What are the GTIIT students’ advantages to apply for postgraduate study in the US? How to determine your research direction? What problems should be paid attention to when changing your major field for master degrees in the US? 

Students sometimes feel confused when they are applying for higher education in the US. 

On the evening of November 13th, GTIIT held the first "Chat with Alumni" panel series. Seven alumni studying in the United States shared their experience and answered the students' questions.

Learning Experience

Huang Runsheng( Class 2021, Graduated from Chemical Engineering Program, and currently studying Chemical Engineering at Columbia University in New York):

In the first semester of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University in New York, core courses such as Mathematics and Modeling is quite difficult. Large amounts of chapters will be involved in each lecture, requiring students to spend time reviewing after class. Besides, the postgraduate program here is career-oriented. If you want to study in a research-oriented program, I would recommend you to apply for a doctorate directly.

Huang Minzhuo( Graduated from Chemical Engineering Program, and currently studying Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University): 

CMU’s Chemical Engineering program has a unique computational focus for experiment design and simulation, pushing me to learn programming knowledge from scratch. The program requires a large amount of learning. Although each course will indicate how long it will take to study in a week, I often spend more time to catch up with the learning pace.

Kang Yuxin( Graduated from Chemical Engineering Program, and currently studying Computer Science at Rice University):

Students majoring in Computer Science have diversified backgrounds. Some of my classmates are graduates from the United States, and some are from Chinese mainland, such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Some are from high-level universities in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. There is a large amount of schoolwork for this major, which is not easy because it is closely related to technology, but you can see your improvements and get a sense of accomplishment. At present, it is time for the students majoring in Computer Science to apply for internships. Many of my classmates have received offers from well-known companies such as Facebook and Twitter.

Zhou Wenchang( Graduated from Chemical Engineering Program, and currently studying Biomedical Engineering at Rice University)

Changing the major during my master’s studies doubled my pressure compared with my peers, because I need to deal with a brand-new vocabulary and knowledge system. Thus, I have to do the preparation and revision to absorb the knowledge. Most of the students in my major are foreigners, including Koreans and Spaniards. Rice's master's program is job-oriented and provides lots of opportunities, but international students are faced with fierce competition because we have to compete with native speakers.

Li Yutong( Graduated from Materials Science and Engineering Program, and currently studying Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University)

Biomedical Engineering is challenging. I have learned three courses this semester, and the content is equal to that of 6 courses in GTIIT. What I learn in class is level 1, and the difficulty of the homework is level 5. After class, I will review the  recorded lecture.. In the postgraduate study,, laboratory experience is more important than in-class learning. The way to find the research direction that really interests you is a trial-and-failure path, and you need to try as soon as possible to allow time for transferring to other laboratories.

Chen Chaoxin( Graduated from Materials Science and Engineering Program, and currently studying Materials Science and Engineeringat Cornell University)

I am a research postgraduate student, so I only study one course in two years and   will spend most of my time conducting scientific research. Most content of the course I choose now has been learned in GTIIT, so the study pressure is not high. However, there is more pressure on research because I have limited experience before, so I need to learn many biology and immunity-related courses by myself so as to do research and experiments. My life here follows an 8-to-12 routine: I go to the laboratory at 8 a.m. and return to the dormitory at midnight.

Lei Li( Graduated from Materials Science and Engineering Program, and currently studying Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley)

The campus is  large and has the best laboratory in the bay area, with excellent experimental instruments and sufficient funds. There are many internship opportunities for students. Apple, Qualcomm, Facebook, and other well-known companies will regularly send emails to ask graduates whether they want to take internships. Students who want to do scientific research can contact with professors to get their permissions to join the laboratory. The master's degree program could be extended to one and a half years.

Q&A-About Academy

Q: Does GT studies help with postgraduate studies in the US?

Chaoxin: The course I'm taking is called Material Chemistry, and the content is basically covered in GT’s courses. Since I have already learned I can easily handle it.

Runsheng: I have been quickly adapted to the English environment since the teaching language in GT is English. I have no problem communicating and understanding.

Wenchang: GTIIT equipped us with solid mathematical foundation, so I could deal with calculation problems, but I met difficulties in learning programming because it is at a higher level.

Q: Does Lei Li choose a professor from Electronic Engineering (EE)? What do you feel about EE courses as a undergraduate student majoring in Materials? Does Berkeley require applicants to focus on the career plan in the statement of purpose? Could you give an introduction of the project directions, professors and funds?

Lei Li: The EE lecture we received is underthe Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Compared to traditional EE courses, the lecture covers more about semiconductors, thermal and optical projects. The content is not entirely irrelevant, and there is still some knowledge I have learned. For example, I haven't studied optics before, but the knowledge of semiconductors and how semiconductors elongate crystals are related to my undergraduate study. For your second question, my personal statement for application focus on Berkeley’s research rather than the career plan. About the program, most of the materials projects can be found here and the program also provides with a cross-department platform. The professors in Berkeley are very enthusiastic about scientific research. There are two great academicians, Yang Peidong, and Gerbrand Ceder, from the American Academy of Engineering in the Department of Materials. They will recruit many students, but it isn't easy to be selected.

Q&A-About Application

Q: When applying for a master's degree, do we need to state a specific research direction in the personal statement?

Wenchang: The research direction is not a must. Of course, it is better to state it, particularly when you want to change your major. It is better to clearly explain why you are interested in this new major and what field you are interested in.

Chaoxin: In my case, the university hoped that I could mention the research direction that I was interested in to see my enthusiasm for scientific research. If you are interested in an employment-oriented major, such as ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) program at Cornell University, the university may want to see your enthusiasm for getting a job.

Q: Could you provide some suggestions to the juniors in selecting the research direction?

Minzhuo: If you haven’t had a clear direction like me, you could first exclude the directions you don’t like or are not interested in.

Yutong: I took a lot of courses this semester and wanted to find the direction I was really interested in. After learning the lessons for one semester, I found that there were too many branches in Neural Engineering which I wanted to take before. It requires knowledge of programming, engineering, circuit, etc. These are the areas I'm not good at. Now I am more interested in Cell and Material Engineering.

Q: What is the most important requirement if we want to change to a field different from undergraduate study?

Yuxin: The most important requirement is GPA. You need to get 85 or above and also required language scores (IELTS 7.0 / TOEFL 100). When applying, you need to check the school's official website. Some may require candidates to have a strong academic background, then it may be difficult for you to get the offer.

Q: How to prepare for Computer Science (CS) program during undergraduate study?

Yuxin: If you want to change major to CS, you should prepare yourself with relevant academic background in advance. For example, GTIIT has launched the Mathematics with Computer Science Program, and you can take some related courses, such as the basic programming language, data structure, and operating system. It will be helpful if you can submit the transcript with high scores in these courses. If you want to prepare a CS program, you could browse the two websites of Udacity and Udemy and learn the skills, such as how to do back-end framework and front-end web pages. You can also browse the website of "1 point 3 acres" and "gter," to learn from other people's experience in preparing CS programs, experience in getting offers, and the timeline of receiving offers. If you want to get a job in the internet companies, you need to prepare for thealgorithm interview questions and take relevant internship.

Q: How should I write PS and CV if I want to change major to Computer Science? Does it help if I have the background of computational materials?

Yuxin: When you write your PS, you can state your motivation about changing your majors, such as being inspired by the courses you took or professors. You can write about your relevant research experiences, courses you have taken, or internships in internet companies when writing a CV. I think your academic background could be included in the documents. For example, you can state that you have made computational materials, got some inspiration from them, and found your interest in computer science.

Q: Do US schools have different curricula and research directions between Taught and Research Ph.D. programs?

Runsheng: Every school is different. Doctoral students in our school also need to take the same courses as us. They can choose the courses they are interested in regardless of the grade and pay more attention to laboratory work.

Chaoxin: Every department at Cornell University is different. For example, suppose you are a postgraduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and want to apply for a Ph.D. in the same department. In that case, you need to retake a compulsory course and take the exam. If you apply a Material Ph.D. from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, professors will expect you to be exceptionally professional in some aspects, such as fluid mechanics and semiconductors. They do not have such requirements if you apply for a master's degree.

Wenchang: It is feasible for a postgraduate student to apply for a Ph.D. in my school. If you want to stay in the same school, you could transfer some credits to the Ph.D. program according to the courses you choose during your master's degree because in the first two years of the Ph.D. program at the University of Rice, you will take introductory courses before working as teaching assistants for the professor.

Q: Is it easy to apply for master's scholarships in the United States?

Runsheng, Minzhuo: It's not easy to get. The scholarship is usually for teaching assistants, mainly doctoral students, so we have very limited chances.

Lei Li: I've got 30,000 yuan per year now. Even if you can't get a scholarship when you come, you can strive for the opportunity to be a teaching assistant and apply for financial support. The scholarship is rarely given to international students.

Tips on Application:

Yuxin: There is a secretary in each department whose email could easily be found on the official website. If you encounter problems during the application process, you could communicate with them in time without delaying the schedule.

Wenchang, Chaoxin: I suggest you apply for schools at a higher level. When selecting schools, you could choose one or two schools as safe choices, and the rest could be chosen as an ambitious choice, such as the top ten colleges and universities in the United States.

Yutong: Practice English more. Besides, students who want to change their majors should make well prepared in advance.