A guide to Spring intake in USA 2023: best universities, deadlines, scholarships, GRE requirements and more.

Step 2 – admission materials

10-12 months before start gathering the admission materials required while filling out the online form.

• You will need official academic transcripts. If you haven’t graduated, have all the transcripts till your current semester.
• Two to three letters of recommendation (LORs).
• CV or Resume. Some courses might also ask you to submit a portfolio.
• Statement of Purpose and essay.
• Passport-size photographs.
• A valid passport.

If you need any help with your LOR, SOP, or just have questions about your application, instead of going to an expensive consulting agency, create an account on SelectRight. The platform has a carefully curated directory of unbiased industry experts who can help you for free.

At this point, you should also start preparing for GRE or GMAT, whatever your course requires. To get an average score, you need to prepare for a month. However, to score well you should set aside 6 months.

Also, look into the English Proficiency tests and register for them. If your education has been conducted in English, these tests aren’t hard and will require minimal preparation.

Step 3 – taking standardized exams

8-10 months prior to the deadline, you should start registering for the required exams and start booking slots. This gives you enough time to retake the tests if you don’t score well.

GRE cutoff ranges from 150 to 165 in top universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and the University of California – Berkeley.

GRE needs three cutoffs:

• GRE verbal (130-170 score scale)
• GRE quantitative reasoning (130-170 score scale)
• GRE Analytical Writing (0-5 score scale)

These are the scores you need to get admitted into a top university.

However, different colleges and different courses will require different GRE scores.

If you are applying to business school, you should give GMAT.

Usually, students don’t score well on GRE the first time.

So, plan enough time to retake the GRE test at least twice.

Step 4 – final arrangements

3 months before January, you should ideally have an offer from a US university.

With that you can start applying for student visas, researching health insurance policies, and making your travel arrangements.

Throughout the entire timeline, we recommend that you look for funding side-by-side.

Finding funding is a crucial step. Without adequate funding, your application will be rejected or the offer can be revoked.

Look into scholarships, education loans, job opportunities while you work there.

Here are some examples of the scholarships you can apply to.

• Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation Scholarship – For students who wish to study in North America.

• Fulbright-Nehru Research Scholarship – You need to have a bachelor’s degree from a recognized university.

• Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowships for Indian Students – This scholarship covers tuition fees and associated fees for the two-year MBA program at Stanford Graduate Business School.

• The Indian Trust Fellowship – The fellowship program covers the tuition fees of USD 10,000 for students who want to study MBA at Booth School of Business in Chicago

• American University Emerging Global Leader Scholarship – To help students get a bachelor’s degree in the USA.

• Tata Scholarships for Cornell University – If you have been offered admission to Cornell as an undergraduate student, you can be eligible for this scholarship.

• AAUW International Fellowships – 5 international women get funding to pursue full-time graduate courses.

• Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship – You can get a scholarship to study in these six areas: water and sanitation, peace and conflict prevention, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, disease prevention and treatment, and economic and community development.

• Akhtarali H. Tobaccowala Fellowship – This scholarship provides USD 25,000 to 2 selected candidates each year for pursuing a full-time MBA program at Booth School of Business in Chicago.

To get more scholarship opportunities, you should reach out to online mediums. For example, SelectRight. When you create an account at SelectRight, the platform helps you locate exclusive scholarship offers.

SelectRight is a part of GradRight. On SelectRight, you can find exclusive scholarships.

We want to do the right things, so we try to offer need-based scholarships to those who need them the most. For instance, the GradRight Study Abroad Scholarship for LGBTQIA+ students is worth ₹2,00,000 for one student from the LQBTQ+ community.

Now that you know what to expect from the Spring intake in USA 2023 and what the Spring intake universities in the USA expect from you, start with your applications.