Soubarno Sen Review at University Of Houston [UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, UH HOUSTON, HOUSTON UNIVERSITY], Houston | Collegedunia

Camps Life : University of Houston!

7.7
Verified Review (Out of 10)
Write a Review and Get 20 USD*
Academic
8.0
Accommodation
8.0
Faculty
8.0
Infrastructure
6.0
Social Life
8.0
Placement
8.0

Student's Snapshots

Campus
Campus
Classroom
Facilities & Labs
Extra-Curricular
Events
Accommodation
Accommodation
Accommodation
Accommodation
Soubarno Sen
Reviewed on Mar 24, 2025(Enrolled 2023)

Course Curriculum

8

  • I would describe the difficulty level of my course curriculum as medium. It was a mix of both theoretical and practical, there are various courses to take on.
  • The positive aspects is that you get a strong foundation in Chemical engineering while learning these courses, you will get your fundamentals brushed up. I don't see any negative aspects to it.
  • Generally we had 3 classes in a day for 2 days in a week for the 1st semester, after that you take less courses as you need to take research credits too as you join a research group. Timings of the class vary from semester to semester,  starting from morning 8 to evening 5:30.
  • Average number of students in class is around 25.
  • Around 6-8 Indian students are there in my batch.

Admission Experience

  • University of Houston, accepted
    MIchigan state university, accepted 
    UIC, accepted 
    Penn state university, rejected
    UT Austin, rejected 
    Texas A&M, rejected
    University of Wisconsin Madison, rejected 
    UIUC, rejected 

  • I got rejected from the top tier universities I applied, I felt my research profile was not upto the mark, I didn't have any research publications while applying. I had a low GPA in masters (8)
  • I chose university of Houston, because the chemical engineering department is well established, Houston is the hub of Chemical engineering, there are many well established companies in the energy sector like Shell, Exxon, Dow etc. I am working in the energy field currently, which has been my interest.
  • Getting offer letter, accepting it, followed by I20 from the university. Then applying for a visa. On reaching there,  need to submit transcripts and show degrees 
  • TOEFL exam required only ( min 80 out of 120)
  • Overall admission experience was good, but quite lengthy. You need to start very early, arrange all the documents,  specially Statement of purpose and 3 letter of recommendations from 3 faculties you know very well. Also the application fees are quite high for some universities, so need to apply sensibly. Not more than 6-7 universities I will recommend.
  • I applied for the Fall 2023 intake. I completed my Master's on July 2023, so I applied for that intake.
  • It generally takes 6-7 months to complete the admission process.
  • Sept- Dec: Apply to all the desired universities, along with the required documents 
  • From Jan to March, the acceptance letter starts to come in. I got my offer letter in March, and the final deadline to accept ot reject the offer letter is April 15th.

Faculty

8

  • Faculty to student ratio considering graduate students will be 4:1. It means for 4 students, there is 1 faculty available, which is a pretty good number to consider.
  • Yes , the course content and the teaching methodology is quite appreciable, if you want to consider for a job after getting graduated.
  • Yeah, most of the faculty members help in getting a part time or full time jobs for the students. They will guide you.
  • I admire Mike Harold from our Chemical dept, he is superb in terms of teaching as well as research.

Campus Life

6

  • There are 4 campuses, UH main campus, UH downtown, UH Clearlake and UH Victoria
  • All facilities are available in the main campus, like library, recreation center for sports, medical centre for health checkup.
  • All the year there are various events going on, the Indian student organization arranges a freshers and a cultural event annually in the student center.

Part Time Jobs

  • Phd student do not need to work part time, they get stipend monthly. Master students do part time job.
  • Generally, the pay range for TA positions are 700-1000$ per month.
  • Usual hourly wages are 10$ per hour.
  • Max 40 hours of work allowed per week.
  • It is easy to get campus part time jobs, you have to apply for that . Vacancies are out, you have to look out for them. Masters students can also join a lab and work as a RA, you have to email the lab supervisor for enquiring any vacant position in the lab.
  • Students typically earn $10-12$ on an hourly basis in their part time jobs. It is fairly moderate chances to get a part time job while studying. For part time jobs, its better to look for people who do need someone to work for them as part time, while applying for a RA in a graduate lab, you do need to have a CV to email the lab supervisor, and then a meeting with him/her.

Placement

8

  • Generally within 6 months of completing the course, almost 90% of the students graduate and secure employment.
  • Average salary range expected to earn upon graduation is 110k$- 120k$ on a yearly basis, for good chemical companies.
  • For all the students,  you need to apply for job interview and then go through the whole process. It can be either through internships, networking or online job portals.
  • Major companies include Shell, Exxon, Chevron , Dow, Sabbic

Accommodation

Off Campus
8

  • I found out my accommodation using the online groups on Factbook and whatsapp.
  • Monthly rent was around 650$ for a 2b2b including utilities and excluding electricity. It's an unfurnished apartment, you have a fridge and microwave in the kitchen.
  • It was not a very big challenge, I already had friends here before who helped me in getting an apartment.
  • I will say to join any online group for future accommodation, you will get someone who is looking for the same thing.
  • My apartment is around 9 miles far from campus. Most of the indian students including me stay close to the texas medical center area.

Exams

  • Only the TOEFL exam required for admission to my University.
  • You will require a Statement of Purpose, generally 2 pages. You will be requiring 3 LORs from 3 different faculties. You will also require a CV and transcripts to upload while applying.
  • No, there was no interview as an part of the application process. I directly recieved the offer letter from the university. Generally, there are no interviews for graduate students in maximum universities at US.

Fees

  • Phd courses do not require any fees, they come with scholarships. You will get a monthly stipend.For the first 6 months, it's a teaching assistantship, followed by research assistantship.
  • Fees are charges credit wise for masters students. For PhD, there are some one time fees to be paid, including the health insurance 
  • My monthly expenses are generally around 1000-1200$. 
  • Rent: Around 700$
  • Transportation by own car: around 300$
  • If you don't have a own car, public transportation is free for the students here at UH.

Scholarship

  • No, apart from the Graduate tuition fellowship (GTF), which all the PhD students receive, I didn't get any other fellowship.
  • The GTF covers all the semester academic costs for a PhD student.
  • Yes, some of my batchmates got a Presidential scholarship.
  • The amount is 2000$, and given in 1000$ for 2 years. It depends on the department funding how Many students receive it, but generally 5-6 PhD students receive it.