<p>I'm a second year undergraduate student studying Natural Sciences in Ireland. I'm (somewhat tentatively) looking into graduate school courses in the biomedical area in the US when I've finished my degree (no, I don't know what my degree will be in yet, but I'll probably choose chemistry, or microbiology, med chem or biochem if that helps). I have a few questions which I can't find straightforward answers to:</p>
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<li><p>What's the story with cost/funding of grad schools and postgraduate courses in the US? In Ireland, you go straight to a research Masters or PhD from your undergrad, and usually get a small stipend - are American grad schools and PhDs usually funded, or do you have to pay fees, or <em>what</em>? (this has been very confusing)</p></li>
<li><p>Is non-American citizenship/residency a huge issue when applying for places? I had problems applying for summer internships at labs that had NIH grants because of this - will this restrict my options to a large degree?</p></li>
<li><p>How much of an asset are taught postgraduate qualifications, when applying for jobs/postdoc positions, etc, as opposed to pure research degrees?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there problems with 'translating' grades? For example, for 1st year my overall mark was 78%, which is a 'first class' grade (equivalent of an A) at home, but I understand might be seen as a very low mark in a US university because it's marked on a different scale. Has anyone in the UK or Ireland had this problem?</p></li>
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<p>Thank you very much for taking the time to help me with these things. I'm sorry if some of the answers seem obvious - I'm trying to get a grip on a whole new system here.</p>
In the sciences, the US is much the same - most people go from BS directly to PhD, although a fair number hit an MS in between for any of a dozen reasons. Most science PhD programs are fully funded through RA, TA, or fellowship, most masters are self-funded, as are many arts/humanities PhD’s.</p>
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The only way non-citizenship hurts you is that the US government sponsors a number of prestigious fellowships (through the NIH, for example) that are only available to US ?citizens. RA’s, TA’s, and university fellowships are still available to you - I am actually the only US citizen in my engineering lab, but everyone is fully supported.</p>
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Not sure how to answer this one… I suspect your “taught postgraduate qualifications” correspond to our professional degrees. If that is the case, than in most cases they are regarded substantially lower than research degrees.</p>
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A ton of UK students come over here each year, and the conversions are well understood - you should not suffer from any problems here.</p>
And, to continue, non-citizenship hurts in the application process, since the program generally must support you, rather than relying on a government training grant. As a result, it’s usually more difficult to get into US science PhD programs as an international student, but once you’re admitted, you’ll be supported just like the domestic students in your program.</p>
<p>By ‘taught postgraduate qualification’ I mean a Masters/PhD which has a lecture/coursework component. I understand (and, hey, I could be understanding wrong here) that the whole point of ‘graduate school’ was that you undertook a year or two of courses and then got to the research project at the end.</p>
<p>By ‘pure research’, I mean the system here where once you get accepted to a Masters/PhD program you get thrown in a lab and told, “Right, good luck, see you in 2-4 years with a thesis.” ‘Taught’ postgraduate degrees (Masters/PhDs with classes or coursework) are very uncommon here in the sciences.</p>
<p>So, my question is: is a Masters/PhD from a US university in which a significant component of it is time spent doing advanced coursework in the field any more valuable than a Masters/PhD from a European university which only has a research component?</p>
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<p>When you say self-funded, how self-funded do you mean? Are the figures I’ve been seeing (~$30,000 per year) around average? And do you mean that doing RA or TA work is a requirement of the program, or the most people get RA/TA jobs separately to pay for the program?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your very informative comments.</p>
<p>For masters programs, the student usually pays for all, or most, of the cost. The cost of tuition depends on the program, but the tuition you quote sounds about right. And remember, you have living expenses as well. Most foreign masters students in the US either are here because their company is paying for their education or because they can afford it.</p>
<p>For PhD programs, each funding package is different. In most cases, you will be told what yours will be (tuition remission, TA requirements, grants, etc.) when you are offered admission. Unless you arrive with your own fellowship, you will probably have a TA assignment your first year, which generally isn’t a big deal. If you plan to enter academia, the experience is invaluable and part of your training – depending, of course, on how much teaching you’re allowed to do. RAs are generally secured through specific profs, and they take the place of TAships. Once you connect with an advisor for your research, that prof will support you for another 2-4 years with an RA position – your thesis research. The TA/RA jobs generally provide a stipend for your living expenses. The university usually waives tuition and fees for the students in the PhD program. Thus, “fully funded” means that you don’t have to pay tuition and that you have a modest amount to use for rent, food, and personal expenses. US grad students live frugally unless they have spouses who are already in the work force.</p>
<p>I don’t know how European advanced degrees compare to US degrees (non-teaching v. teaching) in the job market, but I do know that many US profs have UK degrees. The coursework component of US PhD programs ensures that students have a broad base in the field, enabling them to teach introductory courses where needed when they get their first assistant professor position. In the sciences, since the profs have lighter teaching loads than in the humanities, it’s really important that a new hire can plug a vacant hole in the teaching schedule in addition to teaching one or more courses in the specialty. Obviously, this ability is not as important for PhDs who go into industry.</p>
<p>Mollie, I’m curious about the rough percentage of international students in your program. </p>
<p>Some PhD programs have a majority of internationals, while others have a small percentage. In the program where my husband teaches at a university known more for its undergraduate than graduate studies (and therefore not top-ranked for grad school), a vast majority are internationals. At Princeton, it seems that at least half of graduate students are international, although obviously that depends on the program. In the lab where my D worked over the summer, the two post-docs were American. The three grad students were international.</p>
<p>Professors who have NSF grants can support foreign students, but these same students cannot get direct funding from NSF. The difference is subtle in the outcome since most profs in research areas have funding.</p>
<p>About 15% of the students in my program are international – pretty low. (In my lab, all of the postdocs are international, and all of the grad students are US citizens. :))</p>
<p>I would imagine the mechanisms of support for students would dictate each program’s strategy. In my program, first- and second-years are supported by NIH T32 training grants, which are available only to US citizens and permanent residents; international students have to be supported by other program funds. But if a program does not anticipate funding most G1s and G2s through a T32, perhaps they would be willing to take more international students.</p>
<p>You didn’t ask me, but I figured i’d chime in. My program is about 40% international, which i figure is probably among the highest in the country.</p>
<p>As others have stated, a TA or RA assignment will generally pay all expenses plus provide a small stipend, likewise for a fellowship. Most schools place no requirements on your funding, although some do - for example, EE’s at MIT are required to spend 2 semesters as a TA in order to receive the PhD.</p>
<p>The difficulty in getting in as an international depends a lot on the expectation of NIH/NSF funding for candidates - this is more common from the NIH, so expect more trouble getting into medical-related fields. In MY field (where federal funding is relatively low) internationals are very very common - my lab group (top-5 EE grad program) has 11 internationals and 1 US citizen (me), and the department as a whole is still mostly international.</p>
<p>Most US PhD programs have some coursework requirement, although it may be very informal - one program had no specific requirements, just that the advisor sign off that you were “academically prepared” for research. I do not believe that there is any issue with this in hiring, one way or the other - universities are usually much more concerned with your research and teaching credentials (another reason to go TA for a while).</p>