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Q&A NO.1
Question: I've written the essay and its 2 pages long, which is the maximum allowed length. I was just wondering if it's OK to add topics for the different sections of the essay to give it a better structure. Is there any convention against adding topics to the essay?
(Geshan, February 22, 2009)

Answer(s):
If this is your SOP for something related to research, you should list your research experience in it. If you have any teaching or separate work experiences, list it on a separate page. Everything else (e.g. GPA, grades, awards, scholarships etc.) should be in your resume. Make sure you don't repeat the same information in your SOP and your resume. (Sampath, February 23, 2009)
Conventionally, most people don't add topics in their essays. Just keeping things in separate paragraphs with a good flow is sufficient. (Nishad, February 23, 2009)

Q&A NO.2
The relationship between a US MBA (Masters of Business Adminstration) and a UK CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) qualification.
Question: Can you do an MBA in the US if you have a CIM qualification from the UK? Or do you need work experience to do a US MBA??
(Dilu, January 06, 2009)

Answer(s):
On the CIM qualification: I asked a person associated with the admissions process at a US business school about this issue. This is her response:
"I am unable to determine if this individual would meet the minimum academic requirements to apply to the Graduate School of Business.

We rely on the services of www.ece.org or www.wes.org to provide course-by-course transcript evaluations that determine whether an international degree is the equivalent of a US Bachelor's degree. I would advise that you refer this individual to one of these agencies to complete the transcript evaluation. Once we know if he is academically eligible, we could move forward with the application process!"

Simply put, US Business Schools only accept students who have bachelor's degrees, so they need to evaluate international qualifications to see if they are the equivalent of a US bachelor's degree. As far as I know, CIM and CIMA are not as readily accepted as an equivalent to an undergraduate degree in the US as they are in the UK. So, you should get your CIM course transcript evaluated by one of the agencies listed above to see whether your qualification is the equivalent of the US bachelor's degree. However, you should also contact the admissions office of the universities you're looking at, and ask them this question as it could vary by school and/or program.

On work experience: Whether or not this is necessary really depends on the school. Some schools insist on work experience while others are more flexible. Either way, in my opinion, it is better to have at least some work experience because that will help you contribute more and relate better to class discussion. (Aindri, January 07, 2009)

Follow-up Question: American National College (ANC) Sri Lanka offers a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Northwood University. I believe they welcome students who are partially qualified in CIM, and they say that you can finish the degree at their Sri Lanka location in 9-12 months. I was wondering if I could use my CIM qualifications to do these degrees or similar degrees in the US. (Dilu, January 07, 2009)

Answer to Follow-up Question: If I understand your question correctly, you are asking if you would be able to get exemptions at Northwood University's US location (or another university in the US) based on the CIM courses you have completed so far. Is that correct? If that is the question, I don't think there is an answer that applies to every university. Different universities have different policies for handling international qualifications. Perhaps you could choose a few universities based on your interest in the programs they offer and write to the admissions office outlining your request (i.e. asking whether you would get exemptions based on the CIM courses you have taken). It might be a good idea to include an official transcript from CIM which gives the subjects followed at each level and the corresponding grade you received, as well as the grading matrix (what exam mark constitutes an A, B etc.). Maybe you could also send a separate document outlining the topics covered in each subject as well. To find some of the best programs, take a look at the following websites:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/02 ... dex_01.htm, http://www.edinformatics.com/colleges_u ... siness.htm, http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandrevie ... c-business etc. as a guide.
(Aindri, January 08, 2009)

Q&A NO. 3
Choosing an appropriate university and research area for post-graduate studies
Question: I am in my fourth year in my undergraduate degree program in Sri Lanka. This year I completed a project on mobile and ad hoc networks, specifically looking at how to make a voice call through mobile phones without using the GSM Network. It is a fully decentralized system which has zero dependency on available infrastructures and I have implemented my own locating and path switching mechanisms. Testing against current benchmarks in the telecomm sector has shown it to be of much better quality than existing products, and I have won several awards, including international awards for this project. With that experience I thought of continuing my studies in system research, distributed computing and possible cryptography. I hope to go to the US for post graduate studies and, having found some interesting research being done in several universities, I have sent applications to those universities. Could you give me some advice on (1) whether the research areas I am looking at have potential, and (2) about how university selection should be done? I am particularly worried that I may not have picked the right universities to apply to, since I applied in a hurry.
(Primal, December 23, 2008)

Answer(s):
If you have already applied there isn't much you can do about your research focus and list of universities you picked. The best thing to do now is to contact the professors that you would be interested in working with and ask them about potential research projects with them. (Nishad, December 23, 2008)

I think the research areas are all good, and have a lot of potential for the future. Systems and Distributed Computing are very broad fields, so it depends on what your research is going to be. If you are thinking of doing a PhD, you should read about the work professors at each of the universities are doing (in the areas you are interested in) and email them to get more information about the projects and the possibilities of you working with them. Most of these professors end up being in the admissions committees as well, so contacting them before decisions are made and showing that you have the credentials and experience to do real research (as you have done) can be a good thing. They will see this in your application as well, but I think it could be helpful to email as well. But remember that some of these professors are really busy and they get tons of emails like this, so be patient and don't spam them or harass them. You can also look at the graduate students who work with these professors (their names will probably be listed on the department website) and directly email them to get more information.

(Nayana, December 23, 2008)