Planning for a study abroad program is a brave decision. I expect aspirants to face a lot of tough situations. Searching a university is one such challenging task. Nobody finds a tailor made university but candidates have to find out the most suitable option. Check these points to search your destiny:

1. What is your aspiration?

2. What do you want to specialize in?

3. Which schools offer the degree course you have opted?

4. What is the ranking of these schools as compared to each other?

5. Which schools have the highest faculty for your desired area of specialization?

6. Which schools have the highest sponsorships for your program of study?

7. How many faculty members of a school are into research work of your choice and who is funding these professors?

8 These professors and schools have external funds till which year?

9. What is the location of the school?

10 Does the school provide campus placement opportunities?

11. How often does the university provide this opportunity?

12. Does the university area have students of diverse origin?

13. Do you have any seniors or relatives in the particular school you aspire to join?

14. What is the climate around this area?

15. Is this area cheap or costly (London and California for example are very costly places).

16.What are the criterion for admission?

I guess this can be more structured and comprehensive if I divide all this into categories-

ADMISSIONS

What are the admission requirements for the school? For the department? Deadline dates? Are there any prerequisites or undergraduate courses required for admission to your program?

Is a graduate admission examination (i.e., GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT) required? What is the latest possible date to report scores for admission consideration? What was the average or mean exam score of your entering class in previous admission cycles? Is there a cut-off or minimum score that has been set by the department? How do you consider scores if an exam is taken several times?

What is the application fee? Do you have application Fee Waivers? How many applications were received last year? What was the acceptance rate? What is the number of open spaces per application period?

PROGRAM

Is your program accredited? By whom?

What is the academic reputation of your graduate program? School? Faculty? What is the number, diversity, and reputation of the faculty members? What have faculty published recently? What specific research areas are focused on by the faculty in the program/department? How available are the faculty to students?

Does your program offer or require an internship experience? Is there a variety of viewpoints and theoretical approaches, or does the program have a particular emphasis?

How long does it generally take to complete the advanced degree? Does the degree require a comprehensive examination, project, or thesis? A combination?

Is there a demand for people with graduate degrees in this field? What is the placement rate for graduates from this program? In what areas? What are the growth prospects for this field in the future?

What major changes, now or in the future, do you see affecting this field?

FINANCIAL AID

What types of financial aid or scholarships, if any, does your program offer? Application deadlines? Do you have any fellowships or teaching/research assistantships available?

OTHER

Is there a contact person who can address my questions before and/or after arriving on campus? Is it possible to visit the campus and meet with a graduate program representative (i.e., chair, faculty, advisor) to learn more about the program and school? Is it possible to speak with current students and recent alumni to learn more from a student perspective?

Now that you have decided on the universities you would like to apply, you need to get into the real business of actually filling out the application forms. At this stage, I feel one of the things that is absolutely necessary to have is access to a computer with Internet. Browsing starts with the process of choosing the right university.

There are basically two main ways one can apply:

* Lot of universities will allow you to fill out your application online; or at least provide you with an online form to request application materials.

* In the regular case, you can send an email to a university admission office to send you application materials. You will get all these information by browsing through that university website. Send a lot more requests for application materials than you are actually going to apply. The papers you receive will also help you in deciding the universities you are finally going to send your applications to. Draft a simple email and use it with different email addresses of different universities just to establish a rapport with the university.

Once you have got the application materials, you need to sit down and complete the application process. This can be quite time consuming and needs a lot of planning.