#Reflections: One hell of a year!
Advancing my education and plotting a suitable career trajectory
Despite bringing radical changes to our lifestyle, the past covid year was very fruitful for me. 2020 was the necessary evil that compelled me to introspect my life and career.
Let me give you a quick intro. I am from Raipur, India. As of this writing, I am a Software Developer at Aruba Networks (an HPE company). I graduated in 2019 from SRM Institute of Science and Technology with a B.Tech in Computer Science. Through this blog, I would like to share the journey of discovering my professional aspirations and moving a step closer to fulfilling them.
My mindset
Right from my undergrad, I knew that I wanted to shape my career towards managerial responsibilities and positions (I used to think that I am a people person, and I am still firm on that). But somewhere in the process of completing my engineering, I developed a knack for technology. In retrospect, it was a wise decision to take a technical job after my bachelor’s degree. It helped me learn about different roles in the industry. Also, it bought me time to find a suitable role for myself. Only after working in the industry, I realized how it’s a great time to be a part of the Twenty-first Century Tech Revolution.
At Aruba, I found some great colleagues (and few friends) who helped me discover myself. I met people from various phases of life. Some had travelled the world throughout their career, while few were heading top management positions at Aruba. Some colleagues had joined along with me (as interns), whereas most were a couple of years senior to me. I had some realizations on a personal and professional front. (One such discovery was my long-lost passion for music. I’ll write another article on that someday, hopefully).
The turning point
By January 2020, I had been working full-time for six months. Around this time, I came across three new terms: T-shaped professionals, pi-shaped professionals and Product Management. T-shaped professionals have decent knowledge about the different domains in their industry and have in-depth knowledge about a particular field. Similarly, pi-shaped professionals have considerable expertise in two domains. It is through these terms that I came to know about Product Managers(PM). PMs are the archetype of T/pi-shaped professionals in the industry. Often referred to as the CEO of a product. (Nevertheless, PMs are not people manager, as the title may sound, instead they lead teams without authority). After surfing on Linkedin, I discovered the popularity of this role in the industry, especially among MBA graduates. As stated by the authors of Cracking the PM Interview:
“A PM sits at the intersection of engineering, business, and design.”
The role seemed like a great fit. This was enough to fuel me to move in this direction. With all the exposure that I had at that time, pursuing a graduate degree abroad seemed like a perfect opportunity to switch to Product Management. By February, I had started planning…
The easiest part
For the longest time that I can remember, I had been watching American content, eating at American fast-food chains, and chasing American MNCs during the job hunt in my undergrad. I had been subliminally accustomed to the American culture most of my life. It seemed obvious to do a master’s in the US. Although, I kept Canada as a backup option, just in case the US president back then brought in some unfavourable regulations for international students.
Doing an MBA
An MBA in the US seemed out of the question. They charge an exorbitant tuition fee (google the tuition fees for top 20 MBA programs in the US, if you are curious). Being an international student with no external financial support, the tuition fee was the main deterrent in pursuing an MBA.
(Although, in hindsight, applying to MBA programs was not that bad of an option. After I received admits for Fall 21, I heard about an amazing MBA admit a friend had received. It turns out the popular MBAs do offer generous scholarships to offset tuition fees. Disabusing me of my notion that MBA programs charge a full tuition fee to international students.)
Pandemic 2020
By the third week of March, Covid 19 had kicked in. A nationwide pandemic was imposed in India that lasted for three months. Luckily, I had moved back to my hometown just a day before the lockdown. There was a drastic change in the way we worked and lived- no more traffic jams, no more coffee breaks, and sadly no more office banter. But this new way of living bought me a lot of time.
Narrowing Down
I researched other management programs abroad. Finally, in April, I stumbled on the Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program in the US, and it felt like a great option. Four reasons helped me in narrowing down to this program.
- These programs are designed to help individuals (with a technical background) thrive in managerial positions. At the same time, it provides a technical edge over typical MBA graduates.
- The tuition fee is very reasonable for this program across the US.
- This program (and similar others) are offered by all elite universities across the US. In fact, there is a whole consortium just for MEM programs, called MEMPC, that is formed by universities like MIT, Cornell, Duke, etc.
- Lastly, MEM is a highly customizable program with a high focus on student’s professional aspiration. The curriculum offers hand-picked courses that would help me hit the ground running in the industry.
Note: All kind of management degrees are STEM-designated nowadays, even most full-time MBAs.
Next, I checked the eligibility and requirements. I was eligible for all MEM programs but one- MIT’s MEM program, as it had a hard requirement on years of work experience. The requirements for others comprised standardized tests, letter of recommendations (LoRs), statement of purpose (SoP), resume, undergraduate scores, and interviews. This holistic approach towards profile evaluation was another motivation to study abroad. It was an assurance that only well-rounded and deserving applicants are selected for the program.
By April end, I decided to apply to Duke University, Dartmouth University, Purdue University, University of Southern California (USC), and Northwestern from the MEMPC. Apart from that, I selected Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), University of Illinois-UC (UIUC), and New York University (NYU) for similar programs. I decided my picks based on five factors- location, acceptance rate, program fees, the curriculum of the program, and reputation of the university. I had two safe universities (NYU, UIUC) and two ambitious universities (CMU, Dartmouth) on my list. The rest were somewhere in between. Duke and Dartmouth were my favourite picks among all. Their MEM programs had a perfect balance of all the factors that I had considered. This was my first interaction with American universities, which have very different culture and values. Hence, I had to keep some safe options as a safety net. Also, I had two Canadian programs in mind that I planned as a backup.
Standardized Tests
The next task was to have a plan of execution. I had targeted to finish the entire process by November 2020. I allotted five months for GRE and TOEFL and started my preparation in the first week of May. I took TOEFL on 19th August and GRE on 3rd October. My score was 323 and 110 in GRE and TOEFL respectively. At this point, I had a mixed feeling about my scores. One thing was clear, I had to give my best in my SoP to stand out. While preparing for my GRE and TOEFL, I attended online webinars hosted by the respective programs to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Also, I was researching Canadian universities as a backup. But, over time, I lost interest in Canada. In comparison to the US, it didn’t feel as much appealing. Especially due to the extremely cold weather and fewer relevant programs.
I want to give a huge shout-out to GregMat- the GRE and TOEFL prep resource I used for two months. It is the cheapest ($5 a month), most relevant, and coolest prep source. My only regret was not discovering GregMat sooner!
My mentor — Admitted (the book)
Next, I had to prepare my SoPs, resume, and request LoRs. Around that time, I heard that Soundarya Balasubramani (a Columbia University graduate and blogger) was launching a book dedicated to guiding study abroad aspirants. I had been following Soundarya for some time and was already a big fan of her blogs and achievements. I instantly pre-ordered Admitted and was added to an exclusive online community for study-abroad guidance. I am still reaping the benefits from this community. Soundarya’s book and blog are a must-have guide for every study abroad aspirant.
The essentials-SoP, Resume and LoRs
I knew requesting LoRs and successfully getting them emailed to the university can take months. Hence, I started contacting the concerned people right from the first week of October. I requested three LoRs for my applications- two academic and one professional. I reached out to people who knew me for at least two years, that way I was certain they would have something substantial to write about. Luckily, every individual I approached accepted my request for an LoR readily. Alongside, I started filling up the application forms for all the universities.
My deadline was approaching fast. Some universities had a deadline of 15th January, while some had one as early as 15th December. Taking guidance from the Admitted and all free online resources, I started with my SoP and resume. Drafting SOPs and formatting a resume is a laborious task. Yet, it is a rewarding process. It is a means to self-discovery, as you have to be honest about your intentions and weave together a convincing story from your experiences that incline well with the program’s goals. I already had relevant leadership and extra-curricular experiences under my belt. I just had to showcase my candidature uniquely. With a clear goal in mind, words came out easily. I fine-tuned my SoP over the next four weeks. Every weekend I asked a friend (usually those who were applying to study abroad like me) to review my draft and judge how convincing it sounded. This played a very crucial role in improving my SoP. I am deeply indebted to all these friends who helped me.
The LoRs reached the institutions by the last week of November. Around the same time, I was done with the main body of my SoP, and it was time to tailor each SoP as per the program and university. Dartmouth, CMU, and Northwestern had a discrete set of questions in addition to the main SoP. I devoted more time to them. By the second week of December, I was ready with most of my SoPs.
Pressing the submit button
On 15th December, I submitted my application to USC, NYU, and Purdue. UIUC, Duke, and CMU had an additional element in the application: video introduction. That took another week to finish off. Video introduction was the second most interesting part of the application, after SoP. In some ways, it prepared me for the interviews I was about to face soon. I submitted applications for Duke and Northwestern by Christmas.
Only CMU and Dartmouth were remaining now. Their application submission was taking time since the number of additional questions asked was considerable. Answering them took some more time. I went on a vacation after Christmas and returned in the first week of January. After returning, I kept refining the answers and improving the overall presentation of my application material. I submitted the remaining applications on 10th January 2021.
I had to push my deadline from November 2020 to January 2021, as I had underestimated the effort required to finish this process. Although, this delay was a blessing in disguise, as I only paid the application fee for Purdue University. The rest of the universities waived their application fees in some way as their deadlines approached. Most universities offered application fee waivers for attending their information webinars. I just had to keep an eye out for such things.
A much-needed break
There was temporary relief after the application submission phase. These eight months were fulfilling and gave me an adrenaline rush after almost two years, much like the job hunt during my undergrad. I took a break to catch up on things that I had been postponing. I met few friends, read a few books, recorded some songs, and spent some quality time with my cousins and family. There was still one step left to complete the application for some universities: the much-dreaded interviews. After two weeks of leisure, I started preparing for interviews. Only Duke, Dartmouth, Northwestern, and UIUC had interviews. Once again, Admitted came to the rescue. It had some wonderful tips on preparing for interviews. It was yet another fascinating part of the process. I used to go for evening walks mulling over the answers to standard behavioural questions. Once I had an answer, I used to return and practice it in front of a mirror.
My most ambitious step
At the same time, I started applying for scholarships. Again, the exhaustive list of scholarships shared by Soundarya (author of Admitted) came in handy. Since MEM is a professional program, much like an MBA, I was only eligible for the popular scholarship programs that are open to all post-graduate aspirants planning to study in the US. Other scholarships were very specific to either stream of study, country of study, or the community to which the applicant belonged. I applied to the J.N. Tata Endowment scholarship and K.C. Mahindra post-graduate scholarship. Frankly, after going through the stupendous profiles of past scholarship recipients, I had no hopes of getting selected. But I gave it a shot anyway.
Fruits of my labour
I soon started hearing from universities. NYU was the first one to offer me an admit to their Management of Technology program. They offered me a scholarship of $10,000 per annum for their 2-year program. Soon after, I had my first interview scheduled with UIUC. Following the standard interview questions such as why this program and how will you contribute to the cohort, there were some behavioural questions. The interview went very well and UIUC offered an admit for their MS in Technology Management within a week. It was reassuring to have a safety net. This meant that I am at least advancing my education.
Soon after, I received interview invites for Northwestern and Duke. My interview experience with UIUC was very helpful. Northwestern was first followed by Duke. Both went very well. I have to admit, Duke’s selection process felt the most rigorous. It had all the standard application requirements, on top of that, there were tailored application questions for the program, a video introduction and an interview as well.
By mid-April, I had received Fall’21 admits from 6 universities out of 8: CMU (MS in Software Management), Duke(Master of Engineering Management), USC(MS in Engineering Management), Northwestern (Master of Engineering Management), UIUC (MS in Technology Management)and NYU(Master in Management of Technology). I was offered an admit at Purdue for Spring 2022 and got rejected by Dartmouth for their Master of Engineering Management programs. Because this application journey was my first interaction with international universities, I expected to get selected by at least one university. Getting selected by 7 was a good morale boost.
The Next Step
Getting admits to multiple foreign universities is generally a matter of pride. Even I shared my admits among friends and family and enjoyed the moments of ecstasy, but this pride never used to last more than a few hours. I want to draw an analogy to what Ankur Warikoo (an entrepreneur I follow) once tweeted:
Congratulating an entrepreneur on raising funds is like congratulating a chef on buying vegetables.
Getting an admit is very similar. It is like buying vegetables and equipping yourself with the tools to prepare a dish. But the dish still needs to be prepared. In my case, that would mean gaining new skills and experiences in the journey ahead and successfully switching into Product Management post my master’s.
After much deliberation, I have decided to pursue the Master of Engineering Management program from Duke University for Fall’21.
I want to thank all my friends, colleagues, and all the wonderful people on Linkedin for helping me on this journey.
Pandemic (April 2021)
I had to hesitantly include another section on the pandemic (covid 2nd-wave) as India is hit by a record number of rising cases. The situation in India this year is worse than last year. Although, the US is recovering quickly, and things might be back to normal by the time I land there. But frankly, I feel insecure at the thought of leaving behind everything, and most importantly my family, during this tough situation. To worsen the situation, US consulates are closed across India. This reminds me of Fall 2020 students who had to defer their admit till Fall 2021. I hope the pandemic doesn’t delay my motivation to study abroad.
UPDATE (12th July 2021): After considering multiple factors and personal reasons, I have decided to defer my admission at Duke to Fall 2022.
I’ll keep updating this article as per my progress in this journey.
Thank you for reading.
P.S. This is my first article published online. I would love to hear your views and opinions! If you have any queries, I would be happy to answer them. Feel free to connect with me.
Cheers,
Yashraj Shrivastava
