04.02.2007
Graduate School 101 tutorial for Burmese students and graduates, part 2
_ By Aung Kyaw Soe
Working Experience
Try to gain some professional working experience before you apply for graduate school. Learning experience of professional knowledge worker is very useful for a graduate student to survive. It really helps in schools applications as well and remember you are competing with others people like you in graduate school application. Grades you obtain in UG (Under Graduate) studies does matter. But it is not sole deciding factor in GS (Graduate School) admissions. Don't be too arrogant with your sterling 100/100 grades if you can manage to get somehow. It is weird to have 100 out of 100 in an exam based scoring system for a tertiary level engineering education. You may get full marks in a subjective scoring system by impressing the examining Professor.
Also keep in mind that the prestige of blue chip companies count in GS admission considerations. Let's say while you worked for U Ba and Friends Company and Mr. Xyz in Abc country works for IBM, then you are on the losing hand competing with him for GS admission. But equally important is job scope you performed and responsibilities you bore or bearing at the companyX. If you have done some remarkable job in your job, then state it but don't brag it.
If you have a accomplishment in your academic career state it in application but make sure it is a real accomplishment.
And make sure it is an accomplishment in the international context. My simple advice is to think what you have done actually, did you paid your UG education by working as a part time tutor then it is an accomplishment (for me it is but I am not sure for an admission committee, please check with RIT alumni who may be sitting on the admission council of some universities) but getting TOEFL scores of 600 is not an accomplishment (it is merely a necessity), if you have a computer programming/software engineering certificate then I don't think it is an accomplishment. A modern day engineer must have those skills nowadays. If you have published an outstanding paper while in your undergraduate studies by helping your professor and did have the luxury of getting your name printed in the paper then it is surely an accomplishment (esp. if the paper is a prominent or prestigious one in academic world). While helping some my countrymen graduate schools application and found that some applicants can not differentiate necessities (must have) and luxuries (better to have).
If you lack working experience then try to compensate with standardized tests scores such as Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) in addition to TOEFL or IELTS.
You could compenste lack of real world experiences by participating in Open Source communities: with an old PC at home and occasional visit to Internet Cafe and gmail account will let you able to participate in Open source or GPL projects such as collaborative development of Linux based applications and Kernels. Go to source forges, subscribe in mailing list and learn and contribute in online open source community. Write papers (simple how to, tutorials and manuals) on those open source sites such as Linux Journal, etc... That may help you for graduate school admission.
If you are business savvy and if you can not get a professional employment, organize a group of friends, pool the resources and do something that you could earn money to sustain your chipped in resources.
You may do some professional technical works; e-Commerce web site design, web site design, designing controller circuit for local voltage regulator manufacturers, coding and software development for a POS system for a small retail shop, design and built electronics circuitry and systems for locally manufactured automobiles and vehicles, or design some systems for automations to add the locally made lathe machines or ACAD drawings for buildings, manufactured products, etc..
To inform you where you do stand now, let me state facts and figures. Annual engineering graduate output of Thailand is around 30,000, Malaysia is around 40,000. Our neighbour India is pumping about 300,000 engineers a year out of her 1 million Science and Tech graduates per year while China is producing another 1 million science and tech college graduates of which about 500,000 are engineering graduates per year. Therefore you are virtually competing with them in GS admission.
They may to have more academic and professional credentials than you on their application booklets attributing to the fact that there are more opportunities than in Burma.
So you better compensate shortcomings with good scores in standardized tests like GRE or GMAT(mainly for MBA folks).
Don't believe those hypes that those are not achievable. Do remember that your competitors are also trying to differentiate themselves with high scores in standardized tests. Some may go extremely far and there have been cases of closure of some GRE test centres in China, India and Hong Kong for leaking of GRE test papers before the exam around 1999.
Now you realize how important the GRE and GMAT scores are. You can enter those exams at USIS center in Yangon and Pro-metric authorized tests centers (http://www.prometric.com) around the world. TOEFL is a mandatory requirement and TWE should be taken if the program you apply demands you do so. GRE, GMAT, TOEFL preparation CDs (Arco, Peterson, Barron, Kaplan etc...) can be found in any CD retail shops in Yangon. It will cost about 100 US$ to take GRE General Test or GMAT. Some universities may demand you particular subject tests such as computing as well. For taking preparation courses, I heard there are some tuitions offering in Yangon but I suggest self paced study or group studies. GRE mathematics section is relatively easy and to prepare for the logic parts do read more magazines like the Economists, Times or Business Weeks or newspapers like the Strait Times (Singapore), the New Strait Times (Malaysia)or the Nation(Thailand), Herald Tribune(UK) or Wall Street journal. The British Council or USIS will be a good resource centers to find those papers.
Look out for analyst sections and evaluate or analyze their analysis. Don't blindly buy what the newspaper journalist/columnist penned as he may sell biased or propagandized viewpoint hiding subtly in the prestige of the journal.
Choosing Graduate schools and look beyond the region
Third it is advisable to have a strategy for you in applying post graduate degrees. Restricting oneself by applying universities in Singapore is not a very good idea. Imagine the whole batch of students from the whole college crowding for one or two universities is not very healthy as well for your resource (time and money). Try to cooperate and compete with classmates and do have a strategy. There are hundreds of reputable universities with research funds (though dried up a bit in these days) where they will happily let you in if you are capable, with good grades and high GRE scores. See last section for schools lists.
Also keep in mind that some of the universities from UK or US promoting by some agents in Yangon are not accredited even in Thailand (forget about Singapore), going to those schools you learnt nothing and you will get a piece of worthless paper worthless in the eyes of recruiters.
All good universities are hard to get in but easy to secure a financial loan once you are in. Scholarships exist in many forms: fellowships, bursaries, tuition free, research assistantships and teach assistantships for doctorate degree pursuers.
You need to have excellent spoken English to secure those research assistantships and teaching assistantships.
You go and search on net the universities web sites for professors' personal pages/sites and check what their research interests are. Try to discuss with them via email and apply the graduate school in that university and if the Professor thinks that you are the right kind of person he or she is looking for then he could make inter-departmental referral for fellowships.
Here networking comes in, let's say if you have an alumni who is a distinguished faculty or promising doctorate or Post doctorate then literally it is easier for you to get in if your alumni can make internal referral. MIT has 100 fellowships that could be secured through departmental referral program by its Professors and post docs etc.. Or try to get company sponsored scholarships check GE, ABB, IBM, Motorola, Ford, Microsoft or all Fortune 500 Blue Chip companies’ web sites.
One way to get PhD scholarships is to get admitted into terminal Masters programs in US or MSc coursework programs in UK of good universities on self finance basis or loans. After earning M.Sc, go for their Ph.D program, this time with full scholarship.
Earn good grades and later go and talk with Professors if you are interested in the field of studies or courses you take.
All of the professors in the good universities are doing research (or they won't be there) and so if you are good and capable then it is advisable to get into research programs. Please check the following article for how to prepare a research proposal.
Filling in the application neatly and present necessary supporting documents
Make sure you read the application booklet and fill in neatly and prepare your application booklet in a consistent and professional manner. Write sensible English in organized way and if your English is not good enough, do consult with some friends who commands better English than you do. If you are applying for a research scholarship or admission with a possible research grant then try to make your application more organized. An admission officer once told me the piles of application booklets he received for 20 plus seats in the program (there were more than 1000 applicants for 20+ seats in some programs and you are one of them). So make sure you don't waste your application fees and courier charges by sloppy application package.
If the application booklet asks you to send a referee letter sealed, make be sure the envelope is sealed.
Your professor may like you and trust you too much and will show you what he had wrote in referral letter but it is for your own good sake that he will need to seal and stamp it with his official rubber. Same thing goes for transcripts, get it from registrar.
How to write a research proposal
How to write research proposal can be found at http://www.eastchance.com/howto/res_prop.asp and following are excerpts: _
When you are applying for a research degree, like the PhD, you will very probably have to write a research proposal as a part of your application file. A PhD is awarded mainly as the result of your making a genuine contribution to the state of knowledge in a field of your choice. Even though this is not the Nobel Prize yet, getting the degree means you have added something to what has previously been known on the subject you have researched. But first you have to prove you are capable of making such a contribution, and therefore write a research proposal that meets certain standards.
The goal of a research proposal (RP) is to present and justify a research idea you have and to present the practical ways in which you think this research should be conducted.
When you are writing a RP, keep in mind that it will enter a competition, being read in line with quite a few other RPs.
You have to come up with a document that has an impact upon the reader: write clearly and well structured so that your message gets across easily. Basically, your RP has to answer three big questions: what research project will you undertake, why is important to know that thing and how will you proceed to make that research.
In order to draw the researcher's attention upon your paper, write an introduction with impact, and that leads to the formulation of your hypothesis. The research hypothesis has to be specific, concise (one phrase) and to lead to the advancement of the knowledge in the field in some way. Writing the hypothesis in a concise manner and, first, coming up with a good hypothesis is a difficult mission. This is actually the core of your application: you're going to a university to do this very piece of research. Compared to this, the rest of the application is background scenery. Take your time to think of it.
When you have an idea, be careful at the formulation. A well-written hypothesis is something of an essay's thesis: it provides a statement that can be tested (argues ahead one of the possible answers to a problem), it is an idea, a concept, and not a mere fact, and is summed up in one phrase. In some cases, you will have no idea what the possible answer to a problem worth being researched is, but you will be able to think of a way to solve that problem, and find out the answer in the meantime. It's ok in this case, to formulate a research question, rather than a hypothesis. Let those cases be rare, in any way.
Another piece of advice when writing your hypothesis, regarding the trendy research fields: chances are great that they're trendy because somebody has already made that exciting discovery, or wrote that splendid paper that awoke everybody's interest in the first place. If you're in one of these fields, try to get a fresh point of view upon the subject; make new connections, don't be 100% mainstream. This will make the project even more stimulating for the reader. Imagine that you are writing about the trendiest subject, with absolutely no change in the point of view, and you are given the chance to make the research.
Trends come and go, fast; what are the chances that, in four years' time, when your research is done and you are ready to publish your results, one of those well-known professors who dispose of huge research grants has already said whatever you had to say?
Remember how, in a structured essay, right after the thesis you would present the organisation of your essay, by enumerating the main arguments you were going to present? Same thing should happen in a RP. After stating your thesis, you should give a short account of your answers to those three questions mention earlier. State, in a few phrases, what will be learned from your research, that your project will make a difference, and why is that important to be known. You will have to elaborate on both of these later in the paper.
Read part 1 (To continue next week)
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