A communication fair of how to apply for a foreign university was held ceremoniously in Room 228 of polymer building on the night of May 21st. The Student Union has specially invited some senior students of The Class of 2009, who are Junzhe Lou, Shanmei Zheng, Yuyang Du, Jun Xu, Meng Li, Liyang Wang, Jiaqi Cheng and Qiuli Qi, and they shared their own experiences of applying for a foreign university. At 6:30pm, the communication fair began. Above everything else, the host introduced the overall admission outcome of The Class of 2009 briefly. Approximately, 20 students received admission letters or offers from North American Universities, including Stanford, the University of Chicago, UIUC, the University of Minnesota, the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, North Carolina State University, USC, UCI and so on. Apart from that, nearly 10 students were admitted to several distinguished schools in Hongkong, like Hongkong University, the HongKong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of HongKong, what’s more, some of them even successfully got the Hongkong PhD Fellowship Scheme. Then, Shanmei Zheng, who was admitted to UIUC, demonstrated the requirements of applying American Universities, for instance, GPA, GRE and TOEFL; he emphasized the importance of research experience in the whole process. Some personal tips were brought up upon making choice between PhD and Master, as well. He said that when selecting schools, the profession ranking is more significant than the comprehensive ranking. When students apply for Master, there is no need to be too conservative and just consider the following factors, like the quality of the program, the locations, the employment market; however for PhD applicants, avoiding being too confident should be placed in priority, and choosing a responsible supervisor matters a lot. Everyone ought to consult the admission office in the first place, to be informed of the availability of the PhD or Master positions and the universities’ relationships with our current department and university. The next speakers were Yuyang Du and Jun Xu, the prospective PhD students of the University of Minnesota. Yuyang Du used herself as an example to illustrate that what admission committee value most are the ability to creatively conducting scientific research and learning potential. Students need to display the best of themselves when applying, so actively communication with admission officers accounts for better chance of enrollment. Jun Xu mentioned that prior to performing the above advice, you have to know the actual role of professors in the whole applying process, if they are decisive, you can do the work, but if they are not, you should otherwise switching your effort on polishing other materials. Liyang Wang, who got into the University of Pennsylvania, explained the vital role of PS. The layout is of great importance. If permitted, you can use LaTex. She recommended some authorities and institutions to help revising the writing, like shinewrite and mydocumate, and then she exhibited some real examples of elegant and concise CV and gave some suggestions. Junzhe Lou, who will enroll in Stanford this year, said that the first phase is to figure out what category of school you match most, profound reflection on your own advantages and disadvantages can simplify the decision making. He also came up with some points to be take care of when applying, like scheduling a weekly plan of writing the materials, online application and mailing the materials when applying; making an electronic list when choosing schools in case of changing situation, not leaving out any application process. The most important is to keep calm and just focus on your own pace and not being influenced by the surroundings.
Then Meng Li, who gave up the Hongkong PhD Fellowship Scheme and determined on the Macmaster University in Canada instead. She used her own example to show that you have to actively contact professors when applying Canadian universities. If your oral English is fluent enough, you could spare no effort to create opportunities to communicate via phone to impress the professors. And also consulting senior students in the particular school helps. Next, Jiaqi Chen introduced some famous universities in Hongkong and different categories of advanced study chances they provided. He also accented on the active communication when applying for Hongkong University and made an example to tell students how to write the contact letter. He mentioned that sometimes Hongkong University would ask you to submit a research proposal, and an elaborate research proposal would definitely give you an edge over other competitors. Qiuli Qi talked about her experience that after receiving the admission from the Chinese University of HongKong, she successfully got the Governmental Scholarship of Hongkong. She mentioned some tips of applying, which greatly benefited the students who want to go to Hongkong. At last, Lin Chen introduced an independent branch of Polymer Program of the Uconn University, which only admits PhD students and is always friendly towards our department. Some Students from the Class 07 and 08 have already been studying there and they warmly welcome the Class of 10 to join them. The Communication Fair was completed without any pity. Thanks very much for senior students’ sharing, and we all wish them a good life in the future. Also may all the students from the Class of 2010 can get into their dream schools! 
 
(By Alley)
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