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Receiving the full PhD offer from the United States is the most glorious moment in my life of more than 20 years.

If someone had told me ten years ago that I could go to the United States to study for a Ph.D., I would have regarded it as a joke. Coming from a rural area, I was thankful to be able to go to college.

In the first few years of college, I spent aimlessly finishing classes, studying on my own, and playing games. It wasn’t until my junior year that I suddenly realized that I had a bright moment later.

When I was a freshman, my ideal was to be admitted to the graduate school of my university. However, during my sophomore year, I received full doctoral scholarships from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and faced the worry of choosing happiness.

In my sophomore year, I asked my college classmates what ‘TOEFL’ meant, but in my first year of graduate school, I was pushed to talk about how to get high scores in the TOEFL GRE.

Everyone around said it was a miracle. Coming from a commoner background and with an ordinary background, many people who are better than me have failed to achieve this.

Others asked me for advice, but in fact I just did the following things right: build belief, become familiar with the routine, find the right method, persevere, and add a little luck.

As for studying abroad with full scholarship, my biggest belief is that it is really not difficult, it just requires some persistence.

After all, people like me from ordinary backgrounds can get it, why don’t you give it a try.

Before telling personal experiences, this issue must be discussed first, because it directly determines how an individual spends the best four or five years, and will also affect the fate of an individual's life.

When you graduate from college or master's degree, you are usually faced with several choices: working, civil servants, studying for a Ph.D., or going abroad.

All options have distinct advantages and disadvantages. There is no best choice or worst choice, only the most suitable choice. Take studying abroad for a Ph.D. as an example.

The advantage is that you will have time to visit other countries, follow international experts to enhance your horizons, engage in cutting-edge science, and gain widespread recognition for your future career development.

The disadvantages are obvious. You will lose the best years to make money, miss the opportunity to buy a car when housing prices are skyrocketing, and may also give up your lover and ruin your body.

What you need to do is to evaluate whether the cost and future benefits are acceptable.

Of course, the process of history must also be considered. Generally speaking, those who went abroad to study for Ph.D.s between 1995 and 2005 are better off than their college classmates, while those who went abroad to study for Ph.D.s between 2005 and 2015 are worse off than their classmates.

Everyone can probably guess the reason: housing prices.

Therefore, studying abroad for a Ph.D. is a huge gamble. It will not guarantee you a maximum income, it will only increase your minimum income.

As for why I chose to study abroad, firstly, I was deeply poisoned by my interests and feelings, and secondly, I had a guaranteed job and wanted to work hard.

When I was preparing to apply for a scholarship to study abroad, my classmates, teachers and even my family were not optimistic about it.

My background is really average.

A 985 university ranked 25-30, engineering major, undergraduate GPA 3.74, TOEFL 97, GRE323+3, an EI journal article. It takes three years from preparing to go abroad to getting the offer, from senior year to second year of graduate school.

My grades, English, and scientific research are all not outstanding. My friend who is preparing to go abroad with me said bluntly: You should have the worst background among the people who got offers in our school this year.

Yes, I have the worst background, but I got the best scholarship. And this started during the summer vacation at the end of my junior year.

For those who want to study abroad, the junior year of college is basically over, and I have just learned that studying abroad is an option.

On the train at the end of the summer vacation that year, I met a student from Shandong University who had just completed English training at New Oriental.

His two sentences are still fresh in my memory.

‘Don’t let the college entrance examination become the highest point of your life. ’ ‘There are so many people going abroad, why not me. ’

A seed was planted. During my senior year as a graduate student, I had a lot of time to waste, so I and my roommate decided to do something to prevent time from slipping away easily. Let's take the English test together, he suggested.

At first, I had no clear goal of going abroad. I just wanted to learn English well first. I took the GRE in the second semester of my senior year and scored 323. My confidence was overwhelming. This was the first step I took.

The next step is logical: take classes for the first year of graduate school, take the TOEFL test, do experiments, and write a thesis; study for the second set of magnetic professors and submit application materials; then get the offer and apply for a master's degree defense in advance.

Although it was two years later than the average person, I still burst into tears when I received the offer: If you want to succeed, it is never too late to work hard, because

For a tree, the best time was five years ago, and the second best time was now.

During the time when I was preparing to study abroad, for the first time I felt the huge difference brought about by family conditions.

As a student from an ordinary rural family, I have done my best to pay for tuition and living expenses.

In addition to money, the shortage of choice horizons, information channels, and opportunity costs is even more fatal.

When I was a sophomore, I didn’t even know what TOEFL meant; the female top student in my class had already participated in New Oriental training several times.

As a recognized bad student in the college, I could rely on my family to prepare 1 million to study at Carnegie Mellon at my own expense during my senior year; but it was even difficult for me to spare the money to take the TOEFL GRE exam.

Even contacting professors is very different. When I sent an email pleading for an interview opportunity, my junior student flew directly to the United States for an interview, and the tutor was also a classmate of my parents.

But I still succeeded in getting the reward I wanted.

I can prepare for TOEFL GRE by myself. If I don’t have money, I can seek scholarships or part-time jobs. If I choose a tutor and contact more, my chances will be higher.

In this era, studying abroad is nothing new, but there are still only a few who can get full scholarships (including the CSC from the China Scholarship Council).

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education in 2016, there were 550,000 people studying abroad nationwide. About 20,000 of them received scholarships that covered their tuition fees, and less than 10,000 of them received full scholarships that covered their living expenses.

Is it difficult to study abroad on scholarship? In terms of proportion, only 20,000 people can get scholarships out of 550,000, which is not a high proportion.

But looking at my academic background, I can tell you clearly that it is easy to study abroad for at least a Ph.D. with a full scholarship. Most people want to do it but don't do it, just because they are afraid and don't even have the courage to try.

To succeed, you first need to take the first step.

For me, the hardest step was English. As a poor student who only scored 480 points in CET-6, TOEFL and GRE are two big mountains that stand in front of me.

The first step I took was quite accidental.

Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental, came to our school to give a speech. He said that both he and Yang Yuanqing had passed the TOEFL and GRE exams, but they were both successful now. Why, because TOEFL and GRE sharpened their perseverance.

My blood is surging. Then, together with my roommates, I started to prepare English. Memorize vocabulary words, do real test questions, and practice listening. After two months, I found that it is not that difficult (I will write a separate article later on how to prepare English for studying abroad).

I scored 323 on the GRE in the second semester of my senior year, which greatly enhanced my self-confidence. I seemed to see American universities waving to me.

The biggest fear was erased so easily.

Many people who have the idea of ??going abroad have failed in preparing to study English abroad, including those who are very good, because of the fear of the unknown. In fact, what they fear is nothing more than fear itself.

There were dozens of people in college who mentioned the idea of ??going abroad to me, and there were eight or nine people who prepared together, but only three people got the offer in the end.

This makes those who have not succeeded envy me. Many people did not expect that I did it.

The most regretful thing is our undergraduate monitor, Brother Lu.

Brother Lu is good at studying, handsome and eloquent. When they were running for class president at the end of their freshman year’s military training, most people came on stage and just jokingly said, “Pick me,” or simply introduced themselves.

Brother Lu took the stage and delivered a long speech. Finally, he ended his campaign with Hillary Clinton’s famous quote (English version): “For myself and the people around me, the best way is to move forward bravely.” It made us young people stunned.

TOEFL108, GRE320, GPA3.9, his background is enough to apply to the top 10 universities.

But after finding a job, he gave up.

Brother Lu met me one day and said, "Struggle requires a lot of energy, but decadence only lasts a moment."

Yes, I feel the same way.

Suffered too many setbacks. I only scored 92 on the TOEFL test for the first time, my scientific research paper was rejected twice in a row, and I have never heard from my foreign professor. Because of these things, I thought about giving up countless times.

Facing too many temptations. A good job was beckoning to me, my supervisor advised me to study for his doctorate, and everyone around me was playing happy games. In these moments I indulged myself for a long time.

I have endured too much criticism. My tutor said that my spoken English was not good and I could not communicate with my foreign supervisors. My classmates said that as more and more foreigners came to study, I might not have a bright future. My family said that I had a good job and why should I mess around with it? People around me didn’t understand, and I was deeply hurt.

In those hesitant moments, I would always ask myself, do you still want to continue? Luckily, the answer is ‘yes’ every time.

Only after persevering did I realize that going abroad with a full scholarship is the same as other things. It is no more difficult than finding a good job, getting good grades, and publishing good articles.

If there is a difference, it is that it takes longer to persist.

In this article, I did not talk about the specific operation method. Next, I will continue to share the actual application experience.

The initial plan is to introduce them in information, English and operation chapters respectively, mainly including obtaining study abroad information, English and document preparation, and specific application steps. I hope that I will provide study abroad documents, English materials, application letters, Interview experience never goes out of style.

In fact, firm belief is more important than specific application experience. You can find test preparation materials online, you can find someone to correct your study abroad documents, and you can practice your interview performance. However, without firm belief and perseverance, all methods are useless.

The biggest advantage of young people is time. Remember that all future experiences will be useful to your life. Young people should have the courage to try. Let me end with what Nine Knives said,

If you risk nothing, you risk anything. If you dare not take risks, your life will be full of risks.

Ph.D. scholarships at American universities are divided into FELLOWSHIP, RA/TA, and Waive Tuition.

Waive Tuition is a tuition fee exemption, which is easy to obtain. The most advanced Waive Tuition waives all tuition fees, which can be called a half scholarship.

RA/TA is a scientific research/teaching assistant. Doctoral students receive remuneration to cover living expenses by undertaking scientific research and teaching tasks. RA/TA automatically exempts all tuition fees. However, the contract is signed once a year, the working hours are fixed, and the remuneration is tax-deductible.

FELLOWSHIP is the highest-end scholarship. You can get it all without having to work, and the amount is the largest. The total salary I received was 59,100, which after deducting tuition and insurance was 25,000 dollars per year.

RA/TA and FELLOWSHIP are all full prizes, and basic life needs can be satisfied. Although FELLOWSHIP is relatively difficult to obtain (proportion is 1%), TA/RA is relatively easy.

If that doesn’t work, you can also get a Waive Tuition and apply for a living subsidy from the China Scholarship Council (CSC). CSC has approximately 3,000 doctoral quotas every year, and it is very easy to apply. Among the students, no less than 20 students have gone to CSC to study for a Ph.D. abroad.

How to apply, I will give you a detailed introduction in the practical part later.

"For $60,000 a year, how to apply for a fully awarded doctorate in the United States - English"

"For $60,000 a year, how to apply for a fully awarded doctorate in the United States - Information"

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"Sixty thousand dollars a year, how to apply for a full-award doctorate in the United States - Operations"

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