From intimidation to inspiration
Your own guidebook to navigating the waters of higher education applications in universities abroad.
Why this series of articles?
Considering universities abroad for higher education can be an exciting thought - the prospects of meeting people from various cultures, learning from a diverse group of students and even managing to live on your own in a new country. At the same time, the application process can be quite intimidating as it involves numerous tasks. Moreover, while investing a significant amount of money and time, you’d want to ensure that your application is error-free and a solid one.
You may approach a guidance counsellor or a mentor or choose to not rely on a third person. If you plan to embark on this journey alone, you'll need to self-plan and account for various tasks, including taking the GRE/TOEFL, drafting multiple essays, and asking for potential recommendations. This process may also involve connecting with admissions teams for application fee waivers and clarifying information. Additionally, you may need to identify the people who are willing to offer you their support and expertise in different aspects of your application. However, the key is to start early, have a clear understanding of every aspect of your intent to apply, and strategise your application timeline.
What all information can you expect?
In this series of articles, I will attempt to encapsulate my experience of going through the application process. I'll also share many tips and personal opinions that may help you gather all the necessary information needed to apply for your program of choice.
These articles will help you :
select universities,
shortlist recommenders,
plan for your deadlines,
account for all possible costs in the application process,
draft your essays,
modify your CV,
compile all expected documents,
send documents for third-party evaluation,
save costs by applying for the application fee waiver,
understand GRE/TOEFL/IELTS requirements,
information and application to external scholarships,
contact the admissions committee for quick responses and
get a sense of the processes to be followed once you accept an offer from a university.
Understanding your motivation to pursue higher education
Without further ado, let's dive into the first question: Why do you want to pursue higher education? And why do you want to pursue it outside of your home country? Is it because you seek to gain more knowledge, have an international learning experience, add another feather to your professional cap, get a better job, build specific skill sets, or specialise in a particular domain? These could be some of the reasons why you want to pursue higher education.
For me, the goals were clear. I wanted to learn more about public policy and refine my research skills to uncover the factors that affect child development through parental engagement. Moreover, as public policy is a beautifully diverse subject, I desired to interact with peers from other countries to understand how their governments have addressed common problems related to providing basic facilities for improving children's learning in schools. This peer learning opportunity would not only provide me with numerous ideas to customise for the Indian context but also help me comprehend different problem-solving approaches, identify potential obstacles within proposed solutions, and address unintended consequences.
I also aimed to attend a school that maintains some ties with my home country to ensure a smooth transition back to the job market after graduation.
This clarity of thought early on will assist you in shortlisting universities in advance and will also benefit you later in the process when crafting the narrative of your essays and, subsequently, your entire application.
You can utilise the following set of questions to brainstorm. Throughout my application process, many people I encountered asked these questions, which helped me narrow down my specific interests and define my professional and academic goals to a greater extent.
Work experience as a prerequisite for applying for some master’s programs
Each university and program will explicitly state work experience requirements before you begin applying for the program. Some universities don’t have any such prerequisites (eg, Harris School of Public Policy, UChicago) while others have a strict requirement of at least two years of work experience (eg. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS).
Irrespective of the prerequisite, I would personally not recommend applying to a master's program in applied courses as a fresher (excluding natural sciences or arts subjects like literature). I believe it's beneficial to gain some work experience after completing your undergraduate degree. This experience can provide insights into how the professional world operates. In subjects as applied as public policy or business, it's important to understand that the ideal scenarios discussed in textbooks may not always manifest in the real world. Furthermore, many classes may utilise case studies based on actual problems. Having prior experience can help you relate your classroom learning to issues you may have encountered or observed while working, thereby maximising your learning outcomes from the course.
Additionally, since the age range of your peers may extend up to 40 years, it might be intimidating for you as a fresher to interact with individuals who have years of practical experience. While this can work to your advantage in terms of learning from their stories and anecdotes, relating those experiences to your own context may not be as seamless as you might expect.
Lastly, there may be financial benefits to working before applying for university. With some field exposure, you may have a better profile to make a case for greater financial aid from the university. It may also be easy for you to get certain jobs with professors as a research assistant or teaching assistant if you have some work experience.
Throughout this series, I’ll be posting some valuable tips which you can take a screenshot of and save on your phone!
Key Takeaways: What’s my point?
Understand why you want to study abroad - what is your motivation and why this particular course?
Identify people willing to support you in the process.
Start as early as you can - don’t wait until the last minute. This ain’t a college assignment.
Consider your work experience before you jump into going for a master’s program.
What's next?
In the next part, I will talk about the various factors you can consider while shortlisting universities, as well as specific courses. I’ll also share my experience while selecting the kind of universities I wanted to apply. Keep in mind, this won’t be the final set of universities but it will serve as a baseline for your further research and expectations from the course.