Studying in the United States is the most desirable destination for international students around the world, because the quality of education, employment prospects, and professional development in the United States are among the best in the world.A guide to preparing online applications for graduate students in the United States.How to prepare for studying in the United States, ,Travel Preparation for Study in the U.S., ,Pre-study registration in the United States, ,What to prepare for the U.S. study abroad visa, ,What documents to prepare for spring study in the United StatesThe problem.

A Guide to Preparing Online Applications for Graduate Students in the United States

A Guide to Preparing Online Applications for Graduate Students in the United States

1. Prepare your personal information

When you apply for a graduate program in the United States, the school actually uses the online application to get to know the student, so during the process, they will inevitably ask for some personal information, such as the student's name, birthday, phone address, and the school they are attending. Generally, these schools are required to fill in the online application of most schools, so before starting the online application, everyone should first sort out this information and translate it into English, so that it is very convenient to fill in when applying online.

II. Recommender Information

Generally, when applying online, there is a section dedicated to the various information of the recommender, which is usually very basic information such as name, title and phone number. You should also prepare this information in advance, especially the recommender's email address must not be written incorrectly.

3. Upload materials

When applying online, students not only need to write some basic information about themselves and the recommender, but also need to upload supporting materials. For example, when writing about educational background, students must not only state what school they attended, but also their GPA, etc. In addition, the school will also ask students to upload their transcripts, which must be uploaded in a certain format. Most of the time, the materials are converted into PDF files before uploading. If the school requires other materials to be uploaded in addition to transcripts, you must make sure to read the requirements clearly so that you can prepare the materials and upload them.

4. Prepare your application documents

Essays are a very important part of the application, and students must finalize their essays before the online application begins. As for what your school requires for essays, you must confirm with the school to make sure you don’t miss out on important information, otherwise it will be difficult to finalize your essays. Generally, essays are prepared in two formats, one is PDF, which is easier to upload when applying online, and the other is a word version, which is easier to copy and paste. Generally, you can choose one of these two formats.

Further reading: Checklist for applying for graduate school in the United States

1. University transcript

This is a very important document in the application materials for graduate school in the United States. It represents the academic background accumulated by a student in his four years of undergraduate study. When applying for graduate school in the fourth year of college, you only need to prepare the transcripts of the previous three years and calculate your GPA (full name is Grade Point Average) based on your grades. The full score of GPA in the United States is 4 points, that is, A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1.

The accuracy of GPA can often reach 1 to 2 decimal places, such as: 3.0, 3.45, etc. GPA is also an important reference for whether you can successfully apply. Many schools have specific GPA requirements. Be sure to pay attention when choosing a school. The better the school, the higher the GPA requirement. Therefore, students who plan to study abroad must not waste their time during college. College grades are very important for your application for American graduate school.

If your GPA is not too high, don't be discouraged, you can highlight your strengths in other preparation materials. For example, GRE (especially for science and engineering students, you can take GRE SUB to make up for it) and TOEFL scores as high as possible can also make up for the lack of GPA.

2. iBT\GRE\GMAT\LSAT scores

iBT is required to prove to American graduate schools that students have qualified English language application skills so that they can study and live smoothly in the United States. Among the American graduate entrance examinations such as GRE, GMAT, and LSAT, GRE should be popular among applicants, because except for social science majors such as journalism or education, GRE will basically not be a shortcoming in applications. Most majors only require the mathematics part (this is especially obvious in science and engineering majors. It is said that American universities believe that the Q part can reflect the applicant's IQ). This is not a problem for the vast majority of Chinese applicants.

In contrast to GRE, scores of professional exams such as GMAT are often a stumbling block for applicants to enter the United States (note that this refers only to the score of the applicant). Simply put, high scores cannot fully prove that the applicant is excellent, but low scores can prove that the applicant is not excellent enough. This is because applicants applying for MBAs at the seven major business schools in the United States basically have GMAT scores of more than 750, and applicants applying for JDs at the 14 major law schools in the United States basically have LSAT scores of more than 165. If the gap in other aspects is not large, a low score in this area will often become a reason for rejection.

3. Resume/Curriculum Vitae

Here we refer to personal resumes. The admission committee of American graduate schools will understand applicants through their personal information, educational background, honors, major personal events, publications, organizations they have participated in, and other abilities and hobbies in their resumes, and give them an impression score. It is recommended that the resume should not exceed two pages. If it reaches the third page, the professor will almost lose interest in reading it. Although both resumes and personal statements describe personal situations, they have different perspectives. One is a summary of objective facts, and the other is a statement with subjective intentions.

4. Personal Statement (PS)

The personal statement is one of the most important materials in the application materials for American graduate schools, especially for whether or not to receive a scholarship. Students can use the personal statement to fully reflect their abilities to the schools they apply to. The content should include: why you choose this major, what achievements you have made in this area in the past, what you think now, and what plans you have for the future after obtaining a degree in this major, etc.

5. Reference Letter (RL)

The department head or professional tutor of the university shall be the recommender, and the recommender shall have a senior academic title. The specific number of recommendation letters required depends on the specific requirements of the school you are applying to. The recommendation letter generally needs to explain the basic situation of the recommendee, academic papers, scientific research achievements, awards, abilities, etc. In general, the school you apply to requires three recommendation letters. It is recommended that one letter focus on comprehensive performance and two letters focus on professional level.

6. Professional document examples

(Writing Sample, referred to as WS, is required for applying for liberal arts and history majors, and is generally not required for other majors)

The primary purpose of WS is to test the applicant's language ability, and also reflect the applicant's understanding of the major and possible future research directions. At the same time, it also includes requirements for professional qualities such as analytical ability and logic. WS is the top priority in the documents of liberal arts students, and directly reflects the applicant's ability to write papers. In terms of professional distinction, most liberal arts majors, such as sociology, philosophy, etc., absolutely require WS. For science and engineering applicants, it also plays an important role in explaining theories or conducting analysis.

7. Proof of Financial Guarantee

Proof of financial guarantee mainly includes personal/family savings, applied scholarships, grants, etc. During the application process, some schools require proof of deposit, and the funds must be enough to cover the cost of studying in the United States for one year. When applying for a visa, it is recommended to prepare a deposit certificate of 600,000 to 1 million.

8. Credit Cards

To apply for a dual-currency credit card, you will need to apply online and send your GRE and TOEFL scores. Prepare in advance and go to major banks for consultation and processing.

Further reading: A guide to choosing and dropping courses for studying in the United States

1. Course Selection Guide

First, you need to understand the school's requirements for academic style, that is, how many courses students must take at least each semester, how many credits they must get, and what the requirements are for required and elective courses. Most schools will also set thresholds to prevent students from taking too many courses and affecting their normal studies.

Then you also need to know the course selection time, which is usually displayed directly in the freshman handbook. All you have to do is log in to the school's course selection website according to the requirements of the major, and then check the box directly. Remember to check the time carefully to avoid conflicts.

Many courses will also arrange trial classes, which will usually be completed within two weeks after the start of school. You can attend the classes directly. If you are interested, you can directly submit your application. If you are not interested, you can directly withdraw from the course.

On the professional introduction page, there will also be a course outline, including course content, books to be used, schedule, exam time, assignment requirements, grading standards and other very important contents, which you can refer to directly.

2. Course Withdrawal Guide

After you have started the formal course, if you find that you are not used to the course teaching or that the learning is too difficult, you can submit an application for a refund. Remember to complete this application within the first two weeks so as not to affect your studies.

After you drop a course, the course will no longer appear in your file. After dropping the course, you can continue to choose courses. Of course, this will inevitably affect your normal study, so you should choose one or two more courses at the beginning, so that there will not be a big impact.

If there is a large credit gap after dropping a course, you can submit an application to the school to spread the gap over the next semester, as long as you can ensure that you can complete the final credits.

If you want to improve course selection satisfaction and reduce the dropout rate, then it is very necessary to have a deep understanding of the course selection process in advance. You can determine the suitable course for yourself at one time, which can reduce the subsequent troubles, but if you are not suitable, you should stop the loss in time.

Further reading: Application process for studying in the United States

1. Take the exam

The first thing to start is English preparation, because when you go to study in the United States, you need to provide transcripts of qualified language standardized tests. Whether it is IELTS or TOEFL, you need to receive training in advance to familiarize and adapt to the model and content.

The recognition of both types of exams is very high, so you can just choose one type for intensive study. Basically, there are exams scheduled every week, so when you are preparing, you can agree on the exam time in advance to ensure that you can get the test results within the specified time.

2. Confirm your goals

You need to learn about the schools and majors you are applying for in advance, so you need to spend time screening, which is generally not very time-consuming. Because at least one of them will have a clear goal, and then you can conduct a comprehensive assessment based on planning, ability and ranking.

3. Prepare Materials

In the formal material preparation, you need to accumulate and prepare the hardware in advance, so when the time comes, you can directly obtain it. The academic certificate and GPA transcript, as well as the language test certificate, can be obtained directly after the date.

The statements and awards in the document preparation must be prepared according to the requirements, and fully demonstrate your true situation and explain your future study and employment plans. These are relatively complicated contents, and everyone must do them wholeheartedly.

Recommendation letters should also be taken very seriously, especially those written by people who need to be confirmed to be of relatively high status; other materials that prove one's ability, such as award certificates, internship certificates, published articles, etc., will all have a relatively positive effect and can increase the admission rate.

IV. Submit your application

Submit your application early to leave yourself enough time, and you will also get the final review results earlier. You don’t need to worry about missing the time. Because some majors are more popular, the channel will be closed when the number of students is full, so it is better to submit early.

The waiting time for review is about two months. During this period, you can keep in touch with the school to confirm the status of your material review to ensure that it goes smoothly. After receiving a satisfactory offer, you can directly confirm the admission.

A Guide to Preparing Online Applications for Graduate Students in the United States

Summary of the online application preparation guide for graduate students studying in the United States

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