<p>Generally, it's quite difficult for international <em>undergrad</em> students to get an offer of a place at Ivy League or top non-Ivy League unis, especially if one doesn't have high scores in SATs and/or apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>Is it the same thing for international graduates (with non-US degrees) who apply to top US unis for doing post-graduate or research programmes?</p>
<p>And, is it easy to get financial aid (both needs-blind and merit) as a non-US graduate? </p>
<p>Can someone plz give me an idea on the chances of getting accepted in the grad schools of UIUC, Georgia Tech, Berkeley, UM, Stanford, and MIT for Civil Engineering? </p>
</a> Hello aibarr, can you plz give me any useful link that supports your quoted post? </p>
<p>Is it easy for international graduates holding US MSc degree but non-US (more specifically, Australian) BSc/BEng degree to get Engineering jobs in top US companies?</p>
<p>In terms of American employment for people with US MSc degrees, yep, I'd say that American jobs are readily achievable for foreign students, so long as you can get all the visas and such worked out.</p>
<p>Financial aid is much more of an issue for international students than it is for domestic students. That's going to be a difficulty. Perhaps that's something that your own government can help you with, or perhaps there's a local foundation that's willing to help you with funding. Perhaps applying for a Fulbright scholarship or something along those lines would be a good idea. There are teaching assistantships to be had, especialy if you're fluent in English and qualified in the different subjects, but those are more uncertain than research assistantships and fellowships, which are hard to come by. I'm sure it's not <em>impossible</em>, but my impression is that getting funding as an international student is difficult.</p>
<p>Roughly half of the students in the top programs are international students, so I believe that the odds are somewhat better for international grads than for international undergrads, but I'm not sure. I know it's still highly competitive, even for domestic students. You typically need fairly high GRE scores and at <em>least</em> a 3.5 GPA, as a domestic candidate, in order to get accepted.</p>
<p>I'd consult the individual programs. Typically, there's a graduate admissions coordinator within each of the departments, and often, there's an international admissions coordinator as well. Get in touch with those people and repeat the questions you've asked here. I'm sure it also varies from program to program, and each program's coordinators can give you better and more accurate answers and information than what I can provide. Being a domestic grad student, I'm not familiar with the international grad application process, other than what I hear from my officemates, and typically, it's just what I overhear in Portuguese. Considering I only speak Spanish and English, my information may be incorrect...! =) So, please check with the individual schools. They'll be able to point you in the right direction.</p>
<p>A few days back, I talked to someone who's going to complete his Bachelor's degree (in Business Information Systems) next year. When I asked him about his plans of doing Masters, he said: </p>
<p>"If I do a Masters right after my degree, it will be really hard for me to get a job because many employers do this mistake... once you do your masters and you have no work experience, they tend to think that you are not good enough for which you had to do your Masters. I'll do my Masters after gaining three-year work experience, then I can ask my company or the government to pay for my fees."
**
Do you agree on what he said? **</p>
<p>What I believe is that if I can get atleast 2.1 or B+ (or equivalent score) in my Bachelor's degree then I can meet the requirements of a relevant job offered by many companies. Moreover, by doing Masters right after graduation I can be sure of scoring better than if I study it three years after graduation. </p>
<p>Is a Masters degree holder always expected to have a few years of work experience?</p>
<p>I don't agree with your friend... In fact, a TON of the top companies won't even hire people without masters degrees. It's not expected to have work experience whatsoever.</p>
<p>Yes, occasionally, you can get your company to pay for your masters degree, but you typically have to work at the same time, at least part-time. That, and you'll be obligated to the company for a while longer, since they paid for your degree.</p>
<p>Business is very different. I imagine he'd be getting an MBA or something, and then, the preferred route is to do what he said, but that's not the case in engineering.</p>
<p>thanx for replying and confirming about the case for Engineering. :)</p>
<p>I hope... doing masters right after graduation is also favourable in getting jobs easily in UK and/or Australia. </p>
<p>Normally, four-year BEng (Australian) and four-year UK MEng (undergrad degree) satisfies the academic requirements for Professional status (e.g. CEng in UK) in those countries, unlike that in USA where an MS/MEng (masters degree) is a strong requirement. So I have a doubt whether or not MS in Engineering is just an advantage in those countries. </p>
<p>So, if it's possible on my part to study MS in a US uni and get that visa then I hope I can get few years work experience in US to boost up my career.</p>
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That, and you'll be obligated to the company for a while longer, since they paid for your degree.
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<p>There are still some companies who won't obligate you. In fact, I know of one company, that is very famous, but that shall remain unnamed, that will actually pay you your full salary, AND will pay for all your tuition AND your living costs while you get your master's degree, AND won't formally obligate you to return to work for them. It is an absolutely gold-plated deal if I ever heard of one.</p>
<p>Personally, I happen to think that this company is extremely stupid for offering this deal. However, in fairness to the company, I would say that practically every person who has taken this deal has gone back to work for them. And to give you an idea of just how famous this company is, I would venture that every single one of us has used this company's product at one time or another.</p>
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sakky: why do u want to hide the name of that company?
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<p>Because I fear that if I said it, then people would go join up with this company just to get that free master's degree (plus salary plus living costs).</p>
<p>I talked about another company on another thread that sponsors students, but I never said that that was the one I was talking about here. In fact, I know quite a few companies who are willing to sponsor their students, with varying levels of commitment required by their sponsorees - ranging from many years of commitment to no commitment at all.</p>