Ken Watanabe

It really depends on the school; some of them directly states that Financial Doc (which your scholarship represents) is required after getting admission, others don't state that, which in your case you can include in your application. I have also won a fellowship in my country, but the amount of funding is way too less than yours (just 2 years). I included that information into my SOP, and so far so good I guess. I think in your situation, one of the possible way is to kindly request for the status of your application (you can say that to check whether there is something wrong with your app, etc.). And you kindly inform them of your financial status, which you have already secured your own funding. I think it is a big opportunity for you.

I got accepted to U Wisconsin-Madison but they don't offer guaranteed funding for me, and the POI at UWM said that he has just come back from the industry so all his grants are gone. The PhD program on PennState is not in Computer Science, but in Information Science and Technology (It belongs to the iSchool system (I haven't taken a thorough look into this)), and my professor at PennState tells me that the PhD program there is small. I weight UWM > USC > UCI > PennState. Correct me if I am wrong.

Does anyone know about the common procedure of admission of universities in California such as USC or UCI? What is the chance of acceptance with funding without being interviewed? One of my friends got the interview from USC yesterday, yet I haven't heard anything about my app... Has anyone applying to those programs heard of any news?

Thank you guys so much. Great advice indeed.

You guys are right. I use this website just for relatively understanding the order. In fact, I know the renowned professor because he has done lots of good works, books, etc. I think that you guys know about the prestigious profs in your field. Just leave that aside, my main concern still remains. Given that I know how "good" the professor is, any ideas of the choice between the two of them? Furthermore, how do you guys decide the top universities of your choice?

I use http://academic.research.microsoft.com/ In each of the category, click on See More

I have a issue like this. - UIC, #58, but a professor there is very good (ranked #2 in the field I am interested in) - UIUC, #5, but the professor is ok. All of my POIs are not accepting students this year, so I try to contact other professor, whose research direction somewhat matches with mine (Is it a weird practice?). At first, UIUC is my top choice, with the POI, but now the POI is not available... so I am very confused which university will should I choose? There's another factor that UIUC is very beautiful.

I see. Thank you very much.

Does anyone know about all the funding that can be awarded to applicant? and the procedure to acquire it? (RA/TA/Fellowship, etc.) For example: RA is from the POI, which we have to contact the faculty... What is the common way for the application to have fund? Is it fellowship, or TA?