increase chance for acceptance

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www.com
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increase chance for acceptance

Post by www.com » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:12 am

I think if I indicate in application(Phd) that I will get funding from outside USA,it will increase my chance for acceptance.What do you think about it?

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grae313
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by grae313 » Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:00 am

You have to have already been awarded outside funding and have that funding guaranteed, in which case it probably will help. However, if you just indicate that you will try to get funding or may get funding, the University will have to consider the worst case scenario in which they will be funding you, so it won't really help.

www.com
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by www.com » Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:56 pm

grae313 wrote:You have to have already been awarded outside funding and have that funding guaranteed, in which case it probably will help. However, if you just indicate that you will try to get funding or may get funding, the University will have to consider the worst case scenario in which they will be funding you, so it won't really help.
Outside (full) funding is guaranteed if I'm admitted to top 10. I think, MIT is not so benevolent especially for international students in comparison to other universities at top 10. As it is said "A number of students come to MIT with external fellowships. The Department of Physics encourages prospective students to explore all sources of aid available outside MIT...International students may be eligible for fellowships through their home countries. ''. So I'm planning to apply to MIT with outside funding. I know it is a waste of time to evaluate my chances without knowing my physics profile. At least I can say I've not major in physics, but I think I've pretty chances. In your opinion,should I apply to other univs like UCB,Caltech and Univ of Chicago with outside finding to increase my chances?

schwiss
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by schwiss » Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:31 pm

www.com wrote:Outside (full) funding is guaranteed if I'm admitted to top 10. I think, MIT is not so benevolent especially for international students in comparison to other universities at top 10. As it is said "A number of students come to MIT with external fellowships. The Department of Physics encourages prospective students to explore all sources of aid available outside MIT...International students may be eligible for fellowships through their home countries. ''. So I'm planning to apply to MIT with outside funding. I know it is a waste of time to evaluate my chances without knowing my physics profile. At least I can say I've not major in physics, but I think I've pretty chances. In your opinion,should I apply to other univs like UCB,Caltech and Univ of Chicago with outside finding to increase my chances?
I think most people would agree that especially without a major in physics, your acceptance to MIT physics department should not be taken for granted. So, applying to other universities, perhaps even outside top 10, might be wise. I trust you know it is harder for international students to get accepted than domestic ones, and even the best of the US students with the correct major usually include some safe schools outside the top 10.

So, based on the information you have provided, I would definitely include more choices than just MIT. MIT and the rest of the universities you named can hardly be considered safe bet for anyone and you really should consider one or more safe schools, in case you are not accepted to top 10.

physics_auth
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by physics_auth » Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:54 pm

[quote="www.com] At least I can say I've not major in physics, but I think I've pretty chances. In your opinion,should I apply to other univs like UCB,Caltech and Univ of Chicago with outside finding to increase my chances?[/quote]

I know of students who were admitted to various universities because they had earned a Fulbright bursary or sth (but they had the necessary background). However, your lack of physics background can really hurt your possibilities of admittance. Finally, if the case had only to do with money then what's the reason for our (here I refer to domestic and non-domestic students and chiefly physicists) striving to earn high scores in ETS's tests, a decent GRA and a valuable research experience? It would be easier to try to earn an external funding instead of pursuing all the forementioned things!!!

One thing that seems intriguing to me is that on the one hand many prospective applicants in this site wish to get admitted to top US schools but on the other hand they lack strong physics background. Does this sound reasonable? Do these applicants know that to get admitted to a top school is only the one side of the coin? The other side, the hardest I think, is to struggle to remain to the top school that will select them. I don't know, I get confused from I what I see here ... .

www.com
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by www.com » Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:33 pm

I think most people would agree that especially without a major in physics, your acceptance to MIT physics department should not be taken for granted. So, applying to other universities, perhaps even outside top 10, might be wise. I trust you know it is harder for international students to get accepted than domestic ones, and even the best of the US students with the correct major usually include some safe schools outside the top 10.
Thanks for your advice,but you didn't tell me something that I don't know.
So, based on the information you have provided,...
The information that I've provided is only for supporting my ideas about the related topic.
I would definitely include more choices than just MIT. MIT and the rest of the universities you named can hardly be considered safe bet for anyone and you really should consider one or more safe schools, in case you are not accepted to top 10.
MIT and the other universities that I mentioned are only 4 of 10. I named these universities because topic is mainly about application with outside funding (if it affects my chances positively,nothing else). The rest 6 universities will be at top 10-100.(2 univs. top 10-30,3 univs. top 30-50 and the last one 50-100).

mahar
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by mahar » Fri Sep 11, 2009 6:30 pm

As far as I can understand by reading the webpages of the departments, this forum and other sources, outside funding will not help you so much to get into top universities if you don't have the required background (GPA, GRE, research experience, etc). Although, I'm not sure. :o

I think this is because at this level, and since financial aid is guaranteed by most of the phD programms, they want from you to convince them that you are capable to demonstrate excellence inside the program. If you do convince them about that then, if you have outside funding, you are going to have less competition from other applicants.

physics_auth
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by physics_auth » Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:09 pm

As I can see, there is no standard answer to your question. The next step is to ask somebody who ventured what you described and learn about the outcome! Or, send an e-mail to MIT (or anywhere else) and ask explicitly them what are your possibilities of admittance there provided that you are given an external funding (this way you may avoid paying for application fees etc. in vain).

www.com
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by www.com » Sat Sep 12, 2009 2:00 am

As stated by some universities,admission prosedure includes 2 stages. Although department accepts you in the first stage,grad office may not.Grad office may ignore some applicants or include depending the amount of budget (asistanships are provided by department,but full tuition,insurance and ets. are provided from univ. budget),of course applicants having outside funding will have more chances.

shouravv
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by shouravv » Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:28 pm

I have not ever heard of a case when a department told someone that they have been admitted, and then the grad school declined to accept them. For PhD programs, the "grad school" just provides administrative support, that's all. All academic affairs, including admission decisions, are handled by the departments.

Just to to be clear, in physics or astro graduate programs, once the department recommends your admission, the grad school never turns it down. Some departments will make you an admission offer in writing /email, and only after you accept it they will send it to the grad school for the paperwork. But more often, they would send you an acceptance note as early as they make the decision, forward the info to the grad school, who will in turn "admit" you formally.

As for funding: if you do have total financial support from outside, a school may be a little more inclined to accept you. But they will never accept a student simply because he has funding, if he is not otherwise among the best. If it comes down to two equally qualified students, then may be your having funding will give you a little extra bump; but a more qualified student won't be rejected in your favor unless some department is really running out of money which would make it a non-ideal place to be in anyway. Actually, at top schools, there is quiet often excess funding for grad students. In my department, the total numbers of RA and TA spots available is always significantly greater than the number of grad students, and often some RA's have to volunteer in turns to make sure that all the large undergrad classes get a TA.

www.com
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Re: increase chance for acceptance

Post by www.com » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:50 am

shouravv wrote:As for funding: if you do have total financial support from outside, a school may be a little more inclined to accept you. But they will never accept a student simply because he has funding, if he is not otherwise among the best. If it comes down to two equally qualified students, then may be your having funding will give you a little extra bump; but a more qualified student won't be rejected in your favor unless some department is really running out of money which would make it a non-ideal place to be in anyway. Actually, at top schools, there is quiet often excess funding for grad students. In my department, the total numbers of RA and TA spots available is always significantly greater than the number of grad students, and often some RA's have to volunteer in turns to make sure that all the large undergrad classes get a TA.
Finally,I've heard something that I wanted to hear:)
But I think MIT case is an exception.They encourage prospective students to find an external funding.



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