xaero

I'm all geared up to head to Columbia myself! (MS in CS) ~Xaero >:)

Good that you've got the letter from Columbia. And OOPS! I'll check out the mail you've sent :o. I rarely check that account of mine, but I used to frequent that a lot previously, when I was active in TM.

Hey Vipul, Will post the URL tonight. Any intimation for you from Columbia? Xaero.

Oopsie Daisies!! So, Ro has become the soldier in MIA! :(. Well, hope he's doing well somewhere. I cant forget those essays of his, and ofcourse his score of a clean 800 upon 800 in his GRE verbal.

Thats good news Erin!! Sure, will send a mail to Sri. Good to hear that 'my gang' of GRE applicants are going great guns!

The URL says $51000 around. Dunno what the I-20 would say

You're right about the tution fees varying according to the number of credits one takes per semester. From what I heard from a student doing his MS there, its usually 12-12-6 at Columbia, effectively finishing the course in 3 semesters. But I wonder what will be given as Tution expenses *per year* in the I-20. I suppose this is important, when it comes to showing finances. We've gotto get this particular info. We're required to submit financial proof to Columbia before they can issue the I-20. They've asked for that. But initially, only the decision letter and $250 deposit are required. Once we submit the financial proof, the I-20 will be posted. And you can book your visa date without an I-20. I-20 is not required for that.

WoooooooWW and Whoaaaaaaaa!! Posting in this thread after eons!! My last post in this was a real real long time ago. Hey, any ideas what AmigoRo, Raghuveer and Sri are doing now?

The expenses portion is a bit concerning. The letter informs me about a link in the Columbia site that states the total expenses as around $51000. This involves the total tution fees as around $31000 (calculated as $956 per credit, and MS in CS is 30 credits. So, the total comes to $28680. But the $31000 is generic for engineering school at Columbia, I guess). The living is calculated as around $15000, plus around $5000 as summer expenses. So the total comes to around $51000. But the problem is that the tution fees is shown completely - for the entire course, and not for 1 year. This leaves a bit of uncertainty. Dunno what the I-20 says about this.

Hey fellows, I received my letter from Columbia on saturday. Its dated April 23, and was probably posted during that time. Anyway, the letter says I'm required to send back the Decision letter by May 15th, along with a deposit of $250. I'm sending it today thru FedEx. The letter also says that the package that I received should contain info regarding my financial aid status, but if not present, I should communicate with the department asking about it. My package didnt have any info abt my fin aid status, so, I gotto write to the department again. Now, this part I dread. Till date, out of atleast 8-12 mails to the grad division at Columbia, I have received only 1 reply. Vipul, guess you should be receiving your letter soon. Probably, you'd be having a deadline later than May 15th, but I guess you could anyway clarify about the financial aid status with the department now. My online updation indicates April 16th as the last updation date. Nothing beyond that.

Hey, One more thing - Whats the orientation date for Fall-2004?

Hey, thats some news!! When did you receive the formal letter of acceptance? Any other details that it contains would be of great help to us. There'd be a lot of difference, me being an international student, but I sure am curious.

Vipul, Have you booked your date for the Visa interview? I spoke to one of the consultants here, who says this delay by Columbia is a bit concerning, and they should send my I-20 soon. Also, I'm unaware if they'll send the I-20 immediately, with the admit confirmation letter, or if they require financial proofs even for issuing the I-20. If latter case holds, then it might get very late by the time we receive the I-20. I shall try to see if I can contact the university in any other way. I wonder why they're so relaxed in processing the admits!

Hey Kiwi, Hadnt looked too much into your posts, since you havent still apped, and have a long way to go. But here goes - Its good that you've decided to app only for the Fall-2005. By that time, you'd have graduated, and would probably be working. Moreover, completing your undergrad by the time of apping is a better option to get into good schools. Frankly speaking, I dont know much about EE schools, but I suggest you check out some of these ranking sites like usnews, phds.org etc. After that, you could check out each of these schools individually, look into what they research in, whether they match your interests, and whether you can use your accomplishments (in the form of projects, extra work etc), and apply to those univs. From my own experience, and going by the general rule, its really hard to be guaranteed aid with an MS admit. PhD admits are almost always guaranteed aid, but they are really hard to get, unless you can be confident that your credentials pack the necessary punch for such an admit. HTH, and actually, even I'm from Bangalore (from a pretty good college, myself :D). Which college are you from?

Guess thats the only option :(. But yeah, I sure hope all these waiting is for the good

Hi, I have no idea abt financial status at Columbia myself. Apart from the online updation of the status as 'Accepted', I havent received any kinda news from them. Is there anyway we could contact them? One of my friends tried calling them from US, but only got the answering machine. Do you know anyone incharge of the grad admissions, to contact about this? As for my profile - I graduated in June 2003 from Visveswaraiah Technological University, Karnataka. I have an aggregate of 84.1%, and my GRE scores are V:670, Q:800, and AWA - 5. TOEFL - 287/300 and TSE - 55/60.

Hi, This delay by Columbia is a bit concerning. I myself have gotten an admit for the MS program, after being rejected for PhD in Computer Science. It has been over 2 weeks since my online status was updated as "Accepted", and there has been no intimation, either thru post or email. I wonder when they're going to actually be done with all the paperwork. Since I have decided to go for Columbia, and have got quite a bit of groundwork to do (being an international applicant - from Bangalore, India), I sure hope these Columbia guys come up with some response faster :). Any idea how the university had responded last year to the selected applicants?

Thats a bit disappointing :(. Looks like I'll have to contact them and hear about their decision. Thanks for the info!

Congrats! Thats an awesome profile. Could you please let us know how you were intimated? E-Mail, Snail-mail or the online application status?

Hi Erin, Thanks for your wishes! I'll keep the group posted :)

Thanks all for your wishes :). Cornell is a great place indeed. I'm seriously considering Cornell for my grad studies now!

Hi, I am Sumanth (Screen Name - Xaero). I had been an active TestMagician, during the heydays of my GRE and TOEFL, circa mid 2002. With valuable inputs from my veteran comrades of those times, of the likes of Raghuveer, Sri, AmigoRo, Synthia, Ramya, Sri, and others whose names I might've missed out, but are still around in the forum, and ofcourse our man Erin himself, I secured my scores at 1470 - GRE, and 287 in the TOEFL. I completed my Bachelors in Computer Science at Bangalore, India, and applied for my grad education at 12 universities in the US. Thus far, I have been granted admits for the Masters program in the following colleges: Cornell University (M.Eng program - without Financial Assistance) Dartmouth College (With 50% Scholarship) Iowa State University (No info so far about Financial Assistance) North Carolina State University (No info so far about Financial Assistance) Florida Institute of Technology (Was offered TA) I'm awaiting the results from Columbia University, and looks like the school has just begun announcing its results. I've had my share of rejects as well, for PhD programs in Purdue, JHU, U of Virginia, UCSB and UC Davis. I had a fairly decent background in Computer and Network Security (the domain I plan to specialize in), through projects and publications. I was backed by 4 recommendations, two of which were from my professors at the Indian Institute of Science, a premier research institute in India. Currently, Cornell interests me greatly. The "Big Red" towers in the rank lists for Computer Science studies, so I look forward to proceed towards that. I owe much of my success to TestMagic, the members of the forum and Erin. Much help was needed during the days of my GRE (my test date was October 7th, 2002 - 4 working days after the introduction of the new pattern), when no one was sure about the grading and answering ways of the AWA. Erin's feedbacks, and suggestions and the interaction of the TMians over the threads proved invaluable. May the glories of TestMagic glow brighter than fireworks!!! [bounce] Cheers, Xaero.

This thread almost headed to become another 'vehomzzz' issue :D

Thanks for the info :)

Hi, Does anybody have an idea about the availability of TSE exam dates in Bangalore, India? Just wondering if its possible in November or December.