Higher Education in the United States

1. Higher Education in the United States Seminar „Höhere Bildungssysteme im internationalen Vergleich“ 2009/2010 Andre Gaschler December 14, 2009

2. Scope of this seminar • What’s different in the US? • How do you apply for a US university? • How do you become a research intern? • How was it in Baltimore, MD?

3. Basic facts • Kindergarten (1 yr) • Primary school, elementary (5 yrs) • Secondary school (4 yrs) • High school (3 yrs) • Undergraduate school (3—4 yrs) • Graduate school (Master’s 2 yrs, PhD 5 yrs) • For more information, refer to Piotr’s presentation http://www-db.in.tum.de/teaching/ws0809/hsufg/usa/higher_education_us/

4. American culture in education • Diversity • Highly decentralized and diversified education system • Great number of international students and immigrants • Competitiveness • Competitive application process • Financing tuition is one’s own responsibility • Competing with others is encouraged

5. Application Process 1—2 yrs ahead • Decide on appropriate programs together with guidance counselor and professors • Practice for tests • Take admission tests (SAT, GRE) • Draft statement of purpose and essays • Letters of recommendation • Transcripts • Rewrite statement of purpose • Submit application 9 months 6 months 2 months 1 month before application deadline

6. © PhD Comics http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=53

7. Standardized tests • GPA varies widely, standardized tests give easily comparable scores • Standardized tests have got an unusual but fixed structure • Preparation is crucial and substantially improves scores • Pacing is important • SAT: general test for undergraduate admissions • GRE: requirement for many graduate schools

8. Letters of recommendation • Particularly important for competitive grad schools • Timing and preparation is important • The writer should be willing to • State that the student is perfectly qualified • Stress the student’s qualifications not visible in grades and scores (with example/evidence) • Write a very personal recommendation (not a template) • Letters of recommendation are more boastful and exaggerating than in Germany See book: Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher

9. Statement of purpose • Most important part of the application • Give evidence that you qualify for the program of study • Tell personal stories of success • Address the specific program and why you chose it • Double check spelling, wording and grammar with somebody else See book: Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher

10. Scholarships and Tuition • Tuition is among the highest in the world • Undergraduates: $5,000--$10,000 a year • Graduates: $15,000--$50,000 • Many students get discounts • Getting into debt is common (student loan) • Scholarships are widely available • Prestigious private scholarships (Rhodes, Marshall) • Research grants for PhD students (NSF) • Scholarships by the school or local authorities

11. Alternative ways into a US academia • Official exchange programs • TUMexchange • DAAD • Fulbright • … • Research internship • Interning at a private research institution (such as IBM, GE, …) • Visiting student, visiting scholar • Conducting experiments • Writing a thesis

12. Finding “host” professors • Ways how to find a host • Ask your adviser for recommendations • Ask for joint master’s thesis topics • Approach guest lecturers (i.e. after their talk) • How to contact hosts • Google people before talking/writing to them, address their particular interests • Tell them what you want and what you can offer • State that you are willing to work/program/running experiments, sell yourself

13. Personal experience Visiting student at JHU Computational Interaction and Robotics Lab

14. Baltimore, MD

15. Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Gilham Hall on Homewood Campus

16. Johns Hopkins University • Private university in Baltimore, MD • Medical school is among the best of the world (ranked #1 by NIH) • High level of research activity, even undergrads can volunteer in research projects • Student life is focuses on campus • University strongly supports sports, clubs and student life

17. Computer Science at JHU Computational Science and Engineering Building

18. CISST Lab

19. Lab Social

20. Experience as a visiting student • Settling down takes time (couple of weeks) • Lab mates are very friendly and helpful • Easy to make friends on campus • Labs are full of visiting students, I was not the only one • I met hardly any European students • Professors have got open doors • Got much less work done than planned

21. Further references • Guidelines • www.daad.de • Book: Graduate Admissions Essays • Book: DAAD-Studienführer USA • Book: Cracking the GRE 2010 • Scholarships for Germans staying abroad • Deutscher akademischer Auslandsdienstwww.daad.de • Max-Weber-Programm http://www.elitenetzwerk.bayern.de/12.0.html • Fulbright Scholar Programhttp://fulbright.state.gov/

22. Current position: Research Intern at JHU • Chair of Robotics and Embedded Systems (Prof. A. Knoll) maintains an exchange with CISST Lab at JHU • You can take part at computer vision and medical robotics projects, have a look at http://cirl.lcsr.jhu.edu/Research

23. Current position: Research Intern at JHU • You are expected to be a very good CS student and able to solve problems on your own. • Do not hesitate to contact Prof. Knoll knoll@in.tum.de, just give a rough outline of the progress with your studies and your motivation. • Your stay abroad should be at least 3 months. You can start a master’s thesis or a paper abroad and finish it here.

24. Questions? Comments?