<p>Hi, I got my BS in 2008 and took a hiatus to work from then. I used to apply to master program in Food Science last year but my application journey ended nowhere. I decided to apply for master instead of PhD because I am not sure if PhD is the right choice for me at the moment.
I am gonna reapply this year for Fall 2010. However, I do not know if I should go for PhD or just master for this second shot.
Failing to get the admission last year makes me real stressful over the application process I am gonna go for now.
I got a pretty fine GPA of 3.96 (major 4.0),chem minor, GRE 1380 (Q 780, AW 5.0).
Research experience is sth I am lack of. I used to work as a student worker in a microlab and have one semester of research in a nutrition lab before graduating. However, I hope that my working experience will complement this deficiency.
I got one LOR from my research advisor, the other 2 from my major professors whom I am quite close with. </p>
<p>Actually, last year I thought that at least I would get admitted to one school but it turned out not so good at all. On one hand, I think that the reasons for my not being admitted last year is due to the lack of funding for master students; so maybe the chance may get better if I apply for PhD instead. But on the other hand, the failure at the master shot last year made me afraid mine is not competitive enough for PhD application.
By the way, I am an intn'l student, but I got my BS in the US.
I hope to receive you guys input about my situation.</p>
<p>I am a frequent CC reader and I usually never (if not ever) post replies. But your situation is stunningly close to mine and hence I HAD to write! lol I would like to say that you came to the right place. The people at CC helped me a lot through the grad admissions period this year (especially concord1, if you see this… THANKS!) and, I was fortunate enough to survive the ordeal and am now a PhD student =).</p>
<p>I had the exact problem as you. And guess wat… I’m an international student too.
I decided that I wanted a PhD. But I was severely unsure whether I was ‘qualified’ enough for a PhD. I got my BS in the states. Engineering. Decent GPA and my GRE scores were not as stellar but I did well in Math. I had a few strong LORs and 1 yrs of research experience. </p>
<p>So, I resorted to applying to both. 5 masters and 5 Phds.
The results were 4 acceptances, 3 in PhD and 1 in masters. 2 of the offers for a PhD came with full funding + monthly stipend. The other was struggling to get funding for me. As for the one masters program I got into? You may have guess it: no funding. It was expected, funding for masters is extremely rare in my field of study (Chemical Engineering).</p>
<p>From my experience, I can draw 2 questions that might help you:
Is no funding a deal-breaker?
What is your final goal? Phd? or Masters?</p>
<p>If you think you want a PhD and you feel “less qualified”, I’d say quite worrying and just APPLY! Let the admissions committee decide. Your stats look pretty good anyway! And you know it.</p>
<p>However, please take my advise with a hint of salt only. We may be in a different field of study and these situation might not apply to you (but I hope it does).</p>
<p>Thank you very much Cupofcurry. I really appreciate your words.</p>
<p>I felt that I have experienced a real reduction of confidence as I keep going with the application process this year. It is ironical how I am not sanguine about the whole process even though after one year hiatus, I have matured my future goals and know for sure that I would like to go for a PhD (instead of just MS like last year).</p>
<p>I guess the 2 questions you posed for me pretty much simplified whatever I have gone though to make the final decision:
I do need the funding
I want PhD
So with that being said, I have put myself together and will apply to PhD programs.</p>
<p>Anyway, I have a question I would like to ask: how did you decide on the schools to which you applied?</p>
<p>I sort of know how you feel. My confidence was low when I applied. Stay positive! or it will affect your application process.
Now that you have decided on a PhD… You should know that graduate school is all about research…Picking schools to apply was definitely tedious.
When I had to pick schools, I was very specific on what research I wanted to do. The reason is simple: there’s a high chance of me spending the rest of my life in that area of research. If you have not done this, spend some time thinking about it and come up with one that you are most likely interested in. </p>
<p>With that, I made a list of EVERY school in America that offers a PhD/masters program in my area of research interest (this was the hardest and most tedious step). Websites like <a href=“http://www.gradschools.com%5B/url%5D”>www.gradschools.com</a> might be a good place to start. From that list, I narrowed it down to 20 prospective schools (based on my stats and whether I feel I could get in AND whether I was willing to go there… lol many factors!). Then from this list of schools, I proceed to sent emails (with my resume attached) to specific professors that I wanted to work for. Whenever I received a positive reply, I added that school to my “list of schools to apply to”. I got like 5 replies only XD. To fill the remaining 5, I picked them based on geographic location. I ended up with 10 schools.</p>
<p>I think these steps would maximized your chances of getting in. Prestige of schools was something I considered only faintly (because my results are ok but not AMAZING).
I later found out that it also helps tailor my “statement of purpose” I sent to each school. XD
Good luck.</p>
<p>I guess my strategy in making the application school list is just like yours. Actually I have gone through all of the steps you mentioned.
I already contacted the faculty members whose research is of great interest to me. I got responses from some of them. Based on that, I have finalized my list to 7 schools so far. I wonder if I should add one or two more. But this year, I will all apply to PhD instead of master like last year.
But stll kidda wonder if I am aiming too high for some of them. And one more not-so-good thing is that most of the schools that have the graduate program in my major are public, so I am really worried about the funding issue.
Anyway, just try it and see how it is gonna turn out.
Thanks again for your encouragement, Cupofcurry.</p>