How to Get Professors to Fund You via Assistantship

I’m back after visiting New York and Boston. Last week was a very busy one at my work. Hopefully I would be able to write regularly again.

In this article I’m answering one of the questions from my scrapbook. I have answered the same question before, but it was spread across several posts.

Question

My GRE score is 1,160 and many consultants are saying that it is difficult to get a TA/RA/Scholarship. I can manage fees for 2 semesters but can I pay the fees by doing part time jobs for the 3rd and later semesters?

Answer

You are not the only person who is facing the same situation. Around 75% of the students who gets admission is without any scholarship.

Unless you have very good credentials, graduate school admission with scholarship will be difficult to achieve. But still, you must take note that around 80,000 students from India had come to study in the U.S.

In total, only 25% of students gets admission with some form of scholarship. A 1,160 score is decent enough to get admission in good graduate schools.

There are so many graduate schools in the U.S. and you have so many options of courses to select from at each graduate school. When you don’t have a good score in GRE and academic credential, you can still get admissions from graduate schools, but without any form of aid.

The reason is simple. Professors have no way of knowing your credential, capacity, and research potential unless you have a very high GRE score.

Every graduate school has its own way of evaluating students who apply for admission.

The Concept is Simple:

Would you lend say $20,000 to some stranger who walks to you and asks for money?

When a university pays you, it wants you to do research work for the school.

A university will pay you for your work and your potential to solve research problems.

If you are a complete stranger, and if your GRE and academic credentials don’t speak much about you, they are not going to give any scholarship or RA/TA.

After you arrive at your gradate school, introduce yourself to a professor and try to work for him/her.

Volunteer to work in a professor’s lab for a semester or two.

Based on your work performance and research skills, a professor will give you funding. Hard work always pays off.

Usually, a student manages to complete graduate school studies in many circumstances.

There are so many ways to pay for school expenses.

If you can afford to pay for only 2 semesters, get a student loan for 2 semesters. You can pay off the student loan after you get a job.

I have written articles on saving on student loans and other articles that talk about ways to reduce your educational expenses.