Profile:

• • Education: BSc Hons. Electrical Engineering, UET Lahore

• • GPA: 3.88

• • GRE: 315 (164Q, 151V, 3.5 AWA)

• • TOEFL: 103

• • Work Experience: 2 years at Mentor Graphics

• • Research Publications: None

Experience:

With great pleasure, I would like to share that I was able to secure a fully funded admission into PhD Computer Sciences at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. I would like to share my personal experience with you that might help you in achieving your goals.

I contacted a professor prior to everything who had a vacancy for a PhD student under his supervision. I liked his research area, his profile, and the opportunities. Also it was relevant to my current work experience as well. The professor asked me to contact him after I have taken all my tests and filled out the admission application.

Preparing for any tests when you have an awesome and tedious job is not an easy task. It’s very difficult to take out time for preparations, so you have to work smart, consume less time, and have a targeted approach rather than being on an admission/application spree. I knew my strengths and weaknesses to some extent, so only prepared for 21 days for my GRE, 1 or 2 hours per day, and only 35 minutes the day before the test for TOEFL.

Well, after all that, I contacted him again and had a couple of Skype interviews and some discussions till he decided to offer me that position. Everything after that was very smooth, thanks to the awesome WMU administration and all the help from #ScholarDen.

Apart from WMU, I didn’t apply anywhere and followed a very targeted approach and in doing so, saved a couple hundred bucks.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you for taking out time to read my story. Please do contact me in case of any questions of help.