GRE is a game of rich people

 

It is a BIG misconception that it takes a lot of money to go for MS through GRE. Let us see how much money does it really take?

 

  1. It takes around $150 for taking GRE and almost the same for TOEFL.

 

  1. To apply for a university, you need to report your GRE/TOEFL scores to that university and there is an application fee. On an average, this cost is around $120 per university. Generally, people apply for 5-6 universities.

 

  1. One way ticket to USA which costs around $800.

 

  1. You need someone in India/USA who will give you a financial guarantee. You can always ask your seniors/friends/relatives in USA for that.

 

  1. Most people get a Teaching Assistantship(TA) or Research Assistantship(RA). Along with TA/RA, they also get 100% tuition fee waiver. Even if one doesn’t get a TA/RA, almost everyone gets a 100% tuition fee waiver and one can do on-campus jobs to sustain themselves. TA/RA/On-campus job is more than enough to sustain one's life during MS. In fact, people end up saving money during their internships.

 

 

GRE score is crucial for Assistantship

 

Though it is nice to have a good GRE score, people came to USA in the past with a score of 1850(when GRE was 2400) without any aid and after one semester, they managed to find assistantship.

 

Lot of people, with scores of 2000 without aid, managed to find aid as soon as they reached USA. In case, you don’t get any assistantship from the university, you should reach the university at least 15days before the classes start to apply for on-campus jobs and to search for assistantship. Many people get assistantship this way.

 

If you have assistantship within the first 6 months, you can actually save some money and send it home. So everything is possible. It is just that you need to do some research.

 

 

Why don’t most people go for GRE?

 

In all, the amount needed to apply for GRE is less than $2000. You might wonder that if it was so simple, why don’t most people go for MS? It is because of the lack of information.

 

  1. Most people don’t really know that GRE takes so less money. They just have a misconception that GRE is meant for rich people. And because of this misconception, they don’t even try to explore how much money does it really take?

 

  1. GRE, really, is a painful process. It is not as easy as applying for CAT/GATE. There are lots of steps involved. One has to do a lot of research to select universities, then prepare for GRE/TOEFL, apply for universities, write essays/SOPs, get recommendations, apply for visa & get a plane ticket. Even during MS, one has to work pretty hard; not only at the University but also at home such as maintaining apartment, groceries, etc.

 

There is a catch though. Most people forget that they are not the only one who will undergo that process. Everyone who comes for MS to USA has to undergo this process and there are proven solutions to each of the problems involved.

I generally recommend people to prepare for GRE in groups. It is much more fun to prepare for GRE if you have a friend who is working towards the same goal.

 

You can find some useful information on GRE at - http://www.geocities.com/iitroorkee/