1. What Do You Need to Prepare for a PhD Application?
When applying for a PhD, special emphasis is placed on grades and research. Application materials are similar to those for a master's: TOEFL score report + GRE + undergraduate transcript + CV & PS. If you can present notable award certificates and published papers, that will be a plus.
GPA is preferably 3.5 and above, with most outstanding students having a GPA above 3.8. An undergraduate degree from a well-known institution with strong academic standing, like a top-tier Chinese university (Project 985), is also highly regarded.
TOEFL should be 100+, and many schools have sectional score requirements, especially for speaking. As an international student, language proficiency is essential. During the PhD, you will need to assist professors, so your language skills must be excellent for smooth communication.
GRE/GMAT should be at least 320+, with a quantitative score of 160+ preferred. If possible, it is recommended to take the GRE Subject Test.
2. How to Choose an Advisor?
Where to Find Advisor Information?
University Website
On the departmental pages of university websites, you can view each professor's profile, including their research interests, whether they are recruiting doctoral or graduate students, and other details.
Papers/Monographs
Another approach is to start from papers themselves. Pay attention to professors or scholars mentioned in selected articles—check their affiliated universities, specific research directions, current status, etc. This method yields a very high probability of finding a well-matched advisor.
Google Scholar
If you are crossing disciplines and not yet very familiar with your future research area, you can locate potential advisors by searching keywords. Searching in Google with "Professor + research area + US" can also uncover many professors' information.
If you already have a defined research interest, you can use Google Scholar or other academic databases to search for papers with those keywords in their titles. The authors of these papers are likely the professors you are looking for. You can further identify other papers and professors in the same research field through the References and Bibliography sections of those papers.
Editorial Boards of Prestigious Journals/Academic Periodicals
Some internationally renowned journals often have editorial boards composed of professors from top universities worldwide, which certainly contain information on many leading scholars. By consulting the inside back cover, last pages, and official websites of influential journals in your research area, you can learn about many accomplished professors.
How to Screen Advisors?
Evaluate the advisor's capabilities
Guiding doctoral students to a successful graduation is very challenging; not everyone possesses the ability, patience, insight, respect for others, and the capacity to cater to different students' needs and support them.
Sometimes a professor's personal qualities and wisdom are more important than the quantity of their research output. Therefore, a professor's perseverance and high-quality, effective mentorship are indispensable.
Alignment of research direction and personal interest
When initially identifying potential advisors, it's better to have a longer list—selecting several will give you more opportunities. Take the initiative to learn about the professors you are interested in and engage in academic discussions with them. When choosing a professor, be sure to examine their research background and their ongoing research activities. The standard approach is to thoroughly read their representative papers to confirm that what they are researching is exactly what you want to study.
3. About Reaching Out (Ceramics)
Reaching out proactively is a prerequisite for admission. To approach a professor, the minimum requirement is to thoroughly digest everything on their personal homepage.
Step 1: Select your top-choice institutions and rank them for the first round of outreach.
The first email can be sent to the department chair and program secretary. The first year of a PhD typically follows one of two models: directly working with a professor or a rotation system. If it's a rotation, the entire Admission Committee makes the decision. Therefore, the department chair and secretary will know the program's recruitment situation. Schools with no recruitment plans or very few openings can be moved down your priority list.
Step 2: Follow up with a second round based on the first round's responses.
Because of the high number of applicants, many professors are not very enthusiastic about answering prospective students' questions. If a reply shows interest, continue building the connection. Send your CV, research interests, and other materials to see if any professors planning to recruit are recommended.
Step 3: Reach out to the professors.
If the first two rounds went smoothly, the professors you contact next will likely have clear recruitment plans. But if things are still uncertain, you must still go through the professor outreach stage.
For professors who are intending to recruit, the outreach email is crucial. In this round, focus on expressing your thoughts on their research, offering your own insights and questions. Professors are very willing to engage in academic discussions with you.
Generally, the email can include the following:
A brief self-introduction
A summary of your background and research experience, highlighting your strengths
Explain why you chose this program and what sparked your interest
If you have studied the professor's background and materials in detail, you can ask questions and engage in academic discussion, perhaps about issues in this field in China, industry trends, etc.
Pitfalls to Avoid:
Mass-emailing professors in the same department with generic, untargeted messages
Dishonesty, exaggerating achievements, rambling without logic
Not replying to emails
Merely copying the professor's research direction and awkwardly forcing a connection to yourself
4. Interview
After receiving your materials, the university will arrange an interview. Either the professor will interview you directly, or the Admission Committee will arrange for 1–2 professors to perform the interview. The main purpose is to further understand your research direction, career plan, and English speaking proficiency.
5. Scholarships
1. TA – Teaching Assistantship
Requires the recipient to participate in teaching and lab activities to a certain extent, helping undergraduates with assignments, answering questions, grading, etc. The average workload is about 20 hours per week, though this varies by institution; public universities generally require a substantial amount.
2. RA – Research Assistantship
Relatively less demanding than a TA, this essentially involves participating in your advisor's research projects.
3. Fellowship – Departmental Scholarship
Quite challenging to obtain, and usually only available for the first few semesters.
International students typically receive TA or RA awards, which are a form of service-based compensation. In fact, the scholarship type indicated on the offer is only for the first year; a student who does a TA in the first year might work as an RA in the second. The amount of funding depends both on the applicant's profile and the lab's research funding. So, to secure more scholarship money, it's advisable to build a good relationship with the professor so that they are willing to allocate more research funds as a stipend.
