Cornell University

Salil_Singh

To kick off next session in our series of AMA sessions, Varun Harnathka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/varun-harnathka/ who completed his Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in Energy Economics and Engineering at Cornell University will volunteer an hour to field your queries. Prior Cornell University, Varun completed his BTech in Chemical Engineering (minor in Petroleum Engineering) from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal and has volunteered to work for Rotary International, Scio Benevolent Foundation, etc. During his course, he worked as the Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant in the Cornell University.

You can start asking your questions right away. Tune into this page at 6 pm on Friday 2nd of August to get your answers. See you then!

Vatsal_Jaipuria

Hi Varun,

I am really impressed by such an outstanding profile of yours. I would be joining Columbia University for MS in Chemical Engineering Fall 2019. I have been closely following you and need some enlightenment furthermore.

Internships are supposed to be done in Summer 2020 right?

What is the ideal time to start applying for these Internships ?

Can you walk us over with your experience in the US ?

What kind of people are we required to connect with in order to grab these Internships?

Shivangi_Gambhir

Hi Varun,

I had a few questions actually.

Are there any scholarships(internal or external) I can apply for?

Is it a good idea to extend the course to a third semester?

How can one apply for a teaching assistanship? And is it feasible to apply it with the M.Eng course?

Thanks,

Shivangi Gambhir.

apoo_raghuwanshi

Sir

What are the job prospects after ms chemical from cornell?

Do non it majors face job problems in us?

Do on campus placements take place in US?

apoo_raghuwanshi

Do career fairs take place at Cornell itself?

Who provides information regarding these fairs?

Are college authorities actively involved in telling students abt career fairs?

Ajah

Key points that admissions committee at Cornell look for in application. Is it subjective to GRE or GPA or is there any other aspect and what’s ur overall profile

Ajah

What’s the average profile especially for Ms computer science to get into Cornell and is spring entry easier than fall

Ajah

Is it a good idea to come to Cornell for spring and I have heard that it is hard for spring graduates to get h1b visa coz of the time required to convince the company to file h1b is less for spring grads than fall grads. Ur tots?

Sindhunil

Hi Varun,

What best practices will you recommend to incoming students to secure a TA ship or RA ship at Cornell? Can we start reaching out before landing at Cornell?

hodor

TBH, is it worth spending extra bucks on cornell compared to other similar tier universities but almost half the cost especially for a cs job whihc totally depends on skills than brand value of the univeristy

hodor

is it a good idea to contact profs to increase chances of admission? and is it possible

hodor

is it true that work exp compensates for gre and gpa. and does verbal score matter for a stem course

Varun

Yes, unlike India, most internship opportunities are available in summer. Winter internships are very rare. In winter, you can go for exchange programs which can give you good exposure. You have three months of vacation in summer which is a great time to do an internship.

The ideal time to apply for these internships would be as soon as you join college. The first thing you should do is contact career services, get your resume reviewed, get your cover letters reviewed by the career services staff, and once they approve of it, start applying. I would say even applying now would not be too soon. Try online platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, etc. If you looking for a job in the Pharma sector; select a Pharma company, go to their website, and start looking for internships options available.

In terms of education, I was one of those people who thought writing two-page long answers is more important. That perspective completely changed. I have become a person who understands that crisp and relevant answers value more. The biggest skill I learned was how to make effective presentations. Basically, I got a cross-culture exposure while working on different projects with people from China, Columbia, Brazil, Lebanon, etc. It is really amazing to learn how people from different countries think, and it gives you a perspective on the outlook of people from different cultural backgrounds and helps you think out-of-the-box.

My experience as a job applicant was pretty hard. I sat for interviews with very few companies in India, and they were all a piece of cake for me. All you have to be is yourself, and you can make it pretty easily in India. But here, the process can last up to a few months. Sometimes, the recruitment process extends up to 7 months. For example, McKenzie’s process was of 7 rounds. It included an aptitude test, 4 rounds of interviews, then a case interview with the manager. It is an extremely challenging process; you have to be mentally prepared for it. You can just take it as a piece of cake and expect it to be easy. I was really excited when I joined Cornell; I had my first career fair in the first month. I gave interviews in 3 companies. I thought I did well in the interviews, but I did not get any offer from them. That is when it hit me that the competition pool is much stronger right now. Everyone at Cornell is here for a reason and everybody’s equally smart. You need to show what is different about you and you really need to able to succinctly answer the questions in a very strategic and structured manner. That will help the most.

I would suggest getting in touch with people in higher positions. If it is an HR, then that would be ideal. But it’s harder to get in touch with HRs because they get a million messages in their inbox, and they would probably not reply to you. So get in touch with your seniors first who are in the company you are applying to. Go to LinkedIn. Type in, for example, Shell, Cornell, and you will get a list of the alumni who have graduated from Cornell and are currently working at Shell. Now people have a particular weakness, they like talking about themselves. So ask them about themselves, their interests, what got them there. Try to build a personal connection. It’s much easier because people inherently want to help people from the same college. If a Manipalite or Cornellite approached me for help, I’d stop doing whatever I was doing just to help him/ her. That’s the kind of bond that you need to build. Nobody helps acquaintances, people help friends. So try to build that kind of relationship.

Secondly, Career fairs are a great place to make connections because recruiters come there directly. Attend not only the fairs in your university but other career fairs happening in the city as well.

Varun

Hi Shivangi,

Yes, in Cornell, there is a scholarship option for MEng students. The name is Knight Scholarship. The scholarship may provide as much as $40k. The Knight Scholars receive a $10,000 tuition award per semester for up to two semesters while enrolled as graduate students in the M.Eng. Degree program and a $10,000 tuition award per semester for up to two semesters while enrolled in an MBA degree program at Cornell. The chances of getting one are very low as the numbers of scholarships available are very limited, and hence the competition to get the Knight Scholarship is pretty tough. I also applied for it but was not successful in getting one. I strongly suggest you give your best while applying. There are some Indian scholarships also available such as TATA and others, but the amount offered is very low. So don’t expect much from the Indian agencies.

There is an option in Cornell to extend the MEng course to the third semester. Whether it is a good idea or not depends on you.

You have to finish 30 credits in one year, and along with that, you have to search for jobs. Some people find it very challenging to manage both. If you have not completed your credits on time and are still looking for a job, then you might have to extend your course for a semester. But it is quite costly. The semester fee is about $27k. So the students who extend their course for a semester generally hook themselves onto teaching assistantship and summer internships. The assistantship is generally around $6k, and the summer internship offers $10-$12k. So in total, it becomes $16- $18k. So you are only left with $10k to pay for the extension. My personal suggestion is if you are financially sound then go ahead for it, otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it. You have 3 months after you get your OPT to look for a job. Your OPT can start 2 months after your graduation, so effectively you have 5 months after your graduation to look for a job. And you can legally stay unemployed in the country. So if five months are not enough for you, then you should. I would say you should not unless you are finding it really hard to balance.

Of course, in the Chemical department, the professors prefer MEng TAs. I did 2 TAs in the spring semester. I did one in the ME department and another one in Physics. A friend of mine is doing a summer TA, so it is definitely feasible for one to apply for it if one is from the MEng course.

You will have to email the professors personally or go the Cornell website. Check the list of courses.

Varun

Hi Apoo,

There are twice as many opportunities in CS, IT and Data Analytics than those in the co-fields. A lot of job prospects right now combine your core discipline with some software skills. For example, if you were to take Data Analytics elective, then your job prospects will double up instantly because when I was looking for an energy analyst job, a lot of options required Python, SQL or R. If I was proficient in them, I would have got many job opportunities. So for the non IT or CS majors, you will not have as many opportunities as your will have if you learn some software skills. Go to your dream company’s website. Look for the requirements in the job openings, and choose your electives accordingly.

In Cornell, there is a system of Career fairs where a lot of companies come to campus and set up stalls for recruitment. They speak about the roles that they have and the roles they seek students for. You have about two to five minutes to pitch what is called an elevator pitch. It’s called an elevator pitch because it’s as short as an elevator ride. But it has to cover all the information that can impress the employer. It’s not a campus placement exactly but provides a setting where you can express yourself.

Varun

Hi Apoo,

Yes, it takes place at Cornell itself. There is one career fair in spring and another one in fall. Yes, the authorities do prompt the students about it. You can get information about the other career fairs in the city and other cities too.

Thanks

Varun

My overall profile is 322 in GRE, 168 in Quant, 154 in Verbal, 110 in TOEFL. My GPA was 9.2 from Manipal. I did not have research papers, but I had 4 to 5 internships. So the LOR, SOP, GPA, etc are the standard requirements for any selection committee. If you have a low GPA, you don’t have to get disheartened. You don’t have to be a 9 pointer to get into Cornell. I know people who had 9 backlogs or 302 in GRE are in Cornell. You need to make your profile very impressive. If you have low scores, then you must have a strong reason explaining that. In your SOP, you have to convince the selection committee why you are the right fit for the job. If you are more of a practical kind of person who is involved in extracurricular then you, then you must substantiate it through an example.

Varun

No, I won’t say the spring entry is easier than fall. Although, the numbers of applicants are lesser than other seasons, but then the proportion of seats is also less. So the difficulty level remains the same. I am not sure about the average profile for MS Computer Science, but for MEng in Computer Science, Cornell has one of the top-rated programs in the country. My friends have an average of 325, some have 320. In Quants, if you have less than 165, then attempt it again. Their average GPA was 9. They had internships at Microsoft and startups

Varun

Yes, you heard right. If you join in spring, you will finish your course in December and probably start working in January and H1B applications start in March, so you have about 3 months to prepare and impress your employers. The good news is you are doing a STEM degree, so you have 3 years of OPT and the employer doesn’t have to apply in the 1st year. So the 3 months is not the key part. If you are from a non-STEM degree, I would suggest coming in the fall or do a one-and-a-half-year program, that way you can start your job in August.

If you are doing a 1-year course, it makes sense as you get the summer. If you come in the fall, you miss out on summer. If you’re coming in spring, you will have the internship opportunity for CS and Chemical engineering. I think the department doesn’t allow summer internships. There was a rule that you had to study for at least nine months before you can intern but they’re changing that right now. You can intern in summer too. So, if you do come in spring, you can do a one year course and get an internship experience. So I would suggest that you can consider but it’s going to be freezing cold in January so that’ll be a huge weather change for you guys.

Varun

Yes of course. You can definitely start reaching out to professors right now and I think you will find that right now would be an ideal time to reach out to them. As I said, just add in a motivation why you want to do it, add your skills, your TOEFL report too.

I think what they really look at is if you had a previous mentorship experience. So try to sound convincing in your email to the professor, just tell them why you want to do it, and how you are the right fit, how you have mentored people before, how you enjoy teaching students and speak about your proficiency in the respective subject, tell them about some of the projects done in the field. Tell them how you are a practical thinker and how you want to inculcate the same in the students and just be honest about yourself. I think that is the best way to avail a TA ship.

Varun

When someone looks at your resume and. They look at two things they ask two things. Can he do that and will he do the job. The first question, can he do the job gets answered immediately by looking at the university you go to. If you go to a good university, the employer knows that you have the skill set to do the job and your interview is about will you do the job. So, most of my interviews were HR based and less about technical based. Nobody tried testing my technical knowledge nobody asked questions about whether I knew my content or not because they probably presumed I did. So I think that’s what the brand value brings in, and it does set you apart. If you don’t have star experiences, that puts you aside. For example, if you just did a couple of normal internships and you don’t have any work-ex and are coming directly to your masters. If a company can give out 50 interview calls and if they had to choose between profiles that does exactly like yours but from a better university, which one they would choose? So that’s what it boils down to. Should I spend the extra bucks on Cornell is a very subjective question. It is to an extent worth it. Oh well, you know what’s best about Cornell, the alumni network. As I said when you reach out to alumni they really want to help you and that’s what a good university brings out. So that is an advantage that you will get.

Varun

Yes, it is a good idea and yes it is very much possible.

Salil_Singh

All,

Please find the written responses from @Varun of your queries. Hope, you find it useful

Varun

Yes, the verbal score matters to an extent because if you get below 150, they will know that it’s probably harder for you to do well in interviews and obviously colleges want their placement statistics to be higher. So if you cannot get a job, then it is bad publicity for the college. So they want to hire people who they think can make it to the industry. And if you can’t communicate, well, it’s harder for you in the industry. So, definitely verbal score matters but not as much as the overall score. I’m not too sure whether work experience will compensate for it, but it definitely adds on, it makes your SOP stronger. It gives you a stronger reason why you want to do your master’s. More than admissions, I think you will have better chances in your job search. For admissions, I wouldn’t say it’s a great advantage. Around 80 percent of my class is fresh out from undergrad; just fewer than 20 percent have work experience. So your chances don’t necessarily increase, but yeah, I think you will probably get a better understanding of the course if you have work experience.

Salil_Singh

This webinar session will be hosted by Shantanu Kallakuri, who is currently pursuing his MS (thesis) in Materials Science from Cornell University. He will volunteer an hour of his time to answer your queries. Before Cornell, Shantanu completed his undergraduate studies, M.P.C from St. Patrick’s College, Hyderabad. Then he availed a dual degree B.E. Chemical Engineering, M.S. Chemistry from BITS Pilani. Post this, he worked as a Process Engineer for Jord International, Singapore. After that, he undertook Research Assistant job at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his masters, he secured Graduate Teaching Assistantships over different time periods.

Here is how the Senior AMA works:

Ask Qs now: You can start asking your questions right away right here.

Answers via video: On Saturday, October 12th, at 5 PM, Shantanu will answer your Qs via a webinar, which you can join here.

Answers transcribed for future reference: We will transcribe Shantanu’s answers and post them in response to your questions on this page.

Meet_Gandhi

AMA~Cornell University

Hello, I am currently in my 4th year of bachelor of technology course with computer science. My CGPA is 3.3/4 GRE score is 306 (161 in quants and 145 in English) with 102 as TOEFL score.

Else then that I have participated in national and international competitions and have extremely good with extra-curricular activities. I have also published 3 research papers in journals like springer.

Do I have any chance of getting selected? Will my less marks in GRE and TOEFL affect my application?

Thank you in advance.

Salil_Singh

Dear all,

The AMA session scheduled on 11th of October, at 5 PM is postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

New date of the session is 12th October, at 5 PM.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Salil_Singh

@Meet_Gandhi

The AMA session for 11th October is postponed. The new date is Saturday 12th, at 5 PM.

Saugat_Dash

What’s the meeting code for the app?

Saugat_Dash

What’s the meeting code?