Destination USA: Leveraging current students and alumni

There are several key areas of information to research to help you make your final choice of the university, and understanding students' perspective and their first-hand experiences and impressions helps. Make use of your resources before committing to a university

Hyderabad: By this stage in the academic year, many students are enduring the slightly nerve-wracking process of awaiting admissions decisions from the US universities. Some may already be experiencing the highs and lows of “acceptances” and “rejections”.

Once you have an admit, and hopefully more than one, there are several key areas of information to research to help you make your final choice of the university. Besides the obvious steps of learning more about the programme and funding, through websites and discussions with admissions officers, it is imperative to also consider understanding the student experience of the programme one seeks to join and the corresponding cohort.

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For first-hand experiences and impressions, and the kind of on-the-ground detail that only someone who has been through the programme can supply, current students and alumni make an excellent resource. Here are a few things that you may want to keep in mind about leveraging current students and alumni before you commit to an admission offer.

Connect with alumni 

Alumni can give you a realistic picture of the value proposition of the programme in terms of preparing you for the career of your dreams. Alumni who are placed in various industries are best equipped to give you an idea of the different ways in which the school/department, the professors, and the career advisors will support you to design and proceed on a strategic career pathway. Discussions with alumni will give you a holistic checklist of what you can expect from the university and your department.

Connect with current students

As part of the information scouting exercise, students may ask the admissions advisor at a given US university to connect them with current students in the programme of your choice. Current students are the closest that you can get to the most relevant and up-to-date information about the department and the programme experience.

Make sure to ask about programme specifics like teaching styles, student community, procedure to get academic assistance for your course requisites, prospects of student jobs on campus, career services, or the availability of assistantships.

Some universities may also nominate a particular student as student ambassador for their campus. They are usually individuals one can approach with questions or have a conversation about their experiences at their university. Along with the international admissions department, they may sometimes conduct information webinars that may be useful for aspiring students to attend.

Locating alumni and current students

If you are wondering how you can contact alumni from different universities in addition to the avenues already mentioned, look around you. You may have seniors from your institutional networks who are alumni from different US universities, or have professors who have also graduated from US universities.

Utilise networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to connect with alumni through these different networks and drop them a brief message over email. You can share a line or two about yourself and your interest in the programme, ask them about their experience and other specific questions that you may have in mind.

Please make sure not to write long emails or messages at first. Establish connection to begin with, assess if they are ready to share information, and then, if they seem forthcoming, you can also request to set up a call at a later stage. You can also request the university to connect you with current students or alumni to seek answers to your questions.

— U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad

Please visit the U.S.-India Educational Foundation’s website to learn more about studying in the United States: https://www.usief.org.in/Hyderabad.aspx

Phone/ WhatsApp: 91-8008465712/8008462560. Email: usiefhyderabad@usief.org.in | hyderabad@educationusa.org