PhD Civil - Structural Engineering / TOEFL / Advisor / Funding

[cavn]

Hello everbody,

It is first time that I write here.

I would like to get advise from someone who has passed by similar situation or who knows how to help me. I am a foreign civil engineer who has finished master in structural engineering in my country. Now, my goal is to enroll in PhD studies - civil / structural engineering. I am facing to canadian universities. My GPA is: 3,10 (undergraduate), 3,8 (graduate - master). Also, I have 10 years experience as project engineer, in design and retrofit existing structures (gravitatory and seismic design). But I have some points to overcome, for instance: good TOEFL score, to find an PhD advisor, and of course, funding.

a. TOEFL: I have been studying English in my country, and my best TOEFL is 72 out of 120. I keep studying English, and I feel that I have improved, but, I know I will improve faster when I will live in a English spoken country. Also, I have seen that some universities can give me conditional admission with my score, and, I will try with it.

b. To get PhD Advisor: I have seen that most universities require to contact possible advisor before applying. However, I think it is some difficult to contact by email, because, it seems that if professors do not know you, they wont accept you as student. Then, is it impossible to get an PhD advisor from outside? I have written to many professors but, only answer those who have not possibilities to be advisor. 

c. Funding: of course, it is a very important point. I have some savings for paying English courses in university if I get conditional admission, but, for tuition and living costs and I will need to ensure funding. I mention it as complementary information.

Then, my struggling is to get admission with these ingredients. Is good idea to apply with these conditions? Some advise? persons that has passed for this? general recommendations?

Thanks for your answers.

[fuzzylogician]

a. That score is pretty low. You should really work on that, because you'll need a decent level of English not only to get admitted but also to succeed. Maybe that means taking an English course in an English speaking country, or working with a tutor. I personally don't know of any programs that conditionally accept students with scores below the required minimum; there are more than enough qualified applicants who do meet the requirements. 

b. Most students email advisors. Even if you're in the US/Canada, you're not going to travel to every university you are considering applying to. If your email isn't getting any responses, I'd check two things: the wording, and that you're sending it to the right people. I get emails like this occasionally that have obviously been sent to 500 people before me and that clearly aren't a good fit for me (like, from people in a completely different field, or working in a totally incompatible framework to my own, or thinking I am at a different institution than I am, etc.). I don't bother replying, either. 

c. PhD programs usually fully fund all of their students. Read up on schools' websites to find out more. This is not a question for the initial introduction email to professors. That should be about you and your interests, how they match up with the potential advisor, and whether that advisor is accepting students for the upcoming application season.

[cavn]

On 3/20/2016 at 8:58 PM, fuzzylogician said:

 

First of all, thanks for your time.

a. That score is pretty low. You should really work on that, because you'll need a decent level of English not only to get admitted but also to succeed. Maybe that means taking an English course in an English speaking country, or working with a tutor. I personally don't know of any programs that conditionally accept students with scores below the required minimum; there are more than enough qualified applicants who do meet the requirements. 

You are right, I need to improve my English level. I´ve been working in that. However, I´ve found universities that can give me a conditional admission, in which I would have to take at least one English semester before to enter in academic courses. Any case, I know that if i want if I improve my English level before applying I will have better opportunities.

b. Most students email advisors. Even if you're in the US/Canada, you're not going to travel to every university you are considering applying to. If your email isn't getting any responses, I'd check two things: the wording, and that you're sending it to the right people. I get emails like this occasionally that have obviously been sent to 500 people before me and that clearly aren't a good fit for me (like, from people in a completely different field, or working in a totally incompatible framework to my own, or thinking I am at a different institution than I am, etc.). I don't bother replying, either. 

Maybe this is most important question of my email. And yes, I think that wording and sent email to right people is the right way. However, despite I´ve sent emails to people to right people, with specific details of receiver, no all professor have replied. Then, I´ve though that for professor with available funds are more likely to take attention either to students of same university or students coming from more recognized institutions, and it could sound logical. In my case, I am graduate from one of best universities of my country, and, I´ve had good performance in my master studies, further about 10 years experience in engineering projects, some of those almost scientific, but, with these conditions, sometimes I think that I could be almost invisible for some potential tutors. 

Nevertheless, other professors have responded positively. The idea to post this email is either to give impressions from others or hear past experiences about how to impact potential tutors, especially being a foreign student. Of course, I would like to take more contacts and possibilities when I will be applying.

c. PhD programs usually fully fund all of their students. Read up on schools' websites to find out more. This is not a question for the initial introduction email to professors. That should be about you and your interests, how they match up with the potential advisor, and whether that advisor is accepting students for the upcoming application season.

This is a good information, the orientation of letter. You are right, before ask for money, it is better to ask for match research interest and if he is accepting future students. However, despite PhD studies are full funded, I´ve read cases in where universities accept students without funds or with partial funds, and of course, I wouldn´t like to be in this case.

Thanks a lot for your time. Have a good day.

 

[fuzzylogician]

I can't tell you why you aren't receiving more responses, but one guess is that your English level might deter some potential advisors. It's clear from your writing that you are not a native speaker and some professors might worry about that, especially if they've had bad experiences in the past. Maybe your emails are just too long and hard to get through. I would also make sure you are referring to them with the right gender pronouns and not assuming all professors are necessarily male (whenever someone addresses me as a man I know that means they haven't spent even 3 seconds on my website, so clearly they are not a good match). As for funding, it's true that unfunded offers exist; more so for Masters degrees and a lot less frequently for PhDs, and more so at lower ranked programs than higher ranked ones. I suggest reading up on funding policies on each potential school's website. This is an important question, but perhaps not for the first introductory email. See e.g. the advice here on how to write that first email: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/advice/prospective.html

I'm not sure what schools you found that would defer your admissions offer and subsidize a full semester or even year of English studies. It doesn't seem like something that happens often; if your stipend is funded by a professor directly, it's unclear why they should do that as opposed to hire someone with a high enough level of English to actually enter the program immediately and carry out the work mandated by the grant. It might not even be an option, for funding that comes from certain funding agencies. Likewise if the funding comes directly from a central departmental pool, taking on a student who is guaranteed to take longer and is less likely to be successful than others (if they can't get through the English program) is expensive and risky. Maybe this option exists, but it would seem based on the response you have gotten that it's not something to necessarily count on. It certainly restricts your graduate school options and makes everything that much more complicated.

[cavn]

16 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

 

fuzzylogician,

I really appreciate your effort and time. 

After reading your answer, I am more aware about the importance on how to address emails to potential advisors. Also, it is a fact that I need to improve my English level. 

Now, I think that maybe format that I have used is not enough good. The link that you sent is very good. There are topics that I did not assessed in detail. In past I have sent some generic emails, but I have not abused of this, I have studied people who I have written, but today I realize my emails were not enough strong.

With my English, 72 out of 120 is last qualification that I took months ago. Due to my goal is to study in a English speaking country, I have been studying hard continuously and I think I improved, due to now I understand better listening and reading. I think I will try again with TOEFL. I understood that English conditional offer of admission of some universities was based on that English courses are paid by my own, and any financial aid after that. But your time / risk analysis is clear. Maybe this option exist but it has low opportunities to hit for high competition.

With all this information, I will reorder my ideas and goals and I will analyze my best way.

Thank you a lot for your information. Being outside of university´s country is a littler difficult to understand some topics.

Sorry for longs emails!!!

 

[Robin472003]

Dear all,

have you guys any suggestion/experience that if I get a MS in Louisiana state university, what are my options in-terms of schools-for pursuing my PHD? 

I got my masters degree in civil strutural engineering from LSU and I want to know if anybody has admited in a better school with funding for PHD.

I trully appreciate you kind help in advance.