Studying abroad for a master's degree in a non-985211 university is different from the latter. The latter does not rely so much on the ranking of the graduate school. Although famous schools are good, even if it is not a famous school, at least the undergraduate degree is still there, and it can even prove one's ability and is more useful in China.
Non-top university students go abroad for graduate studies with the goal of “whitewashing their undergraduate degree” (“whitewashing” is not a derogatory term, it’s my fault that I can’t find any other suitable words to describe it). Once this is the main goal instead of the master’s major or the knowledge learned, the inevitable choice for pursuing a better school ranking is to apply to schools with less severe internal competition and go to countries with less severe internal competition.
1 Choose a location
As the subject said, overseas graduate students apply for:
U.K.
Mainly look at the average score + language, other soft skills (written documents, competitions, internships, scientific research) account for a small proportion (they are bonus items but not required items), of course, this does not include bug-level recommendations.
Australia
Mainly look at the average score + language, other soft skills are basically not considered or account for a small proportion, or even dispensable (it is a bonus but not a must). Some schools don’t even require any documents and will make an offer in a few weeks.
USA
Mainly look at GPA + language + standardized tests (GRE or GMAT) + soft skills (written documents, competitions, internships, overseas exchanges, summer school, scientific research), as well as strong recommendations, and more emphasis is placed on comprehensive strength.
In other words, from the perspective of admission threshold (equivalent to the "resume" stage of applying for graduate studies), the United States is higher than the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom is higher than Australia.
Many people think that the United States does not value undergraduate background, while the United Kingdom and Australia attach great importance to undergraduate schools, so the United States is most friendly to non-university undergraduates. Is this really the case?
In fact, if you think about it,These soft powers represent the resources of the undergraduate school. However, the resources that most non-key universities can provide are very limited, and it is difficult to support the "soft power" requirements of American universities.
For example, in competitions, non-985211 students can only participate in some low-level competitions, which are not as valuable as those from 985211 universities.
For example, in scientific research, non-key universities do not have equipment and excellent instructors, making it difficult to publish high-quality papers.
For example, summer schools and exchanges, many non-key universities do not have such opportunities at all, and students have to rely entirely on themselves to seek background improvement outside of school.
For example, when writing recommendation letters, professors at non-985211 universities are not on the same level as those at 985211 universities, and there is no such thing as a great recommendation.
For example, for internship opportunities, when looking for a "big name", 985 universities can easily get internship opportunities through online applications, while non-985 universities often have to rely on parents' resources, relatives and friends, or even internal recommendations from agents to get the same opportunities.
As mentioned above, the application for graduate studies at American universities is nominally not "based solely on average scores" and does not restrict undergraduate schools. It seems to be the fairest, but in fact it is the most unfair.
The so-called soft power gap between non-985 and 211 universities lies mainly in the gap in school platforms. However, the gap in platforms often cannot directly reflect the difference in ability. In other words, the main reason why non-985 and 211 students are not as good as 985211 students when applying for American graduate studies is the limitation of the school platform. While many Zhihu users are shouting about the so-called "student source gap" between British and American graduate students,People often ignore the level of the undergraduate school and ignore the more important and fairer evaluation criteria: the difference in effort during the four years of college.
For applications to the UK and Australia, IELTS is a passing test, and the main threshold is the weighted average score. The weighted average score can be improved through hard work, and the final result is enough to make up for the gap in university resources.
The UK and Australia have raised the importance of average scores, so to some extent, applying for a master's degree in the UK and Australia is the same as the domestic postgraduate entrance examination, with a national unified "preliminary test" (average score and IELTS). This is equivalent to forcibly putting some 985211 students and non-985211 students on the same starting line.
Even though many schools have higher average score requirements for non-985211 students than for 985211 students (for example, the University of Edinburgh requires 90 for non-985211 students, while 985211 only requires 85), no matter what level of students, whether they are from a first-tier, second-tier or third-tier university, as long as they pass the average score and language barriers, they have passed the "first test" of the postgraduate entrance examination of British and Australian schools and can smoothly enter the "second test".
In other words, as long as the average score of non-key universities is high enough, the level of their undergraduate school can be ignored. Therefore, among those who study abroad from non-key universities, it is common to see them taking retake classes and brushing up their GPA. Like students taking the postgraduate entrance examination, those who study abroad regard the first three years of college as a long "preliminary test" for the postgraduate entrance examination, and finally make a strong effort when applying in the senior year.
Furthermore, students in the UK and Australia generally do not need to take the GRE and GMAT. Compared with the US, the "graduate school entrance examination battle line" is further shortened for non-US students studying abroad, and they can focus more on IELTS and retaking professional courses.
For US applications, in addition to TOEFL, preparing for GRE and GMAT often takes up a large chunk of time. Since there are few language classes for US graduate programs, TOEFL must be passed before applying, not to mention the importance of GRE/GMAT. Unlike the UK and Australia, US graduate applicants must get the standardized test scores required by the school before submitting their applications, which virtually increases the difficulty and pressure per unit time.
On the other hand, the UK and Australia all give con offers, which means that even if you fail the language test or your average score is not enough, you can still use your senior year for the final sprint. Non-985 students can take the IELTS for the second, third, fourth, or even fifth or sixth time before the DDL, which further shortens the gap between them and 985 students.
But here comes the point!
For graduate school applications in the United States, since the United States looks at GPA, and the GPA calculation methods of each school are different, there is a four-point system.Five-point system, percentage system, 5.5 point system... standard algorithm, improved algorithm 1, improved algorithm 2, Peking University algorithm, proportional scoring algorithm, WesAuthentication algorithm………The policies of each school are different. The final GPA shown on the school transcript may be as follows:Due to different algorithms, different schools have huge differences in the final GPA, and the GPA calculation standard on each school's official transcript cannot be changed, so there are rumors that some schools have "low GPAs, which are not conducive to studying abroad."Some American colleges and universities uniformly require WES GPA certification, which is relatively fair. However, some American schools still recognize the internal GPA of undergraduate schools.GPA AlgorithmThis is where the gray area comes in. Compared to the high A rate of 30-40% for American undergraduates (i.e. 3.7/4.0 4.0/4.0, which is approximately equal to the recognition of 90 points or more for the weighted average score of 985 in China), domestic undergraduates are often at a disadvantage in terms of GPA, not to mention non-key undergraduates. After working hard for three years, the final GPA is ridiculously low.
(For example, according to the algorithm of the answerer's school, a GPA of 3.5/5 is equivalent to an average score of 85 points, that is, a 100-point GPA algorithm. In order to achieve a GPA of 4.0/5.0, you need to get a weighted score of 90 in each subject. For a science and engineering major, I believe everyone can understand how difficult this is without describing it (probably the strength of the top 3/120 in the major)
However, anyone who has studied in an American university should know how low a GPA of 3.5/5 is.
What's even more ridiculous is that an 85-point score is calculated based on a full GPA of 4.0/4.0 in many schools.
For example, the answerer's friend A is enrolled in a 985 school in the western region, which uses a 4.0 GPA algorithm based on the assigned score system. A score of 85 is a full GPA of 4.0. The answerer's friend A's GPA is 3.5/4.0, so you can imagine the average score.
What's more, the school of the respondent's friend B uses a "unique 5-point system" GPA algorithm, 95 points are recorded as 5.5, 90 points are recorded as 5.0, 80 points are recorded as 4.0, and 60 points are recorded as 2.0, so the average GPA of their class is above 4.2. In the respondent's school, 80 points correspond to 3.0 and 60 points correspond to 1.0.
If the US school requires a WES unified GPA certification, it will not have much impact. But if the US school recognizes the official transcripts issued by the domestic undergraduate school, then there is no doubt that the answerer's friend B, with an average score of 82 and an average GPA of 4.2/5.0, will easily crush the answerer's classmate C, who is ranked in the top 15% in the major, with an average score of 85 and an average GPA of 3.5/5.0)
The UK valuesWeighted averageThe algorithm is unified for all schools.(i.e., the credits of each course multiplied by the total score of the course, then divided by the total credits), and the final con-offer is also uniformly based on the average score instead of the GPA. Although British undergraduates still have an advantage, in the domestic undergraduate track, everyone calculates the average score in the same way.
In terms of calculation method,Equal calculationCompared with GPA calculation, it is more unified and fair.
2 Differences between Master's programs
There is a big difference between master's degree in China and abroad. In China, a master's degree is definitely better than a bachelor's degree, but this is not the case abroad. In fact, employers prefer bachelor's degree graduates because master's degree graduates must be paid more according to the law. Therefore, if you want to understand the concept of a master's degree in European and American countries, you have to talk about some "gossip" here first.
First of all, one thing needs to be made clear: in higher education in Europe and the United States, a master's degree is "optional" in many cases.
Except for a few industries like the financial industry that require a prestigious school and the halo of a "target school", most of the time, due to abundant social resources, employers in Europe and the United States do not have such inflexible requirements for job seekers' academic qualifications and schools as in China.
Generally speaking, there are four common career development paths for Americans and British people:
1: People who want to find a job but don’t want to engage in scientific research can work directly after graduating from undergraduate program
2: Those who want to engage in scientific research can directly apply for a doctorate after graduating from undergraduate studies
3: Some people work in the business field. After graduating from college, they work for a few years and then go to business school to study for an MBA (not a master's degree in business) after accumulating work experience.
4. If you want to pursue a career in law or medicine, you should apply to law school or medical school after graduating from college, because law and medicine are generally not offered as undergraduate programs in the United States.
Many Americans and British choose to study for a one-year or two-year taught postgraduate degree, which is similar to re-studying a condensed version of their undergraduate degree. Some people choose to "change majors" (for example, study computer science or business as a postgraduate), while others choose to take an "advanced" or "enhanced" course in their undergraduate major based on their undergraduate major.
Take business as an example. The business schools of the top 50 universities in the United States that offer finance programs (MSF) at the master's level are not mainstream. Not only finance, but other business majors (marketing, management, accounting) are also treated equally. In other words, when applying for business, the number of graduate majors that can be applied for in American universities is less than the number of undergraduate majors.
But the UK and Australia are just the opposite, with a wide variety of graduate programs. I remember being confused when I first checked the professional departments on the official website of a UK school: how come the UK offers a wide variety of master's programs? This has led to the creation of a new term, "education industrialization", which I'm sure many Zhihu users have heard of.
Let's take business as an example. Although there are far fewer famous universities in the UK and Australia than in the US (the top 50 in the US can be compared to the top 15 in the UK and the top 5 in Australia), the business master's programs offered by universities in the UK and Australia are very complex. On average, the number of various master's programs at British and Australian universities is several times that of American universities.
This sentence has two meanings.
First, it is often said that studying in the UK and Australia is more "easy" than studying in the United States (high admission rate, low admission difficulty).
Second, logically speaking, the degree of “involution” in graduate application in the United States is greater than that in the United Kingdom and Australia.
For some non-985211 students, do they want to compete head-on with undergraduates from domestic 985211 universities and American undergraduates, and end up studying in a school with "average ranking and average recognition in China"? Or do they know that education in the UK and Australia is industrialized, but still try their best to avoid "involution" and go to those "watery" majors and "watery" schools (often with higher rankings) that Zhihuers look down on, and study hard for a master's degree to make up for their undergraduate shortcomings, improve their academic qualifications, competitiveness and recognition?
This is a matter of opinion.
3. Fees
In fact, everyone knows that there is no need for internal competition abroad, the undergraduate education is good, the school recognition is high, and the school attended by people with the same ability is one level higher than the domestic school. Then why is it that in 2019, only tens of thousands of international students out of 630,000 choose to study abroad for undergraduate studies?
Of course it’s because of money.
This applies not only to undergraduates but also postgraduates. As long as it is a paid project, of course the cost must be considered.
The cost of studying in the United States is the most expensive.
The biggest differences between American universities and those in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore are:
① A considerable number of prestigious universities are private universities, and their tuition fees are much higher than those of public universities in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Even for public universities, tuition fees have gradually become similar to those of private universities in recent years. (After all, differentiated education is a tool for class differentiation.)
②The long study period leads to excessively high total living costs.
Take the most popular business and engineering majors for example. A one-year business program in the United States usually costs around $400,000 to $600,000. If the school is in a slightly larger city and the program is business, then you have to add another $100,000 to the upper limit. If it is a private school like Columbia University, New York University, or the University of Southern California, the annual tuition will start at $700,000 to $800,000 without working.
The engineering program in the United States lasts two years. Although the tuition is lower than that of business, the total cost of one year is about 400,000 to 500,000 or 600,000 yuan, which means 800,000 to 1,000,000 yuan for two years. Of course, if you go to private universities in "first-tier cities" such as Columbia, USC, NYU, or public universities such as UCLA and UCB, which are not cheap, the cost for two years is 1.4 to 1.5 million yuan.
Most of the master's programs in the UK are one year long, regardless of business or engineering. In non-London areas, you can usually get one for 400,000. In London and Oxford and Cambridge, you can usually get one for 500,000 to 600,000. This saves time and money.
Therefore, under certain conditions, such as a 2-year master's degree in science and engineering, or a 1.5-year master's degree in business, the total cost can easily exceed 1 million. Calculating the total cost of studying abroad based on the average level, it is equivalent to studying for 1.5 1.5-year master's degrees in Australia, 2 1-year master's degrees in the UK, and 3 1-year master's degrees in Hong Kong, China, and Singapore, not to mention the free tuition in public universities in Germany, France, and Europe, and some other European universities with generous scholarships and easier applications.
In summary, judging from the results, most students from non-key first-tier, second-tier and third-tier universities "voted with their feet" when applying and made the final choice. And such a choice is not as stupid as what Zhihu said, but is the wisest choice with the highest cost-effectiveness, the best feasibility, the lowest cost and the most controllable risk.
Of course, the recognition of overseas returnees in the workplace is often higher in the United States than in the United Kingdom, and higher in the United Kingdom than in Australia.The so-called "application threshold" and the screening threshold of the family background of international students due to different study abroad costs,In fact, it is reasonable. Of course, nothing is absolute. For most HRs in China who have only heard of Harvard, Yale, MIT, Oxford and Cambridge, knowing how to use QS rankings and USNews rankings to screen is already a great "progress".
Let me say something very vulgar. Among the top 100 or 50 schools in the world, there are no good or bad schools, only good students and bad students. Ability is king, ability is king, ability is king. Maybe most people will not understand until they start working that the contempt chain created by students in the past is the most absurd behavior.