PhD from USA

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GETTING A PHD FROM A US UNIVERSITY!

Getting a PhD from America is worth to think about because of the following reasons:

1-It takes 4-6 years to get directly a PhD without even need to have a Msc.

2-They will PAY for u so that u can live as a student there .

3-U do not need to be a TA here in Egypt to be accepted there.

1 SELECTING THE FIELD:

First of all u have to select the field u want to get ur PhD in, after selecting the field u will need to

search the universities for a PhD in that field (although u have graduated from the faculty of

pharmacy here in Egypt, u do not have to enrol in a pharmacy school in USA, a medical or science

school in US that is offering a program in ur field will be ok, for example a PhD in biochemistry can

be obtained from a medical school).

2 SELECTING THE SCHOOLS:

Generally u will apply to more than one school to increase ur chances of acceptance (at least 4-5, up

to 10 according to the money u want to invest ).

So how to search/find the universities, there are two ways:

1-The easy way: contact a person in ur department who has applied to PhD in USA in the same field

before.

2-Perform a manual search: first get a list of the top 500 universities through google search:

For example

http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp (this involve US and non US schools)

I heard that u have to skip the first 100 universities (they most probably have not heard about Egypt,

but what about our reputation after 25th of Jan? It is much better I can assure u ) then search from

101 and over in the US universities till u find ur field program.

If u will apply to a program only found in pharmacy school e.g pharmaceutics-clinical pharmacy-

medicinal chemistry, then u can search the top US pharmacy schools:

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-

schools/pharmacy-rankings

This a classification for the top universities in US only (excluding non US):

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

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But again after selecting ur group of universities that u will contact, u have to get back to an expert

person in ur department who can tell u which of the universities will most probably accept u and

which will not so that u do not waste ur money.

U can also contact ESANA http://www.esana.org/ about ur selected group of universities and I guess

they can help u.

When u search the universities websites on google, u have to write the name of the university

followed by the word (graduate school = equivalent to El DERASAT EL 3OLYA 3ndena fe masr).

Under the graduate school u will find all the graduate programs offered by the university + link to

each program/department website.

So it will be as follows: Go to the university website Go to the graduate school Go to the

graduate programs Go to the PhD programs Search for ur program.

Once u established the universities u will apply to, u have to get the requirements of each

universities from their website and prepare those requirements. (Make sure that u collect all the

requirements as some universities has requirements for the graduate school + requirements for the

department u will apply for)

Also make sure to record the deadline of each university. (Usually u will apply to the Fall semester

usually u will have to submit ur application starting from August and till January or February to join

the program on August of the next year)

I suggest u make a word file with the following table:

University name

Deadline Requirements Online application password

1-

2-

3-

4-

3 THE REQUIREMENTS:

A-GRE EXAM:

Virtually all the US universities will ask for the GRE:

Go to the GRE website http://www.ets.org/gre/ and create an account: They will ask for your first

name and ur last name = Family name = last name in ur passport, these names should be written

with the same spelling as on ur passport (so u should issue a passport first before making the

account because the passport is the only acceptable ID to let u in on the exam day), after creating

the account u will be able to select the date u want and book a place online for the exam through ur

account using an internet card (so u should issue an internet card from ur bank).

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Bear in mind:

-the exam is taken in the AMIDEST in shar3 mosadaq el dokki http://www.amideast.org/egypt do

not forget to bring ur passport with u, it is the only acceptable ID card.

-it is a computer based exam (done on computer).

-the exam costs 160 $ (it will charge higher if u go to book the exam from the AMIDEST rather than

online).

-The exam takes A MINIMUM OF 3-4 months of diligent study (take care of the deadline of the

universities and leave ur self 2 weeks after the exam for the score to appear) it is best taken before

December to be able to apply before the deadline of the same year (January –February as I said

before).

-Book ur place in the Exam one month before to make sure u find available seats!

-u will send the score to the universities u want from ur online account for 23 $ each (u have 4

universities to send ur score for free but u should write their names at the end of the exam)

-The exam form is changing beginning from the first of August 2011 (it will be called the ‘Revised

GRE’) and there is a 50% discount offer on exams taken on August and September 2011 .

-This is the hardest step in all the application process , u have to get a high score (if u have Msc

degree, u will have better chances even if ur score is low).

B-TOEFL EXAM:

U r required to take the TOEFL iBT. http://www.ets.org/toefl/

As with the GRE, u have to make the online account and book online and send the scores online.

-the exam is scored from 120, most universities ask for a minimum of 80/120, and this is very easy to

achieve. U do not have to take special courses, just orient urself with the exam parts couple of days

before the exam: it consists of 4 parts (reading – listening – speaking – writing), u can practice

listening by listening to BBC & CNN (enough for Moga comedy ba2a, u r going to USA ).

C- PERSONAL STATEMENT = STATEMENT OF INTENT = STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

This is a 1 to 2 papers that u write about ur self describing ur experience – ur aims in graduate

studies – ur qualifications etc.

There are many templates for the personal statements online, u can have a look on the templates

but at the end u have to write a personalised one that speaks about u.

Check this website http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/

After u write the statement, u have to send it to an expert person (the same one u asked about the

schools) to correct any mistakes, arrange the info and adjust the font.

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D- THREE RECOMMENDATION LETTERS:

U will arrange with three doctors from the faculty to write u the recommendation letters. U do not

have to take the three from ur departmet or ur field, just choose the active & approachable doctors

(e.g. Dr Omaima).

U will probably write three letter templates and give the letters to the doctors to modify (they do

not have time to write u a letter from the scratch + u r the best one to describe urself and plz feel

free to compare ur self to superman but do not go too far speaking about Noble prize ).

The letters should contain mutual co-operation and events between u and the corresponding

doctor, how the doctor met u, how he worked with u, how he discovered that u r genius .

After writing the templates, u shall send them to an expert person (the same one u asked about the

personal statement) to correct any mistakes and arrange the info before u send the letters to the

Doctors.

The letters can be submitted by one of two ways according to the university:

1-Make the doctor sign a paper letter then put the paper inside an envelope and make the doctor

sign the envelope (to show that he wrote the letter and enveloped it behind ur back ) then send

the letters together with the rest of ur paper (see below).

2-Give the doctor a soft copy of the letter and ask him to submit the letter online when the

university send him an E-mail.

E- CURRICULUM VITEAE:

Download any formal CV template from the internet and personalise it.

Send ur CV to an expert person (the same one u asked about the recommendation letters – Jazah

Allah khir ).

F- TRANSCRIPTS:

Go to (Sho2on el talaba) and ask them for (shehadet byan daragat in English). Make 10 transcripts in

English & 2 in Arabic (some universities ask for 2 transcript in English and 1 in the native language-

Arabic).

Put the transcripts in official envelopes from (Maktab el 3med) & get the envelopes stamped.

G- Certificate of finance:

Some universities ask for a certificate of finance.

If u do not have money to issue a good bank statement for urself, Ask ur father to give u his bank

statement (u will write his name as a sponsor to u).

In fact u will not take money from ur father because they will already give u a stipend to live in USA

but this is only a proof that u r (ibn nas we keda we mesh 3yez tero7 el USA 3shan mesh la2e takol

hena ).

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4 THE APPLICATION PROCESS:

The Online Application: Most of the universities will ask u to submit an online application: this

application is filled online (not a must in one session, u can fill some info & save then get back to the

application any time u want). At the end of the application u will have to pay an application fee of 50

– 100 $ using ur internet card to officially submit the application. Do not forget to record ur

password so u r able to check the status of ur application for any missing materials.

The GRE/TOEFL Scores: Send ur GRE/TOEFL scores through the ETS (See above).

The Envelope: Get a large envelope and put inside it the following:

1-Personal statement, 2-CV, 3-Photocopy of the first page of the passport, 4-Transcript, 5-

Recommendation letters, 6-Certificate of finance.

Send the envelopes to the corresponding universities using (el bared el masry el sare3) because it is

much cheaper than Fedex & DHL (& do not worry it is reliable ).

AT this point u will have to wait for the decision of the schools (They will send u an acceptance or

rejection via E-mail/Express Mail.

Study GRE & Search the Universities website (This takes at least 3-4 months of hard study)

Reserve ur seat in the GRE exam (At least a month before ur exam date to find a seat)

Attend the GRE exam (Before December – and the earlier the better) Take the TOEFL exam a weak after the GRE exam.

Send ur GRE/TOEFL scores & Apply for the Universities before the deadline (before January-February- and sometimes the deadline is in December)

Wait for the Reply of the universities (by March-April-May).

Attend the school that accepted u on August

Get ur PhD after 5 years isA

Live happily ever after isA

P.S. The above is written from a narrow point of view (my personal experience) plz help improve

this file by adding/editing any info that u got from ur personal experience.

May Allah guide us all to the right path.