Some fascinating insights into student activities for Fall 2011 admissions into US universities for higher studies by engineering grads from India

1. www.yournextleap.com
nextLeap
Fall 2011
[Some fascinating insights into student activities for Fall 2011 [College
admissions into US universities for higher studies by engineering grads Admission
from India]
Trends]

2. Fall 2011 US College Admission Trends for
Indians – Report by nextLeap
nextLeap, an advanced recommendation engine that helps Indian engineering students get to
targeted colleges in the United States, has released their latest industry report on admission
patterns and student preferences for the Fall 2011 admission cycle for engineering and sciences
graduates. nextLeap’s unique web-based recommendation engine which runs on mathematical
models has helped thousands of students this year in realizing their dreams of US education.
Every year, India sends out more than 35,000 students to more than 2400 US universities for higher
studies in various engineering and sciences courses. As per the latest numbers by National Science
Foundation USA 9,240 Indian students from Computer Science and 17,150 students from other
courses like Mechanical, Industrial, Biomedical and Aerospace engineering etc. go to US every year.
Some key findings from the report -
Non IIT students going to US on the rise
Students are slowly realising that one does not need to be an IITian anymore to get into
good US schools e.g. Anna University, Chennai holds a staggering pie of 24.3% from the
total applicants and education hubs like Pune and Hyderabad together send out 13% of the
total student population every year.
Financial Hurdles
On the other hand, more than 54% of deserving Indian students are forced every year to
opt for lower ranked universities with comparatively high financial assistance instead of
those with good career prospects because not everyone can afford the extreme expenses.
Non-conventional education on the rise
While hot courses like Computer Science and Electrical Engineering are student favourites,
last few years have seen non-conventional education like Management in Engineering
Sciences; Operations Research etc. quickly rise to around 11% of total applications.
Location matters
9/10 students apply to a lower ranked university if it is in proximity of job-rich areas. Lot of
students apply to universities like San Jose State University in California Silicon Valley or
Syracuse University and SUNY Buffalo near New York. But students are also aware of very
low ranked universities and the risks one might have to make while studying there,
especially after the recent Tri-Valley University scam.
More detailed insights can be seen in the report below.
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Creative Commons license Attribution, as long as you credit the author for original creation.

3. Indian Universities: Not Just IITs
While top notch Indian colleges like IITs have always provided a major chunk of students interested
in studying abroad, the education boom of past few years has resulted in much more selections from
Pune University, Mumbai University, Anna University Chennai, JNTU Hyderabad etc. This shows that
students these days are more aware of global career and education opportunities, with many
applicants coming out of small Tier III cities too. The following graph gives a better idea of non – IIT
applicants which took GRE this year and applied to at least one US University.
This report was created by http://www.yournextleap.com You are free to use this report under
Creative Commons license Attribution, as long as you credit the author for original creation.

4. Popular Courses
And it comes as no surprise that hot courses in Indian colleges like Computer Science and Electrical
Engineering are still the vogue for higher studies because of much better job prospects. Both the
courses together constitute a whopping 70% of applications. While Civil, Chemical, Aerospace, IT etc.
together hold a 9% of the pie. But the last few years has seen a rise of business related courses like
Masters in Engineering Management, Management of Information Systems etc. These help students
groom themselves to a more corporate lifestyle by going beyond technology. The following graph
shows how the pie is shared –
This report was created by http://www.yournextleap.com You are free to use this report under
Creative Commons license Attribution, as long as you credit the author for original creation.

5. University Selection Criteria
But US education is an expensive one, and when it comes to finding the right fit for a student, they
not only look for future prospects but also at survival during the 2 years via financial aids and fee
waivers on campus. That is the sole reason how universities like Syracuse, Rochester, University of
Tennessee - Knoxville, and University of Maryland etc. attract cream talent from India and other
developing countries.
Our research shows that a staggering 54% of users who deserve better career prospects and job
placement opportunities end up going to lower ranked universities because of financial assistance
offered by them. Weather is also a unique factor that has come to play in the recent years, since the
Northern Hemisphere can have much more extreme winters and summers as compared to the
Indian weather conditions.
To help students ease their financial burdens, nextLeap recently launched a Scholarship Finder with
a database of 50+ scholarships and more than 10 crores in funding from various CSR campaigns and
charitable trusts. You can check it here http://scholarship.yournextleap.com/
This report was created by http://www.yournextleap.com You are free to use this report under
Creative Commons license Attribution, as long as you credit the author for original creation.

6. Popular US universities: Location matters
Some universities like the San Jose State University in California, despite of being low in overall
rankings, give students ample opportunities for world class coursework and industry contacts
because of the neighbouring rich areas of Silicon Valley. The same goes for Santa Clara University,
San Francisco State and San Diego State Universities, who are amongst some of the top wanted
universities by the students masses.
Many students miss out on applying to such universities because of the herd mentality of going after
the top Ivy League colleges, and end up not getting admits anywhere. But as a general rule, closer
affinity to the top cities like New York (east coast) and Los Angeles and San Francisco (west coast) is
always preferred because that provides a foot in the door for the ample jobs in top cities.
Some of the top places where the student population applied for this Fall 2011 admission cycle can
be seen from the graph below –
Most US universities have already started sending admits and rejects and students can do nothing
but wait. That is why nextLeap’s latest feature helps students track their universities and fellow
applicants who are being admitted and rejected. For the first time now, students can judge their
chances of getting into a university using scientific and mathematical models perfect and designed
over the past one year. You can try out the University Tracker here http://tracker.yournextleap.com/
This report was created by http://www.yournextleap.com You are free to use this report under
Creative Commons license Attribution, as long as you credit the author for original creation.

7. About nextLeap
nextLeap is an advanced recommendation engine to help students and young professionals map
their "career graph" and make optimal academic and career decisions. nextLeap has unique web-
based products to help Indian engineering students short-list the right American Universities,
manage their application process for those universities, find better funding opportunities and
connect with fellow applicants using social elements. More information at http://yournextleap.com
This report was created by http://www.yournextleap.com You are free to use this report under
Creative Commons license Attribution, as long as you credit the author for original creation.