Here are the questions asked by Students via email. I have tried to answer them based on my experiences. This list continously get appended so keep a watch at the end.
Answer: Do not know what to say about this yet!
List of universities for applying
Answer: Best place is www.google.com
I have gone through your university website and Dependable Computer Systems course catalog... looks very great.....what is your opinion after getting into it. and how to show interest in this particualr area while writing SOP (statement of purpose).
Answer: Best way to make a good targetted Statement of Purpose is to first go through the program you want to apply for. Check its course contents and try to relate your previous studies, research papers and job experince with the course content. I like my course very much, tough and challenging.
Do I have to send my TOEFL score to university via ETS or just photocopied version of offical test score?
Answer: This depends upon the university you are applying for admission.For now Chalmers and most of the others EU universities does not need TOEFL score via ETS. But this may not be the case for a specific university, Check with the admission person.
You have mentioned in your previous email about financial aspect, just asking again, are there part time jobs avaialble ???
Answer: No, There are NO jobs. If you really want to do job then learn swedish for six months! In EXTREME cases you can deliver newspapers in the morning at 04:00 on sundays. This is an option but this job is on chance because there is a long queue of applicants for this as well. And afterwards you can do this on daily basis when you are not studying. I know one of my friend who is doing it on daily basis but it is very badly effecting his studies.
I would advice you to save money and then come here. Otherwise do not come. This is as simple as that.
Admission requirements (TOEFL/GRE)
Answer: TOEFL is required, For exact marks check webpage for Master Program.
My program does not require GRE but if you have a good GRE then this is a very good plus. It will definitely help you in getting admission at some EU university.
Links of some good universities(ranking)
Answer: No Ranking of Universities here. Almost are all of equal level and standard. They have no tuition fee at all except the must Student Union Fee of around Pak Rs.2,000/- per semester. There are two quarters in eache semester. More in the section of Academics soon inshaAllah.;
Medium of instruction/studies
Answer: All in English. But Undergraduate education is in Swedish, most of it.
how do i apply for scholarship
Answer: No chances for scholarship nowadays for Paksitanis, unfortunately. Will update if I get more information.
When is the right time to start for Masters
Answer: I would say after getting experience in job. Or otherwise directly after BS. 3 years or 4 years does not matter.
Would it be feasible for me to come over there having no realtives or any other support? (Especially for a muslim woman)
Answer:
Do not worry at all. They are very good people. You will feel more secure than Paksitan!! They give respect to everyone without any discrimination.
Initially you will feel a little problem in finding apartment, but after few weeks you will feel yourself at home.
For women specially, there are many muslim women from all over the world including Indonesia, Iran Palestine. Muslim woman faces the same prolems in housing and finding jobs. But I would not suggest at all for a female student to come here and expect part-time jobs as some of the male students can. This is because of the nature of the job, delivering newspapers when it is snowing and raining. Male students with health like myself :) should also take this in consideration.
Social interaction with swedish citizens: Swedish people are innocent so to say, at least 90% of them are innocent. They are very very private and give a huge respect to your privacy as well.
For opposite sexes shaking hands is totally upto you. Drinking not allowed drinks, Eating of not allowed food, Doing not allowed actions and hearing not allowed things is totally upto you. If you are travelling on a bus or tram and do not like hearing music you can request driver to turn it off. and he will do so with great respect. If you are a muslim and a person from opposite sex offers you handshake, you can very politely say that 'In Islam this is not allowed'. He or she will respect you even more and will curiously ask 'really?'. And its not the end. He or She will say 'Urshakta mig(I am sorry) I didn't know that'. And may start asking about more things in Islam, if time permits.Time being the most valuable entity here! I think that is why they have so many courses and programs in Real-Time Systems :)
Casual punch or pat on the back from friends, dating, use of sexually oriented jokes or remarks in daily languages These are things that not only muslim women but also muslim men should find offending. That may be the social or cultural norms of that city, place or university.
Again you have the option. Do you want to keep your culture with you? Do you want to live with your own lifestyle or not? If answer is NO then no problem you can go ahead and be the part of them. You may get success quickly (not easily). But if your answer is YES then again there is no problem :). Being a male student trying to follow Islamic teachings, I find no problem(uptill now, atleast) at all, alhamdulillah. You may have to face difficulties initially but those will go away with the passage of time.
Again these swedish people are very very nice, polite, innocent and helping people. They wont touch you even while joking or kidding. So a muslim woman should not be worried about this as well. I have,only, heard that this is not the case in UK, USA or Canada.
I have many friends from all over the world here. One from UK says that this is a much better country to live than UK. According to him the only difficulty he faced is the language, but note thatit is not in studies only in finding jobs. That too you can learn with extra effort and time.
Some More Question
I have completed my bcs from abc institue Lahore. Now a days I am doing internship at xyz comapny. Hopefully I will get the job there after 1 month. 1.First of all tell me that can i get admission there as i told u that i have done my bcs from abc which is of 3 years (123 credit hrs). i will get the degree of xyz university.
Answer: For swedish universities it does not matter that you have done your BCS or BS from NUCES, GIKI, NUST or from XYZ. Minimum requirement is of 3-THREE years. Ofcourse if you have done 4 years degree, as I did, it will help you. And further having a degree from a good university will also help you in understanding and carrying on your studies with Chalmers.
As I know many of my friends from UET-Taxilla and other universities than FAST-NUCES. They are facing trouble in following the pattern and style of studies. I too faced these problems in my first Quarter, because I was used to semester system. But they have more problems as they were used to yearly exam system.
Job experience or internship experince also counts. But you will not find Visual BAsic, ASP or JSP useful here. Good knowledge of Maths, Discrete especially and C is very very helpful. And if you have time try and check out functional programming paradigm, languages like HASKELL at www.haskell.org. And abstract languages like 'B'. More on academia soon, inshaAllah.
When should i give toefl and should i need to do anything else?
Answer: As soon as you are ready. Take GRE if you want to increase probability of your admission, I would say. Otherwise this is not a requirment from Chalmers, atleast.
when and how shud i send the application forms?
Answer: Through ordinary post-mail either using GPO or via TCS or via DHL. As you like. Before 15th February for most of the universities in Sweden; You should keep 15 days for post. For exact date please check website of concerned university, do not rely only on my information.
i have downloaded the application form but there were no reference letters. from where cud i get those two reference letters?
Answer: There are no fix reference letters from Chalmers side. you can get any type of standard refernce letter from your Employee or from your Professor. For Example I send one from my professor and other from Employee. Alongwith the application form. Orginal, Sealed and Signed Refernce letters. Very Important!
which masters program should i join there from the offered programs by the university. i mean which is best these days in ur opinion?
Answer: Well, nothing is best nowadays as you might know already. Choose the program that you think you can study and the one of which you belong to. Evaluate your background, your courses, the research, if any, you did. and may be your work type. Do not choose Structural Engineering or Radio Communication if you have been studying Computer Sciences for the last 3 or 4 years. And vice versa also holds. Doing this will only make your chances of getting admission very very less.
For the CS persons like you best options are in following order.
Dependable Computer Systems
Bioinformatics
Complex Adaptive Systems (Very less chances, though compared to above two)
How much money i have to show ? Now January 2004, officially you need to show 70000 SEK to embassy in swedish Islamabadfor getting visa. (1 SEK = Rs. 7.80 in January 2004)
How much money i have to carry as draft or bank account in related country? In January 2004, one must carry after getting admission atleast 2.5 to 3.0 Lac Rs to survive in Sweded alongwith little chances of small jobs.
Is there any difference in TOEFL OR IELTS ? Chalmers and manu european universities accept both. I would still recommend IELTS. Though I did TOEFL myself.
Can i apply more countries universities at same time? Yes one can rather one *should* apply at many places, no problem in that. I applied at 6 european universites and got offer from two.
Which country most suit for study and work both at same time? Prioritywise: USA, Canada, UK, Australia (You have to pay fee as well, but people do manage). Tution free but less chances of job list prioritywise: Germany, Holland,Norway,Denmark,Sweden, finland, Iceland, Belgium, Spain.
what type of accomodation there for new comer ?Different with different prices: All accomodation facilites exist. Sweden is a among the most modern countries, stood at number 3 in list of countries with highest life standards. USA was at number 12, I think. Norway was number 1.
What you think of my chances, my CGPA is 3.74 ?Not bad INSHA ALLAH. Though people even with 3.90 and similar range CGPAs have been rejected and people even with less than 3.00 have been accepted. (out of 4.00)
Travelling Around the Countries If you are kind of a person who likes to travel around the countries without the fuss of visas and stamps, Scandanivia is the answer :) No visa problems for atleast 13 or 14 countries. These are known as Schenden states including Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium etc.
Come to Sweden with energy and live with your style!
But before coming try to ask as many questions as possible.
And do not forget about your homeland as well. I remember my Farewell '97 closing speech by my Digital Logic Teacher who taught us at 4-Bazar Road, G-6/4 Islamabad and was the director as well at that time: 'I know that my place is dirty, it smells and has many problems in it. People there always try to interfere in my business; But I dont know! I will go back there, as its mine! She made me strong and beautiful as I am now. So her weaknesses does not matter. I will support her to live long.'
Please feel free to suggest, advice and correct mistakes that I might have made.
Jazzak Allah