PhD admission (chances) in the US from a Swedish undergraduate

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>First time poster but been reading from some time. I'm wondering what my chances are for admission to, lets say, some US graduate school which is ranked 1-40 nationally, preferably in California, close to the beaches, had it with this Swedish weather.</p>

<p>I'm looking at the possibility to do a PhD in mechanical engineering in the US, mainly because I don't know what I would like to focus on and the system in Europe is more rigid, you apply for a specific project (but some project also pay very good). I am not necessarily looking for any top schools, but I have a fully funded PhD offer at a very prestigious university (from the three big rankings anyway) and thus would not want to lower myself all that much.</p>

<p>I did my undergraduate (BSc) in Sweden at a top engineering universities (quite "prestigious" in Sweden and highly ranked in engineering). I have also received a MSc in mechanical engineering (in Sweden you apply for five years and get both, 3+2 years, in addition to a national degree valid only in Sweden).</p>

<p>The language requirements is of no problem, I have taken the necessary tests and can apply anywhere. I haven't yet taken the GRE, I have some general idea of what I should score from previous posts, although it seems it isn't the most important factor. Strong recommendations letters are also available.</p>

<p>Now to my grades. I haven't converted them to the GPA scale and this is just a plain average of all my studies, not just final year etc.</p>

<p>BSc: 4 (on a scale from U, 3(40%), 4(60%), 5(80%)). I guess it would somehow be 3 in the US system.
MSc: 4.5 (same scale). Lets say 3.5 in US system.</p>

<p>Further, and this is why I am even considering applying, is that I have two first author publications at a reputable international conference and one more first author publication at another conference. Thus three first author publications. I have also been a teaching assistant and hired as a research assistant and done some things around the university during my first years.</p>

<p>So, hopefully you read all of that and can give me some hints on what my chances are, if any.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>We cannot tell you your chances, as they are dependent upon a lot of intangible factors. We definitely cannot tell on the sole basis of your GPA. You didn’t say how much research experience you had or the strength of your recommendations, and we also don’t know what departments you’re planning to apply to and what your research interests are.</p>

<p>If you don’t know what you want to focus on, a PhD is not a good choice no matter what side of the pond you want to do it in. Although most PhD programs in the U.S. don’t require knowing exactly what your precise dissertation topic is, they do require that you identify an area of research in which you would like to work and focusing primarily on that.</p>

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<p>I know you can’t tell my exact chances, but I was hoping for an answer which was sort of, “yeah there is a large chance”, “yeah, some chance” or “no, don’t even bother”. My recommendation letters are strong and one professor is quite known internationally in his field, and I’ve had little over a year of research experience, up to 1,5 years. I said mechanical engineering departments for schools ranked (roughly) top 1-40. I don’t have any specific department in mind (although I have preferred ones) and they are to numerous to list here. I also have a fairly good idea of what I would like to do but not my specific dissertation, which is basically what you apply for in the UK.</p>

<p>I’ve found threads where people, mainly from the US, give their application information and whether they were admitted or not which is the sort of general picture I’m after, but from an international perspective and more specifically the nordic countries.</p>

<p>Mostly it seems that many applicants have quite a high GPA, which makes me wonder if it is inflated to some extent. I’d say it is on average lower in Sweden, and then wonder if the admission committee takes any regard to this. But on the other hand I’ve seen some departments put 3.5 as some sort of “minimum”, so I guess I have answered my own question. Although, what I’m not sure of is if its strictly the BSc or the last earned degree they look at the most.</p>

4

<p>Did you by any chance go to Chalmers? I lived in Gothenburg for a couple of years when I like 7.
If so, there are several graduate students here at Princeton’s Mechanical&Aerospace Engineering program from there. I know several faculties who have close ties with Sweden. But we’re not really known for the beaches.
Standards for international students are set much higher than national. </p>

<p>There aren’t many highly ranked engineering schools close to nice beaches. Your best bet may be UCSD.</p>

5

<p>@DoubleD: “Standards for international students are set much higher than national.” :
If one is applying for a PhD program in the US and is an international student, does it make a difference whether he/she has studied master’s in US or Europe? I mean, does a master’s from a US university increase the chances of admission to PhD at another US university?</p>

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<p>i dont know</p>

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<p>The big challenge for international students wanting to do their PhD in the US is that there is limited funding available to non-US citizens. So you’re competing for a limited number of internationally-fundable spots. Because of the difference in the systems, most Europeans applying to US institutions will have the master’s degree.</p>

8

<p>The only way you can really find out is to apply. I can tell you that at my university, Illinois Institute of Technology, we like to have applicants for Europe and in physics, at least, we offer TA positions to them if we are convinced that their English is good enough. That is usually not a problem for Swedish students. Of course our climate in Chicago is more like Sweden than San Diego…</p>

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<p>As I suspected, the funding for international students is competitive. Also, the weather is not the most important thing here, but it would definitely be a decisive factor if I applied and got in. Princeton would be more than fine and IIT too. Considering IIT it is in Chicago I guess the city can make up for the absence of beaches (and good weather year around). The problem is that applying costs (not to mention the GRE) and thus applying without really having any chance of being admitted is juts a waste of money. Thats why I’m trying to get some sens of what kind of qualifications an international student should have, roughly speaking of course.</p>

10

<p>Ah, but we do have beaches in Chicago…</p>

<p>Anyway, what you need to do is to look carefully at the kind of research done by faculty in your target schools and make your list that way. Since you already have an MSc. you might have a well-formed idea about the kind of research program that appeals to you. You will need to take the GRE of course but at least in Mechanical Engineering there is no subject test to worry about as there is in physics.</p>

<p>Another resource you might look into is the site which uses the 2007 National Research Council survey data. The data is a bit old but many of the items you can search on (such as fraction of students who are supported) is still valid.</p>

<p>[Mechanical</a> Engineering Rankings ? PhDs.org Graduate School Guide](<a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/mechanical-engineering]Mechanical”>http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/mechanical-engineering)</p>

<p>Once you have your target schools, start contacting faculty who do the kind of research you are interested in. You already have an MSc. and publications so you might be an attractive candidate for admission with a Research Assistantship. </p>

<p>From what you listed in your first post, I think you would be a strong candidate for a lot of the slightly less selective programs. Of course you should apply to one of your top choices but since those are always very selective, don’t feel bad if you are not admitted. Choose about 3 at a slightly lower selectivity which you would still be happy going to and then take one “safety”, where you are certain you will be admitted with support and where you are still relatively enthusiastic about attending.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

11

<p>“take one “safety”, where you are certain you will be admitted with support” : I think you can never be sure whether you’ll be admitted to any particular university, whatever university it is. You might just be able to say whether your chances are higher or lower.</p>

<p>xraymancs, do you recommend emailing the faculty before admission? What should one write about? one’s interests?</p>

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<p>Why would you email the faculty after admissions ?</p>

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<p>To ask whether they offer you an RAship, maybe. Actually I don’t know when the decisions about RAships are made, and I thought maybe after being admitted, one can email the faculty about RAships and financial matters. Am I right?
Why would you email them before admission? If you’re going to tell them about your interests and that you’d like to work with them, you can write that in your SOP as well.</p>

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<p>Another suggestion I’ve heard for international students is to get funding from their home countries to do a PhD abroad. I know such a program exists for Germans, so I would be surprised if Sweden didn’t have something similar.</p>

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<p>Also, a reason to email professors before applying: to find out if they’re taking students. They made not have the funding, or they may be looking at retiring. It doesn’t make sense to write in a SoP about wanting to work with a professor who’s not actually looking for students.</p>

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<p>@nanotechnology: Those are special cases I guess. Furthermore, I can’t email all the professors in a department to check those issues. Not all the professors, but still there are so many. I mean, although I have a general idea of what I want to work on, the field is so broad, and I’m not even sure which professor I want to work with. (Maybe I should add that I’m applying for the master’s)
So my email would be too general and generic. Perhaps professors receive hundreds of these emails and I’ve heard that most of the times you don’t get a reply.</p>

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<p>You need to check to see which school offer your program. But I think you have a chance to one of the following schools. They all are very close or about 1 hour away from the beaches:

  • UC Berkeley
  • UC San Diego
  • UC Santa Barbara
  • UC Davis
  • UC Irvine</p>
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<p>If you don’t know what you want to work on nor do you have any professors in mind and the program is selective, you won’t be getting in. </p>

<p>Tbh, you don’t seem very motivated nor does it seem like you’ve put much effort in finding answers to these common questions.</p>

19

<p>I haven’t actually looked at the admission forms yet, but I guess there is an option to select whether I require funding or not. Thus, I guess it might be easier to be admitted if one is self funded, but I also guess some proof of funding must be presented. When would such a deadline usually be (I understand different schools might have different deadlines but generally)? Before admission or say, in August? More importantly, is it possible to acquire a scholarship some months into the program if for example one shows great progress or whatever?</p>

<p>UCSD is the one I’ve looked at the most as I have a good understanding and close interest in some of their research areas, something I’ve focused on previously. It might not be what I ultimately want to perform research in, but it might make it easier to be admitted and then slowly change the direction of my research. I know some professors from there have been to the same conferences (although probably not seen me), should have introduced myself then. I also like the town and well the campus is very close to the beach with great weather. That would be a perfect fit for me I think. Although, all those UC schools seem fine, except Davis. I don’t know if it is the location or the name or that I know least about it, but something just doesn’t attract me. I guess I have to give it a proper chance or just say it is not a “fit”. I understand that Berkeley might be quite competitive and would defiantly be very “cool”, but I haven’t come across much of their research, something I would need to check up. UCSB also seem good with some interesting research areas, heard great things about the school and city/town. Don’t know much about Irvine more than the location which I have visited and it seemed fine, should take a look at their research also I guess.</p>

<p>Contacting professors before the admission seems like a good idea. Also, thanks for the link xraymancs, and yeah, probably the same kind of beaches we have in Sweden. You can use them maybe for 2 weeks (4 tops) during the year, hopefully better in Chicago.</p>

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<p>DoubleD: “…”</p>

<p>Well, I probably wasn’t clear in my first post but by saying I don’t know what I want to do does’t really mean the “area”. What I mean is, I don’t want the name of my thesis to be decided before I start. I’d rather it is open for me to select something from say topic X, Y or Z or a combination between them after being exposed to some other topics as well. I’m quite sure about the area. Say for example if I were interested in Fluid Dynamics, I would like to focus on that, although some exposure to other areas such as Solid Mechanics, Control, etc. would be great. Something I believe you miss out in the UK system. I find it to narrow.</p>

<p>My main interest was to get a picture of the realistic chances of me being admitted with my particular profile. I don’t know how easy it is to find the answer to that particular question for a Swede. If you were from the US or China (even Asia in general) it would be much easier from the numerous of threads where people write about their profile, admission etc.</p>

<p>I might even not send in an admission this year, as I am already admitted to a very good university and might give it a chance and apply next year if I’m not happy here. You could see this as an early research effort into the world of applying to US grad school, or a very late, and from your perspective, an unmotivated one, depends. Although, I still think there is plenty of time for this year too.</p>

<p>And yeah, I also understand that motivation might be the most important factor the admission committees look for.</p>