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Current Graduate Student Advice to get in Texas A&M University

Akshay has completed his bachelor's in Electronics and Communication from PSG College of
Technology, Coimbatore in 2016. On completion of his bachelors, he joined Wipro Technologies for two years . In the first
year, he worked as a QA and in the second year, he worked as a security consultant. Currently, he is pursuing
an MS in Computer Science from the Texas A&M University
and is expected to graduate by 2020.
Below is an exclusive interview with Akshay with ConnectBud sharing his experience on the journey to Texas A&M
University. ConnectBud is providing an APP by which you can directly connect with current students in the USA via 1–1
message and voice call.

ConnectBud is Dedicated to helping ONE Million Students by 2020!

1 Minute Introduction

1. How many colleges you applied for admission and how many of these colleges accepted your application? Is
there a particular reason why you chose this university over the other universities who offered you admission.
I applied to four universities in the United States they were Purdue University, the University of Texas at Arlington, the
University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M University. Other than the University of Texas at Dallas, the rest all university
offered me admission. However, I choose Texas A&M University because I was offered a merit-based scholarship by the
college.

2. What was your GRE Score and what is the minimum GRE score required for admission in your program?
My GRE Score was 300, and my TOEFL score was 92. In order to know the GRE cut off and selection and rejection
percentage/rate, a student can refer to the website like the Times Higher Education and Apps like Yocket. This information
can also be found on the college website. Nevertheless, colleges often make exceptions by approving admission to a
student with a low GRE score, if the overall profile of the student is really promising.

3. Where did you get the coaching to prepare for your SAT/GRE/TOEFL/GMAT exam?
I enrolled in two online courses to prepare for the GRE, but unfortunately, I never had a chance to do it dedicatedly as my
busy schedule hardly left me anytime. The paid online course by Magoosh is really good to prepare for these exams.

4. Which books did you read/refer to prepare for TOEFL, SAT or GRE exam?
I referred to the Manhattan GRE Series, and it's a very good book for both quants and verbals.

5. What are the different co-curricular and extracurricular that you have enjoyed participating? Could you also tell
us about some student clubs on the campus which are really popular among students?
Since I came to the college only a week back, I did not get any chance to participate in any extracurricular or co-curricular
activities. However, I have heard from seniors that there are many student clubs on campus with its own fraternity.
Indian Student Association is quite famous among the Indian students. This clubs gives an opportunity to the students from
India to celebrate many Indian festivals together with fellow Indians at college.

6. Did you apply for a private loan? If yes, from which organization did you get the loan and what was the
process?
I took the student loan from HDFC Credila. The process was not tedious, and it did not take too long to get my loan
sanctioned.

7. How big is the college campus? Is the distance between classes walk-able or would it be better to have a
bicycle? What's the name of the building where most of your classes are held?
No doubt that the college campus is huge but as far as commuting from one class to another is concerned it's never a
problem as the majority of my classes are held in a building which is dedicated to the engineering department.

8. What process did you follow to apply for a student Visa? Do you have any tips/suggestions for the visa
interview prep?
I would advise the aspiring student to apply for the student visa as early as possible because if the student visa gets rejected
for any reason, you still have time to re-apply for it. Also, if the student visa is rejected it is good to inform the college in case
if you want to defer your admission from Spring to Fall or from Fall to Spring.
I am advising this because my visa was rejected in the first attempt, but I was lucky to get the next date for the visa interview
really soon. Meanwhile, I did inform the college that I might have to miss the orientation if I don't make it on time. After
considering my situation the college was fine with it.

9. Does your college provide the facilities like libraries, labs, computers, gym, medical facilities, career centers,
etc.?
There are two libraries on campus and its open from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. I mostly go to Jennings Library. Honestly
speaking I prefer reading e-books, as it's easy to store and access and I do not need to carry extra weight.
We have 3 labs in the Engineering department complex. The Sun Microsystems Workstation, Cybersecurity Lab and
Computing Lab. Since the college campus is huge there could be other department specific labs too, but I am not sure about
it. There are many clusters of computers all across the campus including the cafeteria which students can log in using their
credentials.
There are three gyms on campus. In fact, there are three on-campus housing options available for the students and all the
three have their own gym too for the convenience of the students. The on-campus Medical center is called Irving Pharmacy
which is mainly used for minor injuries and treatment. For all the major injuries students are referred to the hospitals in the
city. Since I have spent only a week here, I do not know in detail about the facilities inside the healthcare center.
The career center is common for all the students from different departments. Also, the career center organizes the career
fair for the students in Fall and Spring.

10. How safe is the college campus? What safety measures has the college undertaken to ensure student and
staff safety?
The college has its own Police Department called you UPD. You can often see the patrolling unit during day and night in
different part of campus to make sure everything is safe and secure. Students can also reach out to the campus police in
case they need a drop off late at night.

11. After how many credits or semester can a student do an internship? What is the average hourly pay offered by
companies to interns in your stream?
An international student is eligible to do an off-campus job or an internship only after completing 9 months in the college.

12. While looking for accommodation, did you get any help from someone (a person, group or organization)? If
yes, do you have any references?
I booked my apartment before coming to the USA. I emailed college authorities asking about the suitable accommodation
options outside the college campus, and I was sent a list of suitable apartments around campus. This was really helpful. I
went through the list, looked online and booked the apartment that was most appropriate for me. I would advise the future
student to book the apartment before coming here, as it would be really difficult to go and see the apartments in person after
you have come to the USA.

13. What are some of the most popular programs in your college/university? Is your college well-known for any
sports activity?
The students here are quite inclined towards basketball and cheerleading. The Agricultural, Pharmacy, and Computer
Science program here is really famous.

14. What are the options for on-campus jobs in your college?
Other than TA and RA jobs there are many on-campus job options available for students like jobs in the cafeteria and
administrative jobs with different departments etc.

15. Can you name a few good professors from your college who are really popular among students and known for
their teaching style, work, and contribution?
Prof. Gahangir Hossain is an Assistant Professor at the EE/CS department. Other than being a friendly person, he is very
approachable to the students especially to help clear the doubts before exams.

16. What is the percentage of placement in your stream after graduation, during the year you passed out or in the
current year?
I have heard from seniors that around 97 - 99 percent of Computer Science graduates get suitable jobs after completing the
course. However, I am not sure if this statistic is accurate or not.

17. How was your academic record before applying to this college? Were you always a bright student? What does
a student need to qualify for admission in your college?
I was among the top 5 students in High School and Middle School. I was a good student when I was doing my bachelor's,
and now I am an above average student. I think if a student has a combination of technical as well as managerial skills with
good framework knowledge and programming experience on Mobile as well as on Web, then this will make his/her profile
better and the chances of admission here will increase if the profile is promising.

18. How many students from your college in your stream got an internship?
Getting an internship depends on the amount of hard work, dedication, and effort you put on cracking the interview. I would
advise the future students not to live in a dreamland thinking that the internship or job would we served to you as a piece of
cake on a platter by the college.

19. What is the maximum, median and minimum package offered to students in your stream after graduating?
Can you name some companies who hired students from your stream?
The annual package really depends upon the company who is hiring you, the location of the company, the job position
offered etc. For the majority of students it would be somewhere between 75 to 120 k, but if a student is exceptionally good
then it can even go up to 200k. Companies like American Express, Cisco, Google and many other technology companies
hire students from my program.

20. What is the average classroom size in your stream? What are the minimum and the maximum classroom size
that you have attended? What is the percentage of international students in your program?
The average classroom size here is 40. Almost, 98 percent of students in my program are international students.

21. Does your college provide any financial aid to international undergrad/ graduate students?
The college has the option of the external scholarship for its students. It is a kind of merit-based scholarship which is
provided by the agencies outside the college like Texas Police Department, Forest Department etc. After the result of your
first semester, you can apply for the scholarship to external agencies and can get a scholarship based on your result. You
can apply for the external scholarship after every semester.

22. How is the academic pressure and workload in your program on the scale of 1-10?
Since it's only a week here in the college and I have not faced any challenge managing the academy pressure and
workload, I would rate it as 5. But it can definitely change later.

23. What is your tuition fee? Do you have an estimate of total cost (accommodation, food, medical insurance,
books, etc.) incurred during this program?
My tuition fee is not constant as it changes with every year and you can get the updated information about my tuition fee
 from the college website. However, in my case, the tuition fee is waved off because of merit-based scholarship that I got
from the college. I pay $200 per month as rent and other expenses including grocery would not be more than $300 to $350 a
month.

24. What do you wish you had known about your college/course, that you feel a future student can benefit from?
Do you have any advice for the future students?
It would be good if you can connect with the professors and start building rapport through email, even before you come here.
As networking is the key to success in the professional world and if you are able to network well with people around you, the
better it is for you to get a potential job in the future. Apart from getting a potential job networking has many other benefits.
Posted 2nd September 2018 by ConnectBud
Labels: American University Masters ME MIS MS MSE Texas A&M University US Admission Advice

8
View comments

1.

Saurav September 23, 2018 at 12:27 AM

I don't believe your score gets you tamu your gre score is too low.
Reply
Replies

1.
ConnectBudSeptember 24, 2018 at 8:43 PM

Saurav,

All the interviews we publish are based out of REAL students who are studying in respective universities.
Reply
2.

Goutam ChapalamaduguOctober 7, 2018 at 12:07 AM

These articles are titled "Current Graduate Student Advice to get in ...some university" theres's very little information related to the
student profiles. Can you guys pls provide more info so that we really understand what the universities are looking for. The details
about the universities is fine but more data regarding student profile will be more helpful. Thank You.
Reply

3.

Naveen Chand BachkethiOctober 7, 2018 at 8:11 AM

Sure @Goutam,
We will try to add this information from our upcoming interviews, Thanks for your feedback!

ConnectBud Team
Reply

4.

UnknownOctober 9, 2018 at 9:18 AM

5.

UnknownOctober 28, 2018 at 2:01 AM

How many years of work ex you had before applying

6.

UnknownNovember 17, 2018 at 8:18 AM

What was the reason for him to get a merit?

7.

laluFebruary 25, 2019 at 7:56 PM

tamu admit with 100% tuition waiver with 300 GRE?!!! wow, is not that surprising?
Reply

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