关于GRE、GPA、TOEFL的重要性
I have a Chinese friend who is going to apply in USA, he is studying CS.
As an experienced professor, would you help me to help him answer several questions about how you pick your gradate students from China?
For example, when you pick your students, which capability is most important thing that your are favor of? Do you think GPA is important? Do you think GRE and TOEFL scores are important? Do you think the rank of the Chinese University where th student is from is important? Do you think you'd rather pick students who has several years of working experiences or fresh granduated students?
Thanks you so much for your help! I really appreciate your time!
Thanks for asking my opinion.
GPA (as long as is in upper rank), GRE and TOEFL are not important. They just measured the abilities of students but not necessary their capabilities.
BTW, Since GRE score are so high for most Chinese apllicants, most of us just ignore them.
For our applied research programs like ours, work experience is definitelt an advantage. Critical thinking and independence are traits for successful PhD students.
For CS, I believe critical thinking is very important since many of their reseach work is abstract.
Best Regards.
UT-Austin中国教授关于PhD申请的访谈
Q：根据您在 UT-Austin 和 UK 的经历，PhD 申请中最重要的因素有哪些？如何成功申PhD？ 美国 PhD 委员会处理申请过程是什么？
A：最主要的是需要让教授知道你，并且知道你的优点，对他/她有价值。成功的因素主要有三个，任意一个即可：
- 高GPA
- 不错的研究成果
- 教授的熟人强烈推荐
处理申请主要有两种方法，在非常顶尖的学校，比如CMU和UT，所有的教授都会参与对申请者的打分，只有大家都认为不错的人才能被录取。另一种是完全由教授决定，但前提是教授手里要有资金。但是不过哪种方法，申请之前去套磁都是必要的。
Q：导师的选择有没有注意点，教授或者助理教授、亚裔或者白人？
A：教授的水平和人品跟他的种族以及级别基本没有关系。很多国内的说法流行说白人的资深教授好，但是我见过无数坑爹的白人资深教授。反而是不少中国的年轻教授比较能对中国学生因材施教，也了解他们的想法。比如仲盛老师和刘向阳老师，他们在美国的时候都是华人ap，但是培养学生都非常的出色，前程也很好。多了解一个教授是很重要的，可以通过各种途径，比如找学长问。
Q：出国做科研需要英语很好、GRE托福很高？
A：错，英语可能是国外的教授最不看重的一个能力。我在香港的导师倪明选教授（现澳门大学副校长）说过：“英语可以提高，人品没法提高。”我的博士导师林善成教授（美国工程院院士）也说他从来不看GRE的成绩。
Q：出国做科研只有在顶尖学校才会做好？
A：错，现在CS领域大把大把的一流科研出现在美国50名之后甚至100名之后的学校。只要努力，谁都能做出一流的科研。
对于喜爱科研的同学来说，出国留学远比考研容易且性价比高。我的第一个博士生便是考研落榜生，花了一年准备考研没上，又花了一个月便考完托福GRE来了我这里。在我组里还没到两年就发表了两篇一流会议的文章，另外有两篇在投，名声在外被IBM研究院和爱立信研究院邀请去暑假实习。我的另一个博士生，在原来学校读研的时候不顺利自己退学，到了我组里两年不到也发表了两篇一流会议文章。出去开会的时候，很多同行羡慕我找到这么出色的学生，我其实想说如果他们国内考研考上了或者读研顺利，那我就没戏了。不知道没考上是幸运还是不幸。
Q：在 UT-Austin 读 CS PhD 是一种怎样的体验？
A：没啥特殊体验，就是每天来办公室做几个小时。大家不要把phd和做研究想得太神秘，
我前两年隔壁办公室的图灵奖得主Emerson教授就是一个普通老爷爷，每天都是迷迷糊糊的，拖着布鞋，拿着可乐。
Q：成功取得 PhD 学位的关键因素是什么 （譬如能力、热爱、坚持）？
A：基本的能力其实大家都具备。就是坚持最重要了。
Q：计算机网络和分布式系统等研究方向的 PhD毕业以后在学术界和工业界就业去向如何
？
A：网络在学术界的就业不是最热门，但也还可以。在工业界一直是就业热门，网络的phd从来都是所向披靡，offer拿到手软。分布式系统在学术界和工业界都是热点，尤其结合了大数据以后。
Q：PhD 相比于 MS 毕业工作三四年来说，有哪些优势？
A：对于工业界的工作来说，phd最大的优势是有完备的发现问题-解决问题-报告成果这一系列的训练，如果单纯看工资，可能phd和ms毕业三四年差不多，但是phd可以担当公司的研究员，而ms大部分是程序员，能接触核心技术的非phd，你在公司需要作出的努力也早就够你拿个phd了。另外像Google这样phd建立的公司，非常喜欢phd。
宾大小秘关于GT权重的回复
询问信：
Dear Sir,
I have ever heard that the secretary of graduate school will first shift some application materials according to applicants\' GRE, TOEFL scores and GPA. Then the graduate committee make decisions according to the shifted materials. Is that true for seas@uUpenn? My GRE score is not competitive, V: 150, Q: 170, AW:3. But I have some publications publicated on important and famous international journals.
I have taken TOELF exam, and I am not sure whether my TOEFL is above 100 or not.
But seas@Upenn is my dream school. How I wish I could persue the doctoral program in seas@Upenn. Would you please tell me if my TOEFL is not above 100, do I still get chance to be addmitted by seas@Upenn?
Sincerely.
小秘回复：
Your description of the admissions process is roughly accurate, althoughit better describes the MSE process.
It is _possible_ to gain admission even with a low TOEFL, GRE-Verbal, etc (the GRE-Verbal isn't terribly important) - none of these are immediate summary disqualifiers. The most important things are academic/research ability, trancripts, the schools you've attended – of course papers published in international journals are very significant.
同校学生比较
上次和一个Professor聊天，正好聊到申请了。当时他正笑呵呵的警告我以后不许和他的那个清华的学生讲中文，然后就聊到GRE了。
他说中国学生的GRE太高了，他反正不管。我马上问他Care什么，他说一般他都先让RICHARD（我们系的男小秘）把几个学校的学生档案拿过来，我马上说大概能看出区别吗？他说，能呀，很多都是一个系的，直接比较分数就可以了。
UMich教授：GPA低，教授都不好意思提名
我现在的导师正好刚在Umich做过一年多的访问学者，而且就是在那里ME系里的Graduate Chair手下做的，又都是中国人所以和他很熟。所以我申请的时候就把Umich做为了我的一个重点学校准备：申请材料精心填写、交申请费、给TG正式成绩。
材料寄出后又请老板亲自给对方写了一封Email拜托对方多多关照。Email发出后一直没有回音，好心的老板又写了一封也一直没有回音。让我很是沮丧，老板也不好意思再问了。就这样在日日夜夜的企盼中等来了Umich的据信，顿时很受打击，一看信的落款就是那个家伙。心里想这个人真是不够意思，太望旧了。事情就这么过去了。五月份我老板又要去美国访问半个多月，而且要途径Umich，于是我跟老板说了一下，要他碰见那个人的时候顺便帮我问一下我被据的原因。收到了这么多的据信，没有一封信写得比较实在，都是一些套话，根本就没有告诉你被据的具体原因。老板也欣然答应了。
今天老板从美国回来了，我碰见他的第一件事情就是问他帮我询问的结果。老板说：我在Umich见了他两面，也谈到你的问题。我给他写的信他都看到了于是特别留意了一下你的材料，可是发现你的GPA特别低，而且Umich的竞争也特别激烈，不太好意思给committee提名。如果你的GPA再高一点的话，提名然后给找个奖什么的并不太难。所以一直没好意思给我回信。
就这么我的一个最大的希望就破灭了。现在回想起来人家说得话也是实话，大三、大四的时候忙着考G，一直没怎么好好上过课，作业都是copy的，考试的时候随便混过去的，都是系里的老师也没有为难，给的分数都及格了。所以算GPA的时候低得让我吃惊，算完后告诉了当时飞跃的版主Levis寻求一些安慰，又被他给打击了一下，说确实低了一些。估计其他的学校据的最主要的原因也是因为这个问题。当时没有认识到GPA的重要性，现在后悔也晚了。
研究潜力最为重要
I think the most important thing during your application process is to show your research POTENTIAL as much as possible. Your T&G scores needn't to be very high. Neither is your GPA. In general, the scores are not so important for the first class schools than for the less famous schools. However, you do need to get a minimum score, eg. T≥100 G≥300 and the GPA is not too low.
You should contact with your interested professor as early as possible to get your application results as soon as possible. As for the application fees, you can neglect it completely. If a department really want to recruit you, it will pay for you in some cases.
耶鲁教授看美国研究生招生
角色的不同造成相异的视野与角度，所谓“横看成岭侧成峰，远近高低各不同”，同样的峰 山石，竟有不同的面貌。我想从一个年轻教师的角度，报告一下教授对研究生如何评鉴，有怎样期许。
我任教的耶鲁大学地质与地球物理学系每年收到一百到一百八十份入学申请，从中选取十至十五人发出入学许可。我们审查委员会首先根据学生的学业成绩、修习科目、推荐信、个人陈述、GRE、TOEFL 分数、研究成果（学、硕士论文）等将学生分成上、中、下三等，提报教授会议，教授们就个人的专业范畴对个别的学生可以更改评鉴的级别或从中等“解救”到上等，或从上等降级；然後再把上等生根据其研究兴趣分到本系的四个学术分科里去，再逐一讨论，评定名次，各组的前四人列入“够格”的候选名单，这是第一阶段。
这第一阶段的选拔根据一些比较硬性的标准，譬如说外籍学生 TOEFL 在100分以下不予考虑、基本学科训练不足者剔除、中国学生GRE数学在95%以下，阅读145分以下出局。
第二阶段则考虑到一些实际性的因素，譬如说甲教授指导学生人数已经太多，不堪重负，即使有很好的学生也只好割爱；又如TA的搭配，能说流利英语的学生受到重点照顾，例如，乙教授有重大研究计划，经费设备一应俱全，只欠学生，则有这方面研究经验或兴趣的学生可得到赏识。因此第二阶段中，“人治”的因素大增，个别教授的举荐与偏爱往往能使排名在后的优等生破格中选。
总结来说，基本的成绩首先要够一定水准，然後个别的研究兴趣与经验，及教授的研究经费及学生结构等综合的考虑，则成为最后决定因素。
一般而言，有研究经验及文章发表的学生往往能在最後一关脱颖而出。我们收的中国籍（大陆、台湾）学生通常在国内多半已有硕士学位或已是研究生，多数并有文章发表，若是本科毕业生则必然是全A学生，TOEFL和GRE成绩领袖群伦者。中国学生的推荐信往往千篇一律，好话连篇，而写信的教授素不相识，因此推荐信的推荐份量往往不如美国学生。此时，学生本人的个人陈述变得非常重要，成为我们认识学生的智慧、文笔、情操、兴趣、动机的主要根据。
我们认为，事在人为。聪明能干、自动自发的学生是我们的最爱。一方面，这样的学生能自已开创，创造形势，化不可能为可能，成为有原创力的研究伙伴，自行整合校园乃至校外的研究资源，开发研究经费及课题；另方面，这样的学生能青出于蓝而胜于蓝；在学期间老师有教学相长的收获；毕业以后，光照学界，老师亦与有荣焉。
伯克利教授谈GT、Paper及套磁的作用
Dear Micheal,
I read your statement again during the weekend. It is clearly that there is a cultural difference here. In the US, the criteria to admit a student primarily rests on merits (connection may count in some private elitist schools where that the parents being an alumni will or a big contributor add points). Especially in public university, the admission process is very transparent and conducted in a committee. When I was at Berkeley, I ran for one of the two student representatives to the doctoral admission committee.I read admission files with my other 5 faculty members. During the three rounds of discussion, I had one vote just like each of my professors. We admitted the students purely based on merits. There was a separately financial support committee composing with faculty and students who do not need financial aids (for fear of conflict of interests).
We developed a table by GRE, TOFEL, SAT and GPA. It is easy to screen off about 70% of the applicants who were obviously unqualified -- low scores, lack of supporting documents, incomplete forms, major errors, missing deadlines, etc. Then we divided the remaining 30% into three groups -- must accept (students we love to get when they may go to other better schools), should accept (those who are good enough), and the marginal case (usually we put them on waiting list). Doctoral admission also relies on another important factor -- whether there is a professor in the department who has common research interest to take care of the applicant for the next 5 years. This is not very important for a master applicant because most master programs are fairly standardized.
So, with a reasonably good TOFEL and GRE score, how can you market yourself better? Your academic training, your academic interest, your future career or scholastic plan, and your dedication are the stuff the admission committee will examine. Letters of reference are very important but you don't have that advantage because unless you are applying to a school where your professor at *** graduated (or your professor is known in the field worldwide); otherwise, these letters from China (sometimes with translation) will not help too much. Of course, you must make sure none of these letters hurt you. Then what makes you different from other applicants and deserving a fellowship?
Some work sample, prior studies, project reports will give the committee a chance to gauge your level of competence. So only send stuff that is good -- it is tough because of the translation requirement.
Life is full of constraints and opportunities. So you try your best and hope of the best. When opportunities present to you, seize them. Your score is good enough to get to most schools (don't worry about the verbal part of the GRE -- which you are very good as a non-English speaker and your TOFEL is OK because it is above 100. You will be accepted by some schools but then what?
You have several options:
- Get to the cheapest and most affordable place that accepts you -- it may be in a remote, isolated place. But if you are lucky, you study a subject you like in a program that is solid.
- Get to a good university but financially you are bit vulnerable -- you may be in the field you like or not.
Here good university means the fame of the whole university -- not the standardof the department. You should do some research about the reputation by department in the fields you applied for. The fame of the whole university is more relevant for undergraduates. For graduate
school, the department's reputation counts more because of the network of professors in that field. For example, computer science at Penn is lousy but its MBA is the best in the world (better than Harvard and Yale). Also my previous university FIU is lousy but its hopitality/sea cruise program is one of the best two in the country (the other one in Las Vegas). It is about the niche.
All this related back to your goals. It seems to me that you just want to study in the US regardless interest. If you show such desperation in your application, it may raise a red flag. Committees want to accept good students in terms of academic potential. So try your best to hide that motivation. Since it is a practical concern to you, you may like to go for option a. as defined above.
Use the 2 years as a time to get adjusted, obtain a very high GPA, complete one or two excellent term papers. You should know the niche of graduate schools in your field, so you may consider transfer in the second year, or get another master degrees or a doctoral. Also develop your connection and identify your true academic interest in those two years. Make sure that when you applied for Ph.D. or for a job, you have 2 to 3 American professors who are fully supportive.
Given your ability, you would like the US because this is a place that appreciates handwork and individual merit. It is a country full of opportunities. Guanxi helps but not a factor that limits you. However, you must be very independent and always lonely in mastering your future and taking your responsibilities.
Another matter is about the long-term career future. Computer, IT & biotech will be the future of the world just like electricity, telephone, telegram around the turn of the 20th century. Despite the setback of the high-tech industries (dot.com, etc.) in the past 10 months, these fields have lot of future.
However what I saw in the past decade was that most Asian students came and stayed in engineering and then computer; then make a good living. Few of them were entrepreneurial enough to have their own companies. Most of them lived in an isolated social and cultural setting that they did not fully integrate into the US mainstream. The main reason is that they lack the language skill, so they could not get to marketing or key positions which \ require bargaining, negotiation, and management skill -- all in English.
It is clear that when they were studying here, they did not use English. They found a place to excel in their technical and mathematical expressions. This specialization hurts them in the long-term, so some of them returned to Taiwan and Korea. Some try to work in import and export trade between Asian and the US. Some worked for Dell, I BM, Microsoft but worked in China. I just let you know you can choose if you prepare yourselves early enough. It is up to you to pick the best path for you.You will be on your own most time but I am happy to discuss with you if I have less time pressure.
Take care and good luck!
【注：作者据称系一华人教授，有人说是伯克利的，但也有将该信标为宾夕法尼亚大学的，实情不详，有伪造嫌疑，但其观点依然有一定的参考意义】
UMN物理教授答学生问
明尼苏达大学双城分校物理系教授Yushi面试中答学生问：
每个教授的评审方法不同，有的非常看重GPA，有的看重Paper，有的看中GRE，不过Yushi的标准是Paper不重要，因为他不太信任这边的Paper含金量，不过有总归是好的，GRE也没用。因为他说这个不能反映什么东西，是最后考虑的问题。所以他很无奈的选择GPA作为标准，至于什么推荐信之类的也就根本没什么作用了，除非有什么特殊的关系之类。
我问他你面了这么多学生，那个学校的学生你最感兴趣，他说他在北京最感兴趣的是一个南开的学生，然后说科大每年多有海量的申请者，而且会录取很多，不过他最近几年陆续招了很多复旦南大的学生感觉质量很不错，所以他们在考虑给复旦南大更多的机会，今后几年录取这两个学校的学生会增加的。
透露出的信息点：1）GRE不重要；2）国内学校很重要
斯坦福教授：Paper未必很重要
其实也算不上面试，正好套的教授来中国，他在committee，就顺便见面聊了半个小时，我申的就是他的组（斯坦福的）。他告诉我，斯坦福的committee把每个申请者的GPA、GT和推荐信按照某种加权的算法rank所有的申请者，（他们没有cutoff，即使你的GT没有达到minimum)
对中国学生，一般只录取前5%美国学生大概50%+。这里面的一个问题是如果你的research非常出色，有很牛的paper，如果不在推荐信中强烈体现的话，基本上作用不大。
而大家网申填的publications和寄过去的CV，基本上committee不看。一般Research所起的作用是：在两个申请者的ranking不相上下的时候，如果你在Research上很有建树，那么就是你了！
而且由于assistantship基本上是系里的经费，所以委员会决定的事情。教授想更改非常困难，即使你们之间非常铁，他也很难帮上忙。而且由于rank是量化的，很难出现某个很有权威的教授，说想要谁，委员会就会妥协的情形。
听完真的想当郁闷,大家平时都喊着牛paper是多么的重要，research多么重要，对于这种committee的牛校，如果GPA和GT不highlight,基本仍然等于没戏。即使你又再多的paper，再牛的paper（当然牛到Science/Nature量级的也许会有质变）
最后Professor只能和我说“I can help you, but the help needs a reasonable ranking.”
当时牺牲了那么多的时间，搞科研，出paper，甚至牺牲了一些课程的Grade，现在看来也许未必是对的选择啊。【该学生系清华大学学生】
MIT & CMU CS教授谈招生
去年曾经听过MIT的CSAIL的co-director Prof. Zue还有CMU的计算机系主任Prof. Wing的讲座。他们都讲了他们是如何选择申请者的。当时我各写了一篇blog，现在我把里面关于申请的这一段贴出来吧，看看最牛的学校是怎么选择申请者的。
Prof. Zue:
我们也很难挑选这些申请者——想来也是，从1600人里挑40人，敢来申请的有多少不是牛人的。我们主要看的是三项：
1. 成绩，但是这是你在申请时已经不能改变的；
2. 推荐信，我们要求写推荐信的人是了解你的老师，而且不是写“该同学在该科表现出色，获得95分”之类，这些都是在成绩单上可以看出来的，我们要知道的是你有什么与众不同的表现；
3. 也是最重要的，Statement of Objective（也即一般所讲的Personal Statement），这一段老教授讲得非常有趣，把能想起来的写一下：
1) If you say, I was dreaming of going to MIT when I was very young...扔到垃圾桶里! Everyone is dreaming of going to MIT!
2) And if you say, MIT is the best university of the world, it has the 1st ranking CS department...扔到垃圾桶里，这些我们都知道...
3) But if you say, 我对你们的某个专业或者某个方向感兴趣...um? 可以看一下…
如果是说，我对某教授研究的课题比较有兴趣，希望能参与它的研究，it's better!
4) And if you say, I'm interested in ..., but I have a better idea. That's great!
老教授要求我们写PS时重点考虑三个问题：
1. Why do you come here?
2. Who do you want to study with?
3. What do you want to do?
从始至终，他都在强调一句话: Make yourself different. 这才是申请的最关键之处。
Prof. Wing:
The depardment of CS of CMU is very selective, We only adimit 177 students this year from over 1000 applications... But we are looking fro very bright students from China, because you received very good training in math...And our requirement is:
1. Good grade
2. Good recommendation
3. the most important is your research potential.
That means you must have strong ability to do research. So you'd better get involved to project, have creativity and communacation skill, which means skill to speak and write. And as the most popular language in CS field is English, so your English must be good enough....Please work hard and apply for us and have good luck!
为什么要面试？
昨天问了一个米国老师为什么要面试，他说I think they want to know how good your English is. They may also ask you questions on your career goal, and see how much you know about XXX school.
伯克利CS招生官谈CS四大名校录取
前几个星期，我去参加了系给本科生举办的一个Grad school talk，邀请了本校的CS Grad admission 的负责人和斯坦福的EE grad admission的负责人。其中，伯克利的负责人展示了一个图表，里面显示了去年斯坦福、CMU、MIT、伯克利 4所大学的计算机科学PhD的录取情况。很可惜，我记忆力不太好，所以具体的数字记不太清楚了，不过以下是几点我记得的东西：
1. 4所大学加在一起招收了260多个人
2. 伯克利招收了80-90多个PhD学生
3. 有10名左右的学生，同时被3或4所大学录取
4. 有30名左右的学生，同时被斯坦福和伯克利录取
5. MIT特别喜欢搞后门（直升）
6. 伯克利一共受到了大约1.1-1.3k份application
7. 斯坦福的PhD录取不是按照Field来分的，也没有任何Field的Quota
8. 伯克利的PhD是按照field来分的，因此申请AI的同学将和别的想搞AI的同学竞争几个位置
9. GRE太高没啥用
10. 牛推大于一切
11. 伯克利的负责人建议：大二开始做研究
12. 大于3.7-3.8的gpa是基本的
13. 从1,2,3,4点可以看出，每个学校选择的时候口味是有一定的区别的，因此多报的话，很有利于提高机会
14. 任课老师的推荐信基本不会有任何帮助
15. 你去业界作研究后，让你负责人写的推荐信很大程度上取决于你负责人的知名度和学历
16. 如果你拿到Fellowship的话，一定要通知学校，会对你的录取有一定的帮助
17. 在CS PhD出路方面，貌似很大部分最后是去业界带研究team
18. 在被录取后的选校方面，他们推荐以你想要研究的Field的导师来选择学校，而不是以名声
19. Admission的结果很大程度上取决于你所什么方面的教授对你的看法，因此....
补充几点在陆奇讲座上听到的东西
陆奇是代表微软来作每个学期的 microsoft executive talk，他当时一件汗衫，看起来感觉和学生差不多，完全不像李开复那种一看就是高管的样子。
这些是陆奇对在一名（也许是伯克利的）CS PhD留学生的提问之后作出的回答。他的主题是：在当今社会，中国留美CS PhD越来越多的情况下，怎么才能够脱颖而出，做到像他那样的成功。
1. 机会就像公车，错过一班永远有下一班，但不要以为一班车就是把你从你现在的位置带到你自己所期望的位置。
2. Make yourself uncomfortable，如果你的日子很舒服轻松了，那他觉得move on的时间到了，如果你的日子不舒服，那他觉得是一件很好的事情，因为你在进步在成长。
3. If you are smart and you work hard, you can achieve anything. (他反复强调的这点)
课外活动、高中成绩及各种计算机证书
International applicants seeking assistantship/admission: please do not send me emails blindly without reading this.
Every day I receive emails from international candidates for information, for advice, and especially requesting financial assistance. Unfortunately, I delete most of them without even reading them carefully. I get so many irrelevant emails that cannot reply to each. Extremely rarely has one caught my attention. Please do not send me emails without reading this first. I am only interested in corresponding to candidates who are exceptional, and have a strong interest and experience in my immediate area of specialization, and I highly prefer ones with a Master's degree.
For your benefit, I have included in this page, some writing tips, when corresponding to me, and perhaps also in writing to other faculty members in US Universities. When corresponding, do not mention your age/date of birth, your gender, nationality etc. These are superfluous information.
I am NOT interested in: Extra-curricular activities, performance in high school or before, TOEFL scores, hobbies, software skills, UNIX/ORACLE/NOVELL certification and other items unrelated to my research area*.
I am SOMEWHAT interested in: Your awards/academic honors, academic records, GPA, GRE score (2200+), experience.
I am HIGHLY interested in: Your publications, research interests (have supporting evidence for your claim, don't just claim you are interested, unless you actually have done some work in the area).
(Incidentally, I do not know what NOVELL or Microsoft certification are. Research is more concerned with things like advanced mathematical skills, creativity etc. Too much software skill actually may even count negative in my group).
藤校对中国大学的偏见
Boss刚好认识某藤校 CS Master Program的系主任，帮我强推了。系主任说他们有bias towards Universities in China，然后说会look out for his application.
GRE Sub只是浮云
Although this is specified in the main documents, we do overlook this requirement if we find a good student. So please do apply, and then lets keep our fingers crossed. Let me know what you have decided.
GT在初筛中很重要
Letters of recommendation all tend to say that so and so is the best student, etc. So, not much differentiation exists there.
GRE and TOEFL are heavily counted at the beginning of the screening process. Once you pass that phase, the scores are not emphasized all that much.
对清北的学生而言，不要太在意GT
Well, since you want an honest evaluation, I'll tell you what I can. What we've found in the past is that students from China generally put so much effort into their GRE and TOEFL, that the scores mean nothing.
We've admitted students who got perfect GRE scores and high TOEFLs who didn't turn out to be all that bright or to speak English all that well. Also, what we've seen are letters of recommendation that were clearly written by the students and only signed by the professors. Since we're just reading the student's words, we tend to focus on the statement of purpose (where you describe your skills and what you want to do), and on the grade transcripts.
I've read many statements of purpose that are two pages long and say nothing. If somebody can actually describe their skills and the work they want to do, that stands out. Likewise, we'll look at grades from all the students applying from a particular school.
Usually, you can find one or two classes that have professors who grade more harshly. If somebody gets a good grade from a hard professor, that stands out as well.
It's obviously easier to consider students from schools like Tsinghua because we get enough applications from there that you can really compare the students to each other. Coming from a less famous school certainly hurts your chances, but it doesn't ruin them.
That's what I look for when I consider students from China. So, I hope you understand that nothing that you've sent me allows me to tell you how well you might do if you applied here.
I would need to see your whole application.
Thanks,
兴趣最重要
罗格斯大学的教授，他就和我说了我非常受用的3句话——套辞是必须的，没有什么所谓的核心技术，你对这个研究的兴趣超越一切背景。
注：上述观点，系某背景极弱学生在计划申美国PhD，近乎绝望的情况下，咨询自己罗格斯大学的一位教授（该同学亲戚）时，该教授对该同学说的一句话。
该同学背景：本科gpa2.3，硕士gpa3.7（但是学分很少，课程也很少），gre311，toefl100，无文章。推荐信一个普通教授（本科毕设导师），经理（毕业实习经理），副教授（硕士专业课和我交往不错的一个老师）。2012年毕业，2013Fall找启德遭遇全拒，2014Fall DIY依靠套磁申到美国TOP50学校全奖PhD，生物技术专业。
该同学自述：“在2013年11月，在我递交完第一波申请材料时候，我心情是很绝望的。连我自己都想不出一个理由让别人要我。我的ps里面充满了套话，空话，我如果是教授，除非这个人的背景很棒，否则我不会要他的。”
奥巴马的推荐信足够让你上哈佛吗？
Quora上的一个提问，一位招生官的回答：
我认为可能性不大。我在一所大学的商学院招生委员会工作，虽然不是哈佛，但也是非常顶尖的商学院之一，录取标准是相当严苛。当阅读申请者的推荐信时，如果申请人的工作经历和申请文书并不是很好的时候，他的推荐信将成为我们决定是否录取他的关键性一票。如果有位申请者的GMAT分数相对较低，但是他的文书写的很好，工作经验很完美，在本科阶段也表现的很好，我会阅读他的推荐信。如果他的推荐信都是正面的评价，我会投票录取他。然而，如果成绩和考试分数仅仅达到了平均水平的话，即使该申请者有一份很有份量的推荐信，我也不是很愿意录取他，因为我知道他将很难跟得上他的同学，特别是大部分同学都有很高的成绩和考试分数。
UIUC教授看重的点
背景：教授为UIUC某资深教授，推测应该是常年在招生委员会里的。我暑期在这里和他做项目，这周就要回家了，走前和他聊了聊申请问题。
1. GRE重要，因为总需要一项指标来给所有学生排序，而这项的成绩是对所有人统一的。
2. GPA是要和本科学校结合起来看的，他认为中国top校的中上等学生要好于第十名学校的第一名学生（泛指）。
3. 我问他最看重phd applicants的什么，他脱口而出的是leadership，然后解释说要有independence，能够独立地解决问题，有成为领域领军者的潜力。
4. 教授们喜欢能够阅读文献、能真正理解、能把自己放在作者的角度上思考下一步要做什么的学生。
5. Be yourself，每个学生都是非常不同的，不必关心别人什么样。一些特殊的经历，比如双学位等，可以引起教授的兴趣。
6. 我怨念的大一GPA低问题：他说可以向教授解释
7. 不要上太多课，做research不关注你能上多少课，得多少高分，因为课程往往广而不深。
8. 套磁要有针对性，他作为一个做通信网络的人，收到一封声称对他方向感兴趣，但个人简历全是电磁场研究的邮件，唯一的想法就是这个人把同一封邮件发给了一百个人。
9. 感觉他们很重视国际学生的reading, writing and communication skills，他说要给我写推荐信时多次提到我的这方面能力。