How many publications an international student with a master degree must have to get accepted into US top PhD engineering programs?

[omid13]

As an international student with a master degree applying for US top PhD engineering programs, How many publications are considered to be impressive?

[ShadowFairy]

What kind of engineering are you planning to get into? What field of expertise? And by 'top,' do you mean those consistently ranked at the top of the US rankings?

 

All it takes is one high-quality publication in the relevant field to make a difference, international or not. You're asking a very vague question here. 

[omid13]

I am a mechanical engineer. I mainly study power generation, concentrated solar power, power plant hybridization, solar power generation and solar air conditioning. 

 

Last year, I applied for 17 different programs in US and Canada from the very best programs to mediocre ones. I was hoping to get admitted to couple of them; but, I did not get into even one university. For last year, I had 2 journal papers (no impact factor) and 3 submitted journal papers (High impact factor from 3 to 5). My master GPA was 4/4 and my bachelor GPA was 3.7/4. One problem with my application is my university. It is a 15 year old university in middle east and I guess most professors do not know anything about it. I also did not contact any potential advisor. 

This year, I have 5 journal papers (3 high impact factor: 2.7, 4.9, 5.6), 2 conference papers, 8 submitted journal papers ( all high impact factor journals) and 1 patent application.

I wonder how many publication is enough for getting accepted into top schools (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia tech,...).

[bhr]

My guess, honestly, is that it's less about publications and more about the other stuff (GRE, TOEFL, if required), your person statements and your school/letters. Many candidates get into programs without any primary authored papers (or just a couple), so I'm guessing that you have more than enough for most programs.

[omid13]

Thanks for the response. Last year was very disappointing for me. I really cannot go for one more year without admission.  I am trying to improve my application to avoid another disappointment this year.

[fuzzylogician]

I would say that you should have enough publications to get the adcom's attention. There isn't going to be any magic number of publications that will guarantee that you get admitted, though. That will depend on how the other parts of your application come together. If you have a seemingly very strong profile and yet no acceptances, there may be a problem elsewhere, such as a bad letter of recommendation, some red flag raised by unexplained low grades, or perhaps statements that are not well written. (These are obviously all guesses, of course!) 

[omid13]

I am grateful for your detailed response. Perhaps, the statement of interest or recommendation letters were not well written. However, some believes that I should have contacted the potential advisors which I am planning to do in October. 

[spunky]

also please do keep in mind that it is a lot more expensive to fund an international student than a domestic one. and we're in a  time where more and more students are applying for graduate school and the pools of money used to fund students are constantly being reduced. i know for a fact, for instance, that my school (University of British Columbia, UBC in Vancouver, Canada) is going through some tough financial times (long story) so the first thing they cut was funding for virtually anything.

sometimes it's not your "apparent" lack of ability/credentials what's hindering you. it could just be the money... (unless you have funding of your own in which case then i have no clue why you got all those rejections)

Edited September 4, 2015 by spunky

[.letmeinplz//]

I am a mechanical engineer. I mainly study power generation, concentrated solar power, power plant hybridization, solar power generation and solar air conditioning. 

 

Last year, I applied for 17 different programs in US and Canada from the very best programs to mediocre ones. I was hoping to get admitted to couple of them; but, I did not get into even one university. For last year, I had 2 journal papers (no impact factor) and 3 submitted journal papers (High impact factor from 3 to 5). My master GPA was 4/4 and my bachelor GPA was 3.7/4. One problem with my application is my university. It is a 15 year old university in middle east and I guess most professors do not know anything about it. I also did not contact any potential advisor. 

This year, I have 5 journal papers (3 high impact factor: 2.7, 4.9, 5.6), 2 conference papers, 8 submitted journal papers ( all high impact factor journals) and 1 patent application.

I wonder how many publication is enough for getting accepted into top schools (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia tech,...).

Your SOP could be an issue, GRE and TOEFL could be another (if they don't know your school they can look at your papers/SOP/GRE to correlate with your GPA/coursework).

Are you sure any of the schools you applied to do research in your field of interest? If it sounds like (in your SOP) all you want to do is solar stuff they might choose another candidate who's interests align with theirs.

Contacting potential advisors is probably not the issue though, some schools even tell you to not do so as application season is busy enough without unsolicited emails (UC-Berkeley says "Does the department require applicants to contact faculty before submitting an application?
No. Most applicants will not have any interaction with faculty prior to applying for admission." etc, etc.)

Edited September 4, 2015 by <ian>

[ShadowFairy]

Contacting potential advisors is probably not the issue though, some schools even tell you to not do so as application season is busy enough without unsolicited emails (UC-Berkeley says "Does the department require applicants to contact faculty before submitting an application?
No. Most applicants will not have any interaction with faculty prior to applying for admission." etc, etc.)

I just want to what <ian> said, though, that contacting potential advisors and letting them know of your application can possibly help by making yours stand out from the rest. It shouldn't hurt you as long as you are polite and sincere about it.

 

Regarding your last question:

I am a mechanical engineer. I mainly study power generation, concentrated solar power, power plant hybridization, solar power generation and solar air conditioning. 

 

Last year, I applied for 17 different programs in US and Canada from the very best programs to mediocre ones. I was hoping to get admitted to couple of them; but, I did not get into even one university. For last year, I had 2 journal papers (no impact factor) and 3 submitted journal papers (High impact factor from 3 to 5). My master GPA was 4/4 and my bachelor GPA was 3.7/4. One problem with my application is my university. It is a 15 year old university in middle east and I guess most professors do not know anything about it. I also did not contact any potential advisor. 

This year, I have 5 journal papers (3 high impact factor: 2.7, 4.9, 5.6), 2 conference papers, 8 submitted journal papers ( all high impact factor journals) and 1 patent application.

I wonder how many publication is enough for getting accepted into top schools (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia tech,...).

As an undergraduate applying directly PhD programs (Master's for Stanford), I had no publications under my belt. And I still got into a few very good schools (including Stanford too, actually). You might be gauged a little more due to your Master's degree and because you are an international student, but from my discussions with various graduate students and professors, you are generally not expected to publish prior to your admission to wherever you apply. So, my answer would be zero. Publications basically translate to research experience, and if you can describe yours well enough to make an impression, then having accepted publications should only be an extra plus.

 

If you are being rejected from every school you apply to, then like the others said, take another look at your SOP, personal statement, LOR's, and standardized test scores. Those count for a lot more than what you might be giving credit to publications.

Edited September 4, 2015 by RideTheLightning469

[omid13]

Thanks for the responses.

Well, I have actually listed solar energy as my only area of interest when I applied for those schools. I think I should widen my field of study and try to show more flexibility in my SOP.  

Here are my GRE and TOEFL scores:

GRE (Quantitative: 166/92%, Verbal Reasoning: 148/36%, Analytical Writing: 3/15%) 

TOEFL (Total Score: 106, Reading: 26, Listening: 30, Writing: 24, Speaking: 26) 

I know that my GRE's Verbal Reasoning and analytical writing scores are low. Nonetheless, as an international student, it is very difficult for me to get a significantly better score. Should I retake any of these exams?

[ShadowFairy]

Yes, definitely broaden your interests when it comes to that, e.g. instead of talking about solar energy you can talk about renewable energy and how you would like to make a difference in providing cleaner, affordable technology to other countries. Of course, you should emphasize solar energy as your main focus.

I would definitely try to bring up my verbal and analytical writing scores. Score AT LEAST a 70% rank in verbal and a 4 in writing.

Your TOEFL scores seem fine, but I would aim for at least a 25 in all categories if you want to get into the higher ranked mechanical engineering schools. Not urgent.

By the way, are any of your publications related to your specific field of interest? Are they published in international journals, where coverage and exposure is greater? Your answers to these questions could count for a lot too. For example, a publication in an American or European journal sometimes holds more value than that of a Middle Eastern journal where researchers do not often search the literature database.

[omid13]

Well, except for my first publication which was published in an open access journal (based in Poland without impact factor) and second which was published in a journal from Taylor and Francis publication (based in England without impact factor), the other three are published in Elsevier journals (Applied Energy with IF of 5.6, Energy with IF 4.9, and Applied thermal Engineering with IF of 2.7). And, I was the main author of all these papers. Regarding my submitted papers, All of them are submitted to Journals from Elsevier and Wiley publications and none of them have IF less than 2.5. I am the main author for only five out of eight submitted papers. The thing is that I have basically stopped living for almost two years to publish as much as possible. It is very discouraging when you dedicate your life to something and fail.

 

Thanks for your advice, In the next two months, I will definitely try to improve my GRE score as well. 

[.letmeinplz//]

Yes, definitely broaden your interests when it comes to that, e.g. instead of talking about solar energy you can talk about renewable energy and how you would like to make a difference in providing cleaner, affordable technology to other countries. Of course, you should emphasize solar energy as your main focus.

 

This. Listen PhD will only be 4-6 years of your research career (I have professors who are almost 70 still researching so 4-6 years is nothing to the decades of research you will do after). Worst case you do hydro for 4 years and then can move on afterwards. Or you might enjoy something different than solar and might switch as well.

Being open will most likely give you the most opportunity, "fit" is an important aspect of an application too.

[omid13]

I do not mind switching from a topic to another. I was afraid that professors would not choose me for another topic as I only have experience in solar energy. 

But I see your point. I have been too specific. What you said is absolutely true: "fit is an important aspect of an application"

Thanks

[marian24]

You seem to have more than enough to qualify. Just send out your applications.