PhD Chemical Engineering-What are my chances?

sefago
Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:59:19 +0000

lol, you are extremely touchy. I didn’t read all your post but yes your sentence structure and word choice gave it away (I am nigerian too though i did college in the US, so dont get too offended). Infact using the word “pundit” in a public forum is another give away. I was actually happy at seeing a fellow country man apply to PhD, very few Nigerians do which makes me sad.

Anyways, to give you a reality check. I would prefer to PM this to you, but I have lots of stuff to do later—> Getting into a top PhD program in engineering at princeton or any other school requires research which you don’t have…they dont care about the policies of your country or the lack of research opportunities and are not going to turn another applicant away. You , seem intelligent and as Christjah commented, your GRE scores are excellent (schools dont care about the verbal). But PhD is a research degree and they want people who excel in research.

You could try other schools, and you might have to go far lower than your desires, but if you actually want to do a PhD, that should not be a hindrance. However, I would advise you to apply for a masters degree at a top American university (do you have a masters already?) and maybe find a way of paying for it, then later apply to a top PhD program. I know they have PTDF and Shell scholarships, can’t you try those? Then you could try like an MS at Stanford or Berkeley, and then apply for a PhD?

Another disadvantage is that, in case you dont know, most Americans don’t know jack**** about the educational system of any country outside the world—even admission officers. They have never heard of UI or Unilag or wherever you went to and think is great school, and they have never heard of your professors before either. As someone mentioned, are your LOR from people who are well known in engineering or at the top of the field? if the answer is no, then a Masters degree could get you in contact with those professors and give you an edge later when you apply to a top PhD program.

Your situation is not unique, and my advise is not exceptional, you could ask other international students, and they would tell you the same thing. Check most international students doing science and engineering PhDs (mostly Asian (south and east). They had to do a masters in the US b4 they did their PhD. Ironically enough. very few universities do masters degrees. Ok, I am tired of typing but seriously do more research (on Phd programs here). I know how limited, if any, reserach opportunities are back home but admission officers wouldn’t care anyways.