MS + PhD

Apping Guide for Dummies

A generic guide for MS+PhD applications

An all-inclusive document
for Chemical Engineers
of IITs (and BITS)

Author:
Jyot Antani
B.Tech
Chemical Enginering
IIT Bombay
12-batch/2016 pass-out
jyotani@gmail.com
jyot.antani@tamu.edu

Written: Summer, 2016

Contents
About methe Author

1 Why PhD Why not?!

1.1 PhD in US 6= PhD in India . . . .
1.2 Job vs PhD: Commitment Issues
1.3 Why not MS? Why only PhD? . .
1.4 What after PhD? . . . . . . . . . .
1.5 Motivation for PhD . . . . . . . . .

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2 Criteria for PhD Admissions

2.1 GPA . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Publications . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Experience . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 Recommendations . . . . . .
2.5 SoPStatement of Purpose .
2.6 Qualifying Test Scores . . .

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3 Application Procedure: Timeline

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4 Qualifying Examinations
4.1 GRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.1 Verbal Analysis . . . .
4.1.2 Analytical Writing . .
4.1.3 Quantitative Analysis .
4.2 TOEFL . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 Sending Scores . . . . . . . .

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5 Shortlisting universities
5.1 MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology . .
5.2 UCBerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley .
5.3 CaltechCalifornia Institute of Technology . . .
5.4 Harvard SEASSchool of Engineering & Applied
5.5 Princeton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.6 UTAustinUniversity of Texas at Austin . . . .
5.7 Stanford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.8 UCLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.9 UMNUniversity of Minnesota . . . . . . . . . .
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Sciences
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5.10
5.11
5.12
5.13
5.14
5.15
5.16
5.17
5.18
5.19
5.20
5.21
5.22
5.23
5.24
5.25
5.26
5.27
5.28
5.29
5.30
5.31

UCSBUniversity of California, Santa Barbara . . . . .

UDelUniversity of Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UPennUniversity of Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . .
Georgia TechGeaorgia Institute of Technology . . . .
UIUCUniversity of Illinois at Urbana Champagne . .
HopkinsJohns Hopkins University . . . . . . . . . . .
CMUCarnegie Mellon University . . . . . . . . . . . .
WiscMadUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison . . . . . .
Cornell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Purdue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UMichUniversity of Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
TAMUTexas A&M University . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NCSUNorth Carolina State University . . . . . . . . .
Rice University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UCSDUniversity of California at San Diego . . . . . .
UMD/UMCPUniversity of Maryland at College Park
University of Colorado at Boulder . . . . . . . . . . . .
UMassUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst . . . .
UPittUniversity of Pittsburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UICUniversity of Illinois at Chicago . . . . . . . . . .
USC ViterbiUniversity of Southern California . . . . .
U of Houston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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6 Making an SoP
6.1 Basic Recommended Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Review, Review and Review. . . And Review. . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 To sum up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7 Making an Apping-R
esum
e/CV

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8 FAQs
8.1 Should I go for placement or not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.2 How do I ask for recommendation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.3 Is contacting potential advisers really helpful? . . . . . . . .
8.4 How much will I earn and save as a PhD student? . . . . . .
8.5 Why does this document emphasize on US-universities and
not any other country? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.6 I believe my GRE Score is less. Should I write it again? . . .

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. 32
. 33

8.7

What if I am fed up with research?

Merese PhD naa ho paaya toh? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

About methe Author

Name:
Hometown:
Permanent Email ID:
Current Status:
Apping CPI :
DR:
Apping DR:
Apping Sem:
Fields of interest when apping:

Jobs in hand :

GRE Score:

Date of Exam:
Duration of Preparation:
Comment:

TOEFL Score:
Date of Exam:
Comment:

Jyot Antani
Ahmedabad
jyotani@gmail.com
Graduate (PhD) Student at
Texas A&M University (TAMU)
8.20
20
5
7th semester, for Fall 2016
Systems/Computational Biology, Genetics,
Biochemical Engineering,. . . anything and
everything related to bio
Did not go for placements

324
Verbal: 154
Quant: 170
September 30, 2015
1 month for wordlists, 1 week for practice
Magoosh Wordlist of 800 words is good enough for
scoring decently. Practice a lot for the Reading
Comprehensions. Write verbal Kaplan tests for
practice, time them. For wordlists, working in
groups might be useful. Check out Section 4.1 for
more

102
October 3, 2015
Just a formality. Dont waste your time preparing
for this.

Applications and results:

(In decreasing order of priority)
(Chemical Engineering Department unless stated otherwise)
1. UCSDBioEngineering Department Reject
2. Johns Hopkins University Reject
3. Georgia Tech Reject
4. UIUC Reject
5. Delaware Reject
6. Purdue Admit into MS
7. TAMU Admit
8. NCSU Reject
9. Rice Admit
10. Maryland Admit
11. UCBoulder Reject
12. CSHL (Cold Spring Harbor Labs, New York) A good lab for bio-fields,
applied because they waived application fee Reject

Why PhD Why not?!

Ph.D.! The mere mention of this word brings respect to heart and tears to
eyes (and also disgust to mind in some cases). PhD students are considered to
be the biggest geeks on earth (some of us proudly are) and they are thought
to be always busy with a huge amount of work.
In such circumstances, the first question that comes to mind when the
word PhD is uttered, is: why would anyone in their right mind go for a
PhD? Well, let me make this educated statement that PhD as a concept
is highly misunderstood in our department, mostly due to unavailability of
proper opportunities (or easier availability of other lesser opportunities, e.g.,
an internship through the Practical Training Cell) and partly because of the
blind trust that is bestowed upon the seniors, who also have poor knowledge
about this. The perception of a PhD abroad needs to be changed in our
department.
You can consider this section to be a marketing pitch, to convince someone
about considering PhD as a serious option. Let me discuss it factor by factor.

1.1

PhD in US 6= PhD in India

A major reason for the hatred towards a PhD is the apparent hardship of
Indias PhD students. Due to unavailability of resources/funding (among
many other reasons), PhD students in India face difficulties around every
other corner. Even at one of the prime institutesIITB, the picture is not
much better.
However, developed countries take their research very seriously, hence
there are proper resources and appropriate funding available. The work is
more systematic and atmosphere is positive, when it comes to research in the
United States. US universities can and do afford cutting-edge technology for
their graduate students, even the youngest professors at a good university
have a lab that is very well-equipped and large (HUGE for us) in size. Working as a graduate student in the US is more lab-work and less administrative
work, unlike India. The culture is such that the professor is not the boss,
just an adviser, again unlike majority of cases in India.

Unfortunately, most students at IITB are not eager to find this out for
themselves, to try hard for a univ-internship, just because they can comparatively easily crack an internship through the PT-Cell (Practical Training
Cell) and get enough on their Resume. People who do do an internship in a
US university, realize that a PhD in the US is definitely a great future option.

1.2

Job vs PhD: Commitment Issues

I do not want to pursue a PhD because 5 years is a long commitment.

This is a sentence commonly found being spoken by final-year students
when asked about future options. Well, this is what I sometimes feel about
a job, rather than a PhD: too much responsibility and commitment! A PhD
is work, yet while living a student life: best of both worlds for a PhD-devotee
(PhDevotee, if I may) such as myself.
Economically speaking, I consider a PhD to be a better option than an
average core job which pays around 6 to 8 LPA1 . You get a stipend of at
least $25k a year and you end up saving at least 5 LPA. (Do not miss that I
wrote saving, not earning.) PhD is like a job if you think about it like that:
you go to a workplacethe labevery morning, you work on a project. And
it might possibly prove to be even better than a job because in a job the
project is assigned to you whereas in PhD you can choose your own topic of
interest. As stated earlier, in a job you have a boss, in a PhD you have an
adviser.
If you are interested in core chemical engineering jobs, a bitter truth
you may already be aware of: IITBs placement scene is bad. And when I
say bad, I mean horrible. Shell is the only company coming for Chemical
B.Techs that offers a good package and ensures job satisfaction. And Shell
took 9 people from around 150 that went for placements in 2015, which
was the highest intake they have made in years from IIT Bombay. 9/150
is still a very depressing number. Even if you have prepared hard for Shell,
legends say that the elimination by psychometric test is more random than
the character deaths on Game of Thrones. People who never prepped for noncore mentally or physically, end up getting placed in a consult company or
a bank, or unplaced if obstinately determinate about getting a core job.
1

Lakhs Per Annum

You might have heard of a certain senior who joined X company, but
left in a year or two, became an RA and then applied for higher studies;
you might have heard this because it happens every year! So, if you are
interested in core, PhD is definitely a great option to consider. As discussed
two paragraphs back, it is like a job, at a place where quality of life is better
than India. If you are a patriot, India would be better off with you having
a PhD from a US university than struggling in a company after B.Tech.
Core jobs after a B.Tech degree start being more about management and
less about Chemical Engineering, as you climb the career ladder.
Still you might think: what if I am not made for research? Well, first of
all, you cannot decide whether you are made for research or not from your
experience during a project in UG. Second of all, you are going to love it if
you had enthu in some aspects of core chemical engineering (or, your branch,
if youre not from ChE). Third of all, if you try a PhD out for 2-3 years and
still think you want an out, there is an out. Read Section 8.7.

1.3

Why not MS? Why only PhD?

The answer is simple: because PhD is fully funded, and MS is too big a
financial investment. It does not make sense for an IITian (or a BITSian for
that matter) to go for an MS degree.
To elaborate more, the degree of MS is offered in two ways: either ThesisMS or Professional MS. The former involves a year (and maybe a half more)
of coursework and then a rigorous research project followed by a dissertation.
This option is considered as a serious masters degree and avails considerably
good jobs in R&D. The latter is a year and a half of coursework, which, since
done at a prime university, opens up doors to big-shot companies or a PhD
at even higher-ranked universities.
Now, an MS at a US university costs a total of $50-60k easily, including
all living costs and fees. Even a professional MS costs at least $30k. Earning
this money back after a degree of MS takes 3 to 4 more years if taken a job in
the US; even more if in India. PhD, on the other hand, is fully funded. And
as stated earlier, IITians are considered legit candidates for PhD programs,
hence it is not worth to invest money in a masters degree.
You think you will be trapped if you go for a PhD? Read Section 8.7.
7

1.4

What after PhD?

Another huge misunderstanding about a PhD is that it narrows down our

future options to becoming a prof. No, there are other options too. Future
after PhD can be chosen from the following options:
1. The so-called most obvious option: become a prof. This is definitely a
very good option for people interested in becoming a prof. Especially if
you want a chill life, you can easily become a prof at an IIT, where you
need to teach 3 hours a week and otherwise do your thing. Becoming a
prof at a US university has a rough route, but if you are really interested
in quality research, it sure is a cool thing to be. Before becoming a prof,
at IITB or abroad, you need to do post-doc at a renowned lab in your
field. Good news: post-doc does not involve doing any courses like the
first year of PhD. It just means working with a famous person in the
field for a couple of years, and gaining some more experience for your
future research.
2. A job. Getting a job in the US after a PhD is easy: demand is more,
half the supply is Indian PhD students. If you want to return to India,
you might have to settle for a lower-paying or less incentivized job;
although that is my perception, people working on such positions claim
to be very happy with their jobs. These jobs can be at state-of-theart research institutes, research centers or R&D sections of numerous
companies.
3. Start-up! Yes, you can start-up after a PhD! A PhD is basically
the addition to the existing knowledge in a field. Since you have spent
about 5 years working and making modifications to your field, it should
be a fair assumption that you know everything there is to know about
that field. Hence, if you have the mind of an entrepreneur (it is also
said that a PhD helps develop entrepreneurship skills), you can easily
start up a company in your field, and run it. Achira Labs in Bangalore
is an excellent example.

1.5

Motivation for PhD

To summarize, motivation for pursuing a PhD can be one or more of the

following reasons and it is perfectly okay to go for it even if only one reason
is correct in your case.
8

 I am a maggu and Id like to study more.

I am not a maggu and Id like to live a chill life at a chill place, working
on something of my choice.
I am interested in core jobs but no company will take me with a B.Tech.
degree.
I interned at a certain university and realized that a PhD students life
is awesome and I would like to live that life.
I hated all courses but one, loved a project that I did in that course. I
would like to do something like that for the next few years of my life.
I hate the idea of having a boss ordering me around, to work on a
project that is compulsorily assigned to me.

Criteria for PhD Admissions

So now that you have decided to consider PhD as a serious option (that is an
assumption, based on the fact that you reached this part of the document),
the first question that comes to mind is: what are the criteria that the
universities focus on while selecting their PhD students? Let us start with
the most important criteria.

2.1

GPA

If you are applying directly after a B.Tech, or a DD, or some non-research

job (basically anything except an RAship2 or an MS abroad), the most important factor on your profile is Grade Point Average, or CPICumulative
Performance Index, as we know it.
Remember,
GPA is everything.
Any research project undertaken during your Bachelors is not considered
as full-time serious research experience (and rightly so), unless your projectadviser knows someone in the department and can arrange your admission
outside the application procedure. In that case, you do not need to read any
further. Just go with that option, it is the best.
To elaborate more on GPA: what is a good GPA?
Basically GPA is an American term, which is calculated on the basis of 4.0
as the maximum, analogical to our 10.0 basis. (Henceforth I will refer to
score on 4.0-basis as GPA and the one on 10.0-basis as CPI.) In the United
States bachelors, grading is a bit less strict (much less strict than ChE-IITB,
LOL). Hence for students coming in from IITs, anything more than 9.0 CPI
is analogical to 4.0 GPA. However, it is analogical, not necessarily considered
so by the universities. Some universities such as MIT, UCB3 etc require a
9.5 or 9.75+ CPI to even consider them as serious candidates to offer a PhD
position.
In a nutshell, you need a 8.75+ CPI (3.5 GPA when scaled to 4.0-based
GPA) to get considered as a serious candidate into top 20 US universities,
2
3

Research Assistantship
More about universities in a subsequent section

10

unless you have at least 1 publication or RA-experience or an internship at

the univ.
Although, do not be disheartened. Universities which are not in top20, also undertake awesome research, they are actually hunting for IITians
to join them, and in a PhD what matters is your research group, not the
university. And doing a PhD at any of these low-ranked universities is still
much, much better than any core job (except maybe Shell) offered postB.Tech via placement cell. (Again, this statement is purely my opinion,
which is reasoned for in detail in Section 1.2.)

2.2

Publications

If you have first-authored publications, congrats! You are already a serious

candidate for a PhD. Although in our department, getting a publication
during B.Tech is a rare occurrence, reason being that our professors do not
publish in random journals and we, along with our courses, cannot achieve
such good results as can be published in a good journal while pursuing a
B.Tech.

2.3

Experience

As stated earlier in the GPA-section, only research experience that makes

any difference is an RAship2 or a Masters degree with a thesis, abroad.
Univ internships do help your case a bit but they do not really count as
serious research experience, rather just as a living experience in the particular
country and locality.
Although, there is a special case. If you are applying at the university
where you interned, your case becomes as strong as if your CPI were >9 or
if you had 2 good publications; provided the prof you interned with is giving
you a recommendation.

2.4

Recommendations

You need at least 3 recommendations for your application. These recommendations may ideally come from anybody, but the best people to get recommendations would be people with whom you have worked on a research
project, for the longest time.
11

A simple guideline for choosing your recommender, in decreasing order of

significance/weight of the recommendation, is as follows. . .
1. A professor at the university you are applying, provided you interned
with them or have worked with them in some way
2. Your final year project adviser (and co-adviser, if any)
3. A prof with whom you did a project once (longer time-period of project
preferred)
4. A prof with whom you did a course and who knows you personally,
preferably the course had a course project
5. A course-instructor, who doesnt know you, but you scored an AA or
more in their course
6. Your supervisor from a company-internship
7. All other recommenders are pointless, e.g., a graduate student at some
universityyour senior, or your uncle who works in a construction company, or, say, a monkey

2.5

SoPStatement of Purpose

Your SoP is the final deciding factor, when your application is under consideration with the graduate admission committee in the department you have
applied to. A short guideline to making your SoP is discussed in Section 6.

2.6

Qualifying Test Scores

These tests consist of GRE and TOEFL. These scores are just two simple
qualification elements for screening of applicants. GRE requires at most 15days serious preparation and TOEFL requires none. 320-325 is a decent
score on GRE and anything above 100 is acceptable for TOEFL. More about
preparation for these tests in Section 4.

12

Application Procedure: Timeline

[Timeline for Fall applications. Spring applicants should follow a similar

timeline 4 months earlier than stated.]
July

The procedure starts, of course, by reading such documents and

deciding to apply until around the start of 7th semester.
Decide whether to go for placement or not. Refer to Section 8.1

August

Book dates for GRE and TOEFL. Any date up to October 15

works fine. A couple of weeks after midsem is ideal.
Rock your final year project, as much as possible. The work in
August and October is what practically counts while getting your
recommendation.

September

Start deciding universities to apply. Refer to Section 5.

Prepare for GRE after midsem. Refer to Section 4.
Try to keep up with the project work.

October

Start working on your SoP. Refer to Section 6.

Maximum Effort in your project.
Talk to and finalize your recommenders. Refer to Section 8.2.
Make your CV. Refer to Section 7.
Finalize your universities and make login accounts on their application portals.

November

First draft of SoP should be ready now. Get it reviewed again and
again, keep making newer versions.
Fill out details in the university applications. Figure out their
special requirements, i.e., in addition to SoP, CV and Recommendations (e.g. some univs ask for a Diversity Statement4 ). Send
recommendation requests to profs.
Contact profs of your interest at universities that you are applying
to. (Optional. Refer to Section 8.3)
Prepare for semester-end-report for the project.

What is a Diversity Statement? Go to the univs application page and find out.

13

 Make sure you do not need to send any material by physical mail.
(If you do, start sending.) You can send emails to the graduate
admissions office regarding the same. Most universities ask for
only the online documents; do not spam universities and waste
your money on this.5
Send official recommendation reminders from the application.
December (Most univs have application deadlines starting from Dec 15.)
Modify SoP and CV as per universities requirements. (Do this in
mid-Nov if you have deadlines in early Dec.)
Upload documents and re-check filled applications. Do not forget
to pay the fees and Submit the application before deadline.
Work on your project.
Jan/Spring

Complete remaining applications in time.

Wait for the results. Do not lose hope when people start getting
admits. Results come till April 15th.
When the admits come, do not forget to send formal Thank You
emails to your recommenders and mentors, along with the news.
As soon as the admits comes from any university, issue your request for I-20 form (you will receive an email). Get I-20s from
every university, which you might attend. Do not opt for express shipping (which costs money) if youre demanding this in
February or early March, at least not if you are not sure about
attending that university. Administrative departments of some
US-universities work way slower than Government of India and
you should not suffer due to their inefficiency.
Finalize the university to attend after talking to profs and seniors
again.

Another money-saver: email the departments and ask for a waiver of official scores of
GRE and TOEFL. Tell them you will send the official scores if you are admitted. 7 out of
12 universities that I applied to waived this for me. (4 were free official scores, so I only
had to pay for 1 university.) Do not miss this, this can save you a great amount of money,
which you can use to treat friends when you get admitted (Yeah, like thats gonna happen
:P).

14

Qualifying Examinations

As stated earlier, these tests are just for screening applications. So no need
to sweat about them, follow the given guideline to do just good enough and
you will be through with them. (Unless youre a perfectioninst, in which case
there is high chance that your CPI is outstanding and these test scores are
not going to matter anyway on your application.)

4.1

GRE

The Graduate Records Examination is a test of total 340 points, out of

which a score of 320 is sufficient. If you write a sample paper without any
preparation, you can easily score at least 310, so you do not need too much
preparation or any coaching for the same. The GRE has 3 sections, let
us discuss them one by one, in decreasing order of amount of preparation
required.
4.1.1

Verbal Analysis

This is the only section which needs any real preparation on our part. You
must have heard about Wordlists that people try to mug up for writing the
GRE. Indeed, major part of the preparation is getting to know some standard
GRE-level words and their meanings. There are many wordlists available,
each one consisting from 800 to 5000 words. I believe that for scoring decently
(320+), an 800- or 1000-word wordlist is good enough. for remembering the
words with meanings, you could. . .
Downright mug up the whole list if you possess that special skill, or. . .
Install the Magoosh Flashcards app6 from android store and play
it like a game, make it your most frequent pastime for a month: go
through it repeatedly. Or. . .
Use the wordlists from majortests.com and try to remember 1 set a
day. Go through the set multiple times during the day.
6

Remember: use the Magoosh Flashcards app, which flashes the words on the screen
and you have to think of the meaning; NOT the Magoosh GRE app, which gives you
four options to choose the meaning from.

15

If you have a GRE-buddy with whom you could discuss the word-meanings
(preferably do the same sets of words everyday), that would be the best
because our minds tend to remember conversations much more easily than
something that we have read mechanically.
Once GRE is around the corner (about a fortnight left), one should write
one of the practice tests provided officially on the ETS website, available to
download. This will help check where one stands in terms of vocabulary. Do
the wordlists accordingly.
When a week is left, it is recommended to read the tips and tricks described in Princeton Review , describing how to attempt each question.
Now write as many tests as you can, time at least 2 of them, and attempt all
the sections (including Analytical Writing and Quantitative Analysis). This
gives an idea about the time management. All other tests: just attempt
the Verbal sections and try to increase your score as well as speed. Kaplan
provides good verbal sections for practice, which you can do online on their
website. Barrons GRE is the most standard book for GRE, so do attempt
all the verbal section-exercises given in that book. After wordlists, Reading Comprehensions is what needs the most practice: the most lengthy and
tricky questions are asked in these comprehensions.
The more you score on the Verbal Section, the more will be your total
score. So try not to lose more than 10-15 points in this section. 155/170
should be the target.
4.1.2

Analytical Writing

This section does not need any special attention. It is a fair assumption that
2 days before your test, your critical thinking would be excellent (practicing
Reading Comprehensions tends to have that effect on our mind, which feels
really cool by the way). Just read the instructions on how to attempt this
section from a book (Barrons or Princeton Review) and you are good to go.
Practice acquired while writing the two or three full tests is enough, even if
you did not read these instructions before that. A score of 4.0 is average,
which is easy to score without any preparation and is good enough for PhD
applications.

16

4.1.3

Quantitative Analysis

This, now, is our(engineers) homeground. This section feels like it is simple

arithmetic from 8th standard and no need to practice this section except for
the two/three full, timed tests that you are suggested to write. The only
tip for this section is that beware of silly mistakes: silly mistakes are the
only mistakes that we can make in this section. Scoring full 170/170 on this
section is the norm.
Ideal time to write the GRE is two weeks after midsem of 7th semester.
Writing the GRE again is a wastage of time and money. (Section 8.6)

4.2

TOEFL

TOEFL is a silly exam, just a formality.

To quote many seniors on this: Only preparation required for TOEFL:
have a good nights sleep the night before the test so that you do not fall asleep
during the test.
Still, if you think you would feel guilty if you didnt even do some token preparation, you could look at some speaking section questions. Do not
spend more than an hour preparing for this test though; you could do something more useful with your time, like watching an Indian saas-bahu serial
or reading Twilight.

4.3

Sending Scores

Universities ask for official GRE and TOEFL scores from ETS (the company
that organizes these highly expensive tests). Sending official scores to 4
universities is free of charge (ooh thank you sooo much, ETS!! ) if you give
the university names to ETS (at the time of test for GRE, beforehand for
TOEFL). After that sending score to each extra university costs $27 for GRE
and $19 for TOEFL. (Or, it cost that much in 2015.)
Pro tip (copy-pasted a previous footnote): email the departments and ask
for a waiver of official scores of GRE and TOEFL. Tell them you will send
the official scores if you are admitted. 7 out of 12 universities that I applied
to waived this for me. (4 were free official scores, so I only had to pay for
17

1 university.) Do not miss this, this can save you a great amount of
money, which you can use to treat friends when you get admitted (Yeah,
like thats gonna happen! :P).

18

Shortlisting universities

Every university has application fees ranging from $50 to $125. Serious
applicants generally apply to 10 universities. Now, due to so many types
of rankings on various websites, it does get confusing how to choose these 10
universities. It is a long and subjective process, involving the consideration
of many factors and opinions of seniors/profs. The basic parameters for
consideration are as follows:
Your GPA (Grade Point Average or CPI) and Class Rank/DR
Most important factor
Remember,
GPA is everything.
Ranking of the University
Strength of your field of interest at the particular university/department
Most useful factor in choosing universities
Your research profile/background
Peers list of universities
Location of university (weather and city/town)
Minor factor
Weather is manageable with a PhD-stipend and availability of appliances in the US. City/Town factor may be important for some people.
Rule of thumb for choosing universities: (If you are applying to 10
universities)
2 Dream Universities (Universities that are out of your league but best
in your field: e.g. CMU for Controls junta with CPI < 8.75, another
example: UCSD-Bioengineering for me, which I knew I will not get
into)
4 Decent Shots
4 Safe Schools (Where you are sure you will get in)

19

Do talk to seniors and professors involved in the field of your interest

and figure out which universities are worth looking into. Then, looking at
ranking sites7 and further talking to profs and seniors, also , decide which
universities (among the ones good in your field) should be your dream schools,
which decent shots and which safe options.
I have discussed below certain universities, or at least my perception
about them, after 4 months of ground-work. These are universities that IIT
Bombay Chemical Engineers generally apply to, unless stated otherwise. Go
through this list, do some ground-work on your own and then decide on your
apply-list. Let us start with the biggest-shot university.
Note: This list is for Chemical Engineering departments only.

5.1

MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology

There is no doubt that MIT is the best-ranked university there is, for grad
school. Every ranking site agrees with this statement. Every research field
is good at MIT, especially bio-fields. But you can expect at least one of the
best researchers in the world in your topic of interest to be working at MIT.
Then again, getting into MIT is also no childs play. MIT guys need
something stellar on your profile. That stellar factor could either be a mindbogglingly awesome CPI (>9.8) and/or 1-2 first-authored publication(s) in
Nature or Science (Journal names are for example, these two are among
the best journals on earth). Worth a shot for Department Ranks 1 & 2 if
their CPI is >9.5 (for IITB ChE junta: sorry to hurt your feelings if our
departments generosity is still the same!) Not advised for DR > 2, if your
CPI is < 9.8 (again, LOL).

5.2

UCBerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley

Same as MIT, except that department is smaller, and/or takes lesser number
of international students, so thin chances of getting in even for IITB DRs.

5.3

CaltechCalifornia Institute of Technology

Ditto, copy, same as UCBerkeley.

7

Remember: ranking sites are not an accurate measure of research, they may provide
an idea about the ease of getting in

20

5.4

Harvard SEASSchool of Engineering & Applied

Sciences

Best place to be for research, as per my opinion. But if you are applying for
a PhD directly after B.Tech or M.Tech, without any full-time research work
experience (e.g. RA-ship, not as a part of curricula), forget it. Just forget
it.

5.5

Princeton

A highly esteemed university, but ranked lower in Chemical Engineering.

They know that IITBs grading is rough so high chances for DRs 1-3, even
if their CPI<9.5. Recommended just for DRs 1-3.

5.6

UTAustinUniversity of Texas at Austin

One among top 5-7. Research scene is excellent and city is awesome (personal experience of the city). The department is very particular about DRs
though, and takes lesser number of international students: may take only 5
international students for a particular intake. Recommended for DRs 1 and
2 having CPI > 9.3-9.4.

5.7

Stanford

Chemical Engineering is decent at Stanford. Location is excellent, weatherwise, because California! Do check about your field of interest and then
apply.

5.8

UCLA

Again, a decent university. People do apply though, because of LALos

Angeles, the Hollywood city.
All the universities discussed above are elite and famous, so they receive
a high number of applications, and therefore the chances get slimmer, even
for decently ranked universities like UCLA or Stanford. I did not apply to
any of these universities.

21

Now we shall discuss about universities that care about your

research work if CPI > 8.5 and not just your DR.

5.9

UMNUniversity of Minnesota

A HUGE department. Ranked among top 5 in Chemical. You can find best
people working in every area. Takes in lots of grad students. Weather is too
cold, its almost like Canada. But the ranking and reputation of university is
worth it. It would be a good idea to consider UMN as your dream university
even if your CPI < 8.5 but you have done quite a bit of research.

5.10

UCSBUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

City on the beach and California weather its a full package. Although,
intake is small so you might want to discuss with your peers first before
applying.

5.11

UDelUniversity of Delaware

A very good department, especially for bio-fields and systems-control. They

offered PhD positions to 3 students from IITB this year (all having CPI >
8.75, hence GPA > 3.5).

5.12

UPennUniversity of Pennsylvania

One of the best places for bio-related fields. Although they do care a tad bit
about DR and CPI.

5.13

Georgia TechGeaorgia Institute of Technology

One of the bigger departments. They take research background quite seriously. Process Engineering/Controls and Bio-fields are great here. Their
Chemical department also has a lot of collaboration with the highly famed
genetics center.
It is located in the big city of Atlanta, where safety is generally an issue,
so students prefer living on-campus, unlike in case of other universities.
High CPI is of course a way to get in, but even a conference paper might
open the doors for you.
22

5.14

UIUCUniversity of Illinois at Urbana Champagne

Reputation and fields similar to Georgia Tech. Only difference is that Urbana
Champagne is a university town. (More about university town in TAMUs
description.)

5.15

HopkinsJohns Hopkins University

A dream school for bio-enthu junta. Their Med-School is one of the best and
Bioengineering department is ranked on the very top, so collaboration with
these departments are possible. And everybody in ChemE@JHU works in
bio.

5.16

CMUCarnegie Mellon University

Arguably the best place for Controls. A highly reputed name among all
universities.

5.17

WiscMadUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison

Ditto, copy, same as CMU. Seats may be less for a particular year, for international students.

5.18

Cornell

One of the Ivy League, located in New York, so living costs are high. Fluids
is a strong field here.

5.19

Purdue

A good name, a good rank. 4-5 groups working in bio. Process Engineering
is also a strong trait. The placeWest Lafayette is a small town so no thrill
like big cities but quality of life is higher.

5.20

UMichUniversity of Michigan

A name taken along with CMU or Hopkins or Purdue. Research in bio-fields

is not peculiarly good, do not know about other fields.

23

5.21

TAMUTexas A&M University

I am going to write a little more about TAMU. I had applied there as one of
the lot in intern-apping, and ended up getting an internship there. TAMU has
not been a favourite among IITB Chemical Engineers, maybe because only
people with high CPI and/or work-experience have been applying for a PhD,
and they got into the better ranked universities easily. Now, TAMU has been
rising in rankings since past couple of years. They are hiring profs (snatching
up from Princeton etc) from different areas of chemical engineering, in order
to increase their ranking, and for improving the research scene.
TAMU is a favorite for MS students, due mostly to the low (arguably
lowest in the US) cost of living along with having a decent ranking and
prestige. Hence for PhD students, despite comparably lower stipend, the
savings are maximum. The university is located in the twin cities of College
Station and Bryan, none of which is a major city of Texas, so the costs are low
but some advantages of being a city is there. TAMU is one of the oldest and
largest universities hosting a huge number of students and offering academics
in a wide range of departments. College Station is actually developed as a
university town, hence the place is happening enough and at the same time
economic enough for college students. The big cities Austin and Houston are
2-hour-drive apart from College Station, so providing nice weekend getaways.
The atmosphere is hot, that similar to India, to that of Delhi to be more
elaborate: scorching hot in the summers, may get as low as 10 degrees celcius
during winters.
Till when I am writing up this document, I have been considering TAMU
as one of the 2nd-tier universities (along with Purdue, UIUC et al.), maybe a
little(as little as can be) lower tan these univs. I consider myself lucky that
I secured an internship there and hence could get in easily despite having a
comparatively low CPI.

5.22

NCSUNorth Carolina State University

Similar status as TAMU. Good for bio-fields. Check for others. May be one
of your safe universities.

24

5.23

Rice University

A good department, prominent in the emerging bio-fields. When they have

seats, they do take students with CPI 8-8.2. Located in the city of Houston,
so if you have a definite job perspective, it is advisable to go for it. Bio and
petroleum enthu junta should apply to Rice as a safe school.

5.24

UCSDUniversity of California at San Diego

A BIGG city, university on the beach, in California. Its the dream place
to be. The chemical department is just decent though, maybe nearby the
bottom of the 2nd tier mentioned above. Reserahc in Nano is awesome at
UCSD: a must apply place for nano-enthu junta.
Now I will discuss about some universities that are not mainstream, that
is, not where IITB class toppers generally apply to, but they might be good
options as safe schools for people with a decent CPI, case in point, myself.

5.25

UMD/UMCPUniversity of Maryland at College

Park

A big name, a decent university. Good research in bio-fields. Proximity to

Washington D.C. is a pro. Safe school for CPI 8. Department is small,
intake of international students may be 5 or 6 per year, so it would be a
good idea to coordinate with other applicants and apply if youre the lone
applicant.

5.26

University of Colorado at Boulder

Similar to UMD. Didnt take international students this year though.

5.27

UMassUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst

Possibly a safe university. Stem cell and cancer research is good, havent
seen about other fields. Proximity to Harvard Med-School and MIT might
prove to be major pros for bio-enthu junta.

25

5.28

UPittUniversity of Pittsburgh

Ultra-safe university for CPI 8. Supposed to be good for Systems and Control. Proximity with CMU might create possibility of collaborative research.

5.29

UICUniversity of Illinois at Chicago

A possible safe-school for particular research interests: visit faculty profiles

and decide for yourself.

5.30

USC ViterbiUniversity of Southern California

Materials research is a highlight. And California, so location, of course.

May be a bit difficult to get in, no exact idea. I regret not applying there,
might have added to my strike rate, although TAMU is probably better for
bio-fields.

5.31

U of Houston

Decent university, safe school. Good research in petroleum.

26

Making an SoP

Do read this section and there are also infinite fundae available about making
your SoP: emails and documents floated by seniors and batchies, guidelines
by universities, and general fundae written all over the web. Go through
some of them until you feel that you know enough to get started.
You should take a month or two to design your SoP.
The basic aim of an SoP is to convince the admission committee that
you are rightly motivated to pursue a PhD. You can write anything and
everything that motivates you. But keep in mind that the committee consists
of faculty members from the department, so it should sound fair, to the point,
convincing, not like some random heart-touching story with quoteslike an
answer on Quora. Hence it is suggested to make paragraphs according to your
various research projects, focusing on how that particular project motivated
you to do a PhD.
To discuss about the format of an SoP, it is not fixed. I have even heard
about an SoP written in poetic verse! However, an engineering SoP is suggested to have a 1000-word (2-page) essay, containing at max 1 quote, focusing a little on technical terms and most on how each project motivated
you to a PhD. The basic recommended structure of an engineering SoP is as
follows. . .

6.1

Basic Recommended Structure

The first paragraph should state your introduction and research interest. Avoid using statements like I have always been interested in
research, right since my 5th class; I loved Science Fairs! Schooling
does not play a major role in making a rational decision to do a PhD.
Significant stuff tends to happen in college.
Note: it is okay not to have a particular research interest, or to have a
broad field of interest. The committee does not expect undergraduates
to have sorted out interests, and in some cases, versatility/flexibility is
what the department wants.
From second paragraph onwards you can have 1 paragraph per significant project you undertook. In each paragraph, state the name of the
27

project and the adviser, and explain in a sentence, your role in the
project. Talk about how the project taught you to think about different problems and motivated you towards your current interest and/or
doing a PhD. No need to talk about the skills acquired and methodology implemented in solving the problem, all that will be covered in
your CV.
You could fit in a paragraph about some courses and course projects
that you did, which helped you figure out your research interest and/or
motivation for PhD.
In the 2nd-last paragraph, summarize your research interest (if any)
and your motivation, using decent vocabulary.
In the last paragraph, justify your application to the particular department. Write a couple or more professors names with whom you would
like to work, stating the particular projects of your interest (state if
you had a conversation with the prof on email).

6.2

Review, Review and Review. . . And Review. . .

Now, once the first draft of your SoP is ready, proofread it, evaluate it on
the basis of how much Purpose you have focused on in your Statement; and
then send a word file for review to seniors who have been through PhDapping. Needless to say, the most useful reviews are those who have the
whole document filled with comments and suggestions and corrections.
Make the corrections suggested by seniors and send the new draft to a
couple of selected seniors, your apping mentors. Selected seniors: who have
replied with a document reddened with comments and corrections, with a
note on the lines of Good try but this is just a first draft. We need to work
a lot on this.
Rinse and repeat. Make new versions of your SoP till the deadline or
until your apping mentor says it is good enough (which wont happen until
the deadline if you have selected the mentor properly). You can also seek
reviews from your professors, but experience says that seniors who have been
through the apping procedure, tend to be a lot more help than professors in
this matter.
28

6.3

To sum up

Keep the following points in mind, at every moment while designing your
SoP.
It is a Statement of Purpose, and not a Statement of Previous Work
Experience
For every described project. . .
Why did you take this project?
What did you learn from this project? (Philosophically learned,
not techniques acquired)
How did this project motivate you to do a PhD?

29

Making an Apping-R
esum
e/CV

IITB Students have very good Resumes when compared to other institutes.
However, a CV8 made in LATEX makes a good impression, especially since you
are entering a world where good presentation of your work will be required
from you, and LATEX is an excellent tool to do exactly that.
There is no doubt that LATEX makes the world beautiful. It is very easy
to learn: you can make a presentation for your lab in LATEX, the first time at
which will take an extra hour. After that you will fall in love with LATEX and
prefer to make every document using LATEX. Case in point, this document.
Once you have made a presentation using LATEX, you are considered to
be fairly accustomed to it. Download a template for your CV and just by
modifying that, you can make an awesomely aesthetic CV. If you see a good
LATEX CV of someone, ask them to send you their template.

Difference Between R
esum
e and CV8

Resume is generally made in 1 or 1.5 pages, describing your work in short.

The main purpose of a Resume is to give an idea about the profile to the
company individuals, where there are hundreds of applications to be seen
through in a small amount of time.
In the Apping-Resume or CV, you are supposed to give a nice idea of your
previous project work, which will be studied by the admissions committee, so
you can be a little more elaborate about describing your projects. This CV
can be 2 to 3 pages long. Projects, scholastic achievements (e.g., a research
award) and specific courses taken in your area of interest are supposed to be
included and highlighted in this document instead of some random positions
of responsibilities or plant visits.
Do get your CV reviewed by your mentors, who are also reviewing your
SoPs.
8

I am referring to a profile made in MS-Word as Resume and in LATEX as CV.

30

FAQs

8.1

Should I go for placement or not?

You can consult seniors and profs regarding this, and think for yourself after
all that exercise.
Generic (and correct, as per my perception) answer by profs:
No need to go for placement if you are sure about higher studies. Worst
case scenario: if you get the most unlucky and dont get into any univ, well
employ you as RA.
And even this worst case scenario is a very good option, seeing as how some
seniors leave their jobs in ITC or HUL after getting bored and come back to
insti as RAs.
Answers from seniors vary, ranging from You should definitely have a
backup job to fall onto to Insti placement is $#!&. Ditch placement, dont
waste your time in that, choose univs smartly so that you have at least one
good offer in the worst case.; me being the 2nd kind of senior.

8.2

How do I ask for recommendation?

I am applying for a PhD. Would you please give me recommendations?

Thats it. Thats literally how you ask. This is all there is to it. Professors
are generally happy to hear of students going for higher studies and if you
have done a decent job in your project or course with them, they would be
ready to recommend you.
Also, do not hesitate to ask for as many recommendations from the same
professor as required. 5 recommendations or 10 does not really matter, because once they have their answers (to the standard questions on the recommendation portal) ready for your recommendation, it does not take more
than 5 to 10 minutes to fill 1 recommendation.
Choosing from whom to take the recommendations: refer to Section 2.4.

31

8.3

Is contacting potential advisers really helpful?

The answer is subjective. Chemical Engineering departments in the USuniversities generally admit students to the departments, and advisers are
decided after reaching there, after some seminars and interactions. Hence, a
generic, polite reply to your email would be Glad to hear about your interest
in my lab. However, the graduate admissions committee makes the decisions
and I do not have a say in it. Please apply to the department, we can talk
further once you are admitted.
However, if you receive a non-generic, personal response from a professor,
based on their interest in your current project or some potential project that
s/he would like to work on, in which your experience might come in handy;
you can mention this conversation in your SoP, which may help your case a
bit. But only do this exercise if you have time to spend, e.g., if you do not
have to attend 4 hours of Pre-Placement Talks per week.

8.4

How much will I earn and save as a PhD student?

Generally any PhD position in a US university is fully funded. As students,

we are expected to earn just enough to scrape by and given stipends accordingly. However, being Indians, we are accustomed to some hardships and
hence end up saving a lot of money. A PhD student earns $25k-35k per year,
according to the living costs where the university is located. This comes out
to be $2k-3k per month, from which one can easily save at least a $1000
per month, if living frugally; $500 if living a royal9 life (which is next to
impossible for people who have shared the single-sized rooms at IITB, and
eaten Samosa for 10 rupees). Hence, you end up saving at least 5 Lakh Per
Annum, which you can send home or save for future purposes.

8.5

Why does this document emphasize on US-universities

and not any other country?

1. Because I applied only to US, since I interned there and loved the
culture.
9

Thats a joke, a satirical usage of the word. It refers to living with no worries or
planning about saving any money.

32

2. Because US universities have a system which is ideal for students who

are applying directly for a PhD after B.Tech. Almost all European
universities have PhD programs which are designed for students already
having a Masters degree. ETH-Zurich and EPFL do take B.Techs
directly, but they did not have many professors working in my areas of
interests, hence I did not apply there.
3. US has the largest economy, so thinking about options after PhD, US
is the best place to be. You can in any case return to India if you wish
to, but potential future options are so much better in the US, and that
is why we do not apply even to universities as awesome as NUS.

8.6

I believe my GRE Score is less. Should I write it

again?

Writing the GRE again is a wastage of time and money. If you have scored
315/340 total with 165+/170 in Quant, you are cool. Anything above 3.0 in
the Analytical Writing section is good enough. If your score is lesser, then
only you need to give it a thought and talk to your apping mentor about
writing the test again.
Same goes for TOEFL. Anything above 100 is good. My score was 102,
when all my classmates scored 110+ and it did not make any difference.

8.7

What if I am fed up with research?

Merese PhD naa ho paaya toh?

Worry not. There is an out for the worst case scenario. As you know, the
university funds you for a PhD, but you might be afraid that you might
become a liability if you cant produce results. It might not come to you as
an obvious fact, especially if you have not done an internship at a university,
but producing results is not that difficult, since you have the whole research
group as well as the adviser giving invaluable inputs.
However, in the worst case, if you think you are fully fed up, the university
does give you an out. You can opt out of the PhD program after some paperwork and mutual understanding with your adviser, the department as well
as the university. They would also not like to waste any more money funding
33

you if you have decided that you dont want to do this anymore. In 95%
cases, the university also awards you with an MS degree since you have given
your 2-3 years to their efforts in research. Having an MS from a US university
will open up doors to big names in the industry and this MS degree would
cost you nothing!
Of course, it would be morally very wrong to apply for a PhD aiming for
this option from the beginning, nobody would recommend that. This option
is to make the irrational fear of not being able to perform (pun obviously
intended) go away. And trust me, the fear is completely irrational since you
have not been in that environment; if you had, you would not have this fear
in the first place.

34