Tips for international undergrad student.

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello everybody!</p>

<p>I am a freshman at an university in Poland. I have a dream to get accepted into prestigious grad school in US. I tried to get in for undegrad but all of 15 universities I applied for rejected me despite summer schools at really presitigous institutes all over the world and strong (in my opinion) academics I had.
I study Computer Science, but at high school I was involved in math and physics activities. My university is top in the country, but doesnt exist in world rankings. For grad school, I would like to do sth related to math and/or physics, maybe with elements of computer science. I would be ok with working interdisciplinary. Quantum Information Theory is kind of a mix of all of that and really excites me, but there is not a single course about it at my university.
The problem is I only had math classes at university during the first semester and I will never have math again during my undergrad (I cannot adjust courses list). I also cannot go for any sensible exchange, partner universities are no-names.
I am top of my class with high GPA. I am involved in some research in bioinformatics (publications may appear in the future), but I am not particularly interested in this area(I have no other sensible research opprotunities).</p>

<p>Could you advice me what to do in my situation to improve chances for grad school? I know I should take up Math GRE and General GRE. I feel ok with it, even now Math GRE is not so hard for me, and I learn English intensively. Is it still crucial to volunteer or should I focus on academics? I practise algorithms a lot, try myself in competitions, but I am a beginner for now and to get into the top I should probably dedicate all of my free time to it. Isn't it a blind alley maybe? Would publications be more important?</p>

<p>Thanks in advice for sharing any tips!</p>

2

<p>It will be hard for you to get into a physics program without advanced physics courses in your undergraduate studies. I suspect there will be little opportunity from what you say about the curriculum. Therefore, the best thing you can do is to get heavily involved in research. Publications will help your application and if your research is in the area you are applying for graduate school in, then your lack of coursework may be not as noticeable.</p>

<p>Volunteering and extracurricular activities are not that important for graduate school admissions but you should do them for your own benefit if you like.</p>

<p>You have some time before deciding as you are a first year student but don’t get caught up in rankings for graduate programs. It is far more important to go to a program where the kind of research you are interested in is possible.</p>

3

<p>You might try again for a few U.S. universities. I don’t know the details, but I do know a student from an Eastern European country who didn’t get in U.S. universities, went to top university in his country, applied the following year then was able to get admitted to Brown university (even with financial aid) and I’m pretty sure he started as a freshman. It is possible to transfer, though. Did you contact EducationUSA when you applied? I don’t supposed you applied to Brown, you could do worse for your interests. If you are truly top of class and have limited opportunities in your academic interests it may be something to pursue. You may have to be willing to go another year of school.</p>

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