Final Episode: The universities I applied to...

Duke University: This was the first university that I applied to. I applied to Master of Engineering Management after a lot of research about the program. The webpage for the Master of Engineering Management page can be found at: http://memp.pratt.duke.edu/ Was one of my middle-range universities. Got an admit early February.

Stanford: Applied to MS in Management Science and Engineering. I felt there was a perfect fit between what I wanted and what was offered at Stanford. Did a lot of work on the Statement of Purpose and resume. Was fortunate to get very good recommendations. They do give a good weightage to GRE score. Was no. 1 choice of admit. Highly ambitious. Got a positive result early March. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/MSandE/

Columbia University: Was attracted to the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department. Realized pure Master of Engineering Management degrees like those in Duke are not much valued. So decided on solid MS programs. Applied to MS in Engineering Management Systems. http://www.ieor.columbia.edu/. Admitted.

University of Southern California: Middle range. Many Indian applicants do get in. So applied to EM again. http://www.usc.edu/dept/ise/. Industrial and Systems Engineering Department. Admitted.

Georgia Tech: Boasts of the no. 1 ranked program for Industrial Engineering. Was an ambitious application. Managed to get in. But I find that the MS&E program of Stanford gives a broader range of subject choices compared to GAtech. http://www.isye.gatech.edu/

Purdue: An optimistic application from my side. But, the program seems very narrow in scope and more of a traditional Industrial Engineering degree. So decided not to take it up. https://engineering.purdue.edu/IE/

Highly ranked Industrial Engineering Department. But the Industrial Engineering department’s handling of my application was very poor. They did not give me my result for more than 6 months. I finally mailed them asking them to cancel my application. http://www.ise.vt.edu/main/index.php

A safe bet. The Industrial Engineering department has a modest ranking of 13^th in USA. Got an admit with partial fee waiver.http://www.ise.ufl.edu/

MEng. in Engineering Management. Comes under the Civil Engineering Department at Cornell. MEng. Can be very limiting if you want to get into research at later stages. Too short a duration. 9 months. Before you can really dig in to the courses, I guess you’ll have to get out of the university! http://www.cee.cornell.edu/graduate-programs/meng-in-engineering-management.cfm

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor: My only reject. Very good Industrial Engineering program. But their website s not too informative. A must-apply if you are serious about hard-core Industrial Engineering. http://ioe.engin.umich.edu/

Well that’s it! I have finally got through with detailing my applications procedure. Something I always wanted to pen down. Being from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Goa Campus was a huge advantage. The brand name certainly helped. I mentioned Goa Campus as much as I could in the applications. Proud to be a BITS Goan! I will have surely missed a few points here and there. Hope you gain something out of these posts. Do mail me if you have other queries.