How to enroll in a US magistracy?

There are quite a lot of posts on the Habré on this subject, and each of them gave me valuable information, so I want to share my personal experience and the short algortime obtained on its basis (we are talking about a "budget" master's program):

1. Find universities and programs in them for which a theoretically international student can receive scholarship (hereinafter a grant);
2. Translate and certify your diploma;
3. Hand over Toefl and GRE;
4. Write a Statement of Purpose and other essays (if required);
5. Pay the registration fee and send the documents by registered mail.

And that’s all!

Now about each step in more detail.

1. Find universities and programs

Higher education is in demand in the USA; it is very expensive. But graduate students are already noticeably less. Here then we have chances. There is no free education in the USA, so someone needs to pay for us. Such a sponsor can be: your university, your state, a foreign country, a charitable foundation, a foreign university, a foreign faculty. Each of these options is realistic and requires more detailed study. I took advantage of the latter. For many computer science programs, a university faculty in the United States is ready to pay for training prospective students, because they help to conduct research, improve the rating of a university and a faculty, and this means more funding for them. That is, this is not a gift from the faculty, it is their investment.

Your task is to find the maximum number of such programs on which someone is ready to pay for you. Of these, you can further choose according to the desired criteria the coolest. This stage is the most difficult (!). It takes a lot of time, googling, and generally very routine. Since I was in Baylor before, I had a link to this university. There I began to search, found a program in computer science, and did not spend more time, because I was happy with everything at once.

All other steps, in fact, are purely technical - everything is simple and clear, take it and do it.

2. Transfer and certify your diploma

You need to translate a diploma in the international department of your university. It was easy with us, but options are possible. Usually a university in the United States does not require any notarization of such documents. I translated the diploma to myself, put down the grades myself, and made the template for the word myself. At the university, without looking, they put a stamp. But to deceive, of course, is not worth it, so as not to make problems.

3. Hand over Toefl and GRE

Toofle is an offset. That is, you need to score more than the minimum ball, otherwise you can not participate in the competition. The toy itself is elementary. A trained monkey can also score at the passing ball, so if you have plans to study in the USA, then you can don’t worry about it, only $ 300 is a pity.

GRE is a completely different matter. This is the main selection criterion. This is like the exam, only for graduates. The most important feature is that everyone writes it: both Americans and foreigners - in order to enter a university. That is, you will fight in an unequal battle for places with the Americans, whose language, of course, is better. Yes, this test tests non-knowledge of the language. It is assumed that you know him well. The ability to quickly analyze complex problems, find numerical solutions, as well as logically reflect, separate the thesis from assumptions, arguments and evidence is tested.

4. Write a Statement of Purpose

Statement - this is your essay on the topic "why I want to study right here and now and it is on this program in this university." It should be moderately personal, moderately reveal your talents. There is a lot of material on the Internet on this subject. The main thing is not to copy strangers, and write competently. You can always find someone to help with editing.

5. Pay the registration fee and send the documents by registered mail

The most costly stage. It is necessary in time, usually before the beginning of January or earlier, to send the entire set of documents to the desired universities. Moreover, you need to send the diploma by mail, download the essay in electronic form, and in the tests you will be given the uni code, where the results will go automatically. In this regard, it is useful to find out these codes before the exam.

For each application you will need to pay $ 50-100. Thus, if you apply for 10 different programs, you can spend several thousand dollars (sending a registered letter by a diploma costs 1,500 rubles on average).

Well, that’s it. Next - wait for the results. Usually by March everyone will answer you, several universities will refuse, some will offer to come. Choose the best and go. Since I submitted only one, I had fewer problems, but the risk was greater.

I sincerely wish all incoming success. Be honest and believe in your strength. And don’t forget about the deadlines, GRE would be better by November already.

UPD: Here we can see a page with all the necessary information on Baylor University, Computer Science. You can take a short test and find out what your chances are. Approximately the same pages need to be found in all the desired universities.

UPD2: For admission to a master's program or PhD in the USA, you must pass GRE. In the case of business schools, they often ask for GMAT, but many accept GRE as well, which means, in my opinion, it is better to take it.

The exam itself lasts 4-5 hours, there are 2 sections in mathematics and two in speech.

In mathematics, you need to quickly solve big problems. They are not so complicated, but they need to be done quickly. Sometimes they are tricky, like in grades 5-8 in "with an asterisk" problems. I'm far from a genius, and scored 162 points (scale 130-170) and ended up in the 91st quantitle. That is, with the Russian mat training we have every chance.

In the speech part you will find a lot of unfamiliar words, even if you have been fluent with Americans friends for 10 years. It is designed for this. You need to be able to analyze the text, to understand on what premises it is built, where is the conclusion, where is the fact, and where is the hypothesis.

In general, there are good examples on the site. It is easy to prepare - just need to solve examples. By the way, this is very interesting. Texts are sometimes very informative. In general, the main thing in GRE is concentration and speed of decision.