Gone are the days when slots in US graduate schools are are only limited to American students. Nowadays, foreign students can have a shot at any US graduate school. However, this does not mean that you will be automatically admitted to a graduate school. Like all other applicants, you also need to comply with different admission requirements. To help you get by the application process, read the following suggestions on how you can ace graduate school admissions to eventually become a US citizen.
Be serious in your school applications.
Before you apply for any US graduate school, make sure that you have made up your mind. Treat your application requirements with seriousness. Remember that your application requirements will provide the first impression about yourself. Never cram application requirements. Avoid boasting your achievements. This will only give your application a bad review.
Determine what and where you want to study.
Ask yourself why you want to study in the US. Doing so will give you an idea of your purposes. Review your interests. As much as possible, apply for a course that you like. Identifying your career path will also make deciding for a course easier.
Research about the schools where you want to study. Read articles and attend forums about them. Try to estimate your living expenses. This way, you can have the opportunity to find ways to get an income.
Work hard
Remember that being admitted to a graduate school is just the start of your journey. Do your best at all times. Maximize your stay at the graduate school. If your schedule will permit, join organizations that can help you enhance your knowledge. If you are not working, try to find ways by which you can practically apply what you have learned in class. Aside from being able to improve you skills, these tips can also be your gateway to brighter career opportunities. In fact, your company can even assist you in your green card application. Having a US graduate degree and extensive graduate school experience will increase you chances of getting a green card. So, treat hard work as your investment.
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If you want quality graduate school education, then you would really need money. This is because dealing with graduate school expenses can be challenging for students, especially for those whose families aren’t earning much. But does this mean that quality graduate school education cannot be accessible to the financially underprivileged?
The answer is NO. With strong motivation, strategic financial planning, and institutions granting financial aid in the form of loans and scholarships, practically anybody can stand a chance in graduate school.
Here are some of the financial aid opportunities available for graduate school students:
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Funded by the government, FAFSA is accessible to students of graduate schools participating in the said project. FAFSA applicants are usually evaluated based on factors such as a student’s financial condition and eligibility for aid.
In-house financial aid programs
If you happen to be in a university that is not a participant of FAFSA, you can check out the school’s in-house student financial aid programs. Schools usually offer financial aid opportunities that students can avail of, though such opportunities may depend on the graduate school program that one is enrolled in.
Private schools usually ask for additional requirements such as graduate school admission essays, where students have the opportunity to explain or describe their financial and economic condition. To help you out, there are sample graduate school essays online.
There are some graduate schools that tie-up with other financial aid institutions instead of offering in-house financial aid. Here are some funding organizations that offer financial grants and scholarships to graduate school students:
Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS)
GMS, initially an offshoot of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to give financial assistance to students belonging to racial minorities. It aims to increase these target groups’ representation in different academic disciplines. Granting scholarships since 1999, GMS has already aided more than 12,000 students financially.
American Association for University Women (AAUW)
The AAUW Educational Foundation is a financial aid institution for women of all religions, races, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Ford Foundation
This foundation offers financial grants and scholarships to students of certain graduate school programs in Engineering, History, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, and others.
Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation
This foundation gives grants to graduate school students in the field of public service. They offer up to $30,000 of financial aid, as well as fellowships and leadership trainings.
NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program
This program is accessible to students of graduate school programs under the fields of Engineering such as Aeronautics, Aeronautical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical and Electric Engineering, and others. NASA ASP beneficiaries are entitled to grants of up to $11,000 in a school year, as well as a yearly stipend amounting to $35,000.
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If you are planning to get into graduate school and acquire an advanced degree, you would, of course, want to get training from one of the best schools. However, ranking schools and determining the best can be a bit controversial. How schools will be ranked shall depend on several factors, some of which, can even be subjective.
To date, no single organization or body is considered an authority when it comes to ranking graduate schools and graduate school programs. Thus, the job of evaluating and ranking graduate schools and programs became a task for different institutions and organizations. These bodies use varying criteria in evaluating and ranking schools. The organization usually consider several factors such as cost of education and number of enrollees. Even the method of data gathering and analysis vary from one body to another. Thus, rankings or evaluations usually yield different results.
Besides the varying methods and criteria, published compilations of graduate school rankings also become problematic because they are seldom concentrated on particular fields or programs. It is important to note that schools usually have fields of specialty when it comes to the training and education that they provide. Thus, “general” rankings do not help that much if you’re looking for the best schools for a particular graduate school program.
To address these issues, here are lists of 5 oft-cited schools offering graduate school programs for different academic disciplines: (Note: The lists are in no particular order.)
Business and Administration
1. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management
3. Harvard University – Harvard Business School (HBS)
4. Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University
5. Stanford University Graduate School of Business
These rankings published by Financial Times are disaggregated into different MBA Programs such as full-time, part-time, dual, online, and executive.
Computer and Engineering
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2. University of California – Berkeley
3. Schulich School of Engineering of Stanford University
4. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC or U of I)
5. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
Law
1. Yale University Law School
2. Harvard University Law School
3. New York University School of Law
4. Stanford University Law School
5. Columbia University Law School
Medicine
1. Harvard University Medical School
2. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
3. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
4. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
5. University of California – San Francisco School of Medicine
These rankings published by US News and World Report were based on the schools’ medical programs, and their research and primary care facilities.
Because of the excellence of Harvard University and Stanford University in different fields, these two schools are considered as two of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Known for their highly-selective admission requirements and procedures, these two schools take pride in their long lists of prominent and notable alumni.
Applying for any graduate school program entails that you submit certain requirements. One of which is the graduate admission essay. Because it is one of the trickiest and most important requirements, investing in this essay is a must. Check out the Internet for sample graduate school essays to have an idea on how to write an effective admission essay.
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Getting a graduate school degree is one thing; getting into graduate school is another. Graduate school application requires that you submit certain documents to show that you are qualified to get into graduate school. Some of these requirements are transcripts, recommendation letters from employers or former professors, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and other standardized exam results, and a graduate school admission essay.
The graduate school admission essay is one of the most important requirements for graduate school application. As it can be evaluated subjectively, it is important that this essay is written carefully and systematically.
Sample graduate school essays are intended to serve as guides for people who are writing graduate school admission essays. Sample school admission essays can be used as guides or patterns in writing your own application essay.
There are lots of articles on the Internet that offer tips and guidelines on how to write effective essays, but sample graduate school essays showcase how these tips are applied. You may also find badly written sample graduate school essays to show you how not to write your essay. But if you will read the sample graduate school essays that sites would consider as among the best-written pieces, you will find out what the bottom line in writing a good graduate admission essay is. The bottom line is that you should emphasize and describe how your experiences and background make the program that you are applying for the best one for you.
Those that are among the best-written sample graduate school essays describe the following information in detail:
-what your long-term professional goals are
-how a degree from the program that you are applying for can help you in attaining those goals
-what you regard as your greatest achievement
-how you have contributed to the community that you are involved in
-how you intend to contribute more to the community
-why the graduate school should accept you into the program
You will find that not all sample graduate school essays focus on all of those information. Some of them only focus on a particular topic, then go into specific details that support the claims based on the chosen topic. You may do the same thing when you write your own application essay. Also, you must focus on the personal aspects that make you a strong candidate for a graduate school program.
Well-written sample graduate school essays will show you that you don’t have to describe your professional or educational achievements in your application essay. Admissions committees would want to see YOU in your essay: your dreams, the challenges you went through, how you overcame those challenges, your goals, and the things you value. When it comes to your essay, admissions committees would be after the information about you that other documents can’t provide.
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After marching down the aisle, coming up on stage, and posing for photo opportunities while you take your college diploma and wave college life goodbye, you might get to a point when you think you’re ready to take the next step forward, and yet, you end up pausing, uncertain where to go and what to do next. Then you ask yourself, “What now?”
Your options after graduation
College graduation leads you to the “next stage.” It can be considered that simple. Only, what is the next stage? College graduation opens doors leading to many different directions, and it’s up to you to choose which path to take.
You may opt to go straight into the workforce and get started with your journey to the top levels of the career ladder. You may also put up your own business, being your own boss and your own financer. Or, you may opt to stay in the academe, digging more of the treasures that it has in store for you.
There is so much to learn, and there is so much to use these learnings for. You might think that you’ve had enough of what you need to learn to be able to compete in the career world with an edge, but there are lots of ways to get an added advantage. Pursuing graduate studies is one of them.
Advantages of Getting an Advanced Degree
An advanced degree is important not just for people who intend to pursue careers in the academe, but also for people who intend to pursue other fields. An MA or PhD can give you a ticket to higher-paying jobs and better career opportunities. Adding up to your credentials, an advanced degree makes you more qualified for promotion.
Graduate studies will also develop your research skills further. Research skill is an essential tool in almost any field.
Graduate school will also allow you to expand and deepen your knowledge and skills. You will learn more theories and get to understand them better.
Finally, a degree from graduate school will allow you access to more employment opportunities. With added training and education, you will be more equipped when you venture into the career world.
Getting into graduate school
To be able to get into graduate school, you will need to complete certain requirements. Among these are recommendation letters from your former professors, college records, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) results, and graduate school application essays. It is important to invest in your graduate school essay because this counts a lot in your application. You may check out sample graduate school essays on the Internet to see how good graduate school essays are written.
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In a period when a country experiences challenges in its economy’s stability, reassessing and redefining professional goals is quintessential, if not necessary. An economic recession is an appropriate time to reconsider career plans and objectives. Doing so can help you cope with the nation’s economic condition and alleviate this condition’s negative effects.
When a country is experiencing remarkable decline in its gross domestic product (GDP) and significant rise in commodity prices and unemployment rate, taking measures to strengthen one’s weapons in a competitive career world is a good move.
Empowering yourself in a competitive career world
Companies usually opt to lay off part of their workforce as a form of cost-cutting during an economic recession. Because of this, qualifications for a job, career growth opportunities, and ensuring career security in these times may require a stronger edge, such as a degree from graduate school.
This instability of the job market during an economic recession often calls for career shifts. Expanding one’s experience, skills, and knowledge allows one to be able to participate in a wider range of fields in the career world. Not only does additional educational background give you a ticket to better job and income opportunities; it also allows you to qualify for more jobs, increasing your job options.
The growing trend of pursuing graduate studies during periods of national economic recession has been confirmed by a study conducted by the University of Washington. In this study, it was found that applications for graduate school rose significantly during the economic recession between 2001 and 2003. The number of people who took the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) in preparation for graduate school application also grew by nine percent.
Economic recessions do not stay very long. The country usually gets to recover and regain its economic stability in about two or three year’s time. It is in such time that companies begin to re-empower their workforce and invest in their manpower again. When this time comes, job opportunities open up for job seekers once more, and an MA or PhD degree holder gets to have several kilometers of head start against other applicants, being more equipped and trained.
Gearing up for graduate school
If you’re planning to get into graduate school, take note of the following:
-Prepare your transcripts.
-Secure letters of recommendation from your former professors or employers.
-Prepare or review for GRE and other standardized tests, which may test your verbal, mathematical, writing, and analytical skills.
-Prepare an excellent graduate school essay. You may check out sample graduate school essays on the Internet to see how graduate school essays are written.
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