A Q&A guide for first-time master’s and PhD applicants on what to do months before you apply: choosing a field, building your profile, standardized tests, scholarships, and documents.
Thank you for this valuable guide! What advice would you give international applicants on finding suitable supervisors, strengthening their applications, securing full funding, and evaluating graduates’ career outcomes?
"Thank you for putting together such a detailed overview for prospective applicants. Given that this is a living Q&A guide, one area that would be exceptionally valuable for first-time applicants to evaluate early on is a program’s career outcome and job placement history.
Beyond the application paperwork, prospective students—especially international applicants evaluating opportunity costs—would benefit greatly from knowing how to audit a program's real-world ROI: asking for recent employment rates, top hiring partners, median starting salaries, and whether a program offers dedicated career placement support or OPT/visa sponsorship track records.
Adding a section or questions on how to vet these employment outcomes would make this guide even more actionable for students trying to choose the right program."
Thank you for this valuable guide! What advice would you give international applicants on finding suitable supervisors, strengthening their applications, securing full funding, and evaluating graduates’ career outcomes?
These are good questions, check later for part 2 of this series for some of the answers.
Thank you so much, Professor! I really appreciate your response, and I followed the zoom meeting of the series. Keep up the good work. Best,
"Thank you for putting together such a detailed overview for prospective applicants. Given that this is a living Q&A guide, one area that would be exceptionally valuable for first-time applicants to evaluate early on is a program’s career outcome and job placement history.
Beyond the application paperwork, prospective students—especially international applicants evaluating opportunity costs—would benefit greatly from knowing how to audit a program's real-world ROI: asking for recent employment rates, top hiring partners, median starting salaries, and whether a program offers dedicated career placement support or OPT/visa sponsorship track records.
Adding a section or questions on how to vet these employment outcomes would make this guide even more actionable for students trying to choose the right program."
These are great point and deserve a spot in the Q&A. Thank you!