fernandes

Hey @Ananya3, I don't know if I can help you much, but make sure to check this link out: http://thegradcafe.com/survey/

Hi @jeff94, I will post here exactly what I recommended to another applicant in another thread (http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/92923-really-need-help-u-of-new-hampshire-vs-mississippi-state-u-phd/#comment-1058505425). I believe that the best you can do right now is: Check the universities' websites and see what faculty members are working on, and if you see yourself doing anything similar; Once you find a faculty member that you might be interested in working with, shoot an email to their current/previous graduate students and ask about their experience working with that professor. Finding a good adviser is one of the most important things in graduate school. Hope this helps.

Hi @Microbio, I am not in the Biosciences field, but I believe that this should apply to any field. Having publications, in general, is a really good thing if you are applying to a Ph.D. program at any university since it shows that you have had concrete research experience in the past. I don't think that changing your research focus for your Ph.D. would be a problem, but you should provide the university with an explanation of why you want to change your focus area. This can be done when writing your statement of purpose. I believe that all of the skills that you have learned in the other field within biology are somehow transferable to this new field, so it should still have a positive impact in your application. Hope this helps.

Hi @Valeriescott, I don't think I can help you much, but make sure to check TheGradCafe's Result webpage: http://thegradcafe.com/survey/ Hope that helps.

You are welcome and good luck.

Hi @EmptyHobbitses , I think that you could only benefit from having research experience prior to going to graduate school. I do not say this only because it will possibly help you getting into a program, but also because having a research experience before graduate school will help you figure out if this is actually the path you want to take. It would certainly give you a better understanding of research and probably put you in contact with current graduate students. I know that this is a very general advice and does not necessarily answer all of your questions but I hope that helps.

Hi @Howyoung, I am just sending you this message because I don't want you to be waiting forever for people to respond to your question. I believe that the best you can do right now is: Check the universities' websites and see what faculty members are working on, and if you see yourself doing anything similar; Once you find a faculty member that you might be interested in working with, shoot an email to their current/previous graduate students and ask about their experience working with that professor. Finding a good adviser is one of the most important things in graduate school; About the schools' reputation, I am not capable of helping you, but you can certainly find online rankings that will help you make a more educated decision. Hope this helps.

Hi @Naveed Iqbal, I think the best advice we can give you is to start with a literature review on the topics that you want to pursue. It is important to understand what researchers are currently working on in the field so that you don't pick a topic that has been extensively investigated. I am saying this because during my first year as a Ph.D. student I thought of many ideas that I later found out to be very old in the field, so it is always good to see what people are doing and have done. To do this, talk to your adviser and find out what the best journals in your field are. Then, you might want to search for papers within that journal using the keywords that you find most relevant. The idea here is not to read all the papers in a journal, but to read as much as you can about specific topics within a journal so that you can have an idea of what's there and what can be further investigated/explored. Hope this helps.

Money is something you should not forget to bring to the US. ;D

It does! Now headed to school part 2

Finally graduated from college!! Now I'm excited about starting grad school in August!

Thanks @winterstat! I read this last night and it made my situation feel less weird. It is just a shame that I would have to renew my visa in case I wanted to go home and visit my family. Thanks though!

Thanks for the reply, mate. Yes, I will double check with the office of international students. I hope that I don't need to pay more fees to extend my visa in the future.

Hey @hippyscientist, how it is going? Did you also get your visa with an expiration date before your program end date? I'm a little confused about this...

It was such a relief!!