Study Abroad- Start with Virginia Tech. University
Building your dreams ONE step at a time!
“Network of Indian Environment Professionals” (NIEP) is pleased to introduce a series focusing on opportunities for pursuing Higher Studies Abroad in the Environment Sector. We are confident that this latest edition will be an invaluable resource to all interested students. Providing exclusive interviews from alumni and faculty from prestigious International universities, along with How Tos and application tips, the column will provide a unique first-hand perspective towards building your career in the dynamic and exciting field of Environmental and Natural Resources.
Readers are welcome to come join our association today to benefit from the question-answer forum hosted by our distinguished panel of environmental professionals.
We are proud to introduce Soumitri Das. Soumitri, a prominent member of our association, is currently employed as a GIS Programmer/Analyst with the Forest Technology Group in the US. He graduated with a masters degree in forestry from Virginia Tech in USA. His interest in natural resource management and biodiversity conservation were complemented by a post-graduate level studies at the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal. This was after finishing his bachelors in Physics from Hindu College, University of Delhi. His academic and professional experience includes forestry, biodiversity conservation, statistics, GIS and remote sensing. Here, we feature an exclusive first person account of his experiences.
The goal of traversing the world in the pursuit of higher studies is not uncommon. A few years ago, the pursuit of going abroad for higher studies was simply a dream. Today, this dream has become a reality for thousands of students, including myself. The field of environment and nature has its own glamour. The environmental field allows one to acquire a strong education while simultaneously getting the opportunity to visit exciting places around the world.
After completing a post graduate diploma in forestry management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) in Bhopal, I worked with Dr. Anil Gupta of the Honey Bee and SRISTI fame at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. I then enrolled in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech in USA almost five years ago. Virginia Tech had a great program in Geographical Information Systems and was also providing me with a very good scholarship plan. Being in US, the hotbed of cutting edge science and technology had added charm. I have stayed in the U.S, working in the GIS sector .
I would like to offer some advice to those that are currently aspiring to ultimately land a career in the environmental sector. Though my specific educational background may be different from yours, I hope to provide some general guidelines about pursuing a post graduate degree abroad. This article will be followed by others in the series over the next few months.
The first step to pursuing studies in the U.S. is to get a general idea of the American University system and the requirements for Indian students. Different universities may have different requirements, but the general framework applies to most universities in the United States.
Universities in the US, often called schools, could be private or public. Typically, public schools are bigger and less expensive than private schools. Universities are typically divided into different colleges, each with a different primary focus. Within the college, a wide array of concentrations are offered. A student is free to chose from among the different choices of concentrations in their particular college. To give an example, I went to Virginia Tech which has the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Natural Resources, etc. Each college has departments (e.g., Departments of forestry, wood sciences and wildlife in the College of Natural Resources).
The schools offer various programs of study. Each program requires a minimum number of credit hours to complete the program. A masters level program in computer science might require 33 credit hours. So, what does that mean? This means that a student can select courses, the sum of which should total at least 33 credit hours. A typical course offered would be for 3 credit hours (though it could typically range from 1 to 4). So we can take eleven 3-credit hour courses (or similar combination) to complete 33 credit hours. When does one take these courses? A typical school has 4 semesters in an academic year: Spring (Jan-May), Summer I (May-Jun), Summer II (Jun-Jul), and Fall (Aug-Dec). Since all the courses are not offered in all the four semesters, they are taken when they are offered.
Now we have some basic idea of how schools function in the US. How do we know what they have to offer? The best answer to that is the school websites. One could find a listing of schools in the Peterson’s Guide. While I was searching for universities offering programs in forestry, I had referred to the Natural Resources Research Information Pages. This site has a very good compilation of universities offering programs in the field of natural resources. Some good examples of prestigious schools in the Natural Resources sector include: Yale University , ( School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Tropical Resources Institute ) , Harvard University, ( Harvard Forest ) , Duke University, ( Nicholas School of the Environment ) , Columbia University, ( Center for Environmental Research and Conservation ), and Cornell University, ( College of Agriculture and Life Sciences ) besides a host of equally good Universities.
If you aspire for a MBA course with dollops of environmental studies , the best place to look for is the Annual survey carried out by World Resource Institute and Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program . Look for the survey, “ Beyond Grey Pinstripes : Preparing MBAS for Social and Environmental Stewardships” at http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org . Six schools on the cutting edge include :
Schools
on the Cutting Edge
George Washington
Washington, DC
Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)
Chapel Hill, NC
Stanford
Stanford, CA
Yale
New Haven, CT
York (Schulich)
Toronto, Canada
As you might ask, what are the requirements for studying in a school in the US? Well, it depends on the school. One can easily find this info from the school’s admissions webpage. Most of the universities require the GRE and TOEFL scores and letters of recommendation in addition to the completed application form and application fees. The application packages for these tests are available from ETS. Check out the Prometric website to find the testing center closest to your city.
Given that we have selected a program of study we want to pursue, how do we go about getting admission into the school? Different schools have different requirements. A typical admission process would require you to submit an application form together with the required documents to the graduate school. A graduate school in a university generally handles the administrative functions for graduate students. Once the graduate school has all the required documents, it would forward the complete application package to the pertinent college for consideration. Panels of professors in the college (or specific departments within the college) go through the applications. They send their decision to the graduate school that then sends out the admission letter. So, it is a good idea to contact professors in these schools in advance and work with them to know whether you are suited for the particular course.
This was a short introduction to applying for higher studies. While I write this article we can just imagine the number of questions that would follow. We at NIEP would continue this topic as a series of articles over the next few months providing details on specific courses. We will cover the topics in depth and answer any follow-up questions for our members. Log on to our website http://www.envindia.com and sign up for membership to get your queries answered by Alumni from prestigious US universities like me. Let’s share our enthusiasm for a common dream.
Hello
I’m Anubhav Pattjoshi from India.i have complete my bachelors in Civil Engineering from nagpur University.I have a score of 2050 out of 2400 in GRE and score of 270 in TOEFL.I would like to pursue masters in Environmental Engineering in U S .Kindly send your suggestions.
Anubhav PattjoshiPosted by on 09/01 at 02:01 AM