Way to Higher Study Abroad | Study in USA | In Search of University in Abroad

Harvard University Campus, Image: File

Mehdi Hasan: Higher study abroad has become a very exciting topic for the youth these days. More students are going abroad to study now than at any time in the past. This number is constantly growing high due to the increase in various facilities during studies and post-degree.

By completing a bachelor degree from your country, you can basically apply for four types degrees in abroad.

• Masters of Business Administration or MBA

• Masters of Arts or MA

• Masters of Science or MS

• Doctoral degree or Ph.D

Note that you can apply for admission in your preferred subject, subject to proper justification, regardless of the subject you have studied in Bachelor. Let's say you studied marketing, but you have a keen interest in computer science and you're pretty good at it too. In that case you can easily apply for Masters in Computer Science. Having two such courses or certifications will give you a better rationale. So don't ever think that you can't apply to data science as a marketing student. Higher education is open to all.

While other countries have central scholarships for studying in Canada and the United States, North American universities have separate scholarships and the amount of these scholarships is hundreds of millions of dollars depending on the university. The universities here have a large number of teachers and a relatively high number of bachelor students. It can be seen that many teachers need assistants to run the classes properly and many of those who are studying at masters and PhD level work as teaching assistants in this field.

The job of teaching assistant is mainly grading, guarding the examination hall, replaying the e-mails of students, taking classes in the bachelor's field. A teaching assistantship is a type of graduate assistantship. Apart from this, there are two other types of assistantships. Research Assistant and Graduate Assistant. Research assistants support the research work of a typical professor. On the other hand, Graduate Assistants help in the official work of the department. There is no other job opportunity after getting assistantship.

An assistantship typically requires 20 hours per week. The biggest advantage of an assistantship is that you get a huge tuition fee waiver and a fixed monthly stipend. This stipend covers your traveling expenses. For this, students are applying in large numbers to Canada and USA lately. Assistantship does not need to be paid to the government or anyone. It is a departmental matter. Assistantships are available if you contact the head of the department (called the graduate coordinator) by e-mail.

Assistantships can be managed in two ways, these are: 1. The professor e-mails 2. Centrally by e-mail

Centrally Funding does not require separate e-mail for professors. Assistantships are usually available by emailing the program coordinator or graduate coordinator of the department. In that case adding your identity, background and CV in the first e-mail will get a good response. On the other hand, many professors require research assistants in their labs, in which case funds can be managed by e-mailing the professor.

Search for Universities

Although the number of universities in Canada is only a handful, but students have the most trouble deciding which university to apply to in the United States. The number of universities in the United States is about 5,500. It can be seen that except for a few universities, the rest compete with each other, who can do better than whom. Most of those who come to study from other countries, including Bangladesh, spend a lot of time deciding which university to apply to. In that case my small suggestion is:

• If someone around you has been to a university in the US, ask him which university he has applied to. You take his lists. If you ask some people like this, you will get 15-20 university names. Check out these university websites. Doing this will save you a lot of time.
• You can follow the ranking of USnews and Times Higher Education (THE).
• You will get detailed information by visiting the websites of the universities. Apart from this, all the information comes only by doing a normal search on Google or other search engines. As you typed ‘University of Miami Business School Graduate Admission Requirements’ you will see that your information has been received.

Application Process

After initial university selection your task will be to e-mail the Graduate Coordinator. Then based on his feedback you can ask him about funding and other issues. If you get positive feedback, you have to apply to that university. Everything you need to apply to US universities, these are:

• CV
• Test Score: GMAT/GRE (Not many universities take due to covid. But GRE/GMAT increases chances of getting funding. Business schools on the other hand usually make GRE/GMAT mandatory).
• Statement of Purpose or Personal Statement (why you want to study this subject at this university).
• All academic certificates and mark sheets.
• Language score: IELTS or TOEFL or others (university has instructions on the website).
• Letter of Recommendation (2-3 hours).
• Many universities require a separate application for assistantships in some cases. Many universities do not. It is written on the website.

One thing to note is that only US and Canadian universities require GRE/GMAT. It does not apply to universities in Europe or Asia.

Preparation Begins

If you want to study abroad, my personal advice would be to focus yourself on research. Research doesn't just mean spending hours in a lab wearing an apron and doing research. There are different types of research. Lab is one of them. However, the type of research with a business or social science background is not as lab-centric. Human psychology is very much a part of business background research. For example, the rate of online shopping using social media among university students in Bangladesh is also a good research topic. Researching yourself from the beginning pays off later. This does not mean that research papers need to be pulled out step by step. It means to interest yourself.

Beyond this one can slowly prepare oneself from the third year. Getting passport as first preparation, attending various conferences or competitions regularly, starting preparation for IELTS, GRE/GMAT, university listing etc. If you keep the last date of application in a university of any country in an Excel sheet, it is beneficial if you work according to the plan.

Author: Student of Texas Tech University, USA.