.com/scholarship/scholarship.asp

The Paul Foundation Scholarship:
The Paul foundation scholarships are suspended for 2009. When operational, these are given for Masters and PhD degrees. They do not seem to favorably consider supporting the study of management, medicine or engineering, so applicants from Science and Humanities background have a better chance.


More information can be found here.

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship:


The scholarship pays upto US Dollars 25000 to study abroad. The best feature of this scholarship is that there is no restriction on what you have to study. A key requirement is that you fluently speak the language of your target country, Indian students need to prove they have good verbal skills including that of spoken English.


More information can be found here:


There are some loan scholarships, which are not as beneficial as above scholarships but may help some applicants:


Sahu Jain Trust educational scholarships:
More information can be found here


Narotam Sekhsaria Loan Scholarships:
More information can be found here

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Reference: USIEF website, Other scholarship websites

Sahu Jain trust of The Times of India group announced its 2009-2010 need-cum-merit based educational scholarships. There are two scholarship categories, inland scholarships and overseas loan scholarships. The overseas loan scholarships are strictly for technical subjects to be undertaken by graduates/ post graduates. If the number of zeroes in the announcement is correct, then the loan amount is Indian Rupees 100,000 or approximately US dollars 2,000. That will not cover the fees for one semester at most US universities and not even cover one course at Stanford. However if you are anyway considering a loan at the interest rate of 10% or more, then another interest free loan does not hurt. Moreover it will look somewhat good on your resume.

The Last date for obtaining the application forms is very close - May 20th, 2009. For more information, please check out the scholarship announcement at timesofindia.com. If you have questions about other scholarships you can always ask at www.app2us.com

Reference: Official website of the scholarship.

This question makes many applicants uncomfortable. Getting a LOR - letter of recommendation - from any professor or boss is a complicated process, and on top of that if you are unsure if that is the right person for recommendation, then it is even more pain.

The typical dilemma some applicants face that they were taught by ‘less famous’ or non-PhD professors but there are other stars in their college who never taught the applicant. The real answer is both the LORs in this case will be useless but you need to get from those who actually taught you. Many applicants have some work experience and want to know whether they should get the letters of recommendation from the professors or managers at job. The answer is that PhD or MS admission committees don’t give any weight to references from the job (with the exception if the job was a teaching or research job). On the other hand MBA adcoms like only job related letters of recommendation especially from current and recent jobs. All of us who have ever applied for a US university know how tough it is to even think of getting a letter of recommendation from our current boss!! If you have slightest doubt that disclosing your application plans will lead to direct or indirect disadvantage at job just ignore this wish of MBA adcoms and go ahead with the reco from old employers or professors.

Then there are various combinations of doubts involving the internship supervisor etc. You can get maximum one LOR from the summer internship job - if the company or the supervisor adds value to your profile.

Here is a quote from UC Santa Cruz CS website, “While good GRE scores and grades are important in deciding on graduate admissions, our group relies heavily on letters of recommendation and your statement of purpose. We’re interested in hearing what your professors and others have to say about you, and in what you have to say about yourself. We have found that letters from active researchers in computer systems tend to be most helpful; a letter from a person we know is more useful than from a person we don’t know. Letters from faculty who’ve observed you in computer systems classes, particularly those involving projects, are also good.” This is specific to a particular research group, however gives some idea on how the decision makers think.

If you have doubts you can always ask a question at www.app2us.com
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