GET INSPIRED: Planning for the Future

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

- Chinese proverb

This was presented at USEF, Kathmandu on Dec 2015. Uploaded here with
permission

*The contents in this PowerPoint are not necessarily authors views. Information has been
collected and put together from several resources *
What should I do in college/university to prepare for a
great job or a great grad school?

Figure out what you like sooner, College goes fast

What do you enjoy doing or are maybe good at?
Never take up any career choice to satisfy your parents, by following your peers or by
following the job market alone.Trust me, that's the worst kind of screw up that you could
do in your life

Pick a right major

Choose something that can lead to multiple paths or open multiple possibilities in
future unless you are absolutely sure about your future life goals. Try combination, for
example, Mathematics with Economics, Statistics with Computer Science, Psychology with
Computer Science, Information Technology with Mathematics, Sociology with Statistics,
Engineering with Computer Science minor/Business minor, Accounting with Finance,
International Relations with Public health etc
Money matters
Don't get piled up in student debt.If possible, that is. Once you start earning, most of your
income goes in to pay off your debt and you will be left with zero or little savings. Don't be a
penniless graduate
Try to get free education if you can. Higher costs of education or higher rankings does not
correlate entirely with higher earnings after your graduate

Listen to your seniors and learn from them

You only get something new if you listen to the words that are coming out of someone
else's experience, and it is even more important if it is coming out of seniors attending the
same college or pursuing the similar academic disciplines
Do not ignore experience of your seniors
Maintain a decent GPA
GPA is the most reliable standard for people to measure you against your peers. Stick to
this principle (unfortunately, our society relies on grades and rankings too much!)
Hiring employers say it is a testament of your work ethic. It's one thing to say that you're smart
and a hard worker
However, higher GPA does not guarantee a job. Do not compromise extracurricular activities,
research experience or any learning experience to maintain high GPA. It is better to be an all rounder
3.7 graduate as compared to being a 3.95 book-worm

Get a summer internship and on-campus jobs asap

It's the best time to try out different work and discover what you're really passionate about. College
life is an experiment. Start exploring early. Don't wait until after college to start building your resume
Apply jobs and internships from the beginning of your first semester at college. Learn early from the
rejections. Rejections are vital for career development
Getting into a reputed college is not a solution to everything
Not all Ivy league or Big 10 graduates get good jobs post-graduation
Schools can only help you much EXPOSURE. Brand is just one tiny portion.
Rest depends on your ability, your networking potential, and your technical
expertise

Get a research assistant or teaching assistant job

If you are thinking of going to graduate school try to get teaching
assistantship and research assistantship positions early on as an undergrad
Publication is not needed for top tier grad schools, but having research
experience will provide you an edge. PhD admission at any top 30/40 US
schools is extremely competitive with less than 20% or 10% acceptance rate
Ask professors for volunteering opportunities. Go knock their doors. Apply to
Summer Research programs or Undergraduate grants
Autonomy
Always do your job yourself. Stop the habit of reaching out to other people without doing proper
homework/research yourself. Common example, Sharing or Plagiarizing codes in CS classes, or Sys
admin course in IT classes. Avoid those habits or you will regret coming out as a tech graduate with
no real skills
Do NOT assume other people will do work for you including homework. They got their own life duties
to pursue. Be respectful of others time

Network like Crazy!

Its all about people. Its about networking and being nice to people and not burning any bridges.
Your book is going to impress but in the end it is people that is going to hire. This quote summarizes
importance of networking
Reach out to seniors or influential people for help. Show humbleness, not ego. You will need them
one day
Know your industry IN and OUT
Learn all the facts, figures, insights, blogs, and news
about your field.
Read all the major industry news, subscribe to all the
popular blogs, follow all the major playerson Twitter,
and set up custom Google Alerts.
Before you know it, youll know enough to set yourself
apart from others. This will set you apart in interviews.
Get good at specific stuff and then prove it
Not only do you need to have the knowledge and the skills
to be successful, but you need to prove that fact to
potential employers. The way research have found that
really works is creating a strong profile of your work,
building a record of outstanding accomplishments or
building an strong presence on LinkedIn, GitHub and/or
your personal blog.
Dont tell but sell. Unless you prove yourself, no one is
going to trust you
The Pareto principle : 80/20

Here's the truth about hiring from my perspective as an

employer:
I want to hire people who fit in with my company - I
want the person who is the ideal cultural fit to walk
through my door.
Hiring is sometimes 80% of you who you are and 20%
of what you can do
Myths on rankings
Take any rankings as a grain of salt. Use rankings as a
preliminary filter and nothing more.
A university may appear at 25 different spots ranked by
25 different agencies. Read how they came up with
ranking (methodologies) than just numbers.
Rankings are manipulated by organizations. Sometimes,
smaller organizations tend to do all it takes to rank
higher, some universities dont provide data so they are
ranked lower. Some agencies value brand over student
curriculum. There are billion reasons. So, Do not go crazy
about it no use !
Notice, How same university is ranked at
different spots by different agencies?
http://www.shanghairanking.com/
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-uni
versity-rankings/
2018
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-uni
versities?_mode=
table
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/
rankings
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142405274870455410
4575435563989873060
Myths on colleges
State Universities or Public Universities are not good ! FALSE
Top state or public schools like University of California system, University of Texas system,
Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Iowa
State University, University of Utah, University of Illinois are in many ways better than many private
or Ivy league universities out there. They have outstanding reputation worldwide.

Ivy league grads or top 50 university grads are always the smarter ! FALSE
Could be true until they get into the colleges. After graduation, they may as well not be?
Know that there are some notorious ways to get into these schools. Your money or your dads money
matters, so does alumni connections. I have seen bunch of retards from Harvard, Columbia, UT Austin,
and other schools.

I am a sum laude, you are only a magna cum laude! DOES NOT MATTER
Different schools set different GPAs for these distinction. X school can award Magna for 3.9+ GPA, and
another school could award Sum Laude for 3.75+GPA. How will you compare with tags? Tag alone will
not get you anything, do a habit of researching and find out what is good and what is not-so-good.
Transitioning to Grad School

Grad School Searching Tips

(also helpful to undergraduates)
Do I want a Masters or a PhD ?
Masters degree usually consists of additional coursework and will give you a
stronger foundation of the same sort you had as an undergraduate
Hardly Masters program are funded. You may be asked to pay thousands of $$
Getting a Ph.D. is a much longer commitment (often five or more years), the
core of which is an independent research project leading to a doctoral
dissertation, and job in academic institutions or research fields
Majority of Ph.D. programs are 100% funded

You are eligible to apply for the Ph.D. program right after your Bachelors if you have strong
credentials (higher GPA, higher GRE score, undergraduate research experience, graduating
with distinction or honors etc.)
Is it easier to get admitted as a Masters compared
to a PhD?

Depends how you define "easier

Generally speaking, all applicants should be aware that the
selection process is comprehensive and extremely rigorous
for Ph.D. admission because,
There are fewer slots for PhDs,
Masters slots are typically not funded vs. most PhD students
being fully funded,
PhDs admission looks more at your research profile vs.
Masters admission is an extension to your undergraduate

(information on this slide copied from responses in quora)

Degree Types and Degree Titles
1. One year Masters degrees or two years Professional degrees (MArch, MEng etc.)
Usually revenue generating for the school, so it usually easier to get in these types of Masters. You may be required to
self pay or very little aid. Notice the tags say MArch, MEng, and not MSc.

2. Two years Thesis based Masters

Some schools offer scholarships and assistantships to MS with Thesis, harder to get in compared to category (1). Leads
to a research based thesis

3. PhDs
Almost guaranteed scholarship and monthly stipend, much harder to get in compared to both categories (1) and (2)
above. Leads to publications, leads to academia, and researcher/scientist jobs

Degree Title does not matter in grad schools. Your research does
That is, you could do a technology research even if you are a PhD candidate at School of Arts/Education. And later, move
on being a Professor at Computer Science school. You can always jump from one degree type to another or from one
discipline to another. People value your work, not the titles or brands anymore !
Does money play a role?

A good college will never allow an unqualified applicant to get in,

but if there are two candidates, and one is high need (smart) and
the other is not (slightly less smart), all other things being equal,
the full pay student may be the one getting your seat.

Money does play some role for Masters degrees or Professional

degrees (NOT valid to all schools and to all degrees)

Money does NOT play so much in PhD admission as nearly all

PhDs are fully funded in the US
Choosing grad school: Is ranked 20
is better than 30?
Have you ever read ranking methodology?
USNEWS Ranking (mostly for undergrads)
ARWU Ranking (graduate citation based and impact factor rankings)
NSF Ranking (graduate: based on how much research fund each school
gets)
National Research Council Ranking (graduate: based on research output)
QS University/Top University rankings (graduate: based on perception
and brand)
Forbes, Wall Street, Economist, The Guardian Ranking (based on career
profile, average earning in 10 years etc.)
Many more?
Lets deep dive and see what we get
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universit
ies/computer-science?int=994b08
http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2015.html
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/bes
t-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-scien
ce-rankings
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13305/
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/u
niversity-subject-rankings/2015/computer-science-inf
ormation-systems#sorting=rank+region=+country=+facul
ty=+stars=false+search
=
To Ph.Ds. - What you should look
for?
Someone who shares similar interests to yours
Finding the authors who have done the most interesting work.
A list of highly published authors is available on the ACM
digital library (science),
Checking advisers publications to find out where they did this
work and where they are currently at (It may be necessary to
have access to the publications to determine this),
If the work was done at a university, then rank that university
higher in your list. (It would be prudent to check if a
researcher is still at the university or if s/he moved to some
other university)
QUESTIONS ? How can I help you?

For more information please contact

[email protected]

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