眾所周知，申請美國研究生是一件大事，美國研究生申請沒你想象中那么容易。下面小編就和大家分享美國研究生申請需要提前多久準(zhǔn)備比較好，希望能夠幫助到大家，快來一起學(xué)習(xí)吧。
美國研究生申請需要提前多久準(zhǔn)備比較好?
一、3-5個月:語言學(xué)習(xí)+GMAT/GRE學(xué)習(xí)+學(xué)校選擇
首先要制定一個清晰的時間表和計劃。在專業(yè)的顧問老師監(jiān)督下，全程的申請都會有人指導(dǎo)和規(guī)劃，DIY的學(xué)生則需要更多的幫助。
在這里我們假設(shè)申請人打算獨立完成申請，任務(wù)包括:在校成績(GPA)、托福/雅思和GMAT/GRE的準(zhǔn)備、學(xué)校選擇、材料準(zhǔn)備、網(wǎng)上申請和投遞。
很多人在剛開始拿單詞書狂啃，兩個月后發(fā)現(xiàn)不管是托福還是雅思都沒有合適的時間和考試地點。還有一些人拿到了他們想要的語言成績，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)截止日期快到了，personal statement只寫了初稿。
事實上，留學(xué)準(zhǔn)備和申請并不一定是一項單一的任務(wù)，而是多線同時進行的。在申請出國留學(xué)的過程中，如果你必須先完成A，然后再做B，時間是遠遠不夠的。
另外，語言和GMAT/GRE是最重要的方面之一，應(yīng)該盡早準(zhǔn)備。但同時，學(xué)生應(yīng)該了解不同國家的基本信息，盡快確定目的地。所以前期的信息收集工作一定不能少。例如，由于政策因素，移民到英國比較困難，畢業(yè)后拿到工作簽證也不容易。加拿大在申請研究生學(xué)習(xí)時，原則上不能改變專業(yè)。在美國，STEM(科學(xué)、技術(shù)、工程、數(shù)學(xué))領(lǐng)域的學(xué)生更容易申請研究生工作簽證，但文科學(xué)生的機會相對來說更少。
一般來說，語言和GMAT/GRE準(zhǔn)備為3-5個月左右。一方面，設(shè)定這個期限是為了督促自己不要把戰(zhàn)線拖得太久。另一方面，學(xué)生需要真正參加一次考試來檢查學(xué)習(xí)成果，像語言學(xué)習(xí)的水平和制定后期專項的提高,從而有針對性地繼續(xù)改進，去考第二次、第三次。
選校的話，現(xiàn)在網(wǎng)上有很多選擇學(xué)校的工具，當(dāng)然，各種網(wǎng)上的信息只能作為一個索引，所有信息最終都要以學(xué)校的官方網(wǎng)站為準(zhǔn)。由于選擇學(xué)校涉及的細節(jié)太多，建議申請人制作一份excel表格來記錄不同學(xué)校的信息。
表格中至少要有以下內(nèi)容:學(xué)校名稱、院系名稱、項目名稱、入學(xué)條件、獎學(xué)金狀況、申請截止日期、聯(lián)系方式、備注，最重要的是保持良好的鏈接。這個過程可能很長。一開始，會有很多的學(xué)院和項目被保存下來，但是之后，可以慢慢的選擇，最終的目標(biāo)學(xué)院應(yīng)在5-10所左右。這時候，選擇一間靠譜的留學(xué)機構(gòu)和負責(zé)任的顧問老師，根據(jù)學(xué)生的情況和需求，制定專業(yè)且合適的選校方案，則可以大大減少了學(xué)生在查校方面所產(chǎn)生的大量時間和人力成本。
為什么說選校和學(xué)習(xí)應(yīng)該同時進行呢?
因為在準(zhǔn)備學(xué)習(xí)的過程中，學(xué)生一般需要對自己的成績有一個預(yù)測目標(biāo)，而不同的學(xué)校有具體的語言成績要求、GPA、GMAT/GRE要求等條件。這是一個相互選擇和匹配的過程——每個人都想去一所著名的大學(xué)，但他們也應(yīng)該根據(jù)自己的條件篩選最適合自身情況的院校。
二、3個月的實習(xí)+保持/提升在校成績水平+材料準(zhǔn)備
這個階段基本上是在夏秋兩季，雖然課程不多，學(xué)生可以找相關(guān)的實習(xí)，增加一些工作和實踐經(jīng)驗。我必須補充一點，作為一名大二/大三的學(xué)生，大學(xué)的最后兩年還有一些課程要上的。此外，可能還有學(xué)校要求參加實習(xí)，畢業(yè)論文也要確定題目。
不妨將這些與留學(xué)申請結(jié)合起來，盡可能選擇與自己未來研究生課程相近的專業(yè)課程，尋找有幫助的實習(xí)和研究生研究方向。如果你能在實習(xí)和論文過程中做得很好，從你的導(dǎo)師那里得到一封推薦信并不難。
在之后的這個階段是文書材料正式準(zhǔn)備的開始。主要包括:個人陳述、簡歷、過往實習(xí)經(jīng)歷、科研、論文等。對于文書，我并不建議找外國人去潤色語法和陳述，因為外國人和中國學(xué)生在語法方面會有先天的不一樣，而國外各大高校的Admission對中國學(xué)生的表達模式早已熟記于心;使用外國人修改的文書去申請，有被認為不是本人創(chuàng)作，從而增大被拒錄的風(fēng)險。
三、最后3個月開始網(wǎng)申
如果你在這三個月里還在沖刺你的語言/GRE成績，可以。但在這個階段，學(xué)生需要關(guān)注每所學(xué)校的申請時間段，不要錯過截止日期。
網(wǎng)申主要是申請頁面建立賬戶,填寫個人信息,之前準(zhǔn)備好材料,如PS、簡歷上傳一個接一個,比如成績單需要再次掃描原始上傳,語言等成績需要在“頁面填寫,一些學(xué)院和大學(xué)要求申請者登記后再送點,之前也有問送分。有些學(xué)校要求你填寫推薦人的電子郵件地址來完成推薦，所以一定要得到正確的推薦人的電子郵件地址。還要有一張支付申請費的信用卡等等。
網(wǎng)申要面對各種小問題，有些人在處理過程中出現(xiàn)了把PS上傳到一所學(xué)校的B學(xué)校、藝術(shù)作品集只上傳了一次等等烏龍事件，導(dǎo)致一切努力付諸東流。
請確保在單擊submit之前進行了兩次檢查。在線申請系統(tǒng)可能不穩(wěn)定，登錄不順暢，文件大小限制要求，無法支付申請費，無法提交各種技術(shù)問題都需要申請人的極大耐心。
最后，建議學(xué)生盡量不要在截止日期前提交。例如，學(xué)校申請的截止日期是1月1日。在網(wǎng)上申請結(jié)束后，學(xué)生可能需要向?qū)W校發(fā)送一些補充材料(有些學(xué)校要求在錄取結(jié)果完成前發(fā)送，有些學(xué)校要求在錄取結(jié)果完成后發(fā)送)。由于材料較多，建議申請人在材料中附上清單。所有的材料都要按照清單的順序進行整理，或者按照一個好的順序進行標(biāo)記，讓自己在整理時避免遺漏。最后選擇快遞，幾個主要的國際快遞公司和EMS公司實際上都可以完成任務(wù)，大致比較一下價格就可以了。
GRE閱讀練習(xí)：鳥叫研究
Over the years, biolists have suggested two main pathways by which sexual selection may have shaped the evolution of male birdsong. In the first, male competition and intrasexual selection produce relatively short, simple songs used mainly in territorial behavior. In the second, female choice and intersexual selection produce longer, more complicated songs used mainly in mate attraction; like such visual ornamentation as the peacock’s tail, elaborate vocal characteristics increase the male’s chances of being chosen as a mate, and he thus enjoys more reproductive success than his less ostentatious rivals. The two pathways are not mutually exclusive, and we can expect to find examples that reflect their interaction. Teasing them apart has been an important challenge to evolutionary biolists.
Early research confirmed the role of intrasexual selection. In a variety of experiments in the field, males responded aggressively to recorded songs by exhibiting territorial behavior near the speakers. The breakthrough for research into intersexual selection came in the development of a new technique for investigating female response in the laboratory. When female cowbirds raised in isolation in sound-proof chambers were exposed to recordings of male song, they responded by exhibiting mating behavior. By quantifying the responses, researchers were able to determine what particular features of the song were most important. In further experiments on song sparrows, researchers found that when exposed to a single song type repeated several times or to a repertoire of different song types, females responded more to the latter. The beauty of the experimental design is that it effectively rules out confounding variables; acoustic isolation assures that the female can respond only to the song structure itself.
If intersexual selection operates as theorized, males with more complicated songs should not only attract females more readily but should also enjoy greater reproductive success. At first, however, researchers doing fieldwork with song sparrows found no correlation between larger repertoires and early mating, which has been shown to be one indicator of reproductive success; further, common measures of male quality used to predict reproductive success, such as weight, size, age, and territory, also failed to correlate with song complexity.
The confirmation researchers had been seeking was finally achieved in studies involving two varieties of warblers. Unlike the song sparrow, which repeats one of its several song types in bouts before switching to another, the warbler continuously composes much longer and more variable songs without repetition. For the first time, researchers found a significant correlation between repertoire size and early mating, and they discovered further that repertoire size had a more significant effect than any other measure of male quality on the number of young produced. The evidence suggests that warblers use their extremely elaborate songs primarily to attract females, clearly confirming the effect of intersexual selection on the evolution of birdsong.
17.1. The passage is primarily concerned with
(A) showing that intrasexual selection has a greater effect on birdsong than does intersexual selection
(B) contrasting the role of song complexity in several species of birds
(C) describing research confirming the suspected relationship between intersexual selection and the complexity of birdsong
(D) demonstrating the superiority of laboratory work over field studies in evolutionary bioly
(E) illustrating the effectiveness of a particular approach to experimental design in evolutionary bioly
17.2. The author mentions the peacock’s tail in line 8 most probably in order to
(A) cite an exception to the theory of the relationship between intrasexual selection and male competition
(B) illustrate the importance of both of the pathways that shaped the evolution of birdsong
(C) draw a distinction between competing theories of intersexual selection
(D) give an example of a feature that may have evolved through intersexual selection by female choice
(E) refute a commonly held assumption about the role of song in mate attraction
17.3. According to the passage, which of the following is specifically related to intrasexual selection?
(A) Female choice
(B) Territorial behavior
(C) Complex song types
(D) Large song repertoires
(E) Visual ornamentation
17.4. Which of the following, if true, would most clearly demonstrate the interaction mentioned in lines 11-13?
(A) Female larks respond similarly both to short, simple songs and to longer, more complicated songs.
(B) Male canaries use visual ornamentation as well as elaborate song repertoires for mate attraction.
(C) Both male and female blackbirds develop elaborate visual and vocal characteristics.
(D) Male jays use songs to compete among themselves and to attract females.
(E) Male robins with elaborate visual ornamentation have as much reproductive success as rivals with elaborate vocal characteristics.
17.5. The passage indicates that researchers raised female cowbirds in acoustic isolation in order to
(A) eliminate confounding variables
(B) approximate field conditions
(C) measure reproductive success
(D) quantify repertoire complexity
(E) prevent early mating
17.6. According to the passage, the song sparrow is unlike the warbler in that the song sparrow
(A) uses songs mainly in territorial behavior
(B) continuously composes long and complex songs
(C) has a much larger song repertoire
(D) repeats one song type before switching to another
(E) responds aggressively to recorded songs
17.7. The passage suggests that the song sparrow experiments mentioned in lines 37-43 failed to confirm the role of intersexual selection because
(A) females were allowed to respond only to the song structure
(B) song sparrows are unlike other species of birds
(C) the experiments provided no evidence that elaborate songs increased male reproductive success
(D) the experiments included the songs of only a small number of different song sparrows
(E) the experiments duplicated some of the limitations of previous field studies
GRE閱讀：提速的取舍問題
GRE閱讀取舍的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是：
a)讓步分句(如：帶although的分句、帶it is true的分句、帶do的分句等)一律跳過(但是用括號括起來)，只看后半個分句;
b)such as后的內(nèi)容一律跳過，也用括號括起來，不過我會數(shù)數(shù)列舉的個數(shù)，如果是4個，則必出題，其他個數(shù)不用管，出題了再回頭看;
c)for example舉例只要提煉關(guān)鍵詞的首字母就可以了，也要括起來，重點看后面或前面的結(jié)論。
d)原因——標(biāo)志詞常為BECause、since——一律跳過，括起來，只看結(jié)果。比較容易被忽略的是result in和result from，遇到這兩個，我在下面劃橫線做標(biāo)記。
e)老觀點只把握關(guān)鍵詞、知道講的是什么就行，其他一律跳過。
f)冒號后一律跳過，冒號下做標(biāo)記。
g)分號后一律跳過，因為表示并列，內(nèi)容和前面大體一致，分號做標(biāo)記，出題的話再回來看。
現(xiàn)在的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是：上面這些全看，因為速度上來了，但看這些內(nèi)容時仍然是“毫無感覺”地看，可以不用擔(dān)心它們會分散注意力了。
當(dāng)這些內(nèi)容都做標(biāo)記后，文章結(jié)構(gòu)就非常清楚了，哪兒是舉例、哪兒是結(jié)論、哪兒是原因、哪兒是轉(zhuǎn)折一目了然，定位非常容易。
我的提高閱讀速度的不二法門：反復(fù)閱讀已經(jīng)讀過的文章，5遍左右吧!慢慢地就會產(chǎn)生一種直覺，知道哪里略讀哪里重讀。
