synvilla

I worry about this too. I think with the student visa, we can only be working on campus/for the university. And obviously trickier to do things like teach at a middle school etc.

Hi Gabe! I'm an international student planning to apply for grad school in the US, to start in the fall of 2016. I got my bachelor degree last semester, and I'm currently working full-time. I have a few years of relevant work experience within my field, and my bachelor thesis is directly related to the type of research I want to pursue. My goal is to eventually gain a PhD, but I wonder if it's reasonable to apply directly to a PhD without either an MA or research experience. Is it better to apply to an MA, and worry about the PhD after that? Would schools normally consider me for an MA automatically if I can't compete for a PhD?

I've been looking at the MA in International Education. It looks really cool http://soe.unc.edu/academics/med_int/index.php

Cool. What have you worked with before applying to the PhD? I'm concerned that my work experience isn't sufficient to enroll in a PhD (no actual accomplishments as of yet), and I wonder if I'm better of applying for the MA instead, and aim for a PhD after that. Basically, I've done this: - 1,5 years full-time as a project manager at my student union - 6 months full-time as a middle school teacher - 6 months internship at educational NGO - 3 months volunteering with children at an orphanage in South America - 2 years part-time employment at my university (department of IT, department of student affairs - i.e. college recruitment and marketing) - own a small consultancy firm within education, which I lose money on but enjoy doing - been working as a guest lecturer in different middle schools on a part-time basis, a few hours here and there during 2 years Overall, they seem to recommend that you've worked as a teacher for a minimum of 3 years. Do you think that's a cutoff rule? I really don't want to continue my job as a teacher, and I'm mainly interested in education policy and higher education, and my research interests are mainly about women in HE and related social equity issues (which seems to be a popular research subject among the faculty at Chapel Hill).

I'm going to apply for this in the next application round (for fall 2016). I'd love to hear you thoughts on the application process. What's your profile? What are your research interests? What did you do your bachelor in, and do you have a masters already? And do let me know if you get in!