申请时候需要注意的几点

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

这应该是最后一篇了，再来单独发帖估计要一年后了。rush了半小时，就当灌心灵鸡汤了。
How to get an offer PART II: Bad Boys in Your Pool

1.        Never underestimate the importance of English
You may hear a THOUSAND times before you read this post. However, the theme of your way abroad is the history of your battle with English. Before you make your oversea decision, you may hear TOEFL and GRE right after you attend university. When you’re a freshman, you could find students with Big Red Books everywhere in libraries and classrooms, as long as you aren’t playing DOTA in your dorm.
Suppose that you are in an institute in Munich, you may recognize Big Ear Cup in the Parade, but you cannot finish your courses. Is it because that you could not understand calculus, or that you’re tired about enormous homework? No, it is because you know little about Deutsch. Similar things happen in the United States, in Canada, and, of course, in Singapore.
Admission is just a start. If you want to find a job in Singapore, your language ability would trouble you all the time. Then you decide to go back to China, where you think you could finally get rid of English. You will find interviewers think: “what? are you sure you come back from Singapore, your English sucks, what did he learn on earth…oh god, do I watch my watch too frequently? I would let you go in 15, 10, no, 3 minutes…”
Therefore, a satisfied score is not enough, and you must practice as much as you can. Just as you could not drive an automobile after you finish your driving school in China.

3. Improve yourself
My IELTS is ***, is it enough?
An eye-catching score makes you stand out easily. For IELTS, 6/6/6/6, 7. You know what I mean. Perfect scores are like a C cup girl or 6-foot-tall boy... always attractive.
Scores are very objective. When you doubt about your scores, trust yourself and try again if you have time. Always remember that you have nothing to lose, but you have offers to gain.
Your PS, and your resume? Revise one MORE time if you can. You cannot change your nationality or gender, but it’s easy to make yourself better based on your current level.
Application means competition. For example, they may pick 10 candidates out of 50 applicants. The choice would be harder and harder when the process continues, such as 10 out of 14 or 15. Therefore, do not give them any reason to drop you.

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

PART I 传送门：https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1594319-1-2.html

kitty_shuoUID: 3438900

挺！

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

我把自己的回复都弄到这里算了。
About PS/CV
it depends. Original version of PS may take you an hour, for you could limit it in one page. But you could revise it many times, until the last minute before you submit it.
As materials, you could search "sample personal statement" by goolge. Of course, there are no fixed modes for PS.
You could find a couple of friends (girls?) who apply as well and discuss your PS or CV with them. An agency is expensive and worthless due to its limited performance.
For your reference, my PS contains only 326 words, and it took me two months to picture it and 15 minutes to write. Then I revised three to four times.
CV took me some time to optimize. About 10 times. 14-16 points are enough, but you could write more to select the best ones.

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

the one with IELTS
well, I'm afraid that I could not agree with some follows. First, application means competition. For example, they may pick 10 candidates out of 50 applicants. The choice would be harder and harder when the process continues, such as 10 out of 14 or 15. Therefore, do not give them any weakness to drop you.
Second, you surely have enough time. And you know, scores are more objective than experience, such as intern or lab work.
Besides, you could not conclude that you would get an offer with an certain score, say IELTS 6.0, only because somebody else with that score got admission before. You two could not be totally the same. And situation changes a lot each year.

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

GRE and GPA
As I always mention,,,, for a poor GPA, the only rational reason is that your ranking is rather high...
Since GPA and GRE are totally different. And they know that you could prepare and get a satisfied GRE score in a short time in China mainland. While GPA reflects your overall academic performance in your college. On the other hand, do you think it's fair that a single exam could cover 160+ credits?

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

statistics and economic jobs
if you chose statistics, you could also hunt  for "economic" jobs. Since you're interested in economics, you could learn some basic  knowledge by yourself.
It's not very difficult. You could start with "economics (micro/macro)", then "finance", "accounting" and "management". As a statictics graduate, you would seldom encounter with troubles if you decide self-study.

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

GMAT OR GRE FOR FE
personal view: GMAT of course. First, GMAT is easy to prepare, compared to GRE. Second, I don't know what's your goal right after graduation. Remarkable GMAT scores will help you a lot if you want to join IBD as an analyst. But as far as I know, undergraduate degree is enough for IBD. Also, master in universities, such as THU, PKU, FDU, is a significant plus if you want to join Bulge Bracket, such as Lazard and Credit Suisse. MSc in NUS/NTU is not a plus. However, MFE from tier one schools in the United States, such as Stanford and Princeton, is a plus.  

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

ABOUT HEART
it seems that your "will" is somehow inadequate. Everyone has his/her difficulties. And I actually know someone who had to work 100 hours per week and took TOEFL twice in one month time. If you truly wanted to go to Singapore, you should try your best to protect your dream.

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

Some misunderstandings about application
1. PhD is superior and MSc is surely inferior. I have a good background, so I apply PhD rather than MSc.

This misunderstanding is very common for applicants from China mainland.
The reason is that we were told that knowledge could change our life. The higher degree we get, the better we are? Well, don’t treat yourself. In China mainland, 99 percent people could not change their lives by knowledge/education. I don’t mean that I’m not satisfied with our nation. But you will find it sooner or later as long as you come back here and you care.
Actually, professional education is ignored in our nation. In other countries, such as the United States, they don’t have so many people. The education system is willing to change a guy, who might not be very smart, to be an experienced one. But in China, everything changes. We have so many backups and our education is more a target than a method.
MSc is sort of professional education. If you have some experience in the exact field, you could fully utilize MSc to accelerate your career. The result of MSc depends more on the candidate himself/herself.  
Let’s turn to PhD. In China mainland, and even in Singapore and HK, PhD cannot insure a good job in companies. (Generally, the more you spend to be a specialist, the harder you will be to move to executives.) In other words, your struggle could not be paid back. One reason is most companies in China do not focus on innovation and research. On the other hand, universities in China mainland are mean to youth researchers, unless the institute has no research performance indicators. What’s more, in most famous colleges, researchers from the United States are more attractive to administrators, who actually are in charge of our colleges. Therefore, if you don’t extremely love scientific research, think twice before you make the decision. (There are thousands of colleges in China. I only know some majors and some colleges. So you could disagree with my statements. )
In sum, I provide three suggestions. First, if you don’t know what you want, or if you just want to study and live abroad, MSc is a good buffer and you are easier to be admitted. Second, if you don’t like research, choose MSc or work directly. Third, if you like research very much, you need PhD. Get a PhD in North America if you can.  

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

2. My study in Singapore could guarantee myself to be a successful person.
No degree could totally change a person. But an excellent degree could increase the possibility of your success. Whether you are willing to admit or not, the overall level of Singapore applicants is lower than that of the United States. However, most of them are still elites from their own universities anyway.
Don’t entrust yourself to your background. (For example, I ranked first in my class, so my compensation should definitely be $100K per year with 50 percent bonus.) Pay more attention to “soft skills”. (Just think like this: I could learn those $10K courses from $14.99 textbooks from Amazon. Of course the Singapore experience is more important than knowledge itself.)
Each destination is just a new start. Your height depends on where you stop. You got the admission? Congratulations, for at least you didn’t stop after undergraduate graduation.

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

3. My background is ***, so it’s impossible to get an offer/ I could surely get an offer.
Application is all about competition. We could assume that one program certainly will admit someone from China mainland (It’s true). Then the problem is: How could I beat my competitors?
Invisible competitors are everywhere. Do not guess and wonder, just be yourself. Applying more programs could efficiently lower risks.
From a college’s angle, they want to get the best person most easily. Luckily, something has been done for them several years before. The name or “fame” of your institute is the FIRST factor. Even white Americans have heard the insane of our entrance test for undergraduate degree. So if I were the admission officer, I could throw bottom 25 percent application materials after first glance.  
Scores are the SECOND factor. They are more objective than other factors. DO NOT blame on your college about your GPA. Because you have a good reason for a poor GPA: your rank is excellent. TOEFL or IELTS? You should thank the school that rejects you if you cannot show your language ability. You might be in big trouble, both in study or job market, due to your language. GRE or GMAT is not essential for most programs. The only thing you should consider is balance. 2 in AWA or 130 in math are unforgivable for Chinese. What shall I do if I got 2 in my AWA? The easiest answer is: do not report GRE scores.  
Experience is the THIRD factor. You indicate that you could do well in A/B/C and you would like to do A/B/C in the future. Lack of experience leads your statements to be less convinced.   

From applicants’ angle, I have discussed PS in another post, which is reposted below.
“Personal statement is not very difficult. Remember the most important thing is to be yourself. You are the one and only in this world.
At least, you should state three things.
First, you should show your "ability" in cousework or research. Or, you could finish the study.
Second, you should show what you want to do in and after graduate school.
Third, you should differentiate yourself from other applicants.
Advanced personal statement should also contain:
1. why you want to study in NUS/NTU, why you are interested in the majors you chose;
2. why you want to get a graduate degree
3. your written English is good, do not present any mistake in PS, especially when your TOEFL writting score is less than 25
4. your contribution to the class/lab/school
If possible, try to read some good personal statement. Then you can easily recognize what a GOOD one looks like.”

What? Recommendation letters? HEHE

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

about social
Recently, we often find some topics about compare of different offers. In my view, strangers, who might know little about either your background and personality or your prospective major, could not solve those questions for you. It’s relatively easy to know your basic personal information, so somebody who graduated from that major is the best one to solve the puzzle. (In gter, applicants>candidates>graduates. So offer-compare topics are even less efficient than simply searching the forum, which you need "no" time to wati for an answer.) The process that we find and know somebody is called “social”, at which unfortunately most Chinese are not good. Now I want to talk about social.

Social is everywhere. If you have asked somebody out by MOMO or WeChat, it’s sort of social. And it’s true. Technically, online application, such as Linkedin or Facebook, is the most efficient way to gather information. Or you could just read the post below:
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1583605-1-6.html

During application, Social could help you know lots of people. They may:
1.        have the some goal with you, and they will motivate you to move forward or overcome difficulties;
2.        graduate from your target major, and they will provide useful information about the major, share the job placement statistics or introduce you to other graduates;
3.        be part or node of your network and help you in other aspects in the future.

The most important thing one should realize about social is that he or she has no obligation to respond, let alone to help or share. Therefore, you know, calm down, show sincere and try more. You will find that social is even more important when you try to find a job in Singapore (or other regions) or hop in the future. Social should be a part of you life. If you cannot agree, just remember the conclusion.

Furthermore, females have born advantage in social (in application as well). I don’t want to discuss more about this. One more time, if you cannot agree, just remember the conclusion.

kitty_shuoUID: 3438900

窝觉得你好厉害！可以加好友哇？orz

xiaoyongnaoUID: 3433354

kitty_shuo 发表于 2013-6-4 20:13
窝觉得你好厉害！可以加好友哇？orz

mm总是受欢迎的~