Studying in the United States: fewer and fewer students apply for doctoral degrees.

Trend 1: fewer and fewer students apply for doctoral degrees.

For a long time, most people in the society think that studying for a doctorate is very helpful for future life development. In the eyes of China people, the higher the education, the better the development and the higher the achievement, so good students hope to have the opportunity to study for a doctorate in the future. Therefore, in the past, many students chose to apply for a doctorate if they wanted to study in the United States, regardless of whether they were suitable for doing research, whether they were interested in doing research, or even whether they had the ability to do research. In order to stay in the United States after graduation, more students chose science and engineering, which is relatively easy to find a job.

But after so many years, it turns out that this concept is not completely correct. Reading and working are two different things. A good study and a high degree do not necessarily mean that you will develop well in your work.

However, the years of doctoral studies are getting longer and longer, the employment situation is getting worse and worse, and the immigration situation is getting more and more difficult, which makes Chinese mainland's elite students stop scrambling to go to the United States for doctoral studies.

Trend 2: More and more people study for master's degree at their own expense.

With the development of economy and the circulation of information, the number of people who apply for master's degree in the United States for their own interests has doubled, and they are more and more scattered in different professional fields. Most of them are self-funded students. Studying for a postgraduate degree in the United States is different from studying for a doctorate, which does not mean that you can get a scholarship if you have excellent application conditions.

Because it only takes 1-2 years to study as a graduate student, the time is short, the cost is low, and you can find a job soon, and the return on investment is much higher than that of 5-7 years to study as a doctor, so generally speaking, schools award scholarships to graduate students whose majors are relatively cold and employed, that is, the so-called majors that don't make big money and have high salaries, but such majors are meaningful and helpful to the sustainable development of human society. From this perspective, not getting a scholarship to study in the United States does not mean that the student is not excellent. Scholarships are awarded according to the fierce competition of the applicant school for this major and the degree of hot and cold graduation employment of this major, and the chances of winning prizes are rare.

Trend 3: The visa pass rate in the United States will be higher and higher.

Nowadays, with the economic recession in Europe and America, many enterprises have laid off employees, and it is more difficult for Fortune 500 companies to apply for green cards for foreign employees. Students studying in the United States after 2000 face great challenges after graduation. Can't stay? Because for them, after finding a job, it is almost impossible to get a green card smoothly within the six-year period of obtaining an American H- 1 work visa. If they can't get a green card, the chances left are almost zero. China students who have been studying in the United States, no matter whether their jobs are ideal or not, now it is difficult to stay in the United States for a long time and become American citizens. Therefore, students studying in the United States now should pay more attention to their life planning of returning to the Asia-Pacific region or the Chinese world for a long time in the future, rather than their life planning of staying in the United States for employment and development after graduation, like the old international students.

At the same time, the vast majority of parents and students should look at such a large self-funded investment in studying in the United States with a longer-term vision and a healthy attitude. They can't simply decide whether to go abroad based on their starting salary after graduation, nor can they take staying in the United States as a measure.

scholarship

It is a trend for American universities to reduce the amount and amount of financial aid to China students.

Generally speaking, the full prize or half prize offered by American universities refers to the aid on demand, that is, the aid given by the school according to the family economic situation at the time of application, including tuition and living expenses.

In today's increasingly fierce competition among international students, with the increasing number of applicants from China, the annual household income in China has increased year by year, and the number of applicants with excellent quality in all aspects who do not need financial aid from universities has increased year by year, enabling universities to put their limited funds more on the economic needs of their own students or students from other developing countries. Starting from the freshmen enrolled in 2008, the undergraduate admissions offices of famous universities will no longer easily grant scholarships to Chinese mainland applicants.

In addition, it is worth noting that in the past, many schools, including Yale and Princeton, directly approved students' applications for grants. This year, these schools need to preliminarily verify the family income and family education affordability of China students, and then decide whether to provide financial aid and how much, which will be a strict test of the integrity of domestic students.

internship

Many universities still offer paid internships.

It is reported that many universities in the United States have paid internship mechanisms, such as the University of Cincinnati and Lauren Community College, which provide opportunities for paid internships (Co-op).

The University of Cincinnati is the founder of paid internships. As early as 1906, the dean of engineering college founded the concept of paid internship and began to spread it from the United States to the whole world. The University of Cincinnati is cooperating with American 1500 enterprises for paid internships, with more than 5,000 participants each year. If students choose the Engineering School, Architecture School, Business School and Applied Science School of the University of Cincinnati, their undergraduate study will last for five years, including paid internship courses from 1 year to 1 year and a half. This is a curriculum, interspersed with five years of study, from the second to the fourth year, three months of study and three months of work or six months of study and six months of work. Paid internships count as credits. During the internship, the students earned 40,000 to 60,000 dollars in one and a half years.

But the most important thing is that paid internship has a very good guarantee for students' future employment. After 60% of the students who take part in paid internships at the University of Cincinnati graduate, their work units are paid internships. More than 80% students find jobs immediately after graduation, and more than 98% students find jobs immediately after graduation. Taking part in paid internship has given students a very good exercise and accumulation in interpersonal communication and vocational skills.

Lauren Community College also offers paid internships. The school provides paid internships for students who have completed 15 credits (at least 6 professional credits), with a total GPA of more than 2.0 and a professional GPA of more than 2.5. Students who participate in paid internships can not only get credits, but also get a certain salary. In addition, Lauren Community College also provides numerous employment opportunities and perfect employment guidance. The school provides on-campus recruitment services for employers and holds annual job fairs, which creates many employment opportunities for students and opportunities for face-to-face communication with employers. The school has also set up a career counseling service center for students, which not only answers questions for students at any time, but also helps students make correct evaluations, perfect packaging and tailor-made innovative and practical resumes.

Professional choice

Be careful? A swarm of bees? , blindly follow suit

According to experts, students in China still follow suit in their major choices, such as rushing to study finance. In fact, there are some disadvantages for China students to study finance in the United States. American finance needs to be sold to a large extent, that is, it needs to deal with strangers and sell a fund or insurance to others. If a student doesn't have enough verbal skills and ability to get along with others, he can't be an investment bank, insurance company or so-called financial institution in the United States. The same is true for accounting majors. Many students can study accounting if they think they are good at mathematics and statistics, but there is still a certain gap between American accounting and China accounting.

Experts suggest that when choosing a major, students should closely contact their own workplace orientation and understand the latest development of the industry. Now more and more emerging disciplines are interdisciplinary, and more and more schools, especially many community colleges including some second-rate universities, have more emerging projects, which are closely linked with this market, such as sports management, new environmental protection and energy conservation, new energy and other majors.