Some Tips to Study Abroad

Let me confess to the fact that I am not an expert in this field. My only experience lies in the fact that I have tried (still trying) for getting admission in a foreign university for my doctoral program. Hope my little experience will be of some use to you and will assist you in getting admitted in a reputed university.

There are two basic rules that matters if you want to study outside India:

• If you have somebody in the target country (not a friend preferably a blood relation) then the task becomes much easier.
• Money is also important factor in studying abroad.

The first thing I did was to narrow down my search to two countries – UK, Australia. I got the list of best 100 universities/colleges in UK and Australia to make my search more focussed. Once this is decided it is easy to proceed with your search for a College or University.

This is can be done in three ways:

1) Through laborious browsing of the Web.

2) Meeting officials at British council and IDB (Australia).

3) The best and the expensive option is to register yourself with some reputed educational consultancies (There are many consultancies’ in Chennai and Bangalore) some of the famous ones are

· Study Abroad

· Edwise

· Chopra’s.

Please note that they may charge you for the services but they will help you a lot. When you approach them be clear about your future plans. They are pukka business people. It is better to do some research of your own before approaching them. Writing a SOP (Statement of Purpose) is also an important step in getting admission in a foreign university.

I did explore the possibility of getting a scholarship for funding my studies. You may get more information regarding scholarships from British Council and IDB. (Chevening Scholarships and Commonwealth Scholarships)

Some of the universities that gave a favourable response to my queries were:

1) La Trobe university – Melbourne

2) University of Southampton - UK

3) University of Adelaide - Australia

4) University of Manchester - UK

5) University of New Castle – Australia

You can also extent your research to get some info about Academy City in Dubai. Most of the foreign and some of the Indian universities have opened their shops in Dubai.

Hope the above information will help you in your re-search.

All the best

Ye college hai meri jaan…

 

6:45 am – 2:00 pm – VTC – Shinas

I think this is the first time that I have given a Hindi title to a blog. The reason – I felt that this will suit the contents. There is a need to make the title reflect the reality. At this point I have a question to myself. Can money cover the hard academic realties that surrounds me? Maybe my dear and near ones thinks it can.

My academic day starts at 7:30 am. I usually is engaged till 10:30am. Here the class is divided into 45 minutes hours. so I handle one hour and thirty minutes. The first session is with RAC department and the second one is with Mechatronics. The first group is a nightmare on the elm street and the second group is a midsummer night’s dream. Once the classes are over, I eat my breakfast that will be around 10:30 am.

To give a better picture about my classes – it is less of TTT and more of STT. even i was stunned by these letters in the beginning of the academic year. Later on i discovered that TTT stood for TEACHER TALK TIME and STT stood for STUDENT TALK TIME. my classroom work is a combination of PPT’s, textbooks and sometimes even the Internet.

Morning Roadie

6:00 am – 6:45 am/ Sohar – Shinas

Early morning taxi ride is not a bad idea. The taxi comes at 5:55am. I will be the first one to get in. The ‘it’ will enter after some considerable time. That time (3-5 minutes) is enough for Abdu to get all worked up. He sometimes wakes up all the inmates of the expat block by honking his horn. He is quite impatient like the Airtel kids. We start at 6am. The roads will be pretty much deserted. When we reach Lulu roundabout I will give a missed call to HDD.’it’ will make the backseat of the car a bed and will be in deep sleep. It takes 10 minutes from Gayl-Ash-Shibool to Falaj where HHD resides. On the way, I usually check out whether the S car is ahead of us. I know that even Abdu is interested in knowing the GPS of the S car. Sometimes we get a chance to engage in a NFS with the S car. I also have the habit of looking at the ad-banners at Safeer Mall and the checking out the construction progress of the new Centerpoint near Safeer roundabout. HHD will be waiting near her flat. ‘It’ n me wishes her good morning. She responds to both of us. Abdu will now hit the Dubai road without wasting any time. HDD takes out the Green, red, white prayer books and will begin her spiritual journey. ‘It’ will go back to her sleep and I will sit in the front looking at the road ahead.From Falaj to Liwa is again another ten minutes. We reach Liwa around 6:20. Liwa roundabout is something which fascinates me. I used to see one of my student standing there waiting for the taxi. His name is also Abdu. I have heard from his friends that he is living in a faraway place surrounded by mountains. Anyway he is a punctual student.

Most of the days the journey is eventless. Certain days we engage in a conversation but those days are few. Each one will be pre-occupied by some thought or the other. If he is in good mood Abdu will joke with me. He likes to listen to the Holy Koran and he seeks my help to fine tune the Abu Dhabi FM station on the radio.

We do see some police cars in the morning and Abdu will ask me to wear the seat belt. Abdu’s normal speed is 120. One he spots the S car then he is pushes it to 140. Anyway he has to reduce his speed when he sees the Speed Radars. Police cars are also seen at accident sites. During rainy season police monitor the Wadi’s and gives the necessary information regarding the water level.

ONE DAY IN MY LIFE

5:00 – 6:00 am/ Gayl-ash-shibool/ Sohar, Oman

The beginning of my day depends a lot on how the previous night ended. Especially if my sleep was a disturbed one then my morning hour will be without energy. I get up from my bed at 5am listening to the mobile phone alarm. I snooze the alarm two times. Each snooze is for 9 minutes. So I leave the comfort of my bed around 5:20am. I switch on the bathroom lights before entering the bathroom and I approach the commode and sit there waiting for the XXXXX to  come out. Once that is done, I XXXXXXXXXX and will move towards the wash tub. I apply paste on my brush and will start the process of brushing. As I brush my teeth I move towards the kitchen and switch on the gas stove. I will wait for the water to boil. I will go to toilet again to wash my mouth and face. Once that is done I am back in kitchen again. I will pour the boiled water into a tea cup, add some sugar and drop a tea bag into it. My morning tea is ready. Sometimes I eat some snacks also. Most of the days I don’t finish my tea because of lack of time. The next step is to enter the bath room. I will move towards the wash tub again to have a hair wash. This is something which I enjoy. After wards I enter the bedroom to change my dress which includes wearing shirt, putting on the trousers, wearing the belt and tie and finally socks and shoes. After that I stand before the mirror to adjust my tie and to button my shirt. I apply perfume and place the rosary in my pocket. I stand before him and make the cross sign. I come to the living room, take my bag and mobile and will leave the home to enter the waiting taxi.

Bryan Adams - Eleven - We Found What We Were Looking For

secret window

this is a wonderful experience as such

hope to use this to the full extent possible

My portable