Applying with a fellowship?

[nhpn]

hi everyone!

I am a Mechanical guy. I have won a fellowship of 27K for each of the first two years. I also got recommendations from two profs of the US National Academy. ( i am an international student and the fellowship from the US goverment ).

My profile: CGPA 3.66 from an unheard school, GRE: V 470, Q 780, W 3.0, no research experience.

I am applying to 14 Us in Top 30 , including Berkeley, Caltech, WUSTL, University of Texas - Austin and Columbia.

I know it hard to tell exactly what uni i could get in, but, any rough idea?

Thank you for sharing!

[tvn]

Hey, congrats on the fellowship - it should be a tremendous boost to your application (fellowships are prestigious and the schools don't have to take care of your tuition/stipends etc). Can you tell us what fellowship this is ?

Also, I believe most top schools will probably look for research potentials so you want to improve upon that. Any previous project ? Doesn't have to yield good results ..

[nhpn]

hi tvn,

thanks for sharing!

The fellowship is Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF), which is established by the US government and exclusively for Vietnamese.

yeah, i got some projects to show, but dont sound like real researchs.

What i want to know is how important is the sum of 54k and the letters of recommendation?

Any way, i have submitted to most of the Univs. Now just wait n see.

regards

[tvn]

I have heard great things about the VEF - Although it is not as popular as NSF, NDSEG or the like since it is only for specific group (Vietnamese), however it is still well-known. Fellowship is good since the school does not have to take care of you - in short, you come to work (research) for them free of charge so it boosts your chance in that sense. Also schools like to brag that their students are fellows of this and that. I know UIUC in particular has accepted many Vietnamese student sponsored by VEF.

Are you applying for M.S. or Ph.D. program ? Ph.D. is a research degree so emphasize on research - it is perfectly fine if your projects yield no good result, as long as you show research potential, you're fine. In your Statement of purpose, tell them briefly about the work, what you've done, discovered, learned ... any thing from there that you would like to pursue in the future.

LOR likewise is crucial, if it's from someone well-known in the field, can comment about your working capability, etc ...

Just curious, what school are you from ? You might think it's unknown but the admission committee probably do since they have looked at thousand of applications, hundred of schools over years.

[nhpn]

Well, I am from a Malaysian university, Universiti Teknologi Petronas. I got scholarship to do my under grad over here. It's very well-equipped but pretty new though.

yeah, you r rite,tvn, UIUC admitted quite a number of VEF fellows. and the lads r doing quite well, so i might have my hope there.

hmm, the nick tvn, anything related to vn (vietnam)? just curious..

[tvn]

nah - the vn in tvn does not imply Vietnam, tvn is my name: ThanhVu Nguyen :]