How to Apply for Best Electrical and Electronic Engineering Schools

Begin your search by identifying your various personal and academic goals. It's important that you are confident that the schools to which you are applying offer academic programs which interest you and meet your personal needs. Spend time considering what type of campus life and academic curriculum suits you. Visit as many schools as you can. Begin with a broad list of many different kinds of school and begin to narrow the list as you learn more about the schools and understand more of what you want out of college.

Use campus visits wisely, asking questions of admissions officers, students, and professors. Call or email questions for which your internet searches don't answer. Understand that all your communications with the college will likely become part of your admissions file should you decide to apply, so avoid slang language and sloppy emails.

Also, if you recognize that you will need financial assistance in order to attend grad school; “Visit Days” is the time to start researching your options. While visiting different grad schools you can investigate financial aid options, sources of independent scholarships and make arrangements to speak with financial aid officers at grad schools to which you will apply. The more you know about actual costs at the front end of the process, the easier it will be to identify and target schools that are likely to admit you and give you the assistance you will need.

Review the admission requirements of the shortlisted schools and the course structure of the program. Also, review the application deadline and timelines.

Most grad schools have online applications but know that some schools have specific requirements for the way applications are submitted.

- Statement of Purpose: Statement of Purpose gives you an opportunity to distinguish yourself beyond grades and test scores. The Statement of Purpose should be between one and two pages in length. You may choose to write about previous experiences, your personal and professional goals: Why this school? What might follow? What inspires you? What drives you? Etc. Statement of Purpose is basically a discussion of academic and career objectives.

- Standardized Test Scores: Take the Standardized Test like GRE (Graduate Record Examination), SAT (Scholastic Aptitude test) and SAT Subject Test preferably in Chemistry or science, ACT (American College Testing), and applicants who are not Americans are also required to take the TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign language) or IELTS.  The scores of these standardized tests take an applicant’s application one step ahead.

- Official Records: Education history i.e. official records will provide the information on your scholastic record for your undergraduate or graduate course work from previous colleges attended.

- Three Letters of Recommendation: A recommendation letter is a detailed discussion, from a faculty member, of the personal qualities, skills, accomplishments, and experiences that make you unique and perfect for the programs to which you've applied. A letter of recommendation provides insights that cannot be gleaned by simply reviewing an applicant's score.

- Application fee: A non-refundable fee must accompany every application.

- Extracurriculars: Admission department at several Electrical and Electronic Engineering Universities are interested in a student's extracurricular activities -in other words, how you spend your time outside of classes. Colleges care about the character of the people they admit; therefore, what you do after school, during weekends and over summers tells them a lot about the kind of person you are.  Getting involved in something is a great way of networking. Many people are able to discover their interests and values through getting involved in various activities different from a regular routine. Extracurricular activities are the major way students can demonstrate how unique you are, possibly more interesting.

- Internships and Co-ops: Internships and Cooperative Education provide students with a great opportunity to acquire real-world experience while still in school. In addition to giving students direct experience in the field they are considering, interaction with others in the field can help provide perspective on career path options. An internship allows students to apply the scientific and engineering principles they learned in school to current engineering problems in a business setting. Listing them adds weight to the application and also their future in the same field.

- Essays/ Personal Statement: Essays are considered as a way to judge the applicants potential and skills. Admission Essays are also called as Personal Statements. A two-page personal statement (approximately 500 words) outlining your background, research interests, goals, and reasons for applying to the course and university is essential.

- Write what you think and speak. The purpose of the essay is to show the real you, what you think and what motivates you.

- Remember that what bores you pretty much bores others. So be original and creative.

- Nothing excites a reader more than writing that’s invigorating. When choosing your topics, pick what genuinely excites you. Your enthusiasm will show through.

Early admission is a way of telling a school that you really want to go there. If you do apply early admission, you'll have a slightly higher chance of getting in. School use early admission to gauge who really wants to attend their school; many students who they accept eventually end up going somewhere else, a situation that is not ideal. Be sure   you're comfortable with the school if you decide to apply early admission.

Interview is a chance to prove that you are better than what your score shows. College interview is meant to be a conversation, an easy discussion about the investment of your time and money in the study programme and how much you will actually be able to gain from it. The university employees will try to gauge why you have chosen a particular country, university and course. They try to find out if you will be able to do well in the program, prospects after that and would be able to adapt to the college environment.

- The interviewer expects the applicants to ask some questions about the school or the program. So, the applicant must browse the university website and prepare specific questions about the course or university.

- Practice before the actual interview happens. Sit down with one of your parents or a teacher and have him or her ask you questions. Answer them honestly and seriously. Then ask your "interviewer" how you came across.

- Be confident, polite, clear and yourself.

- Follow-up: At the conclusion of your meeting, thank the interviewer, shake his or her hand. As you would with any representatives you meet on campus, follow-up with a short email thanking your interviewer for their time and information and referencing a specific aspect of the interview as a way of keeping the interview fresh in the interviewer’s mind. This is also a great time to follow-up on any questions you think you did not answer effectively, pose any questions that you wish you had asked, or ask any new questions you may have upon further research. Once you have made the initial follow-up, aim to keep in touch again before sending your application.