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Scholarship, TA and RA
I’ve received many email asking about advice on scholarship searching, such as what kind of scholarship is suitable for international students, what can I do to increase my chance and etc. So in this blog entry, I will focus mainly on the scholarship finding strategy in UM.
But first of all, I have to tell you all that I don’t have any kind of scholarship from UM. Yes, you are right, I do NOT. So my suggestion is based on my own experience during my scholarship search and my friends’ experience.
What scholarship is suitable for international students?
There are many kinds of scholarships available within SI and UM. I mentioned different website in my previous blog that you can check it out. For international students, the International Center website is really helpful! (http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/iisite/fundops.html) You can check available funding based on the country you are from.
http://www.fastweb.com/ is another useful website for possible scholarship for all students in the United States. However, you need to compete with other students in the States rather than students in UM or even SI only. Usually, you need to hand in a statement and/or reference letter in order to apply for the scholarship there. By using advanced search function in the website, you can narrow down the scope of scholarship that you may be eligible for.
Advice on scholarship, TA and RA application
Start as early as you could. Many scholarships are on rolling basis and you do want to apply as early as you could, so-called “first move advantage” in game theory: P In addition, you could have much more time to prepare your material since you start early.
Read carefully the requirement of the statement if it is required, whether you are applying for a scholarship, a TA or RA. Try your best to describe what they want to see in your statement by matching key concept in the requirement. By this way, you can practice your writing, too. ^_^
Keep a good relationship with the faculty. Generally, you’ll need reference from faculty during the application. Keeping a good relationship with the faculty helps a lot on this. I do NOT mean that you have to bribe your professor or anything. But you do want to let the professor know you better by either talk to them regularly or do a good job in class.
Never give up easily. A friend of mine was originally rejected by the department of a TA position at the beginning of the process. But she kept emailing them about status and updates and expressed her interest on the position. Guess what? Another student finally decided not to accept the position, and the department eventually gave it to her!
Next time I will talk about the strategy on PT job searching.
Posted by chanwei at March 14, 2007 10:44 PM
