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Yanic
Student
Bamenda, Northwest, Cameroon
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What can I do to get into a fully funded scholarship program in a graduate school and do a PhD with a professor that has an ongoing research interest that he's working on? #spring24
I have a BSc in Mechanical engineering, I graduated with honors and I'm looking forward to working in a research Lab(manufacturing or a design and simulation Lab).
I believe that I have talents in Mechanical engineering that can contribute to the world.
#spring24
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Daniel Munyan, CPM, CPMM, CPX
Product Manager
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Hershey, Pennsylvania
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Yanic,
Typically in the U.S. and the EU, there are no scholarships for graduate school if your emphasis is research or engineering. There are instead either research or teaching fellowships. The schools aren't paying you to learn, they are paying you to provide value in exchange for free tuition and a yearly stipend. Sometimes they also throw in other benefits like health care and a 401K. The more in demand your research is, the better paying the stipend will be, as you will be bringing more money and prestige into the school through publications and grants.
Since you seem most interested in a research fellowship, I can share what I have learned from the experience of myself and my children.
A research fellowship is part of the process of applying to graduate school. You will probably complete all of your graduate classes in two year, but that would only get you a Masters degree if you stopped at that point. You will need another two to four years of research and publication to get your PhD. The criteria graduate schools use to determine which graduate students they will accept are based on the research the applicant has already completed, the research professors they have worked with, the publishing record of the applicant, and the number of times that work has been cited by other researchers. You aren't expected to have first-author credits on published works in your field, but just being part of research that was published would be great.
The schools also put a lot of emphasis on the applicant's professional and personal written statements. They are looking for graduate researchers with realistic goals and objectives professionally, and strong personal habits of time management and work ethic. They also want to see a clear understanding of how you arrived at the decision to apply for graduate school. An excellent undergraduate academic record is presumed, so you are good there, but that doesn't make you stand out. Graduate schools are staffed by academic researchers who also teach, and they favor graduate students like themselves. If you intend to get your PhD in order to work in industry, keep that to yourself in your written essays. Focus on how the work you are doing and the research you want to do will advance the cause of academic progress in your field. Also, undergraduate internships in academia, industry, or national labs is a big plus to getting the attention of the top graduate schools. Keep in mind that the best schools for undergraduate work are not necessarily the best schools for graduate work, due to the requirements of specialization and equipment for different areas of research in your field.
Another point to consider is that graduate schools in engineering and the hard sciences are not like undergraduate schools. They are made up of many research groups, often times with their own funding on top of what the university provides. You don't just want to get accepted to the graduate school, you want to find the right research group under the right Primary Investigator (PI), who in practice is your academic advisor and leads the research team. That person will also determine when you have sufficiently mastered and proven through publishing or patents to be ready to graduate. They will be either a blessing or a curse to you depending on their determination of when you are allowed to graduate. Some will push you out the door after four years of helping (and hounding) you to get your research submitted for publication. Others will try to hang on to you for six or more years to milk all the value out of your contributions to their publishing record. The PI is the person who will "hire" you, and pay your salary (stipend) until you get other fellowships and grants (which you will have to pursue on your own while in graduate school). For all of the schools you apply to you will want to look at the staff and their research groups online. They typically have their own web pages on the school site. If the school accepts you, they will usually provide a small travel stipend to visit and meet with the PI researchers you choose. You should have researched those folks, focused on the ones whose lab you would like to work in, and read some of their published work. Then you can adjust your conversations with them to fit their mold of a good addition to their lab. You need to be aware of the fact that everything you research and publish while in school will carry the PI's name as well. Your work will be essential in building up their record of publications and citations by which they are measured, and that also provide them justification for the multi-million dollar grants they rely on to keep their lab funded and pay for you. You should also look to meet with senior graduate students or even Postdocs in the lab you are aiming for, to get a mentor (your PI will NOT do that) who will teach you how the lab works, the processes and equipment you need to get certified on. In year three and four, you will also be expected to help junior graduate students learn all of the processes and get certified on all of the very expensive equipment in the lab. I hope this is helpful to you as you seek to enter the interesting and challenging world of a PhD program in your chosen field of research.
If you graduated in Spring 2024 and haven't applied to any graduate schools, then you need to look into fellowships or internships in your field so you have a record of research before applying in Fall 2024.
Join professional organizations in your field and become active in their student/graduate programs
Start thinking seriously about the areas of research you want to focus on and do the research on the state of research
Start looking at schools you will apply to based upon the research citations in the area you identified in the previous step. Read up on the Primary Investigators at the schools you are interested in, and look into their published works, both to learn more about the field and to see (in the credits) who is funding the research.
Look into the funding groups and institutions of the schools and research you are focused on. See if those institutions have special programs for undergraduate students. You will qualify for those if it is within one year of your gradution.
Typically in the U.S. and the EU, there are no scholarships for graduate school if your emphasis is research or engineering. There are instead either research or teaching fellowships. The schools aren't paying you to learn, they are paying you to provide value in exchange for free tuition and a yearly stipend. Sometimes they also throw in other benefits like health care and a 401K. The more in demand your research is, the better paying the stipend will be, as you will be bringing more money and prestige into the school through publications and grants.
Since you seem most interested in a research fellowship, I can share what I have learned from the experience of myself and my children.
A research fellowship is part of the process of applying to graduate school. You will probably complete all of your graduate classes in two year, but that would only get you a Masters degree if you stopped at that point. You will need another two to four years of research and publication to get your PhD. The criteria graduate schools use to determine which graduate students they will accept are based on the research the applicant has already completed, the research professors they have worked with, the publishing record of the applicant, and the number of times that work has been cited by other researchers. You aren't expected to have first-author credits on published works in your field, but just being part of research that was published would be great.
The schools also put a lot of emphasis on the applicant's professional and personal written statements. They are looking for graduate researchers with realistic goals and objectives professionally, and strong personal habits of time management and work ethic. They also want to see a clear understanding of how you arrived at the decision to apply for graduate school. An excellent undergraduate academic record is presumed, so you are good there, but that doesn't make you stand out. Graduate schools are staffed by academic researchers who also teach, and they favor graduate students like themselves. If you intend to get your PhD in order to work in industry, keep that to yourself in your written essays. Focus on how the work you are doing and the research you want to do will advance the cause of academic progress in your field. Also, undergraduate internships in academia, industry, or national labs is a big plus to getting the attention of the top graduate schools. Keep in mind that the best schools for undergraduate work are not necessarily the best schools for graduate work, due to the requirements of specialization and equipment for different areas of research in your field.
Another point to consider is that graduate schools in engineering and the hard sciences are not like undergraduate schools. They are made up of many research groups, often times with their own funding on top of what the university provides. You don't just want to get accepted to the graduate school, you want to find the right research group under the right Primary Investigator (PI), who in practice is your academic advisor and leads the research team. That person will also determine when you have sufficiently mastered and proven through publishing or patents to be ready to graduate. They will be either a blessing or a curse to you depending on their determination of when you are allowed to graduate. Some will push you out the door after four years of helping (and hounding) you to get your research submitted for publication. Others will try to hang on to you for six or more years to milk all the value out of your contributions to their publishing record. The PI is the person who will "hire" you, and pay your salary (stipend) until you get other fellowships and grants (which you will have to pursue on your own while in graduate school). For all of the schools you apply to you will want to look at the staff and their research groups online. They typically have their own web pages on the school site. If the school accepts you, they will usually provide a small travel stipend to visit and meet with the PI researchers you choose. You should have researched those folks, focused on the ones whose lab you would like to work in, and read some of their published work. Then you can adjust your conversations with them to fit their mold of a good addition to their lab. You need to be aware of the fact that everything you research and publish while in school will carry the PI's name as well. Your work will be essential in building up their record of publications and citations by which they are measured, and that also provide them justification for the multi-million dollar grants they rely on to keep their lab funded and pay for you. You should also look to meet with senior graduate students or even Postdocs in the lab you are aiming for, to get a mentor (your PI will NOT do that) who will teach you how the lab works, the processes and equipment you need to get certified on. In year three and four, you will also be expected to help junior graduate students learn all of the processes and get certified on all of the very expensive equipment in the lab. I hope this is helpful to you as you seek to enter the interesting and challenging world of a PhD program in your chosen field of research.
Daniel recommends the following next steps:
Dear Daniel,
Thank you so much for this wonderful write up, thank you for the guidance and encouragements. I will use this advice as I prepare for my career.
Yanic
Yanic, I learned through trial and error in my own career in grad school (MBA), and interviewed a number of people I knew who were pursuing their PhD's. When it came time for my son to start planning for graduate school, we followed the plan I gave you exactly, and it worked our wonderfully for him. He got to work at one of the DOE laboratories (Livermore) for a summer between college and graduate school. He got into the best school in his field, got the best PI, the best stipend, and has been published multiple times each year since starting graduate school.
Daniel Munyan, CPM, CPMM, CPX
Daniel- Thank you for this wonderful strategy, I look forward to start following up this plan so as to have a position for the upcoming fall semester 2025.
The journey of your son is so wonderful and inspiring, I must confess that you are a great parent that follows up his kid and make sure he wins. I respect you sir.
Yanic