My Master's journey at the university fo Houston: real expereinces and honest insight

I have applied to 7 colleges. They are UMBC, UNT, Arizona, UH, UT Arlington, Kent State University, University of Cincinnati, NJIT, and SUNY Albany. I got a rejection from UMBC. Remaining all I got confirmed admits. I have to ECE Background and I applied for Computer Science at UMBC, so I think its criteria didn't match my profile. UNT, Arizona, has not rejected me but they have offered other courses for me as I applied a bit late for them. I applied to only public universities. So, it's one of the reasons. It has a good rating. I inquired with alumni on LinkedIn, and they told me that it is a very worthy college for the fee we can afford. Affordable college with a great educational background and efficient faculty. These many factors made me choose this university. We need to apply to this college using the applyweb portal. I submitted my IELTS 6.5 and GRE 319 scores for my application process and a good SOP. I'm not sure about the eligibility criteria, but the minimum IELTS is 6.5 and if you have a GPA of above 9, you can expect an instate fee waiver scholarship . The only thing I felt a bit frustrated about was that the response was very slow. I got my admit response after 2.5 months of applying. In the fall of 2024, I got into that intake only; it took me 2.5 months to respond after applying. I applied to every college and waited for all those responses, but at last, this gave me an option in the end to choose over all others because of its worthfulness towards many aspects, which I mentioned earlier; my other process, like packing a visa, took very little time....Read More

Applied into:- 1. University of Houston - Admitted and Selected  2. University of Texas at Arlington - Admitted but not selected as heard that they are admitting even students with very low grades. 3. California State University, Long Beach - Rejected  4. California State University, Fullerton - Admitted but not selected as cost of living was way higher. 5. Northeastern University - Admitted but for Software Engineering instead of Computer Science so not selected. 6. Arizona State University - Admitted but again for Software Engineering instead of CS and was anyway too expensive. Fees was the number one priority due to which I selected this university as the job market is not that good so I didn't want to invest a lot of money. First of all there is a common portal for all universities of Texas ( i think its applytexas.org but not too sure) where you will have to apply then after you will receive email and password for universities own portal there your previous education as well as all of your scores will be uploaded. After than just wait until you will receive a decision via email in later half of March. For GRE there is no minimum score but anyone getting above 310 will be easily accepted. Mine were 7.5 and 312 respectively. There weren’t any challenges as such but one thing that was not clear is when you would receive a decision was uncertain. For CSU LB I remember there was a way to monitor it but no such thing for any other universities except that one. I applied for Fall 2024 intake. Fees was the primary factor. Other factors were cost of living, ease of getting on-campus jobs, experience of professors teaching courses that I am particularly looking to take. The admission process might have taken 4 months. I started the application process on 23rd November 2023 might have completed it entirely till 30th November 2023 and then got admit finally on 25th March 2024....Read More

University of Houston, accepted MIchigan state university, accepted  UIC, accepted  Penn state university, rejected UT Austin, rejected  Texas A&M, rejected University of Wisconsin Madison, rejected  UIUC, rejected  I got rejected from the top tier universities I applied, I felt my research profile was not upto the mark, I didn't have any research publications while applying. I had a low GPA in masters (8) I chose university of Houston, because the chemical engineering department is well established, Houston is the hub of Chemical engineering, there are many well established companies in the energy sector like Shell, Exxon, Dow etc. I am working in the energy field currently, which has been my interest. Getting offer letter, accepting it, followed by I20 from the university. Then applying for a visa. On reaching there,  need to submit transcripts and show degrees  TOEFL exam required only ( min 80 out of 120) Overall admission experience was good, but quite lengthy. You need to start very early, arrange all the documents,  specially Statement of purpose and 3 letter of recommendations from 3 faculties you know very well. Also the application fees are quite high for some universities, so need to apply sensibly. Not more than 6-7 universities I will recommend. I applied for the Fall 2023 intake. I completed my Master's on July 2023, so I applied for that intake. It generally takes 6-7 months to complete the admission process. Sept- Dec: Apply to all the desired universities, along with the required documents  From Jan to March, the acceptance letter starts to come in. I got my offer letter in March, and the final deadline to accept ot reject the offer letter is April 15th....Read More

USA has good academics where I could learn practical skills. This university has a better reputation than other colleges. And CS courses have some good standards. Houston's temperature is ideal for Indian temperatures. Careers are highly pursued in CM, MIS and IE courses in Houston. Extracurricular activities like football and rec activities are conducted some or the other time....Read More

1. University of Houston, Texas (Shortlisted) 2. California state university, Long Beach (Admitted) 3. San Diego state University (Admitted) 4. University of New Haven (Admitted) 5. University of North Texas (Admitted) I did not receive any rejections from the college I had applied to 5 colleges and got admit from all of them. I was very inclined towards the colleges in texas because the weather here is good compared to other states and also the living expenses are quite less. The reason to chose this University was that I received a conditional scholarship of 50% tuition fees for all semesters if I maintain 3.75 CGPA all over the Masters time. The process is same with TOefl above 80 and GRE was not mandatory and I had a strong profile with 2.5 years experience in the Data industry. I did not face any challenges in the entire process. I applied for fall 2024 intake where I started my process 1 year back. I gave my Toefl exam on September 2023 and after that started the process of collecting the transcripts from the college, My SOP, LOR and resume preparation started in October 2023 itself and I was ready with all the documents be the November 2023 and I completed all my applications by December 2023. I started to get responses from February 20224 and confirmed the college by April 2024 and completed the visa process on June 2024....Read More

I applied to 5-6 colleges. I got admission to UH & CSU. Waitlisted: GSU and the University of Michigan rejected my application. UH & CSU confirmed admission.  Maybe my GRE score did not meet their eligibility. Three main reasons made me choose UH. I wanted to study at a good public university that can provide scholarships followed by a course plan, proper infrastructure, resources, and faculties. Beyond the confines of the classroom, I have actively participated in various extracurricular activities and events, including badminton tournaments, seminars, and cultural festivities. These experiences fostered meaningful connections with peers and faculty members. As a member of the GISO, Bridges International group, and through volunteer engagements, I have embraced opportunities to celebrate diversity, promote cultural exchange, and contribute to the global community. I had to take up TOEFL and GRE exams, then I had to pay 75 dollars for submitting an application along with SOP and LORs. I waited a couple of months to receive a confirmation. I have been asked to check the tuition fee and accept the offer. I received I-20 within 3-4 weeks for me to start my immigration process. GRE: 300+, IELTS: 7+; & TOEFL: 85-90 It was not challenging for me. I was able to refer to the UH website for the admission process and I received an update regarding the application status and I-20 process within the timeline that I expected....Read More

University of Washington (Rejected) RISD (Rejected) MASSART (Accepted) Virginia Tech (Accepted) The reason why I got rejected from the colleges listed above is probably because I was trying to change streams when I applied for design and these colleges were offering more competitive courses that suited well for people who were already in the field or had some relevant experience. UW has a very focused HCI program, RISD is a hard-core design school. Both of these schools probably weren't suited for a novice designer like me. University of Houston offered me room to grow and discover myself as a designer as opposed to accept me as one. It was also a very good research-oriented approach to design which is more empathetic towards those who want to enter the design world. The admission process was very simple, first step of which is to apply online with all the required material (portfolio, GRE score, TOEFL score, recommendation letters, application fees and forms). Next was the most difficult interview that I ever had. They went through my portfolio in front of me through the call. They accepted me thereafter and then the regular process of applying to any other US college followed that involved the VISA process and paying the fees. There were no challenges as such except for the whole COVID backlash. Highlight was the interview because as nerve wracking it was, it was also something that gave me enough confidence that I can do it. GRE was just a formality, portfolio was the deciding factor. No minimum scores required. I applied for the FALL 2021 intake. I wanted to change disciplines and with COVID receding it was the right time to make the move. The admission (right from filling out the required forms and fees in the month of December) to getting an acceptance (March), it was a three month long process. I took the GRE and TOEFL in September, prepared my supplementary material by the end of December and applied then. Gave interviews in the month of February and then got acceptances in March. After which i began the VISA process....Read More

The Master of Science architecture degree here had the sustainable architecture line, and that was something I was really looking forward to learning and leaning towards as an architect. It was fun and a great experience. Got to meet a lot of new people and was able to find help easily whenever I needed it. And loved the hangout spots....Read More

It is a great experience. In my first semester, I been in a leadership program other than my own courses and next two semester, I have been in few clubs which helped me to socialize, build networks and finnaly made my experience unique compared to lot of other students....Read More

It is fairly good university. You will enjoy your time here....Read More