Report on Study Abroad: a Workshop Series

The IEEE DBCE Student Branch Women in Engineering Affinity Group in association with iSchoolConnect Pvt. Ltd. organized Study Abroad Program: a workshop series technically sponsored by IEEE WIE Bombay Section from June 29 – July 3 ,2021.

Ms. Rashmi Kango – Study Abroad Mentor was introduced to the audience by IEEE WIE Student Member Ms. Sidhilaxmi Shenoy. The Session on ‘Job Vs Higher Education’  began with a poll asking the participants their plans after graduation. Ms. Rashmi mentioned some of the important aspects of a profile setup, which included academics, soft skills, persona, experience, social media, extra-curricular activities and social cause. She also elaborated on how Covid-19 has impacted current economical situations in various employment areas. She concluded by saying “while choosing your final destination, consider quality of study, career option, visa, scholarships, etc.”

On day 2, the IEEE Student Member, Mr. Mandar Borkar welcomed the speaker for the day Ms. Ashwini Sarode. In her session on ‘All about Test Preparations’, the speaker discussed about the test preparations required to study abroad, such as GRE, GMAT, TOEFL and IELTS. She briefly discussed the scores required, score distribution and acceptance rate. She also stated and explained the structure and score distribution for SAT examination.

The following day, IEEE WIE Student member Ms. Harshada Gawas introduced the speaker for the day, Mr. Prasad Kumar – Study Abroad Expert who spoke on ‘Choosing the right university’. The speaker gave a step by step guide to choose an apt university one wants to study in. He said “choosing the right university includes a lot of steps, one of which is finding the right program itself”. He gave a lot of guidance with regards to availability of a program, tuition fee, scholarships, acceptance rate and rankings.

On day 4, Ms. Roopali Birman – Study Abroad Expert was introduced to the audience by IEEE WIE Student member Ms. Preksha Karpe who spoke on the Do’s and don’ts of study abroad interview . The Speaker provided insights on interview preparation, how one should present themselves during a video interview, the documents required for an interview and tips to ace the VISA interview. Furthermore, she mentioned the necessary documents and also explained how the process works at the VISA interviewing stage.

On the final day, Mr. Ashish Fernando – Founder & CEO of iSchoolConnect was welcomed by IEEE Student member, Mr. Hrishikesh Prabhu. Mr. Ashish started off his session on’ All about studying abroad’ by briefing the participants on how many students chose to study abroad in 2021 and how to choose the right country for one’s self. He then offered a detailed road-map to study abroad and how to start working on ones profile so one can be ready to send out their applications.

After every session, Mr. Aditya Mirani – Marketing Executive at iSchoolConnect briefed the participants about the AI based Video Interview Analyzer available on their website. The attendees were actively engaged in this program by asking queries which were answered by the speaker at the end of every session. The event was coordinated by Prof. Yeshudas Muttu and IEEE DBCE Student members Ms. Neha Joshi & Ms. Anjima Rajesh.