美国老师关于研究生申请的经验之谈

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artlessu
1924
3
以下是一些关于我们美国老师留学讲座的笔记,希望对大家有所帮助。

中国人的普遍误解
  • 如果我本科学校不出名或很差,我根本进不了好的美国研究生学校
  • 我可以通过GRE考试来提高录取几率或弥补学业背景缺陷
  • 越早申请越好
  • 留学中介能提升录取几率

关于本科学校
  • Schools are engaged in competition with each other to fill the available spaces in their programs and to allocate aid
  • Schools know that applicants will apply to many, different schools and likely will be admitted with aid to many different schools
  • The percentage of an applicant's demographic who accept a school's offer of admission or aid is called the demographics take-rate
  • Schools study their take-rates carefully and try to offer admission and aid to applicants from a mix of backgrounds in the hope of getting a predictable response
  • In consequence, applicants from even a small, relatively unknown school could get an offer of admission and aid to prestigious university
  • 另外,加上一条本人的感受,除了国内几所十分有名的大学外,别的什么大学在老外眼中都是一样的,他们就认为是一所中国的学校,所以没必要因自己的学校背景而自觉惭愧。

关于GRE
因为在中国入学考试成绩会影响到学校申请,但在美国成绩高低真的影响不大,只要GRE或托福达到基本要求,过了学校的门槛,教授们完全没时间去care GRE成绩。

关于提前申请
  • Most schools have a single application deadline. Generally, schools without a single deadline, schools with rolling admissions, are not good schools
  • A school might have an early admissions process with its own, fixed deadldine. Early admissions process typically only exist for undergraduate programs. An applicant applying in an early process contracts to accept an offer, so an applicant should not apply under more than one early admissions process
  • An application is either filed before the deadline or after deadline, on time or late. Members of the admissions committee do not handle applications before the deadline (所以比别人提前一周申请没什么区别)
  • Your application is more persuasive if you submit it close to the deadline to take time to make it better

关于中介机构
  • Because someone charges you to do your application, you cannot assume that the person knows what schools want any more than you know
  • From my experience reviewing the work of application services, you can probably do a much better job applying by yourself. To do a better job, you need to knwo what constitutes a good application

研究生学校类型
  • academic gradudate study
像自然科学,数学,计算机科学。Engineering normally offers academic graduate education. 本类学科一般有TA/RA奖学金机会

  • professional graduate study
像法学院,医学院,商学院。一般没有奖学金机会。

申请材料
Applications usually include
  • a transcript certifying receipt of an undergraduate degree
  • three letters of recommendation
  • a statement of purpose
  • standardized test scores
The parts of the applications are supposed to give some reliable indication of the potential for success in gradute study.

成绩单
When you apply to graduate school, American universities will standardize the information in your record. They will assign grade points to your work in each course, and calculate an overall and major GPA. They are most interested in the GPA for courses perceived to be a part of your major. To calculate GPA, use a seven-point scale to assign letter grades to your percentage grades. Give grade points to each letter grade in the last step. Rememberr that an A is 4.0 points, B is 3.0 points, C is 2.0 points, D is 1.0 point, and F is 0.0 points. A - or + modifier to a grade adds or subtracts 0.3 points, respectively, except in the case of A where there is no + modifier and F where there is no - modifier.

成绩单是所有申请材料中最重要的
  • If you are beginning your school career, start now to make your record as strong as possible. Do good work in your classes
  • If you are near the end of your career, don't worry if there are major defects in your record. With conscious, careful effort, you can compensate for many defects in your record by strengthening the other, subjective parts of the application.


推荐信
  • Seek at least two of the three letters of recommendation from faculty in your area who know your work well
  • One letter can be a professional reference or, in exceptional cases, a personal reference
推荐信格式
  • All letters begin by indicating the reason for the letter, writing on behalf of the applicant
  • The introduction explains the recommender's qualifications for recommending the applicant. The qualifications include a quick summary of the recommenders background and position. The qualification summarize the relationship of the recommender to the applicant
  • The body relays details the recommender's personal experiences working with the applicant
  • The conclusion summarizes the recommender's opinion of the applicant's potential for graduate study and ends with a clear statement of recommendation

个人陈述

大家自己看这个链接吧: instant.1point3acres.cn

总结
In order of importance
  • excel in classes in your major or intended field of study
  • do the work and form the relationships necessary to have convincing and detailed recommendations
  • try to develop a compelling plan for graduate study and write a good statement of purpose
  • do your best in all of your other classes, and finally
  • don't do badly on the GRE General Test or TOEFL
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