Master's for Telecom in the US

Question:

Hi chirag,
i find your blog extremely helpful.
Am Khyati (Name Changed) . 
Profile :
10th- 85%
12th-79%
BE-65% (just completed in 2012 in EXTC)

Am planning to give my GRE by the end of November . However looking at the deadlines , i guess i should be giving the exam early.
Also ,i got placed in Tech Mahindra. ( So i was planning may be i might go for my job for 2 years and then MS )
However ,something caught my attention while reading your blog .. u mentioned Tech M as an exception . What is it about Tech M ?? is it not good to go for it if u plan for MS??

Also , am a Telecomm engineer and it is an IT based company . so is it worth going  for it . (Though it undertakes Telecomm projects  -IT based work) ?

One one favour, can u suggest some universities for Telecomm ?  ( considering :GRE -300 , TOEFL -100)

Answer:

Hi, 

Glad you find this Blog useful. It appears from your question that you are looking towards the US to pursue Masters. Indeed a very good decision.

It is always useful to have work experience prior to coming to the US. It does not matter if it related to your field of study, but some kind of experience which gives you confidence as a person, horns your soft-skills and adds up to your resume. 

So I would suggest to definitely start working with Tech Mahindra. My reply about Tech Mahindra as mentioned in earlier blog post was more of a personal grudge. So do not worry about that part. 

Ideally you should aim to get admitted in Fall-2013. So it means you should give your TOEFL within 45 days and GRE by the end of December.This all should happen while you are either working or waiting for your joining date. By end of January you should be done applying to different schools.  

Ideal universities for Telecom Engineering with above profile would be

University of Texas at Arlington (More Development Jobs)

San Jose State University (More Development/Service Jobs)

San Diego State University (More Development/Service Jobs)

Polytechnic Institute of New York University (Service sector jobs)

North Carolina State University (Development and Service sector jobs)

Arizona State University (Good school, but not much job opportunities) 

All the best,

Chirag Shah

Plan for 2012

Last year, I mentioned about my plan for 2011. Most of it was a success. So it is time to make plans for year 2012.

For this year luckily there is no study*. So I can use this time to take couple of certifications. The basic one any Network Engineer must have is CCNA. So planning to take it by first week of March. Apart from this Intuition is another thing I want to complete by July. Once I am done with Intuition, I will know the business side of Finance too. 

For the personality development program, I will try to attend the ABToastmasters. This is a very good club to improve public speaking. Also the presentation seminar provided to TAPS is a good way to improve these skills. Planning to learn Spanish this year. May be Rosetta stone could be used. I have joined Gym to get fit. Planning to reach to 150 lbs. 

On the fun side planning to improve my Garba skills and continue to write for campus newspaper.

This is what comes to my mind for now. I will keep posting.

*no college studies