Admissions, Oh Admissions!

 

Now is the time of the year when final year undergrads worldwide are in a frantic rush to finish their admission procedure to get a seat in a desired university so as to be able to pursue a Master's degree or a PhD programme.. Speaking with special reference to my class, about a third are applying abroad and the majority, if not all, have qualms on the application procedure!

I being one of them understand fully, Why does Stanford want to know how I can contribute to the Ethnic and Race diversity there in 750 characters? Sounds major racist to me! And Caltech asks ppl to name ALL (yes u heard me right) teachers who have taught ALL subjects right from day 1 in NITK.. Poor Deepti has (and still has) a hard time there: I myself do not remember all of them!

And then comes Arati's case where she has to write about her weaknesses and strengths: Even a 1st-class retard will know this is a very tricky balance of the true and the not-so-true.. Hey you cant write all weaknesses and commit admission-suicide but then you can't portay an image of perfection & hence need to display humility too! Same with the strengths- I got an image of a SWOT box when I first heard of this and do I dare say, its very similar??

All the various application forms have their own nuances to tackle and once thats done a huge mountain is conquered! Alas that the whole process is analogous to the Himalayas: Mt Everest is flanked by so many other peaks to traverse across :-(

GRE + TOEFL/ETS score reports to be sent, Official Transcripts to be procured and mailed, Hound the prof's and project guides for letters of recommendation or RECO's as often called and the credit card company to be made so happy that you get a "Customer of the Year" plaque from them soon! But wait.. The horror is not done yet!!

SOP! This 3 letter abbreviation spells doom for most people as they either take it lightly and commit hara-kiri or take their time and fall into a warp-zone where time slows down and you take eternity to finish it.. I myself have fallen into a perpetual black hole which simply does not allow me to take out my finished SOP simply because its not finished!! To each university needs to be created a masterpiece, a work of art if you will and hence I have fallen prey to the Perfectionist's Syndrome: Hope to finish all versions soon..

Some people are done and some are beginning, the common denominator is that these few are willing to take more time to realise thier life goals unlike the one's who are placed happily (I hope so) in commercial and industrial companies.. But maybe there are some who wish to apply only because they were not satisfied with the placement scenario here and the global economy which as of now is worse off than Robinson Crusoe in his make-shift tweed raft in the middle of the ravaging waters! More on that soon...