Etranger wrote:Should the issue with Americans and their paying taxes (and therefore, harder to get full funding) even be one at all if one is applying to private institutions? I'm half-assuming some - although it's most probably far less than with public universities - of your tax money still goes towards them, somehow, no?
Faculty members in Canada (who have studied and/or worked in US institutions before) have told me that this funding issue for internationals is more for public universities than private ones. You can do a quick check by trying to look up the graduate tuition (it could be hard to find sometimes) rate for the schools: if you see a difference between in-state/domestic tuition and international tuition, that means you would cost more to the department. Most private, or semi-private, schools have the same tuition for everyone -- then it's probably not a disadvantage to be foreign there! My profs told me that I probably had a much better chance at Harvard than any of the UC (University of California) schools, even the smaller ones, because of this funding reason (in the end, I got rejected at all of them! lol -- but I did end up getting into other schools I really liked so it's no problem!).
You can also use sites that compile graduate program stats, such as
http://www.gradschoolshopper.com/ or the NRC Doctoral Program Rankings to find the % of international graduate students enrolled. At the UC schools, this ratio is something like 10%, compared to a place like Harvard which I think had a ratio of 30%. It's also a bigger problem on the west coast than east coast, apparently.
Etranger wrote:
What difference could the LoRs possibly make? Except if perhaps someone has some truly messed up personality traits that triggered to, I don't know, burn down the chemistry lab (?!?!), I'm not sure what kind of impact they could have. That's in the case of whoever is reading them, not being acquainted with whoever has written them! I'm sure they get hundreds of letters filled with praises about every Tom, Dick and Jason who applies. The way I see it, the only way excellent LoRs could actually help the boat stay afloat would be if some people in the departments I'm applying to know the profs!
What grae said is very true and helpful! I think LORs are definitely at least the 2nd most important part of your application, if not the most important. To expand on her comments, it's very important to choose your LOR writers carefully and your choices may vary for each school you are applying to. But in order to have these choices, it's critical to get yourself doing research in the summers so that you have research advisors to ask for LORs. If/When you get a chance to do a second research project and you have a choice between continuing your last project or doing something new, I'd recommend doing something new (so that you have another LOR writer) unless continuing the old project means you will get some really nice result and publications.
Most schools require at least 3 LORs, and ideally all 3 of them will be from your research advisors. This is hard to do and many people have 2 research LORs and one academic one from a prof that knows them well. When you pick your LOR writers, they can strengthen your application if:
(1) You actually did research work with them and they can comment on your ability and potential to do graduate level research work.
(2) They are well known and respected in your field.
(3) They have personal connections with people in the department you are applying to -- especially if they are a collaborator, but also good if they are alumni, or used to work there, etc.
(4) They have former students that recently enrolled at the department you are applying to and they can favourably compare you to these students (assuming these students are doing well at said school!)
If you have to make a choice in selecting LOR writers (i.e. you may have multiple options for the 3rd or 4th letter), you could email all potential writers with your list of schools (and faculty) you're interested in and ask if they think they can write a helpful letter at these places. This was how I learned that one of my LOR writers had some connections at a school I applied to.
Etranger wrote:
I have more hope for Canada...it looks much, much easier/less competitive for entry.
Canada is "less competitive" because fewer students apply to our programs. But there are different level of schools in Canada as well, and if you are planning to end up in the US for PhD, you may want to stick to more renowned schools. In general, UBC, McGill, and University of Toronto are the 3 biggest school names in Canada, but there could be other good places specific to your field as well. We can talk more about Canadian graduate programs/requirements if you want to send me a PM but the information might be more useful in a few years when you are actually applying to places.
Etranger wrote:
When you say "publishable research", does it matter which journal it's published in? I understand the process of getting one's paper sent in, reviewed and to the point of being accepted, can be quite lengthy because every journal has their own annoying parameters...
Would uploading one's papers count (assuming one gets "endorsed") to arXiv be a good way to get "published" or would academics raise an eyebrow or two at an undergrad doing such things, seeing as they're completely avoiding the peer-review process?
I think that papers that are posted to the arXiv are taken more seriously if they were also submitted to a peer reviewed journal, so that the arxiv posting is just a way to get the information out faster, since the process could take a long time. I know some people only actually post to arXiv once the paper has been accepted for publication -- so that the peer reviewed information is ready since the delay between acceptance and actual printing could be many months!
Usually, most undergraduate publications are also co-authored by faculty and usually the faculty member will decide where to submit it. It's very very bad form to post a paper anywhere without getting consent/agreement from all your coauthors first.