Need your suggestion:How to choose my Ph.D program

<p>I am a graduate-to-be with a master degree in Computer Science in China(Southeast University).And I jioned Agriculture Bank of China,Jiangsu Branch as an engineer.My terminal career goal is to get a position in some univeristy,teaching and researching.I have taken GRE and TOEFL test.
Anyone who wanna give me a hand to choose my Ph.D program please pm me or mail me.And I will send documents about my background to you.Thanks a bunch.
Email:<a href="mailto:Jie-Han@hotmail.com">Jie-Han@hotmail.com</a>
Thanks:)</p>

<p>I need your help,pls</p>

<p>With a low GPA and a university(Shandong Normal University) which is unknown even to China,I start my journey to prepare to go abroad.My stand test is not good enough(Toefl:587,3.5/Gre:300,689,3.0),and I will retake it in this October.There's no gurantee to win the test,but I am going to strive for my best.After I graduate with a master's degree in Southeast University,I am employed by Agricultural Bank of China,Jiangsu Branch.For me,it is not a good choice.My dream teaching in a university drives me to pursuit a Doctoral Degree.And in my master program,I published some academic papers in some unfamous journals.Now I am preparing to new articles.That's my story.Which school should I apply?
Your words is a light for my feet,every shinning on my way.Thanks</p>

<p>JieHan - in terms of coming to the United States (at least) you need to be aware that you are going to be competing against the top Comp. Sci. students on the planet - not just Chinese, but Americans, Russians, Indians, Germans, etc.</p>

<p>However, there is a "back door":</p>

<p>If you have a few years working experience, you might consider looking for work with a U.S. company in Asia. (Your written English, at least, is quite good.) Make sure the company knows that you are willing to come to the US to work. </p>

<p>Many (even most) technology oriented companies in the US encourage their employees to advance their education. Once you're here and working you could take advantage of that fact, perhaps getting a second MS here on a part time basis (and paid for by your employer) and with excellent grades. Then start applying for funded PhD programs and you're on your way.</p>

<p>This approach will obviously require more time but it seems to be fairly common. Over the years I've met quite a number of Chinese (and Indian) engineers who are working full time in software development and getting advanced degrees at the same time.</p>

<p>I regret refusing JANA solution,a software company belongs to Waseda University in Tokyo.I was employed because of my proficience of Japanese.Perhaps that position in Tokyo could afford me a bright future to U.S.I have no idea how to survival in fianace field like Bank but to stick on my dreams.Try.The bible puts that,"Knock,and it will be open."And I believe that.
Dear WilliamC,how do I access Human Resource in U.S?</p>

<p>Department of Labor has a lot of employment statistics. If you are interested check this out: <a href="http://www.dol.gov/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dol.gov/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I am an international student too. I started at a community college in Seattle, and finally graduated at the University of Washington with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, and I am now in Chicago for my graduate studies. I think I can somehow provide my comments about choosing a PhD program.</p>

<p>First of all, be honest, to apply an engineering program, your GRE math score HAS to be higher than 700 in order to be considered, and try to get at least 350 for verbal even though non-top schools don't really care. Then send out your applications to many many universities regardless their rankings. Your goal is to find a school that accepts you and gives you funding. If no school accepts you, you lose the application fees anyway. Once you are in the U.S., try the best that you can to do research and get good grades, work super hard untill you are ready for a better school.</p>

<p>I am saying this based on a real life case. When I was an undergraduate, I was working with a PhD student on her dissertation at the University of Washington(UW). She also came from China. She was first accepted by a state college as a graduate student, and later tranferred to the University of Alabama, and finally completed her PhD at the UW. It took her 9 years. She did not have good grades and verbal score when she was in China, but she achieves a PhD title by the end.</p>

<p>Besides working hard, what can help?
If you are female, it helps. We lack female engineers
If you choose majors that are not so competitive, such as Industrial Engineering, Paper Science, Forestry...
If you have sufficient fiancial supports by your own and apply master only program
If you don't care about rankings
If you have special relationship with professors
If you have for example Bill Gates writing you recommendation letters
If you are lucky</p>

<p>Email me if you still want to hear some more
<a href="mailto:Bill1985m@yahoo.com.hk">Bill1985m@yahoo.com.hk</a></p>

<p>Many thanks to Billpun.I am preparing my Gre for the next round of application,08 fall.Besides verbal and math,how about my score of AW?4.5 or more?Considering some top university and popular major might afford me a bright career path,I am anxious to get an offer from top school.
By the way, I am male without sufficient fiancial supports,since I was born in a small viliage on the mouth of Yellow River.Does recommendation letters play an important role in this progress?My advisor is an ordinary professor in my University,the only highlights of his experience is that he graduated from Aichi Insititue of Technology.Hope I am lucky....
I will write to you later.Thanks again.</p>

<p>Many top schools have a cut-off limit which they never state on their websites. A math score higher than 750 and writing higher than 4 should at least put you into considerations (verbal depends). Of course, GRE is not everything. If you graduated with honors, were a recipient of many respectable awards or an author of many publications, you would nonetheless have a good chance of receiving offers from top schools. In my (subjective) opinions, recommendation letters are the most important materials that can tell the admission committee who you are. The committee understands that numbers could be played around. However, a known professor is less likely telling lies, and therefore more trustworthy. Your interpersonal quality and ability of doing research could be largely conveyed providing that the letters, which become a very essential part of your application, are well written. (They want to get a student who is positive, communicable, and capable of doing research since they may have to be stuck with you for 5 years)</p>

<p>The other factor is the speaking part of the Toefl exam. Public schools, which do not generally provide you free money unless you are truly exceptional, usually offer you TA fellowship if your speaking score satisfies the requirement. Some of the schools may still be using TSE, but many of them switch to the Toefl exam. Rather than asking applicants to take and submit two scores that are essentially telling the same thing, they focus on the Toefl which is basically required for all the international applicants.</p>

<p>Last words, the admission process is not about luck, and the result of it does not guarantee a bright future. Getting a PhD is about researching unknowns to fulfill your curiosity, monetary compensation is an important factor, but should not be dominating. This thinking is especially applicable to engineers and scientists. Keep in mind.</p>

<p>If you want a talk, email me.
Best wishes on your application process</p>

<p>I have written to you.Thank you for you information.</p>