GRE/What should be GRE goals

You need to have concise goals in terms of attending a particular school. Many people assume admissions to be a lottery - a game of chance, where you apply to 6 or 8 schools and wish to gain the admission (the lottery). Once you obtain the admission, you have to deal with the problem of : why go to this school, is this school good, is it worth the expense and so on... I am not saying this to offend you. Remember, application is a process of setting the path to achieve the goals in the next stage of your life. Doing things blindly, without objective thought will affect you gravely later, at a date, when you introspect and retrospect. Please assume the following questions: 1. Why exactly did I join UG? Mostly because of your parents or peer pressure, but at least then, you would have formed a goal for yourself. 2. Why exactly do I want to go for graduate studies? Sometimes, the answer is as simple as "My girl friend is there". There is absolutely nothing wrong. But be honest. Have an answer. It doesn't have to be ideal. It almost never is! 3. What kind of program do I want to be in? 4. What do I wish to do after I complete the program? 5. What type of schools do I aspire to study in? 6. What will I do if I had to go for low - ball schools? Nothing wrong here. But since a lot of people ask this of themselves after admission, it is worth asking, before application. 7. What will I do if I get a 100% rejection rate? Life is real. Life is hard. Deal with it. 8. Why am I here? -- Okay, I made that up, but ask all the important questions you would ask, as early as possible. Sometimes you may find a MS in a branch of engineering or science itself was not for you! Credits: Srihari