How to apply for scholarships in North America (US and Canada) ? Ahmed Saad PhD Candidate School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada.

How to apply for scholarships inNorth America (US and Canada) ?

Ahmed SaadPhD Candidate

School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University,

CanadaSep 2008

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• FLUBRITE (USA)• CANDENNEXEN (CANDA)• DAAD (GERMENY JORDAN + EGYPT) • IIY EMIIY • ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK• KING SAUD U • KING FADED KAUST • TOFEL 580 GRE • GPA 3-3.5• weebly • CV • http://scholarship-positions.com/

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Post graduate studies

• Master’s degree: 2 years (courses + research)• PhD degree: 4-5 years (lot of stuff to learn )• Master’s then PhD in the same university ->

total of 4-5 years instead of 6-7 years (awesome )

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Why you wanna do post-graduate studies

• Easiest way to get into NA• Open gates for industry after you are done• In Canada, you can apply for permanent

residence through those two years• Make it a wish to be a useful person for your

community and your country later on. We need more of those people to be better in all aspects

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When should I start ?

• Usually universities have 3 semesters (Fall, spring and summer), others have 4 quarters

• Fall starts in Sep admission in Dec-Feb• Spring starts in Jan admission in July-Aug• Summer starts in May but very rare to be

accepted in summer

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How to know what they are doing?• World widehttp://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2006/top_200_universities

• NA universitieshttp://www.paked.net/higher_education/

rankings/north_america.htm• To know how they do the rankinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

College_and_university_rankings

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How to know what they are doing?

• Us universities by statehttp://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state/

• Canadian universities by provincehttp://www.canadian-universities.net/

Universities/index.html

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How to know what they are doing?

• Faculty homepages• Research labs• Main conferences and Journals

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Résumé

• Maximum 3 pages• Sections– Personal info (name, email, phone….)– Your rank– Table of your education (Degree Academic Major

School Thesis / Graduation project Title, Year)– Paragraph (4-5 lines) about your graduation project

and your thesis.– Accumulated grade point average (GPA)– Graduation project grade

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Résumé• Sections– Publications– Research interest– Profession experience– Honors/Awards/Professional Affiliations:– Courses you TAing if available– Qualification and Skills

• Make sure it is in pdf format to be read on any OS correctly

• Professors wanna spend 30 seconds to read you CV to know everything about you.

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Sample of work

• Summary of the project you worked on• Snapshots of software• Block diagrams• Approximately 5-9 pages

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Transcripts• You get from the faculty after graduation• It includes the credit hours• Use the excel file in the attached materials• You need so summarize into one number x / 4.0• Use this conversion for your grades according to

a US official organization (World Education Service)

• http://www.wes.org/gradeconversionguide/egypt.htm

• Print the webpage and send it along with your documents

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Transcripts

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Courses summary

• You can write a separate document containing the relevant courses along with their grades. If you wanna show that you have strong background in different areas

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First email to professors• Professors have the funding, make sure you convince them you are

smart • First impression is very important• Attach your CV. If your sample of work has a reasonable size. Attach

it as well• Attach them as pdf directly not zipped• Check carefully your spelling and grammar. Better if your current

supervisor read it to judge.• Very little tweaking from professor to another.• Make sure he/she doestn’t feel it is a template you are sending for

everyone • Send to 3-4 professor everyday. Those are just emails, they won’t

cost anything but they might reshape your career

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First email to professors• Dear Prof. ……• My name is Ahmed Saad and I am a graduate student with

an M.Sc. degree from …….• Currently I am trying to pursue my PhD study in

…………………..• 2 lines on your maters thesis topic and 2 lines on your

graduation project• I was looking forward to joining your group during my PhD

study. My CV is attached to this email. Thanks for your cooperation

• Your full signature (Name, your current job, your phone written in format suitable to be called from NA

011 2012…………………… , your email address

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Papers

• YOU SHOULD HAVE PAPERS• MORE IS BETTER• This is how the research be quantified• International conferences are better than

local ones if you can do that• Journals are better than conferences• Professors might ask to send them graduation

reports/thesis or papers you wrote

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TOEFL

• Test of English as a Foreign Language• 3 weeks of good STUDY• Level of high school English but timing is always the

problem• HIGH Scores are Very important• Solve as much as exams as possible• Ask people for the preparation materials• Amideast http://www.amideast.org/offices/egypt/• Register on the internet• www.toefl.org/

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TOEFL (Not sure about those info, they vary overtime)

• Internet based exam $150• Valid for two years• Make sure you have the university codes to

send the scores to. It will cost you more money later. You can send for 4 universities for free but it should be during the exam

• Send the score along with the first email to professors.

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TOEFL (Not sure about those info, they vary overtime)

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GRE

• Graduate Record Examination• Required by most of the US universities• IMHO, it is not that important but please do your best• www.ets.org/gre• Valid for 5 years• Take the general test• Sections – Quantitative Reasoning – Analytical Writing– Verbal Reasoning (Please send me your score )

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Statement of purpose• Why you wanna do research• 2 pages• Sections

– Why you wanna do Master’s or PhD– Why you choose specific field, why it is important (e.g. Medical

Imaging)– Mention that you did some research before– Summarize your graduation project and master thesis. Show

how you collaborate with other team members, industrial partners or other researchers or clinicians

– Mention your TAs capabilities– Why you chose this specific university, department and research

group

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Recommendation letters

• 2-3 letters, 4-5 is better as well• Very important• People should know and write realistic facts not

just saying you are genius. Please be reasonable• They should stress your success during courses,

research, team working and your innovation and the ability to work independently

• Make sure you seal it and professor sign on it from outside

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Website

• Make yourself a website containing most of the useful information and write down on it that you are looking for scholarships. Professors might find you

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University package• Applications usually are done online• You should have a credit card to pay the fees• Make sure you read for “prospective graduate

students sections” on their website to know the details of their program

• Free or $ 50-100• Satisfy all the requirement in the checklist• Remember that you are investing in yourself. So it is

not a waste• Acceptance in multiple universities will give you the

ability to choose

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How to choose university?

• Strong research group• Rich supervisors• Big names• Weather• Safety• Natural scenery • ………………………………….. Vary by different

people

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The map

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What about other countries ?

• Australia and newzealend are awesome as well

• IMHO, Europe is cool but now like NA• I’m not sure about the process there. SORRY

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Suggestions for further communication

• Mail group to send scholarship opportunities• Facebook group to share the

ideas/suggestions/documents and photos ofcourse

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[email protected]

www.cs.sfu.ca

http://mial.fas.sfu.ca/bio.php?id=1295