Criteria

The professorial link

Criteria

• The first step in choosing a school is to know well what you want a graduate degree for.

• A successful graduate admission experience requires thorough research: you need to find the right study program for you from among the innumerable offers. You need to understand that programs that lead to the same degree can be very different in content and may be designed to create different types of specialists.

• If you need financial aid, like most Romanian students, you also need to find the program where your profile is appreciated and your application has strong chances of attracting financial aid.

• Begin your search for the right study programs with Peterson’s Graduate Programs or Peterson’s MBA Programs available at the Fulbright Educational Advising Center and online at www.petersons.com. Another useful website for graduate program search is www.gradschools.com.

• Then investigate specific schools and departments in depth. The university and department websites will provide all the information you need. Try to learn the profile of the successful applicants a year before. Are you as good or even better?

• Consider financial aid opportunities at the schools you plan to apply to: fellowships, teaching and research assistantships.

• Additional criteria that graduate Romanian students consider when picking study programs in the U.S., apart from financial support and quality of the program:

  • number of Romanian students enrolled there;

  • university size: a large school/department will usually have more assistantships;

  • as a rule, schools on the East Coast and in California attract larger numbers of applications than schools located in the rest of the US;

  • Romanian faculty? For example the head of the Chemistry Department of a top university in Ohio is Romanian, fully aware of the quality of a Romanian undergraduate degree in Chemistry. As a result, awarding at least two doctorates per year to Romanian students has been a long cherished tradition in his department.

  • emphasis of the department and relevance to your own interests. If you want to study population genetics you should apply to the Biology Dept at Stanford, not to the respective department at University of Florida which focuses on field ecology.

  • Program ranking. www.usnews.com provides a well-established ranking which may provide a useful starting point if you feel you are a top student. However, the best study program for you may lie outside the rankings - the rankings commonly list the top 20 or top 50 programs in a field of study - and still provide a most satisfactory academic experience.

The professorial link

The faculty at U.S. schools teaches, advises and performs research work the results of which are usually presented at conferences and published. The faculty may also work to attract research grants for the department.

Many Romanian students admitted to graduate schools in the U.S. developed a professorial link before admission. They researched the department site to learn about the research interests of the faculty, and also about their publications. If there is academic or scientific compatibility, then the student may approach the faculty with some meaningful comments on an article or book authored by the respective faculty, or with some pertinent questions. The point is twofold: for the applicant to demonstrate a good grasp of their field of study and a clear research interest, and for the faculty to perceive the applicant as a potential graduate assistant. The key to success is, again, to research thoroughly, to be selective and realistic in your choices and to communicate meaningfully.