When I was doing my Bachelors I heard my friends talking going to US, UK, Canada, Australia for their masters, and I thought I too will try and as I was walking to the class a good friend of mine told me he is planning to go to Germany for his masters and I was like WHAT?? Germany?? Really?? before this I only heard of Germany when it came to Automation and boy they make some awesome machines. My uncle used to work in Ambuja Cements and always talked about how they find it easy to operate when its a German machine. So I contemplated for a while on it and I asked my friend that about it. Initially when I started digging internet I came across an article which said "Education in Germany is Free" and I was like Holly Molly, this is it this is where I will go to do my masters! and after digging a little more I realized there is not much of information on Internet. So the next day I asked my friend where to start and what all to do? And to my surprise he knew things that I knew already and told me there is nothing on the internet too. I felt like I started walking on a wrong road again. We stated asking people and again we sat on internet to find new information. The next day one of other friend too joined us and we got some new information that its necessary to take an English Proficiency Test, so after class we packed our bags and headed towards city to find ourselves a English Proficiency Test Tutor. We met a lot of them and then decided to take the most affordable one. As our tutor runs a Consultancy as well we asked him if he has any knowledge on how to get ourselves to Germany and he said he has no idea on that but he will ask out to the fellow consultant and will let us know. At that time no one in our city had any idea on how to get admitted to a good German University.
The next challenge was on how to apply to a German University? where to get information on course? Whats the deadline ? Oh man its just a few I wrote but my head was exploding with questions like these.
Answer to our next question or questions was DAAD website. It was a Eureka moment for us, it was like light at the end of a tunnel, icing on a cake, a silver lining(though I never really saw one).
So we the three musketeers started looking for courses that suits us(at the end we realized beggars can't be choosers but on that in a few minutes). So we shorted out 6 to 7 courses, and we were all set to apply for the same but there was only one problem HOW to apply? what all documents are needed? and we stuck again.
We browsed the internet for hours and found out everything we needed. Meanwhile we hired the same consultant where we prepared for IELTS and we handed all the information and some documents were missing (LOR and SOP) for which we spent 2 days, Transcripts from University took 15 days, we almost traveled 500 to 700 KM in documentation. Now it was all in the hands of experts . We called them everyday we visited them frequently and we managed to meet the deadline of 3 Universities.
Now the waiting game begins(harne ka dar aur jeetne ki umeed in dono ke beech jo ek tention wala waqt hota hai na ' kamal ka hota hai'). We checked our emails anxiously every hour. Honestly it was a horrible time at least for me.
After a few days we received our first rejection for one of the three universities and our chances of going to Germany was down to 66 percent. We were hopeful, but it was an indication of awaiting crisis. We might get rejected from all the universities was the only thing circling through my head at that time and to my horror it became true in next few days.
Demoralized, we needed some consolidation and that came from our families. My Grandfather, Father, Mother, Sister, Uncle everyone supported me, it gave me a little strength and we started evaluating ourselves to where we lacked. One possible reason was we didn't have any knowledge of German language. So we enrolled ourselves in A1 German Language Program. By this time the enrollment term came to end. We have nothing left to but to prepare for German and apply in the next intake. We will loose 6 months. As a fresher its a lot of time and the consequences of not getting admission in the next intake would be preposterous on our careers. With that in mind I stated preparing for MBA entrance exams. I would go to MBA classes in the morning and German classes in the evening(Sailing in two boats). We prepared for around 3 months for German, gave exam and passed.
After passing German Exam I read somewhere that GRE certificate can also boost your chance of securing admission in Germany. Well I was ready to give my best, so I started preparing for GRE. I had 1 month to prepare and give GRE before its too late to fill out forms. So I started working my ass off. I gave GRE and didn't score well, but it was good because of the time I had for the preparation.
Now with that certificate in hand we thought we now have a shot. So again we started searching for universities but this time we widened our search to everything we can do in Germany on our Bachelors degree. We compiled a list of about 15 universities and told our consultants. They started right then. We hoped we would get at least one admission this time. During application process we came across another hurdle "UNI-ASSIST". We had absolutely no idea on how to apply through Uni-Assist. So after some phone calls and about 4 hours of browsing we were good to go. We started applying through Uni-Assist. I must say Uni-Assist was more confusing then we thought. For every university you have to fill in one form on universities website and one on Uni-Assist. Payment was another thing but our consultant had it covered. We managed to achieve our target of 15 universities before deadline.
And Now again it was time for us to wait. Horrible thoughts going through our minds What if we don't get admission? We were so pessimist that one of started studying again to get a job if he is rejected, another one started a job in a Telecom company as RF engineer and me I started applying to Australian Universities and WOW I got admission in 3 days from one of the good university. It was the only good thing happened to me that time. It will take a lot of money to study in Australia. So I decided not to go.
I had nothing to do, just wasting my time everyday. By February all the applications were done. I asked my uncle if I could get an internship or apprenticeship in Ambuja Cements. I applied and got it. I started doing my apprenticeship, waiting and check mails everyday. As days went on by I became more concerned. I already got 3 rejections.
Three months into the apprenticeship, I returned home one evening and started checking emails, and I see that there is a mail from one university though the subject was not clear, I was tired and thought it to one more rejection I didn't open the mail and decided to take bath have some food and then will I open the mail (Actually I didn't have the guts or energy to digest another rejection). I needed some time to consolidate myself. So I took shower, I ate something and I opened the mail and VOLA!!! I was accepted. I jumped out of bed and was shouting like a baby. I seriously can not describe that feeling.
I got four acceptance from four different universities. I selected the best one.
The journey to Germany was a difficult one. This is best I can describe it. I can't say it was an incredible one , but I surely can say that good things do come if you work towards it.
I am really grateful to my family without whom it was impossible, both my friends, and my consultant. What I am and what I will be would be just because of you.
PS: I started this blog just to help others because I know what it takes just to reach where I am.
