App Guidelines Book

2016-17

Department of Mechanical Engineering 1

Indian Institute of Technology Madras
APP GUIDELINE BOOK
2016-17

Credits Branch Councillor

Rushi Rokad Shashank Jujare
Placement Coordinator

Kaushik Bhat Placement Coordinators

Deputy Placement Coordinator
Parinita Mallampalli
Kesav Bonthu

Deputy Placement Coordinators

Aniket Kamthe
Arvind Phani
Likhita Bommathula
Raj Kiriti
Vaisakh Prakash

2
 General Guidelines
1. What is the motivation for apping or pursuing a post graduation in technical education?
Aside from the obvious professor jobs which require PhDs, not all types of jobs are available for B.Tech graduates, even from
IITs. In particular, R&D labs require at least an MS and in most cases a PhD. If research interests you, then MS and PhD can
be considered a natural progression of education. Note however that if you are interested in just
coding/software/consulting/finance type of work, a B.Tech might suffice, but at some stage you can and will think about
getting an MBA. In any case, being the cream of I dia s talent, it s my opinion that IITians should not stop with a B.Tech and
must pursue advanced degree in whichever form that suits their career interests the best (MS/PhD/MBA).
Again not all advanced jobs require a PhD. For most, an MS would suffice. Examples include data scientist positions in many
companies (start-ups, pharmacy, even Google software related positions) where you would be working more at the product
end rather than the research end. Excellent innovation happens here too, and the jobs are very interesting and well paid. If
more pra ti al and produ t-orie ted stuff (a new app or Google or Facebook feature) interest you, it might be wiser to
just join industry after MS, since even after PhD you would be basically doing the same sort of work. R&D is very much
possible with MS, but a good chunk of these jobs go to PhD students.

2. How to go about the entire apping process? What is a structured timeline of events in apping?
Get research experience! There is no particular timeline for this. Do at least one research based summer intern. Start your
BTP early, or work on some other project during your 3rd year. GRE, TOEFL are more of a chore, and can be cracked easily
with one week preparation. If you have sufficient research experience, and have thought out why you want an MS/PhD and
in which field, your SOP and resume can also be prepared in 2-3 weeks. The critical component is doing research, and the
sooner you start the better!
Over summer after the 6th sem, figure out which topics interest you, and in which field you want to app. If it is a core area in
MechE then it s a natural progression and you do t have anything to worry about. If it is a field outside of MechE, then
make sure you know exactly what you are getting into, and have a solid reason for why you want to change fields. Courses
and research experience will come very handy in answering this question. Once that is done, shortlist some 7-8 universities
in that area. Make sure there is a good mix of ambitious and gettable universities, and also apply to one safe university.
Rankings do matter! Potential guide also matters when selecting universities, but not a lot. There is no guarantee you will
get to work with the guide of your choice, so do t put all eggs in one basket. Choose 3-4 univs in top 10 ranks which have at
least 3 or 4 profs in your area of interest. Choose another 4 such univs in ranks 10-20. Do t look at univs beyond rank 30 or
40. You might as well do your PhD at IITM in that case.

3. What are the requirements for apping? What is the importance of SoP, resume, GRE, Reco and CG, each for apping? What
is the priority order for these as criteria?
SOP more like a filter. Give clear reasons for why that university and why that program. Does t really add much value.
Most SOPs look the same for profs, so you are very unlikely to stand out. Nevertheless, do a good job in writing your SOP,
but do t expect any rewards for excellent vocabulary or articulate writing.
Resume quite important. Profs skim through resumes, so list all academic achievements here, including any papers or
description of your research projects (4-5 lines for each).
GRE Filter. 320+ is good enough for most universities. If other parts of your app are good, no one is going to reject you
based on GRE. You should really not have a trouble in getting 320 with 1-2 weeks of prep. Same case with TOEFL.
Reco Most important for PhD. Very important for MS as well.
CG Very important for PhD. Most important for MS.
Priority (PhD): Reco (+projects) > CG >> Resume > SOP > GRE
Priority (MS): CG ~ Reco(+projects) > Resume > SOP > GRE

4. What is the importance of BTP/DDP and other projects for apping?

Most important. Put in good efforts for your BTP. Without doing well in BTP, which should be a relevant topic to what you
want to app in, it will be very hard to justify why you want to app. Even more so for case of DDP.

5. What is the Importance of a research internship for apping?

As important as BTP.

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 Table of contents

R. Anand 5
Jayanti Pranava Chaitanya 8
K Mithun 10
Sai Sujan 13
Sri Mukessh S 15
Varun Gupta 17
Aditya Vamsikrishna 20
Tejaswin P 22
Bhargav Chereddy 24

This documents contains the experiences shared by seniors during their apping process.
This document has excerpts from the feedback given by seniors who have successfully
apped to foreign universities

4
 R. Anand
ME12B056| anandraghavendra1994@gmail.com

Personal Details
CGPA : 8.81

Test Scores
GRE score : 326/340
Quant 170/170 | Verbal 156/170 | AWA 3.5/6
TOEFL score : 106/120
Speaking 23/30 | Writing 29/30 | Reading 26/30 | Listening 26/30
Field of interest (App field)
Heat Transfer (Thermal)

Recommendations
C.Balaji
Arvind Pattamatta
Intern Manager

Programs applied to
All programs as MS in mechanical engineering with sub plan as heat transfer)
Universities info
Applied to :
UIUC
Purdue
U Mich
UT Austi
Penn State
Virginia Tech
University of Minnesota o
Ohio State University
MIT
Received admit from :
University of Minnesota
Ohio State University
U Mich
Admit accepted at : 5
U Mich
Questionnaire
1. How is Funding in these universities?
Funding is offered through 3 means: RAship, TAship and fellowships. Most universities do not offer
funding for MS. PhD programs usually come with funding. Tuition fee gets nullified through all the
three means and one gets some extra stipend for living expenses.
Some students are nominated for fellowships; some others can try to get associated with a specific
Professor depending on their interests (thus getting RAship).
Some universities like Purdue never give an admission offer (for PhD) without funding.
Funding scenario also depends on the project funds a professor has
Mostly all the students get funding based on performance from second semester

2. What are the selection Criteria?

In my opinion, the importance order would be as follows: Publications and conference
presentations, Recos, CGPA, projects and your over-all resume, SoP, GRE/TOEFL scores (first three
might matter equally) Again, this order would be very dependent on the universities you are
applying to (no specific rule exists!).

3. Which Projects/ Research papers helped you?

The project which helped me the most was my btp-Impinging Jet Cooling
The topic given to me by my professor was a hot research topic and extensive research was being
carried out in all the universities
Apart from that I took a lot of courses in heat transfer which might have helped in the application
process
I also have many internships not necessarily related to heat transfer one of them being an industrial
internship in Japan and also a workshop in Singapore. The university might have looked into
international exposure as well

4. What are profs expectations when you go and ask them for recos? Also give suggestions about recos.
Usually one reco will come from your BTP prof, one from your research intern and another one from
a course prof (or some prof you did some other projects with)
Take re os fro Profs ho k o ou perso all ! Bad idea to ask a prof ho does t k o ou ell.
Some profs may limit the no. of recos may not give recos to all the universities. In that case, you
need to search for more profs. So clarify this issue when you ask for recos!

5. What difficulties did you face during aping process?

Deciding the universities and the professors you want to work under
SOP

6
6. What should one write in SOP?
Write about the journey as to how you gotinterested in the specific field of study.
You basically have to connect the dots and makea story out of it.
Write about how your projects, courses, internship inspired you inyour field of study.
Avoid writing your school and pre-school stuff, unless it is really great such aswinning a gold medal
in INMO or NTSE or other Olympiads of Prestige. Write aboutall your technical qualities in general.
Write a paragraph or two on your future goals (becoming a prof or an entrepreneur or getting into
industry research etc)
Also mention the Professors and the lab you want to work with
Do t forget extracurricular and social/volunteer activities as they add weight to your profile

7. When did you start apping process ? Please give a rough timeline.
Wrote my GRE and TOEFL exams in mid-October (Ideal time is June-August)
Approached Profs. For recos early in August itself (I guess this is the ideal time)
Started SOP after writing the exams (Should be started in August as it gives you enough time to
make edits and changes)
In the starting of November, create accounts in the university portals
Start maintaining an excel doc which contains all the info about the universities(GRE/TOEFL codes,
addresses, fees, which program you would be applying to, recos for that university etc.,)
November end: get ready with your SoP.
1st December to 15th December: Most application deadlines (Upe s was on November 30th)

8. Things that are required in application?

GRE/TOEFL Scores
Transcript of all semesters
SoP
Resume
Recos
Personal Statement- about your socio-economic background
Passport Copy(Sometimes)

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 Jayanti Pranava Chaitanya
ME11B083|me11b083@smail.iitm.ac.in

Personal Details
CGPA:8.81

Test Scores
GRE Scores (Q/V/A): : 327 (170, 157, 4.5)
TOEFL Scores(R/L/W/S): 118(30, 30, 30, 28)

Field of interest (App field)

Fluid dynamics ( Large scale flows, turbulence)

Research interns
Completed his research intern in DAAD. There, he worked in Cryogenics team of Institute for Technical
Physics of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ( KIT North campus )
Recommendations
Venkatarathnam ( Mechanical Department )
Neelima Gupte (Department of Physics),
Suresh Govindarajan ( Department of Physics )
K. Srinivasan ( Mechanical Department )

Universities info
Applied to :
For PhD in Mechanical Engineering: Stanford, Cornell
For PhD in Climate Science: Johns Hopkins, Harvard
For PhD in Physics: Berkeley, Maryland, UIUC, U Penn
For MSc in Climate Science: McGill
For MSc in Physics: British Columbia, McGill, Toronto
For MSc in Applied Mathematics and Physics: Cambridge, Imperial College
Received admit from :
PhD in Physics: Maryland
PhD in Earth and Planetary sciences: Johns Hopkins
Masters in applied maths: Cambridge
Masters in Physics: Imperial

Admit accepted at: PhD in Physics in Maryland 8

Questionnaire
How is Funding in these universities?
The first two Universities are fully funded.
The e t t o does t offer a fu di g. Their fees are a out 37 Lakhs per annum.

What are the selection Criteria?

In USA, GRE ( general + Physics) and TOEFL
In UK, TOEFL

Projects/ Research papers that helped

1 research paper in preparation during application
2 mini projects at KIT: 1] Design of cryogenic level filling sensors
2] Heat flux estimation in cryogenic vessels
1 project under professor Venkatarathnam o Phase Ide tifi atio et ee solid a d fluid phases
Dual degree project: 2D fluid turbulence under professor Neelima Gupte

What are profs expectations when you go and ask them for recos? Suggestions about recos
The professor should know you well.
The CV should be well prepared.
It is better to ask from those professors who have guided you in a project or in whose course you got S,A
or B grade.

What difficulties did you face during aping process?

No considerable difficulties.

Specifications about SOP

The SOP should not be more than 2 pages.
The language should be absolutely formal.
There should not be any grammatical errors.
No Lies in the SOP.
Project yourself very positively highlighting your strengths.
If you are mentioning any weaknesses, write the means to overcome it.

When did you start aping process?(Rough timeline)

Start looking for universities during JuneSeptember
GRE and TOEFL during JulyAugust
SOP filling during September November
Start collecting the recos during Oct-November
Email the potential PhD advisors during October-November

Things that are required in application?

Actually, it varies from person to person. But you should be able to project yourself clearly

Dos & Donts

Dos: Make sure that the recos are given on time by the professors.
Do ts: Waiti g till the last da of deadli e.

Remarks/Suggestions
Try to be part of good projects or work under well known professors.

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 K Mithun
ME11B108|kmithun9@gmail.com

Personal Details
CGPA:7.11

Test Scores
GRE Scores (Q/V/A): : 310 (163, 144,3)
TOEFL Scores(R/L/W/S): 97
IELTS Scores: (22,29,23,23)

Field of interest (App field)

Mechatronics/Robotics(Mainly Aerial vehicles)

Recommendations
Looking for recos from Prof P V Manivannan, Prof Arunachalam.

Universities info

Applied to :
TU/e, DTU(Denmark),Ploy Technico Di Milano,Chalmers(Sweden),KTH.

Received admit from :

TU/e
DTU(Denmark)
Ploy Technico Di Milano
Chalmers(Sweden)
KTH(waiting list)

Admits accepted: Waiting for scholarships

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Questionnaire

How is Funding in these universities?

Applied for only MS so funding is very rare and not much attention paid to it. But in case if you get
it s reall good a d do t forget to he k other ea s su h as o pa spo sors et hi h ill
definitely increase the chance of getting one.

What are the selection Criteria?

Everything matters; Applied to the topics related to robotics and Control systems.
Even though the specialization is manufacturing, got admits from the above 5 and the listed
below played a huge role in the process.
DDP/BTP-get it right a d do it ell, it s goi g to pa off
Recos-Meet the only profs you know personally and have worked with, Industrial recos are
an advantage too, hence the company you take up your intern matters
Letter of motivation- It took 3 months for him to write one. It has to be unique and write half
your personal story and half your professional ones Grades- cg was 7.1 which is less apt for aping
but DDP compensated for it. Higher the CG higher the chance of getting a scholarship.

Projects/ Research papers that helped

Projects helped are Regular academic projects and DDP and personal projects counts too
Does t ha e a papers ut Huge' ad a tage he so eo e has o e.

What are profs expectations when you go and ask them for recos? Suggestions about recos
Only ask the prof you personally know, otherwise the reco will do more bad than good.
When one is going to ask, make a list of the things one wants to include such as specific
requirements from the university or stuff one want to focus on. Usually 2 recos for Europe and 3 for
US.

What difficulties did you face during aping process?

Writing the motivation letter-took a lot of time to compile it all and to put it properly together.
Write your own letter of recos-usually profs ask you to make a draft and send
Selecting the colleges-Had to thoroughly look for each college labs , profs, research areas etc
before

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Specifications about SOP
Take about 2 months to do it, not like our weekend assignment
Needs to be unique and not boring
One can include personal experiences /stories but not too much and keep the professional
ambience
When did you start aping process?(Rough timeline)
Started along the timing of placements, did most of the works in parallel

Things that are required in application?

Depends on each college, carefully read what they are asking for. Usually all the universities give
it as a list.

Dos & Donts

Dos:
Start early
Do good projects and make contacts
A foreign exchange will do much good
Ask the profs you know
Check for scholarships from the beginning itself

Do ts:
Do t push the proffs to get the letters, so ask way before time
Do t ait for Europe deadli es, U deadli es are a earl tha that of Europe, so appl for the
first

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 Sai Sujan
ME12B012|saisujan36@gmail.com

Personal Details
CGPA:8.91

Test Scores
GRE Scores (Q/V/A): 324
TOEFL Scores(R/L/W/S): 105

Field of interest (App field)

Dynamic and Control system.

Recommendations
Chandramouli, C balaji and Arunachalam.

Universities info

Applied to :
Umich, UIUC, Purdue, UT Austin, Pennstate University, OHIO state university.

Received admit from :

Umich, UIUC, OHIO.

Admits accepted: UIUC

13
Questionnaire

How is Funding in these universities?

UIUC is public university and funding is also very proper and good.

What are the selection Criteria?

GRE& TOEFL score, Resume and Projects, SOP and Reco Letters.

Projects/ Research papers that helped

2nd year project under professor.

What are profs expectations when you go and ask them for recos? Suggestions about recos
If you know them as part of doing any course Recos ill e do e ith ease ut if it s the other
way rou d the it ould t e that si ple.
Atleast ask 4 Professors for Recommendation.

What difficulties did you face during aping process?

No.Specifications about SOP Guidelines can be found online and university specifications need to
be taken care of.

When did you start apping process?(Rough timeline)

SOP preparation is done by September 1
Good scores in GRE& TOEFL is requisite.
Then, Recos and application.

Things that are required in application?

Guidelines were Common.

Dos & Donts

Prepare personal list of Companies and segregating them based on probability of
getting it.
Prepare early and work on SOP properly. Apply event o Universities above your reach.

Remarks/Suggestions
o eo e ho s pla i g oth for Core/ No -core need to start early.
University application deadline.

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 Sri Mukessh S
ME12B064|srimukessh1994@gmail.com

Personal Details
CGPA:8.4

Test Scores
GRE Scores (Q/V/A): 324(170,154,4)
TOEFL Scores(S/W/R/L): 107(28/30/26/24)

Field of interest (App field)

Microfluidics,MEMS

Recommendations
Chatterjee, Arunachalam, Forbes Marshall Guide (Sathyanarayanan)

Universities info
Applied to :
Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Stanford, UCB, UCLA, UCSD, Purdue, CMU, Boston, Northeastern

Received admit from :

Oxford, Boston, Northeastern

Admits accepted: Oxford

15
Questionnaire

How is Funding in these universities?

RA,TA ships. For Oxford you will have to apply for UK Scholarships (which I missed). There will also be
scholarships awarded by the institution for which the standard application will suffice.

What are the selection Criteria?

CG - >8.5 (atleast>8.0 )Atleast one relevant Project. 2/3 proper industrial/research projects. For UK
universities like Oxford and Cambridge, you will need a strong research proposal.

Projects/ Research papers that helped

Two Phase Flow Maldistribution in Microchannels, Analytical Force Model for machining of composite
AlSiC, Evolution Study of 9F series Gas Turbine, Design and Modelling of Venturi Steam Trap

What are profs expectations when you go and ask them for recos? Suggestions about recos
Need to approach the profs well in advance i.e. latest by the end of August. Its better you choose a prof
under whom you have 2/3 courses and a project (can a course project as well). You should also have a
good rapport with him/her. Preferably 2 acad and 1 professional reco or it can be 3 acadrecos

What difficulties did you face during aping process?

The whole process actually. The most arduous one was writing the sop. Had to put 3 night outs to
complete my first draft. Making the necessary tweaks was the toughest task. Also cutting it down to 500
words for some univs was also painful. The second most demanding one to me was the personal
statement.

When did you start aping process?(Rough timeline)

De ided to app i fifth se . I did t tr for a resear h i ter it s a lu der if ou ill ha e a edge
o er others ho do t . Took gre on July 30. Toefl on Sept. 26 . But I would recommend you to
complete these exams by mid August so that you can solely focus on your BTP for 1.5-2 months. Make
considerable progress in your BTP. Start your SOP by the third week of September. Your final draft of
both your resume and sop should be ready by mid of November. Always make sure you submit the
application at least two days before the deadline. This year many missed owing to the floods.

Dos & Donts

Dos
Politely pain your profs to upload the recos on time. Give them gentle reminders(2-3) atleast a week
before the deadline.
Start your SOP early.
Get TOEFL/GRE done by mid August.
Work diligently on your BTP and brag about the results you produced on your resume and sop. You
could also talk about your future work in your SOP.
Try to stay healthy and get involved in some kind of physical activity every now and then.

Donts
Never lie on your SOP/Resume
Never wait for the deadlines.
Do t e er thi k that This u i ersit is a out of league. I should pro a l ot appl to it . Appl
to 6-7 ambitious univs. If you have a strong profile, you might get admits from 2/3. 16
Do t overpain your profs/reco providers to an extent where they get pissed off.
 Varun Gupta
ME12B070|varungp3@gmail.com

Personal Details
CGPA:8.23

Test Scores
GRE Scores (Q/V/A): 327 (170/157/4)
TOEFL Scores(S/W/R/L): 109 (29,28,24,28)

Field of interest (App field)

Robotics, Dynamics and Control

Recommendations
C Prof. M. Manivannan (BTP Guide), Dept. of Applied Mechanics
Prof. Asokan (Project Advisor), Dept. of Engineering Design
Intern Supervisor at Systemantics India

Universities info
Applied to :
University of Pennsylvania
University of Michigan- Ann Arbor
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute

Received admit from :

University of Pennsylvania
Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute

Admits accepted: University of Pennsylvania

17
Questionnaire

How is Funding in these universities?

No funding for masters. From second semester, they allow assistantships with a pay of 12$ per hour
(max 20 hours a week).

What are the selection Criteria?

Well known and extremely well developed robotics lab, extremely good professors in robotics.
Multi-disciplinary coursework: System design, Control and AI (mainly AI).

Projects/ Research papers that helped

BTP in the field of machine haptics (Upenn has a professor well known in the field of haptics.). IITM
is the only institute in India to have a haptics lab.
Project on Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. I guess my hands-on experience in this project gave me
an edge during the selection. Co-authored a o fere e paper Desig a d Co trol of Auto o ous
Underwater Vehicle, Amogh .

What are profs expectations when you go and ask them for recos? Suggestions about recos
Profs might ask you for SOP and resume. So be prepared with them as soon as possible (Atleast the
rough draft . Do t e hesita t to ask for recos, they might refuse. You should try to convince them if
they refuse but keep within a limit.

What difficulties did you face during aping process?

Just 2 days before the deadline of Upenn, I was asked by my professor to write my own letter of
recommendation. So I suggest be prepared with recommendations, get sample from seniors. And
also pain the profs earlier than a week before the deadline.
I asked my intern supervisor for reco pretty late. Had to convince him why I was worth his time. I
suggest those who are interested in apping to inform their supervisors during the intern itself that
they might require reco from them.
I made the mistake of not applying to every university that was pioneering in my field but only to
those where I thought I had a chance of getting admit. Never judge yourself.

Specifications about SOP

Be honest and tell your educational background in the form of a story.
ead a out the u i ersit s a d the progra s e pe tatio a d adapt our stor to suit the eeds.
For example, some masters programs are meant for people who want to pursue research. In that
case, feel free to lie that you wanna pursue PhD e e if ou do t a t MY OPINION! . But ake
sure that the job opportunities from that univ are good.
Start and end on a high but keep the tempo going. Not even one para should appear dull.

When did you start aping process?(Rough timeline)

I decided to go for masters in the first month of the seventh semester. Quickly booked for GRE and
TOEFL. Went with very low prep. Decided the universities in late October and submitted my first app
on Nov 15 (Deadline for Upenn). Then I gave up on a few univs and added 2 others.

18
Things that are required in application?
SOP, Resume, Essays on your cultural background (not for all univs), ID Proofs (Passport
mainly)
GRE and TOEFL scores to be sent to each university

Dos & Donts

Answered most of it above.
Do t hesitate i appl i g if u are u de ided et ee higher studies or jo . You a de ide
that later.
Do t hesitate to get our OP/resu e re ie ed as a people as ou a . E e if o e
says that your SOP/resume is brilliant.
Start as early as august. Contact your reco profs such that they get at least 45 days
to write the reco. Keep reminding if need be. If you push the prof to write the recos
at the last moment they might not write it very well.

Remarks/Suggestions
Do t appl to er fe u i ersities u less ou are er sure of it . E e if ou ha e
an amazing profile, you may get rejects from some universities because of lack of
funding or projects in your area of research. Good to apply to about 10 universities:
3 top universities, 4 middle universities and further 3 suiting your range.
Aim high even if you think you might not get into some elite university, just apply
and see what happens. You might get lucky sometimes.
Get SoP reviewed from many seniors. I sent my SoP to my seniors, they suggested a
few things which I incorporated and sent them again for reviews. My SoP went
through some 4-5 revisions.
o e u i ersities allo dire t PhD hereas so e do t the either e pe t ou to
have completed your Masters or they offer MS plus PhD programmes). Figure this
out early and apply to the correct programs. Your SoPs might also differ slightly
depending on the program you are applying to.
Most u i ersities do t gi e fu di g for M, hereas the gi e fu di g for PhD. o
if ou re desperate a out getti g fu di g, appl dire tl for a PhD. But so eti es,
MS programs are easier to get into! (so it is really a gamble and you have to think
through it)
Keep yourself relaxed in the apping semester - do t take a diffi ult ourses.
Apping really takes a lot of time and if you give it your best, you will crack many
good admits!

19
 Aditya Vamsikrishna
ME12B002|aditya.man369@gmail.com

Personal Details
GPA:8.95

Test Scores
GRE Scores (Q/V/A): 328 (168,160,4)
TOEFL Scores(S/W/R/L): 115 (30,29,29,27)

Field of interest (App field)

Robotics

Recommendations
Dr.ArunMahindrakar(EE)
Dr.Chandramouli(ME)
Guide (Summer Internship)

Universities info

Applied to :
CMU, MIT, Stan, UCB, UPenn, UMich, JHU, UCLA, UT Austin

Received admit from :

CMU, UPenn, JHU (waiting for other admits)

Admits accepted: CMU

20
Questionnaire

How is Funding in these universities?

From second semester

What are the selection Criteria?

Projects

Projects/ Research papers that helped ?

Course projects, research projects in relevant areas

What difficulties did you face during aping process?

None specifically, important to finish things in time.

Specifications about SOP ?

Sell yourself. As best as you can.

When did you start aping process?(Rough timeline)

Make a rough draft of SoP for summer research intern. Append to it the later activities. Should make
the pro ess less stre uous. E er thi g else a e started duri g the se ester. I did t fi d it
very hectic

21
 Tejaswin P
ME12B069|tejaswin.sarathy@gmail.com

Personal Details
GPA: 9.69

Test Scores
GRE : Q170, V164, AW 4.5
TOEFL : R30, L30, W29, S23

Field of interest (App field)

Fluid Mechanics ( and associated controls)

Recommendations
Dr. SP Das, Dr. S Soundarpandian, Dr K Arul Prakash

Universities info
Applied to :
MIT, UCB, Stanford, Purdue, UIUC, U-Michigan, UCSD

Received admit from :

Stanford, Purdue, UIUC, U-Michigan, UCSD

Admits accepted:
UIUC

22
Questionnaire

How is Funding in these universities?

Funding for MS is pretty messy. UIUC has a lot of cash to fund even MS. Otherwise PhD offers
generally seem to get associated funding

What are the selection Criteria?

I think it goes in this order
1) Published works
2) CGPA
3) Recommendation Letters
4) Research Experience/ SOP
5) Resume ( Any other interns, PoRs)
6) GRE & TOEFL scores

Projects/ Research papers that helped?

Anything and Everything including Intern projects etc.

What are profs expectations when you go and ask them for recos? Suggestions about recos
Prof wants some returns from you either you work with them (or) should have worked with them.
Course profs can put reccos, ut it does t o e out as ell as a prof who knows you better.
Suggestions : Get the prof to rite a stro g recco, giving a story based out of examples of your
character rather than writing adjectives alone

What difficulties did you face during aping process?

Almost none

Specifications about SOP

Tell a story rather than discrete instances of your inclination to app. Logical flow and the ability to
look at the bigger picture both give you a tremendous advantage

When did you start aping process?(Rough timeline)

Kinda late ,GRE in September, Started looking out for univs also in September, SOP in Sept end-
October, TOEFL in October and then consolidated everything by November mid.

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 Bhargav Chereddy
ME12B015|chereddy.bhargav@gmail.com

Personal Details
GPA:8.43
Test Scores
GRE Scores (Q/V/A): 320(170/150/4)
TOEFL Scores(S/W/R/L): 104(28/29/23/24)

Field of interest (App field)

Operations Research

Recommendations
G Srinivasan, C Rajendran, N Arunachalam

Universities info
Applied to :
UCB, UT Austin, Penn State

Received admit from :

UCB, UT Austin

Admits accepted: UCB

Questionnaire
Projects/ Research papers that helped?
Minor in OR

Specifications about SOP?

Nothing in particular, saw videos about how to write an SOP in YouTube.

When did you start aping process?(Rough timeline)

In summer

Things that are required in application?

SOP,Recos

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