Selecting a university in the US Cont’d

Welcome to the second blog on selecting the right University. In the previous blog, we helped you calculate your finances to choose the right university. In this blog, we will discuss other importance factors in the university selection framework.

The points we shall cover in this blog are:

1. Coursework – core, electives, capstone project, thesis, etc.
2. Student/Campus Life, Safety, and Weather.
3. Job Opportunities
4. Connecting with Alumni from the universities on LinkedIn and Social Media
5. Connecting with Professors

Coursework

The coursework offered by universities will determine what you learn and how you can leverage your education for a job in the future. It will define your career path and give you the chance to achieve your dreams. Some schools like NYU have a flexible course structure which allows you to study subjects from other engineering schools like the Center for Data Science, NYU Courant, NYU Stern, etc as well. Some courses have a fixed curriculum of a certain number of credits. You are asked to take every single subject in that curriculum in order to graduate. Some universities make it compulsory to submit a thesis for your degree while some allow you to choose between a Capstone Project and a thesis. Choose what suits you the best. For the same degree and in the same major, different universities can offer different curricula. Hence choose the university whose curriculum and course offerings excite you the most.

Student / Campus Life, Safety, Weather

Student life refers to opportunities a university provides to its students beyond the classroom. They are the resources ( Academic and Non-academic), activities, clubs, events, social programming, and leadership opportunities that you can make use of while pursuing your academic degree. Every university website should have some information related to Student Life. It should describe the clubs, student organizations, scholarships, events, diversity, and leadership activities that often occur at the school. Even though this is not the most important deciding factor between two universities, it can give you two very different experiences based on what you choose.

Safety is another factor to consider when choosing your school. Look at where your school is located, methods to transport to the campus, and the safety rating. To know more about this, you have to research the area the school is residing in and talk to the alumni network to understand more. To add to this, it is highly advisable to check the crime rate in and around the university as well as the student housing community. Precaution is definitely better than the cure.

Staying informed about the weather of the city where the University is located could save you from surprises later. Someone coming from a tropical country, might have some initial trouble adapting to the cold climate especially in the North and North-Eastern parts of the US. At the same time, somebody who is more habituated to a cold climate might fall sick in the warm weather in the Southern states of the US. Even though the weather is a very small factor in deciding on a university, being well prepared mentally before traveling to the US is super important.

Job Opportunities

Studying abroad as an international student is a huge investment. Securing a well-paying job after graduation is our primary goal as we look for universities to pursue our degree. It is important to make sure that the university you choose provides good resources to International students in their job search process. Let’s look at a few points to check when deciding about universities.

• Check if the university is located in an area where there are International student-friendly companies within a 50-mile radius. If the university is located in big cities like New York, New Jersey, Chicago, California, San Francisco, Austin, Maryland, etc, then you can easily assume that there will be many local companies ready to hire International talent from all majors. If your university is in a smaller city, research what companies have their offices locally and which of them sponsor a Visa. I know that you might be thinking that you can work anywhere in the US so why should this be a limiting factor? Well, it is still good to have local companies that hire.
• Does the university host at least one career fair (in-person or virtual) every semester and has a Career Counseling or a Student Career Center?
• Does it provide an online platform where jobs are regularly posted for International Students? How many students use this platform? Does it have a good mix of job postings for all majors?
• Some universities also have a Co-Op program as a part of their curriculum, which allows students to get industry experience while pursuing a degree.
• Does the university invite companies to give a presentations and technical talks?These information sessions can open the door to help network with strong industry leaders and get one foot in the door.
• Do the university host any hackathons and engineering challenges? Did you know that some companies hire students through Hackathons or even give them an opportunity to interview with them.

Networking with Alumni

The best resource for understanding university life and the quality of education at a school is by networking with alumni. You can connect with alumni via LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. If you want to reach out to the alumni networks you can follow this template to send them a message.

Hi,
I am XXX. I am looking to pursue my MS/Ph.D. at YYY in Computer Science. I see that you also graduated from this university with the same major. I would really love to know about your academic experience. I have a couple of questions regarding the same. Your insight will be extremely helpful for me to make an informed decision before choosing a university. My questions are as follows:

How were the professors for the courses? 

Is there a way to pursue an RA role under a professor? 

How are the career fairs at the university?

Connecting with Professors

Reaching out to the Professors of the university after you have secured an admit, is a great way to build a connection. Professors are the reason why you may end up pursuing a specific subject for a future job role. You may request course-specific questions from professors or ask them for a role in their research lab. Sending personalized emails can give you an edge over the others when it comes to securing an on-campus job as a Teaching Assistant (TA), Research Assistant (RA), or Graduate Assistant (GA).

The following is a sample template that can be used if you are trying to reach out to a Professor.

Dear Professor ABC,

My name is XYZ and I will be joining PQR University for an MS degree program in Mechanical Engineering in Fall 2022.

I was navigating through the website of your research lab and your area of research focusing on strength of materials and additive manufacturing seemed very interesting to me; hence I am contacting you to request a Graduate Assistantship position under your supervision. I recently graduated from YYY University with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Economics. My Resume and my Undergraduate Research work, attached with this email, contain information on all my professional experiences which will furnish you with a better understanding of my competence. 

I would be really grateful if you could consider my profile for a Graduate Assistantship position. I am excited at the prospect of joining PQR University in Fall 2022 and working as a Graduate Assistant and would be delighted to further discuss my qualifications and competencies in an interview.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,

XYZ

We hope all the points we discussed in this blog were helpful for you to choose your dream university. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave your comments below or contact us.

Disclaimer: We are in no way promoting any brand or organization. The content is solely created based on personal experience and research.

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