The first and most important step is to build your own profile. TRUST ME, it takes time. This is not something that you will be able to build in a day or week or month. Invest huge loads of time for this step. There is no shortcut!!!
A template for your profile can be:
- CGPA: The more the better.
3.5 is a good threshold to consider
- Research: Focus on final year thesis. Try to learn as much as you can in an efficient manner. Keep yourself updated with the current knowledge of your research domain. Publication is a plus but quality >> quantity
- Technical Skill: Be sure that you have adequate technical skill
- Professional experience: If you can relate to your research domain then any profession should be just fine. If not that should be okay too I believe. In my case I was a research assistant at MIST. So it definitely helped my case
- Language Test: Try to complete IELTS/TOEFL test before the deadline. Language test score is a must. So do not hang it for long. I took only 7 days preparation to get 7 in IELTS (L-7.5, S-7, R-6, W-6.5). It is not a great score but it worked just fine.
- GRE: At first I had the same thought that I do not need GRE score since many schools waived it. But my suggestion is to sit for GRE exam even if you do poorly. This score will allow you to apply many more schools than without it. So take your chances. Just have a reasonable Quant score. I did my GRE with two weeks preparation. I did terrible in the exam (Shorter GRE 301 - Q:156, V:141, AW:4). GRE score was a must by my dept even though I got green signal from my professor beforehand.
- Soft skills: Try to improve your communication skill. This is important when you are trying to connect to professors. Articulate your thoughts and reasons properly in the emails to get more positive responses
P.S - Do not stress much if you do not have a decent profile. Just try to improve as much as you can without procrastinating. It’s a holistic process. There is no guarantee for a specific profile.
Resource:
IELTS
GRE
My profile