Higher studies in the US: The basics

American education system is fundamentally different from ours. The basic differences are

1)While we specialize starting from higher secondary (11 and 12th class) , here, specialized divisions (or schools) exist only in masters level.

2) There no concept of competitive examination here.
For example, in IIT/JEE only the top 3000 scorers can get into IITs.
However, in the US , there is no such examination. Each individual application is considered on the basis of Test Scores (say GRE , or SAT) , the grade (in high school or at undergrad level), letter of recommendation,statement of purpose, overall profile and sometimes essays.

Many university websites however advise a minimum score in GRE etc. and rarely, mention undergrad percentage also .. (The language will be like, "Typically, over the last few years it has been observed that successful candidates have a GRE score of 1200". ) However, this should NOT be assumed to be any cut off, an exceptional profile, can easily override these.
(For example , for MIT, it seems GRE scores matter the least :) )

3) Except for having to complete some minimum requirement for the Major, a student has absolute liberty to chose subjects from any department, and sometimes from other universities too.


First of all, lets be familiar with the terminologies:

1) School
This is a somewhat confusing word, and used in a variety of situations.
High school is from age 14 to age 18 (class 9,10,11,12)
Undergrad school, is after that for four years. Typically it is used for specialized institutes for masters level studies. Like graduate school, law school, medical school, engineering school etc etc.

2) Undergraduate studies:
What we call graduate studies in India, is undergraduate or bachelors here.
It is typically for four years, irrespective of the subjects studied. (In India, only Medical and Engineering courses are of four year duration)
A student has a choice of taking subjects from any discipline, (from any department like Engineering, Arts and Sciences etc etc) and then during the 3rd year, he /she has to decide on a major. One can do a double major too. For a major there are university specific requirements on what courses have to be taken up.

3)Graduate studies: Masters and Phd. are together called graduate studies.

Admission process:
For undergraduate studies , students have to take an examination called SAT. Otherwise, the process is similar to graduate admissions. I will write only about graduate studies here.

The basic requirement of admission into a graduate school is 16 years of schooling. This is the reason why non engineering/medical students from India fist obtain a masters degree or just complete the first year of masters before they can apply for another masters here.
However, as with other things in the US, there is no hard and fast rule here. For example two of my friends got in just with BSc degrees from India, because their respective professors here liked their profile.

Graduate Records Examination: GRE
Taking this examination is the easiest part of the process! Especially for Indians, who are used to Examination-leading-to-Admission concept. Again, if the professor likes you, university might take you without GRE. For example , one Serbian friend of mine had to take only Toefl.
GRE format changes from time to time and the best source of Information is the official website of GRE. In a nut shell, this has three parts
1) Quantitative:
A bunch of high school maths questions, and with a little practice, most people score close to the full mark (800).
2) Verbal
Involved mugging up close to 3000 words , many of which we would probably never use in life. The most difficult part is comprehension. Yes, it is just like our high school comprehension questions, but with incomprehensible words, and choices which all look correct. Total marks 800
3) Analytical Writing
I don't know how much "analytical" this writing is, but basically its an essay on some subject (the list of ALL subjects have been declared by GRE). Graded on a scale of 6.
This looks easy, but is known to have deceived many aspirants. I am also not too sure how much importance universities give on this score. (It was introduced during our times)

Being computer based, Verbal and Quantitative scores become available seconds after completion of the exams. But, one has to wait, typically for a month to get the writing scores.
Keep this in mind while planning for applying.

TOEFL: Test of English as foreign language.
During my time, it was the easiest examination I ever took. Its usually a cakewalk for most Indians. The pattern changed some time back , and I am not sure if it is still easy.
Admission decision never depends on TOEFL, but, one has to clear a cut off, which is a stringent requirement. (After all you are going to study in English!)

Subject GRE
As opposed to the above general tests, this examination measures your skills in your field.
I never took it, nor do I know anybody who took it. So, I would not comment on this.

The difficult part:
The test scores are valid for years and hence one can take the tests and then apply anytime.
My suggestion would be to take the tests, say, during second or third year of undergraduate studies (I am going to use American terms here). The reason is, a good application takes a lot of planning and preparation in addition to good scores.
USA offers too many choices, and since application fees are high, one has to target the right set of Universities for him/her. The key is to start early...the earlier, the better.