ASSISTANTSHIPS

How to secure Assistantship

Greetings folks!

This part of the year is indeed a curious and anxious phase for all those who have applied for their Master's or PhD at US universities. Some with arduous desire to advance careers with passion in research, some with a motto to chill out (like me :P) and some due to sheer pressure by parents to foot on the land of opportunities making it to US universities. This total figure is increasing every year after schools in US desperately wanted to embrace their cultural diversity.

To study in a big school is definitely something anyone would want to, but the money it takes for this is daunting for most of the students. This often make people stick to a small job and start working with all their dreams shattered with a drastic end to their student life. However, American universities shell out billions of dollars for the research advancements which goes to lot of graduate students in the form of assistantships. If past is any indication, people securing assistantship after reaching the school outnumber ones who secures it before making it to school.
Virtually if takes nothing to secure assistantship but to know how to get it. The below summarized is the list of things you potentially need to do to secure assistantship-

1. After securing an admit from university XYZ, browse through the department you applied to. Email the professors who does research of your interest mentioning that you are interested to work with him and wait for atleast a week for a reply. You can shoot emails to other professors working in other fields but if they both research in same field I would recommend not to do so.
2. Incase you dont receive a reply in a week or two, don't hesitate to ring the professor and talk to him mentioning your interest in working with him. Atmost you would lose few bucks and kill your curiosity. (You can also ask him if any professor is looking for students :P)
3. Some similar research is conducted in different departments for instance CS and EE overlap, Mech, Aero and TAM might have common research. So do check out for all the possibilites.
4. Currently, nanotechnology and biotechnology have overwhelming funds, that a lot of interdisciplinary research is conducted. So, you can browse through the other departmental professors who might be working on either your focus area or nano/bio. These fields have high chances of fetching you aid in form of research assistantships.

A lot of students applies through educational consultants who just care about getting you an admit. But with the information specified and some effort on internet emailing professors, you can eventually save 20-25lakhs!

Click here to see sample email on how to write to a professor asking for assistantship