SL2College would like to wish you all a Happy New Year. We would also like to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped make SL2College a valuable resource for Sri Lankans pursuing an education abroad. We hope that you will continue to extend your support in making SL2College stronger and help expand our network in 2009.
The success of SL2College is a direct representation of the strength of its community and the group needs your help to continue to strive forward and help other Sri Lankans in achieving their educational goals.
Selected questions posted on the sl2college.com forum by prospective students and corresponding answers posted by members of the group. Please note that they have been edited for content to safeguard personal information.
Q: I currently have a BSc. in Information Technology and looking to follow a MSc. in Computer science in the US. I was hoping you could provide me with some information regarding scholarships and how I can go about obtaining one. Also, what are my options with regards to working in the US.
Answer : It's hard to find scholarships for US graduate studies and even if you find one, it isn't always for the entire study period. US education is different from UK where in UK, you can find a scholarship from the University and its going to last till you finish your studies.
USA graduate education system is based on different financial processes. You can obtain an on-campus Job and this will help you to cover some of your expenses, including tuition fees, food etc. However, your on-campus work is limited to only 20hrs a week. There is some authorization to work Off campus which will be addressed later. There are 3 different categories of work level, namely Teaching/Instructional Assistantships, Research Assistantships, and Student Worker Positions.
Read more about this here,
http://www.gradcollege.txstate.edu/Prospect_Students/Fin_Grad_Ed/Grad_Assist_Info.html
If you can secure a TA/IA or a RA job position, this will give you an advantage of paying in-state tuition in some states. Normally international students are considered as out-of-state tuition category. You may wonder what out-of-state tuition is. As an international student, you pay almost double compared to US native students. Say you total tuition bill is $6000 as an International out-of-state tuition rates, and then in-state-tuition is only $3000. (Based on tuition rates at the Texas State University - San Marcos) The advantage of having TA/RA or IA is , this will allow you to pay in-state-tuition, and it's called tuition waiver program. Some universities especially for PhD programs will give you a full tuition waiver (which will cover your full tuition bill-you don't need to pay a single penny) where the department of college cover your total bill when you secure a TA or RA from the University.
Student worker positions are fairly easy to find, but less favorable in case of financials. You don't have the in-state-tuition waiver and also the salary is comparatively low. Say a TA/IA or RA get around $1100 per month (based on Texas State University), at the same time a student worker gets around $500 per month and its hourly rates (how many hours you work up to 20hrs per week).
US universities generally pay higher salaries to their PhD TA/IA and RA's. Here at Texas State University, The department of Biology pays around $2700 for PhD students for a 9months period plus the in-state-tuition status. University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) pays around $2000 for 12 months to its Computer Science PhD students plus full tuition waiver. To my knowledge, it is the same thing with Univeristy of Michigan Ann Arbor, UT San Antonio, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT etc....
Q: I'm currently in the process of applying for a graduate program in Computer Science. I have applied to universities in the US, Canada and Australia. I've just received news from the University of Monash, Australia that I've been accepted with a full scholarship. My quandary is that Monash requires I accept their offer long before I would have heard back from any of the US and Canadian Universities the 9th January, which would be long before I can hear anything from the US and Canadian Universities.
While a full scholarship sounds nice, the fact that the Australian Ph.D. is only 3 years sounded nice at first but has started to cause me concern lately as I am worried about the quality of research that can be done in a 3-year Ph.D program straight out of B.Sc.
Answer : The reason an Australian PhD looks much shorter than a US PhD is because it tends to follow a more compact format. You usually have to state your research goals early on and work on it from the start. In the case of the US PhDs, you would normally evolve your goals over time and converge to some topic that you like. Often, you might start with one topic and end up doing your thesis in another.
I don't think you should underestimate the value of a PhD from Monash on the fact that it is 3 years (as opposed to maybe 6 years for a US PhD). We are talking about two different systems here - neither can be said to be better than the other. It depends on what you want. If you have a clear idea of what you want to do, then the Australian format might suit you better. On the other hand, if you are not quite sure what you want to do, and maybe you want to try your hand at many different things before deciding, then you might try the US format. (Note that in spite of what I said, there are quite a few people who have completed their PhDs in the US format in 3 years - sometimes less. But this is rarer).
The decision you make will also depend on the US universities you applied for and the chances of you getting into these. Monash is ranked fairly high among Australian universities - hence if you have applied to middle or lower tear US universities, or don't think you are likely to get into any top tear US universities, you would probably not want to miss-out on Monash. Also, does your scholarship have any conditions attached? - for example, do you have to work with a specific professor or in a specific field (you don't want to do your PhD on a topic you don't like).
Maybe, you can ask Monash to differ your decision until around March when you have had some replies from the US universities.
Have you also contacted any US professors or their labs? Does their work interest you more than your possible work at Monash? If you have written to these professors, are they excited about you? you can directly write to them and tell them that you have gotten in to Monash with a full funding and that you are trying to decide. They might give you an indication on what they think about you application. All professors know that one applies to multiple places, so you won't be at any disadvantage by mentioning this. |
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