简历。
英语：Toefl，一般90分以上就够用。个别系有特殊要求。其中城大，中文和理工toefl成绩是可以不用的，6级就可以。

GRE成绩不是必须的。有的人说有更好。但是有利有弊。有一个我听来的消息，有些学校老师申材料的时候会考虑，你GRE送分还送了哪些学校，如果除了香港以都是什么MIT, Oxford之类的话，可能就不大会考虑你了，因为就知道你是拿香港保底的，给你offer你也未必会来。

推荐信两封：大部分都要求是专业方面的。

成绩单和学位证明。

Research Proposal：这是与申请美国最大的不同。它的重要性可大可小。因为就我了解的情况，很多人也说不重要，随便写写也OK，一两页也行。但是，我一直很看重这个。因为个人认为这是套磁最有利的武器。都说香港的申请套磁很重要，因为香港的老师在招生中的权力较大。套磁重要，这个是众所周知的，但是正因为大家都知道，大部分都会套，怎么样让你从一大堆邮件中跳出来就是关键了。特别是，当好不容易一个老师回了信，怎么样继续沟通保持联系也是很重要的。

我觉得RP就是很有利的手段。你可以跟老师讨论r的选题，内容，写好以后发给他看看怎么修改。一来一往，交流多了，就熟悉了。如果你rp写得很出彩，那就更没有什么问题，可能一两次老师就对你有了兴趣。如果一开始写得不够好，多改几次，老师也可以看出你的诚心，说不定也觉得你很有潜力。所以，rp的重要性，个人有个人的说法。因为毕竟也有人没有rp，或是随便准备就被录取的。但是，有一点，如果时间充裕，就好好准备，绝对没有坏处。当然，rp的准备也是相当的费神。特别我当时是。因为我选择的phd方向跟我硕士期间做的课题没有什么关系。

所以，要在短时间内对一个新的课题写出一份研究计划来确实很头大。Rp一般学校的要求是：introduction, motivation, literature review, method,result,reference。类似一篇paper的结构。当时觉得最头大的就是method和result。如果以前一直研究这个课题的，当然没有很大的问题。但是对于新的课题，要提出你的想法，可行的方法和预期的结果，确实得下不少功夫。

当时我准备第一份rp的时候花了近一个月。由于申请了几个方向，所以我一共写了三份rp。这个是材料准备中最花时间的。至于rp的选题，大家可以通过看你想申的老师的研究方向选择一个课题。或者问问老师有什么建议。不过，一般来说，我问那边的老师。他们看中rp的不是你的方法是不是创新是不是好，而在于你的思路和逻辑，还有英文写作的能力。

可选材料：发表论文的摘要，其它证书，personal statement

关于套磁。套磁我一般都收到了回复。我一般的思路是，9，10月份先发一封信，介绍自己的情况，表达自己申请的意向，问问老师是否今年招生以及关于rp的情况。这个时候老师一般还没有确定来年招生的情况，所以也不可能给你什么很positive的答复，最多鼓励你申请，给点官方的意见。不过，能回复就是好事，如果能再给你点关于RP的建议就更好。第一封信我觉得需要得到的信息就是这个老师是不是招人。如果招，就有希望。然后你再静下心来准备rp。Rp修改得差不多了，再去发给老师看。如果他感兴趣，并给你提出修改意见，那希望就很大了。当然，即使这个时候很多老师也没有办法给你什么答复。可能仍就是鼓励申请之类的。

接下来，可以如果老师愿意可以进一步讨论一些学术问题。然后，等到申请的时候，交完材跟老师提一下，多沟通可以加深印象。同时套磁也是相互了解的机会，你也需要了解你申请的老师的风格，人品之类的。看自己是不是适合。

关于interview。香港中文的interview一般会在国内进行，上海，深圳。中文计算机系一般会有两轮，第一轮面试来上海的。很早，一般在申请截止之前就会有第一轮。而且很奇怪的是，我参加的时候发现很多人都还没有寄材料，只是网申就被通知面试了。第二轮三月份是在深圳。当时老师是说，第一轮招的比例比较大。所以，大家还是早交材料的比较好。不要赶在截止日期了。

中文电子系的面试要晚一些，一般在二月中旬在深圳。今年有一轮。中文的面试待遇不错，一般会给一定的路费补贴。还会跟老师吃一顿晚饭。人数的话，差不多40多人吧。

香港大学的interview一般在大陆，去年在上海，今年在北京和杭州。参加的人数也差不多40多。我没参加，不过我有一个朋友参加了。分两场，第一场writing test，写一篇英文文章，给一个topic，类似GRE作文。第二场 face to face。据说来的人不多，四五个老师。一般过了committee的面试，可能你想申请的老师还会再电面你。

香港科大，老师的权力好像比较大。一般是材料到老师那里，他选一些人面试，电面，然后选人。当然，不同系不一样。EE也会committee的面试，一般就两三个老师。当然也可以直接被老师面然后录取的。我也听说，有的人没有面也被录取的。

城大：城大的EE排名很前，所以竞争也很激烈。也只是据说，城大EE没有面试，只是根据你的GPA，paper(only SCI 有效)排名，根据排名录取。是不是确实是这样，我也不清楚。

本科：WHU，自动化专业，overall GPA 83.3
研究生：WHU，控制理论与控制工程，overall GPA 两个B其余全是A
GRE：480+780+4 T：96 口语17
论文：IEEE会议两篇，非常一般的会议，一篇中文核心，全部为 接受
申请方向：20所学校，一所申跨学科phd，就是那个UMKC的program，一所申信号处理，UCR的，其余全部电力电子，电力系统，电能质量。一所NTU，一所U of Alberta，其他全US的。

申请感触（仅限EE）：

1、背景问题

GPA

非常重要，没有任何讨论的意义，我只想说两点，一、要竭尽全力去把GPA提高，即便你只剩下最后10个学分，也不能放弃；二、千万不要妄想删成绩、篡改成绩。

GT

我准备申请的时候，有同学告诉我GRE这东西没什么用，过1300就可以了，T也无所谓，过申请资格线即可。我非常信以为然，每次模拟考试都把G的分数定在 500+800。

其实这样是非常错误的。大家想想，committee教授完全不了解你的情况下，能信任的只有OFFICIAL GPA, OFFICIAL GT REPORT and Paper。Paper处在accpeted状态还不行，最好可以被检索、出版。其他的，什么项目经验之类，不当面和你谈谈，教授能随便信你吗？况且，现在申请出国的人多于牛毛，尤其是EE这种热门专业，有些研院看你GT分数不行，直接就给砍了。把上千分材料送给教授，让教授一个一个评，估计要审大半年。所以，一个漂亮的GT成绩至少会让教授难以迅速拒绝你的申请。我的GT成绩极其迅速结束了我在EE@OSU的申请。

Paper

以研究生身份申请，在此之前，很多同学告诉我，paper很重要。Polytechnic的一位教授也亲口告诉我，无论如何paper还是要一篇的。我个人觉得，有牛paper（EE专业的就是IEEE Trans. 或者top conferences）绝对是亮点。教授不会仔细看你的文章的，但是看一眼发表在哪里，他就知道水平如何了。我看见1作IEEE Trans.文章的申请者，G不到1200，去purdue了。但是，我觉得大多数人并没有这种分量的文章（就我所知，IEEE Power 方面的Trans.从第一次投稿到最终见版面大约要1.5 years）。所以，大家在没有能力弄到top文章的时候，随便弄个英文会议文章，accepted就可以了，证明你写过英文文章，而且会议审稿快，不要钱。

专业背景

记得在听一个purdue老师讲座完毕后，我就咨询了他一下专业背景的问题。他说，EE非常重视background。OSU老师面试的时候，也直接说，我这个背景不是学电力系统的啊。个人觉得，EE底下跨小方向申请，一定要有所优势，不然比较危险。我个人在这方面，非常尴尬。本科学自动化，研究生学位是控制理论与控制工程硕士。可是从本科毕业论文开始到现在，我就完全没有同feedback control打交道了，更不用说什么nonlinear control了。

研究生两年多完全做一个接着一个的小的横向项目，做DSP，MCU开发，我个人自己业余研究一下信号处理方法及应用。这样对申请我觉得还是不利的。做control，完全没做过这个方面的研究，还一control的研究生？而且数学功底不好。而且，就我所知，国外做control的老师喜欢招数学系的学生，而不招所谓自动化的学生。做power，别人说我不是这个专业的，仅仅凭几个和power相关的项目不能说明问题。这个也是我在选校的时候不敢选得太靠前的原因。总是做一些非常杂的小项目，不会给申请增加很多筹码，我觉得。

学历

这里是研究生身份申请是否有优势问题。个人觉得，优势比较明显。EE的申请者可以发现，很多老师，尤其是中国老师，收下的phd candidates很多是在国内拿的硕士学位。OU给我offer的那位老师，手下的学生全是在国内拿硕士的，少数几个拿本科的只在他那度 master。我的确也感触到，国外老师，尤其是中国老师喜欢要研究生。当然很厉害的本科生也是很喜欢的。

2、陶瓷

从我开始申请到现在，陶瓷这个词贯穿于整个申请。当然，并不是说我一直在努力的陶瓷，也陶得很成功，而是说这个对于EE申请非常重要。全奖分为FELLOWSHIP，TA、GA、 RA。前两种上学校和系里出钱，GA有学校出的，老师出的，RA是老师出的。当你不陶瓷，又没有耀眼的亮点时候，不要指望任何教授主动推荐你拿 fellowship。没有教授推荐，应该就基本不可能拿fellowship了。TA，GA一样的道理，T成绩不够免谈。RA，完全是教授给钱。

你不主动陶瓷，教授那个pool里面一堆人，绝对不缺你一个。到不主动陶瓷就能拿RA的时候，那就相当厉害了！你得通过陶瓷来让教授知道你很积极，很主动，你在用行动表示你的确对他的research感兴趣。这样，他才会相信你，才会推荐你拿奖。Elnino当初告诉我，不陶瓷对于EE来说，就是坐着等死，很有道理！申请者一定得积极主动！同样，申请材料寄出去就万事的申请者，也是非常危险的。一定要和学校，教授保持联系。

3、推荐信

这里我并不是强调一般平常意义的推荐信，而是那种一推就能准保你拿offer的推荐信。有这种机会，非常好，差不多就申一个学校就行。但是，一定要记住，这种推荐不能反悔，不然推荐人，武大学生脸上都被摸黑！要么你就干脆不要这种推荐信。

4、PS CV

关于这两项是否很重要，存在颇多争议。但是，我想说的是，作为一个申请者，一个积极的，想拿offer的申请者，所有的因素都应该认为很重要。好的CV在陶瓷的时候能够帮你赢取更多教授给reply或者interview的机率，好的PS会让committee的教授给你更多considerations。关于应该如何准备这些，UCST bbs的精华区和水木的精华区有很多非常有价值的帖子。这里强调一点，PS里面，一定要写清楚自己想去的研究方向，例如，EE的就写自己对EE感兴趣，是不够的，必须写清楚子方向，power or wireless or control等等。不然，就如同RPI一老师说的，他们不看这种PS。

此外，是否要在PS中写清楚想跟哪个老师，这一点，我认为，在没有同那位老师取得联系，申请上得到他的支持，并且确认他手上有position的时候，不要写明想跟哪个老师。这样会导致你最后由于没有老师愿意做你的advisor而强行把你调到master的program里去了。

5、选校

我始终觉得这个问题，最好是在US读过一段时间之后谈比较好。专业方面，EE方向下电力系统。

其他方面：OSU，超级大众情人学校，去年 12月初，那里的老师告诉我，11月份他们EE收到960份申请材料，还告诉我，我Q没满分，V不高，拿AD的希望非常渺茫，他家EE我觉得非常看重Q的成绩，Q没满分的慎重，除此之外，完全不知道他家谁是program coordinator，谁是graduate assitant，那个ecegrad@ece.osu.edu从来没人回的；

FSU的EE，明确说明，4月底才能出结果；Ohio U近几年都是3.18之前给是否接受offer答复，他家EECS有一位liu教授，是WHU毕业的，做医学图像的，可以和他联系，如果自己觉得想去那里读书，提醒一点，他家EECS很穷，I20上财力要求比较高，GA+RA的offer还不够issue I20，需要自己再加三、四千美元的财力证明。这个让我比较汗，当然肯定是用不着的，

Athens消费水平低；

UCR那个email平均回信时间1个月；

u of kentucky管招生的是一位哈工大过去的教授，申请很简单，一切都是扫描件即可，不要推荐信，只要推荐人的电话，他家只有TA，没有 fellowship，RA自己找教授商量；

U of Alberta，个人感觉喜欢CA的，不怕天气严寒的，可以申请，这个学校有钱，消费低，学术水平不错；

UTK，秘书不理人，偶尔给我一次reply全部大写。。。，至今无消息，当初应该听从Grope的建议；wsu，审材料速度超慢，我的材料至今还在研院审。VT，很疯狂，口语17分的一样给TA，第二年没找到导师，那就得自己掏钱了。

总结

以上是针对我个人申请，谈的一些感想。个人认为，申请是需要全局考虑加细节考虑的一个系统工程，要有系统的安排。申请各个要素上，肯定会有弱项，但同时一定也要有自己的强项来弥补自己的弱项。整个过程要积极主动，努力去争取，否则就是坐以待毙。

快要离校了，终于有时间静下心来写写自己的申请总结。我以前也说过，我的申请经历是比较特殊的，或许能够给大家提供的经验并不多。但是我想了想，决定还是写一下，因为我觉得一定会有用。

还是先按常规报一下背景和offer。

背景：

02级本，06级硕，精仪学院光电子专业，优异生免试推荐。
GPA： 本科3.78 rank 1/61, 硕士3.76 rank 2/26。
GRE&TOEFL: TOEFL (iBT) R28 L29 S19 W28 T104, 总分可以，口语分低了，感觉发挥得很好，绝对不应该这么低分，当时我不知道能复议，给错过了。
GRE General: 510+750+3.5 数学很汗。。。 语文和作文也不太行。
GRE SUB，Physics: 970, 挺高，不过根本没用上。
科研：做强激光与物质相互作用理论研究两年，SCI三区第一作者灌水文章两篇。不过申请的时候文章还都没有录用。
推荐人：1. 我导师，本系系主任，教授，博导 2．同实验室的老师，本系教授，博导 3．南开大学物理系老师，教授，博导

申请情况：

共申请学校两所
McGill University, Electrical Engineering, Offer
Pennsylvania State University, Engineering Science, Withdraw

分开说明两校的申请经历：

McGill:
遂在这个上面查，并广泛发email联系，也因此发现了McGill的导师，是一个U of Michigan 毕业的中国人，刚过去当assistant professor, 有钱和项目，正需要人做，于是发第一封信询问情况，大致意思就是我看到您在招生，我希望去，然后简要自我介绍一下，并附上简历。

当天中午发信，晚上就收到回信，很热情，说我的background is excellent,并写道“I am currently occupied with several proposals, and I will be in contact with you shortly about the research I do here at McGill. In the meantime, I suggest you submit your applications for Fall 2008 admission.”就是鼓励我申请，然后给了一系列的跟申请有关的链接，并告诉我申请哪个program.

我当时就回复表示感谢，并希望得到关于研究方向的详细介绍。说实话，当时我根本就不知道McGill University, 于是上网查了查，发现居然是所名校！心里非常高兴。一星期后老师给我回信，介绍了他的研究方向，认为我非常适合，并希望我早日申请。

对于我提出的研究方向的问题，他回答说“I myself am also from an optical backgroup like you and Ph.D. study, as I have learned, is all about the exploration of new things that you personally are excited about.”原来他也是学光学的出身，应该是因为如此才会这么投缘吧。他的研究方向虽然不是我现在做的方向，但是我光电子的教育背景还是讲到过一些，再加上我的三个推荐人中有两个都在国外做过这个，其中一个还是主要做这个的。因此我对这个研究方向有一些基本的了解，很感兴趣。于是就发email过去跟他讲很喜欢这个方向，并说自己跟这些老师们都有过一些了解，希望能够过去跟他学习，并将尽快递交申请。

这次接到的回信更加的热情，甚至让我有些不敢相信：

“Thanks! Coming here and you will be a leading expert in *** very quickly. I have done *** for over 10 years in universities and in industry and I will be working closely with you during the initial phase of your career here to bring you up to speed. Please keep me updated on your application, and, frankly, if everything goes well, we might be able to finalize everything very quickly.Attached please find some of my publications. Please feel free to contact me anytime regarding your application, life in McGill and Canada, or anything else.

Best regards,”

这段话到直到现在看来都让我觉得很感动，一个导师，仅仅是看过了我的resume和通过几次信，就能够如此的热情。我当时就决定这个学校一定要好好申请。

11 月初我把申请材料寄了过去，然后就没动静了。等了十几天之后，终于忍不住又发了email询问情况，问能不能给offer, 并把我所有的联系方式都留了下来，说您有嘛问题我随时回答。本来就是打算探探口风，看看他对我的材料印象如何，也没有想过就这一次就能把offer要过来。当时已经考完了GRE SUB，也开始准备着申请其他学校的物理系了，这个瓷是打算继续套下去。结果收到回信说：“虽然现在还不是做决定的时候，但是我会考虑提前给你 offer,你能否把你投出去的两篇文章（当时还没有录用）发给我看看呢？”

我想，这有什么难的，就把投过稿的两篇文章发过去了。我想，这怎么也得等个个把儿星期才能做决定吧。万万没有想到的是，只过了两天，老师就给了offer，非常的爽快。还记得11月23日中午打开email,突然收到了这样的信：

“Thank you, and I have informed the graduate admissions director that you are accepted as a Ph.D. student in my group, with full financial support, starting from Sep. 2008.。。。。。。。。。。。”

当时真的是非常的兴奋，没有漫长的等待和煎熬，offer就这么意外的降临了。而这个时候，其他的学生大多数都还没有开始寄材料申请。这就是为什么我后来能腾出来一些时间帮助别人申请的原因。

书归正传，当时我真是觉得非常的激动。一个素不相识的导师，能够这么爽快的给我offer,甚至都没有问过我任何有关学术的问题，对我如此器重，我真是非常的感动。以前常听人说陶瓷充满了周旋和策略，而我的陶瓷过程就这么直接而简短的结束了，我自己也没有想过offer拿得会这么容易，我感觉还是运气好，恰好碰到了一位能够赏识我的老师。所以当时我立刻回信说我保证去McGill,别的学校我不申请了。

回信之后第二天，收到Optics Communications编辑部来信，同意接收我的稿件。12月初，收到Chinese Physics Letters编辑部来信，同意发表我的文章。两篇投出去的文章也就此搞定。

2007年12月先后收到了McGill University系里的offer letter和研究生院的admission letter. 申请过程顺利结束。剩下一堆推荐信成绩单都没有用上，堆在实验室的柜子里，包括那个挺高的GRE物理SUB成绩。1月份接受offer，接下来就是我前面所描述过的办护照，办CAQ和办签证的漫长历程，一直到今年5月底才拿到了签证。

下面再谈一下Penn State有关的情况：

9 月下旬联系到了那边的导师，中国人，也是Michigan Ann arbor毕业的博士，后来发现他和McGill的导师是师兄弟，好朋友，我狂汗！Penn State的老师9月份给我打电话，说同意要我，应该问题不大。我10月底寄出材料，11月初给我打电话指导我修改了一下PS，重新给他扫描了一份过去。 11月20号给我打电话说他们系里招生委员会讨论把托福口语分的底线定到了20，我19正好差一分，问我能不能重考一次。我当时一盘算，托福报名就很难，而且口语成绩很大程度上看运气，貌似我那次去考的是个中国人就都是19。我觉得冒这个险不值当。

而当时申请材料寄到McGill也有十几天了，于是发信问 McGill的导师要offer, 没想到三四天时间就给了，McGill的ECE department只要求托福总分过100，不要求单项，因此顺利达标通过。后来Penn State的老师问我还希望他们继续考虑我的申请吗？我一想，已经答应McGill了啊，Penn State只能不去了，于是回信把申请withdraw了。

整个申请过程就是如此，比较简单，省钱省力，主要赖于运气好，两位老师都如此看得起我，真是非常感激。过去之后一定努力学习工作。

最后写一下申请经验：

一是有关加拿大学校。我认为在读硕士申请加拿大学校会有很大优势。

第一， 加拿大的大部分学校要求必须有硕士学位才能攻读博士，这样就把大批的优秀本科生挡在门外，只有硕士生之间的竞争，因此就不那么激烈。

第二， 在中国人的印象里，是觉得美国好，我曾经问过一些人为什么不申请个加拿大学校，有很多人就认为加拿大的学校都没有美国的好。事实是如此的吗？我拿到McGill的offer后，跟一个在Michigan Ann arbor的同学发信，她是这样回复的：

“All of my American friends think McGill is the top number one university in Canada. So that is really a good news, congratulations again!”

从中可以看看美国人对McGill University的评价，是非常的高的。我在半导体所访友的时候问过一个美国人外教，他认为McGill非常好，而且他的表弟就在McGill就读。我师妹在Cornell大学上了一年回家探亲，问我申请了哪两个学校，我说是Penn State和McGill， 她说，Penn State哪比得了McGill啊。一个香港的朋友以为我说的“Penn State”是宾大，后来我告诉他是州立的时候，他回复说“州立的那间没听说过”，说到McGill的时候，他说“那个学校很有名啊”。

所以说从声誉上看来，加拿大的名校在外面的声誉是非常的好，只是在中国大陆不是太被看好。这就好象高考，同样水平的学校，在北京的往往分数会高出很多，因为很多考生想考到北京来。申请出国也是如此，大部分人都是想到美国去，因此造成美国的学校难去。其实如果你是纯粹为了做学术，只看学术水平的话，申请加拿大学校就可以会捡一个大便宜。我观察过了，申请到McGill的PhD的学生的水平大致相当于申请到美国50到100名学校的水平，而McGill的实力放在美国，前50 应该是没什么问题的吧。

不过话又说回来，加拿大和美国的社会环境不同，美国的社会环境更激励人努力奋斗，而加拿大更象是个养老的地方，不适合年轻人。从加拿大签证上就可见一斑，最近又听说在Montreal办个驾照要8个月时间，而且在加拿大很难找工作。所以我还是建议大家，能去美国就不要去加拿大了。不过话又说回来了，最近美国经济萧条，不知道还得多少年，以后的事情真不好说，留美博士将来会不会失业，这也是个问题。

第三，申请加拿大学校可以早拿offer.加拿大学校的一些专业是不需要招生委员会的，只要导师拍板同意要，系里就立刻发offer。因此你就不必等到deadline 以后，只要找到愿意要你的导师，就能马上拿offer,如果比较中意，其他学校就可以不申了，这样省时省力。

二是关于研究背景和教育背景。

大家可以看到，我在申请中的一个劣势就是研究背景和教育背景是分离的。我的研究背景是原子分子光物理，是偏物理的，按说应该申请物理系，这就是为什么我选择了考SUB。而我的教育背景是光电子，是工科，虽然偏理，但是属于工程类。先前我以为申请的研究方向越match就越容易拿offer,于是查了20多所原子分子光物理的学校，准备申请。没想到和这些学校的教授发信联系，不是石沉大海，就是回信不积极。其实有些事情不说，恐怕大家一辈子都不会知道。我是认识U of Maryland的一位教授的，当时他在天大讲学，离开的时候对我说“When you apply, please let me know.”后来我发信问他申请 U of Maryland是否合适，他过了很久才回信，其中有句话大家可以好好掂量掂量：

“What undergraduate degree do you have? Is it physics? If not, it will be extremely difficult for you to get into the Physics program.”

看到了吗？本科是物理系的吗？不是就别想进马大物理系！像这些内部消息，网站上看不到，问系里秘书也不可能了解，不知道有多少非物理系毕业的学子投了马大的物理系，殊不知他们的材料根本就不在讨论的范围！后来教授又给我发信说可以考虑我进马大化学物理研究所，不过当时我已经答应了McGill的offer,就回绝了。

 这是按照研究背景去申请的情况，那么按照教育背景呢？McGill和Penn State的两位老师做的研究方向，我完全没有做过。Penn State的学生还告诉过我他们做光电子的招过力学系毕业的人过来读博士。看出来了吧？只要他们认为你有这个能力，有这个基础，就可以要你。你以为在国内做的区区两年研究会有多大价值吗？人家国外的导师会看得上吗？错了，人家更看重的是能力和基础，而这个基础和能力更大程度上体现在你是学什么的，而不是你是做什么的。如果教育背景和研究背景分离，我认为按照教育背景去申请，拿到offer的面会大一些。

按教育背景申请有一个前提，那就是要陶瓷，提前联系好教授，让他知道有你这个人，他就会给系里推荐你，否则你的材料到了系里，人家一看你做的研究不match,或许就不往教授那里送。如果非要按照研究背景去申请，那就得看你研究做的怎么样了，如果真是好一些，那也是可以的。比如说如果我在申请前就有两篇SCI三区的文章的话，我还是敢于按研究背景去申请。当然了，大部分人教育背景和研究背景是相同的，这样的话是最好，就按照match的方向去申请就行。

说了这么多，都是个人经验和个人观点，错误之处希望大家海涵。即将毕业离校，回首在天大的这六年，感慨万千。祝飞跃版上的朋友都能够一切顺利，我们共同努力！

备去 Power Group @ GaTech: RA 有power system 的学校不多,所以没申几个学校. 最先收到的是 Virginia Tech 的 TA offer. VT 对中国学校比较友好. 今年好像很慷慨的给了很多 offer. VT 的 power electronics 应该是最好的了. power system 也不错, 有我非常崇拜的导师。

第一年 TA 可以强迫自己提高communication skills, 于是 withdraw/decline 除了GaTech 的其它学校. GaTech 在 2.14 时候给过我一次电话面试, 面试我的是一个清华师兄, 因为事先没有准备, 所以面的很烂, 但还是进入了推荐名单, 就有以后的机会进一步联系。 四月初三月底, 是我最迷茫的时候, 我经常反复, 白天总是想着从了 VT 算了, 那里中国学生多, 我甚至都加入了VT 2007 新生QQ 群, 和将要去VT 的学生打成了一片。VT 我联系的几个师兄都很帮忙, 很感激, VT 中国学生会口碑一直很好, 他们的传统就是让新生有一种到家的感觉.。

到了晚上, 又想去 GaTech, 反复了很久. 后来实在没有办法了, 给 GaTech 的师兄写信. 师兄联系他导师说, 如果有人据掉 offer 或者还有新的 position, 希望可以首先考虑我, 而且指出, 我的口语可能不太好. 导师给我一个电话, 我们聊了几分钟, 觉得我口语没什么太大问题. 我在我面试那个组的 waitinglist 上, 而发出的几个 offer 很有可能被全部接收. 教授很 nice, 他及时把我推荐给了另外一个教授, 就是现在给我 offer 的教授. :)如果要我说GPA, GRE, TOEFL 什么重要, 我感觉 TOEFL 还是重要的. VT 的教授也是这么跟我说的, 不过也有可能是一家之言了. GPA 的话, 百分制也是可以的, 不一定要折算成四分制, 可能对于一些他们看重的科目的重视会远大于对总成绩的重视, 数学, 专业课这些是有用的。

另外, 套词我觉得还是应该少而精的, 我套的教授总共不超过 10 个, 但每一个我都做足了功课, 认真写了. 虽然在申请中, 我们是被别人选择, 可能是处于一个弱势的位置, 但我觉得, 将心比心, 个人的努力, 教授是可以从信的字里行间读出来的. 祝大家都有好offer。

美国有电力系统的学校并不多，下面是我总结的一些学校的电力系统专业, 有很多疏漏和不妥当的地方. 见谅.按照英文字母排序为：

ASU: 电力系统动态.Cornell: 电力系统稳定, 安全分析.Drexel: 电力系统动态, 电力品质.GaTech: 电力系统建模与控制, FACTS, 可靠性, 分布式发电.ISU: 电力系统动态, 可靠性.Purdue: 基于电力电子的电力系统.RPI: 优化, 控制, 智能计算.TAMU: 可靠性, 人工智能用于电力系统, 并行计算.UIUC: 电力系统稳定性, 动态模型仿真, 运行与控制.UT-Austin: 人工智能用于电力系统, 优化.UWisc: 电力系统稳定性, 风险分析.VT: 电力系统动态, FACTS, 广域测量。

离开华工已经快两年了, 在申请中得到了来自华工和浙大两个学校的校友帮助, 深深感动, 要感谢的人很多. 华工的本科教育使我可以在一个较高的平台上起飞, 我们本科, 电力系统, 电机学, 电子技术, 信号与系统, 电力电子什么的, 都是通学, 我还在基地待过, 这些经验都是宝贵的, 谢谢华工. X院士前一阵来浙大, 我还专门去听了他的讲座, 很激动! 帮助过我的人. 谢谢了. :) 感谢你们的. 我是华工出去的, 我永远爱着我的母校. 

xx
Tel: xxxxxxxxxxx
Email: xxxxxxxxx

OBJECTIVE
To join a full-time Ph.D. program in Electrical Engineering Fall 2005
AREA OF INTEREST
Communication, Digital signal processing, VLSI

EDUCATION
7/1997 ~ 7/2001 Major: BS in Electronic Engineering
Dept of Electronic Engineering
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
GPA 87.57 Ranking top 3% out of 200 students
7/1998 ~7/ 2001 Minor: BS in Applied Mathematics
Dept of Applied Mathematics
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
7/1990 ~ 7/1997 Shanghai Nan Yang Model Middle School

WORKING EXPERIENCE
7/2000~ 9/2000 Assistant
Shanghai JiaoTong University Circuit Lab
10/2000 ~ 12/2000 Network Engineer
Shanghai City Construct File Bureau
1/2001 ~ 6/2001 Intern
Ericsson Communication R&D Center
7/2001 ~ now Software Engineer, Development Team Leader
Ericsson Communication R&D Center

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
7/2000 ~ 9/2000 Digital Circuit Design and Application
Project Description: Digital Circuit Application in Automatic Delivery System
My Responsible: Optimize digit circuit design with computer
3/2001 ~ 6/2001 Mechanism of Riddling bifurcations
Project Description: This project is expected to analysis the mechanism of riddling bifurcations when it is in the system of coupled piecewise linear maps.
My Responsible: Use computer to simulate the occurrence of locally and globally riddled basins based on the properties of absorbing areas of the chaotic attractors.
3/2001 ~ 7/2001 AXE Exchange Internal Function Block Improvements
Project Description: This project is to improve and optimize the inter-work and signals between SW and HW and performance of “Time Switch” Complex Function area.
My Responsible: Optimize the signal processing in “Time Switch” in the circumstance of decentralized/centralized control congestion.
8/2001 ~ 12/2001 Engine Integral Network 2.0
Project Description: Identification of fault HW board
My Responsible: Testing of lighting damaged “Time Switch Bus” HW board, and identify the fault board with the least of cost and influence on custom side.
2/2002 ~ 9/2002 Improvement of Wireline Network
Project Description: Improvement of Wireline Access Part
My Responsible: Optimize mesh network and EMRP ring function to improve reliability and stability of traffic transmission.
Improvement on Multiple Access Unit hardware.
10/2002 ~ 4/2003 CDMA Network V5.0
Project Description: Implement new feature in CDMA network
My Responsible: Implement Location Based Service and Over the air parameter adaptation feature in CDMA network.
5/2003 ~ now CDMA Network V5.1
Project Description: Smooth upgrade from 2G to 3G in CDMA system
My Responsible: System Design and Verification

AWARDS
1998~2000 Excellence Scholarship of Shanghai JiaoTong University.
1999 “EASTCOM” Specialized Scholarship
2001 National Computer Rank Examination Grade 4 (The highest level)
2001 Excellent undergraduate student of Shanghai.
SKILL
Proficiency in programming with C, PASCAL and assemble languages
Familiar with SunOS, Unix and Windows operation system
Have a solid knowledge and work experience in Multiple Access
Mobile Communication (GSM, CDMA) and Signal Processing
Master knowledge of computer aid design and VHDL

OTHERS
GRE General: V: 690, Q: 790, AW: 670, 05/22/2002.

RECOMMENDERS
xxx, Professor of EE, email:xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxx, Professor of Applied Mathematics, email:xxxxxxxxxx
xxx, Sr. Software Engineer,  email:xxxxxxxxxxx

                                                        Personal Statement

When I was a little kid, every time I was playing video games I wondered how could it recognize different things among varies of objects and sometimes while I had been anxiously waiting for opening pictures on the website I was thinking could people make it faster? With these curiosities I began to use computer just from primary school and later when entering a college, I chose the major-image processing.

My school, Xi’an university of technology, you may never hear about it. But my department is no doubt the best one in China even in the whole Asia in the field of printing and packing. It is affiliated with Hochschnle Der Medien (HDM) in Germany and the only one offering graduate degree in printing. So the image processing in my major is mainly for printing. But I’m not so interested in printing and because that I’ve been seeking for a graduate school purely for digital image processing till I found on the website that in your ECE department there is an Image Understanding Laboratory and Prof. xxx who’s research interests just the same as mine. So I set my goal to apply for your school and try to be Prof. xxx 's student.

During my college years, traditionally speaking maybe I’m not a “good” student. My college average score is a little more than 72 on the scale of 100. But as my understanding, good student means how much knowledge he can make use of, not how high a score he can get. For example, before I learned the course DSP I was thinking about why I should learn this and what it can contribute to DIP. And later I was trying to make some programs with the knowledge learned from it. And during my try I could make some improvement on some unsatisfactory results. So every time the experiments came, I was the only one in my major could make out programs with VC++ to solve practical problems. I was only concentrated on how to demonstrate algorithm and concept on the books and convert them into programs to realize practical functions. So I hadn’t paid much time and energy on exams, even when the DIP exam coming near to me I was still indulge in research and not to drill what will be tested on papers. And later I’ve got only 61 in that course and many other students got extremely high scores just by rotting. But I’m the one only care about what I’ve done, not what I’ve scored! Looking back what I’ve made and what I’ve done. I’m satisfied. But unfortunately “poor” score means “bad” student in China. I know in US people appreciate student like me. That’s one of the main reasons why I want to pursue my graduate studies in US.

I’m the guy ever endured some frustrations. When I was a junior I was preparing for TOEFL, but unfortunately, the exam date of TOEFL (10/25/2001) was exactly the same with several of my major exams. So I had to give 4 exams up. And the next semester I had to make them up. But that term we had 10 major courses and the tough GRE exam. That time really was the nadir of my whole college life, I had to deal with that very difficult GRE exam and simultaneously cope with 10 major courses plus my 4 make-up courses. I had to pass them all, or it would be impossible for me to apply the next term. And the more pressure was people around me. Almost all students around me were looking me down upon. They thought I was a “bad” student because I’d flunked so many courses. And even some teachers were sneering at me and one time a teacher said to me publicly that at most I could pass half of my total courses. It really hurt me a lot. But I’m not the guy easily give up in front of seemingly insurmountable difficulties. I should hit back and control my own destiny! I had to show them they were wrong and I could come through all difficulties in front of me! Finally, I made it!! I’ve not only passed all of my major courses but finished some of exams with very high scores and even one course (Computer Graphics) got the highest score in our major (84/100). And most importantly I’ve finished GRE exam with absolutely high score with verbal 720(98%) and math 800(94%). I’m a winner!! Maybe later in my life I’ll face many difficulties, but compare with this, all these will be small cases. So with that experience, I could endure toughest task in graduate studies and resist any difficulties dare to challenge me!

Some guys may go to graduate school just because salary of a graduate student is a little higher than an undergraduate. But for me, my reason to enter a graduate school is not merely for a job or salary. I’m the guy only care about research. Care about what I’ve done! I come to graduate school purely and solely for my research project. I’m concerned on DIP and focus on image compression and pattern recognition.

In the field of image compression, I’m trying to make use of the methodology I’ve learned from run length encoding, Huffman encoding and arithmetic encoding into my image compression experiments. And also use the core algorithms in JPEG like DCT and prediction encoding to make image data compression. Later Prof.xx let me join her wavelet analysis class for postgraduate students and led me use WT into my image experiments. Varies of approaches and even different types of wavelet transforms could bring quite different effects of image compression. It really stunned me a lot! And I also found this research area is quite interesting. In the area of pattern recognition, in order to comprehensively make use of the knowledge I’ve learned, I’ve also tried to make some experiments in the simple process of objects based on the texture types, color types and shape types of images.

I know Prof. xxx is very strong in DIP and if I follow him I would learn a lot and create things greatly and uniquely. I’ll surely pursue PhD’s degree, not just for a degree but for a longer time to learn things and make things. Maybe after graduation I’d like to be a professor like Prof. xxx did and continue my research projects.

Now I’m in China just like a gold covered with thick clay and everyone treat me like a stone. But I’m not a stone actually, I’m a gold, you know. I believe you can appreciate me and scrub all clays on me and let this gold shining in front of the world!

I know, every year, thousands of people apply for your school and many of them are masters or even doctors. I’m just a little applicant among them. But the biggest advantage I possess is that I’m much younger than them. As in my age, they might not as excellent as me. So I surely have the potential and ability not only to finish my graduate studies but also make something impressively and greatly. I’ll show you how an “ugly little duck” turns into a “big white swan”.

                                                          RESUME
Personal Information:
Name: xx
Sex: Male
Birth: Feb  1981
Nationality: The People’s Republic of China (PRC)
Address: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Email-address: xxxxxxxxxx

Education:
Sept.1999-July.2003:
Xi’an University of Technology,
Department of Printing and Packing Engineering
Electronic Information Engineering, BS.

Research&Work Experience:
Beijing Tsinghua Novel Company 06/2001-09/2001
Software Development Department
Responsibility: Joining “Multimedia Data-Broadcasting System Project” and responsible for installing and adjusting Information Receiving Card for user-port.

Xi’an University of Technology 07/2002-07/2003
School of Automation&Information Engineering
Department of Information&Control Engineering
Digital Image Processing laboratory
Research assistant
Research on embedded zero-tree wavelet image compression
Director: Prof.xx
Paper: “a wavelet-based image compression algorithm in JPEG2000 application”

Chinese Aeronautical Radio Electronics Research Institute 07/2003-present
Job title: Assistant engineer
Past project(09/2003-06/2004): National defense department key project—No.9 battle helicopter image transmittion system.
My responsibility: System engineer of the image compression and decompression module.
What I’ve done: (Hardware) Draw out the schematics for the two module(encode and decode) with PROTEL; Made out the PCB board with POWERPCB; Write out VHDL programs into CPLD to sample out video steam and control the board.
(Software) Implement and modify the MPEG4 algorithm into Philips’ TriMedia TM1300 DSP.
Current project(06/2004-present): National defense department key project—pilotless scout aircraft image transmittion system
My responsibility: System engineer of the image compression and decompression module.
What I’m doing: (hardware) Plan to change interface to PCI and try to use PCI9054 chip on the decompression board and write the driver program by myself.
(algorithm) Plan to renew and upgrade the old algorithm and replace the old motion estimation algorithm with my own new method to enhance the scene and reduce the time legacy.

Special Experience:
Received a full scholarship(TA) from Florida International University in the year 2003 for ph.d degree study in Electrical Engineering department and focus on image registration research. But unfortunately my visa application was denied for 3 times in Shanghai(FIU gave me the full scholarship for 3 times) for the ridiculous reason—the visa officer didn’t believe I’ll come back to China when I graduate.

Standard Test:
TOEFL, 607(57/65/60),TWE: 5
GRE General Test, verbal:720(98%),math:800(94%)

Personal Status
NAME: xxx                           DATE OF BIRTH: 08.24.1979
GENDER: Male                     EMAIL: xxxxxx
MAIL ADDRESS: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx           
POSTEAL CODE: xxxxx

Education/Training
2002/09 - 2005/06 School: NanKai University
Specialty: Pattern Recognition and Intelligent System
Degree: Master
1998/09 - 2002/07 School: NanKai University
Specialty: Cybernetics
Degree: Bachelor

Skills & Specialty
1. Be accomplished in designing hardware and software system based on DSP（TI54x） from system analysis to detail realization.
2. Be good at designing hardware system based on PIC, ATMEL and 8051 series single-chip from system analysis to detail realization.
3. Be skilled in DSP, PIC, ATMEL and 8051 series programming including C and assembly language.
4. Be familiar with FPGA/CPLD (Altera) design, project analysis, debugging，be familiar with Verilog-HDL.
5. Have more than 3 years experience of multi-layer PCB design, realization and debugging, be skilled in using general designing software.
6. Be good at C++，C and windows32 programming.
7. Have some experiences on database programming.
8. Well-knit electronics, computer and cybernetics theory and rich practicality experiences including Computer Principles, Principles of Automatic Control, Analogue Circuit, TCP/IP Network, Robotics, Computer Algorithm, Digital Signal Processing, Pattern Recognition, Digital Circuits and Logical Programming and so on.
9. Be familiar with general test instrument usage.

Foreign Language
CET-6 Passed
Have a good command of professional English.

Activities and Honors
2001-2002 The Third Class Scholarship of Nankai University, Once
2002-2004 NanKai TaiYang Scholarship, Twice
1999-2000 Chairman of school table tennis club
1999-2001 Member of the college student union
1999-2002 Main force of college football team
1999-2003 Main force of table tennis champion team
2000-2002 Main force of college basketball team

Research Experience
1. Universal Digital Electric-Bicycle Controller (2002/1-2003/12)
Base on PIC16C711 Single-Chip，including battery voltage monitor circuit, current monitor circuit, PWM output control circuit and MCU software. All above buildup complete Universal direct-current motor controller system to realize Electric-Bicycle velocity adjust，battery voltage monitor，low-voltage safeguard，limited current safeguard，cruise，brake，speaker and so on。This controller has been sold in whole country market more than two years.
My Responsibilities: All above from system analysis to detail realization.
2. Bioengineering-oriented Micro-operation Robot System (2002/7-2003/1)
863 National outstanding foundations support this project. The Second Class Award of Natural Tech and Inventor.
My Responsibilities: Be in charge of updating old control program based on ATMEL Single-Chip for old version.
This robot has adopted the Universal Multi-Axis Motor Control Board in new version.
3. Robot Assistant Microsurgery System (2003/2-2004/3)
This project is supported by 863 National outstanding foundations and National Natural Science foundations. Base on DSP, FPGA/CPLD, Step Pulse Fractionizing and so on technology. Realize real-time and precise control on 20 dimensions of the Robot. Have successfully made an experiment on a rabbit. This project have been checked and accepted.
My Responsibilities: Design and realize Universal Multi-Axis Motor (Analogue & Digital) Control Board based on Ti-DSP5402 and Altera FPGA. Design and realize Master Hand Feedback Circuit. Design and realize Upper Software System based on Windows2000 OS. Realize Altera FPGA/CPLD JTAG Program Download Cable.
4. The Software System For Storage and Logistics, WuYang Co. LD., TianJin
(2004/4-2004/8)
This project is developed based on Microsoft ACCESS and SQL Language.

Hobbies
Sports, Chinese History, Military Affairs, Travel

School of Electrical Engineering & Automation
Tianjin University
Tianjin, China

Dear Sir or Madam，

I gladly recommend my student Mr. x to you for his application to your graduate school program.

I have been Mr.x class master for 3 years. Maybe his scores are not the highest in our class, but his attitude and spirit for study are really outstanding. Being an engineering student, he pays attention to overall development and widens his thought by taking part in activities. In 200x，as the lead player of our class team, Mr.x attended. Our team dropped behind in preliminary game, and it was just Mr.x’s excellent performance that brought us into the final and got the first place. His calmness and composure impressed me very much.

In 2002’s Electric Design practice, being advisor, I still remember that Mr.x failed to pass the first oral defence. Without giving up, he analysed his design carefully, found out the problems and solved them. As a result, he got a high score in the second oral defence. From this practice, I saw Mr.x’s steadyness,earnest and diligence. Meantime, he always brought forward questions and opinions, showing his passion and perceive to this field.

Mr.x is a helpful assistant. He treats research seriously and responsibly, and has scientific thought. Right because of trust in him, I arranged for him to do a part of my important project as his graduate design.

Upon my observation, Mr.x has been fully prepared to undertake a in your university in the EE fields. I am confident that with the ingenious learning ability and diligent attitude that he has shown in the courses, he will be able to perform outstandingly even in a highly vigorous program. I have no hesitation in recommending him and hope that you will consider his application favorably.

Yours Sincerely,

xxx

A brief retrospection on my previous more than 20 years, there exists several turning points. From being passionate for arts subjects to being devoted to science, from being sensitive and full of fantasies to being thoughtful and meticulous, I have been making constant choices until now I found my own way and thus would like to go straight ahead without hesitation.

Born in an ordinary Chinese family, I was brought up in a relatively relaxing living atmosphere. Although my professors are no expert in whatever academic field, they give high respects to my own opinion, which enhanced my spontaneity as well as independent thinking ability and further aroused my academic interests and potentials. In 2001, I entered Tianjing University, one of the top 5 ones in the field of engineering in China. During my four years there, I took part in various kinds of literary and artistic activities as leader of the university academy of literature, although most of the time I was involved in academic studies. Those activities served as great adjustment of my campus life and kept me in a nice and positive mood which proved to be a great help to me in learning.

My enthusiasm in English resulted first of all from the influence of my uncle. With a master degree in the field of EE, he is now in high position of an electric corporation and often gives me some detailed description of his work, which presented to me a whole new world of EE. What’s more, electronics is bound to be applied in more and more fields of human society and thus have more and more profound influences upon the production and life of us. As to the result why I chose the major of Power Electric System, it’s simply because it’s the best major of Tianjing University, which is famous for her nationwide research in electricity. What’s more, the major has something to do with my own character, that is, solid in the mastery of knowledge and considerate in thinking.

Apart from academic studies, I took part in several projects. The first one is to design a generator that can produce various wave forms such as triangular wave, sawtooth wave, square wave as well as sine wave. Through the whole process, I got to know the basic structure of various devices as well as fundamental theories and methods of integrated operating amplifier. What’s more, I became quite experienced in circulating and debugging circuits and thus could find out and work out whatever problem in this process.

In August and September of 2004, I participated in the electrical design of a fossil-fuel power plant, which was mainly concerned with the design of main electrical scheme and high voltage connection, the computation of short circuit current, the selection of major electric fixtures as well as the drawing of the diagram of main electrical scheme. This research experience exposed for the first time to me the operational principles and the flow of work of a fossil-fuel power plant and, more importantly, provided me with the chance to command the characteristics and methods of electrical design. And last but not the least, I joined in the programming of electrified wire netting construction, which is also the content of my diploma design. Based of the analysis into the transformer substations, transformers as well as the circuits of the city electrified wire netting, we set up the integrated and long-range aims: in the near future, to analyze the principles of the growth of load and to deal with the weak links of electrified wire netting; in the metaphase and the future, to optimize the structure of the netting as well as the network topology.

However, as I delved into this field, I found that what I have learnt as an undergraduate is only concerned with the surface of this subject and to go further into this field, I need to integrate study with practical research work, which is the main task of postgraduate education. The most direct reason why I apply for the Master’s program of XXX University is that I can do some in-depth studies and research in a much better academic and research environment so that I can lay a solid foundation for my future research and career development. XXX University is reputed for its strong faculty and its unparalleled professional level. In particular, the possibility that I might join the correspondent research group to undertake both thorough theoretical studies and extensive research practices becomes the most essential reason for me to choose your esteemed university as my first priority. In my future studies, I would like to make the design of electrical system as the specific area to focus on in my specialty, mainly because I am very interested in this field. In addition, well-trained people with talents in electrical system design are sorely demanded in China where I see the best opportunity for my career development, that is to work in a MNC where I can take advantage of my linguistic talent and specialty to the most extent.