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The question of which university should you contact is a very important
one. To answer it a lot of points must be clear in your mind. Actually
these points constitute your priorities:
- Do you intend to continue in the same specific field of the master
or do you want to switch? Either way, if you have a certain field in mind
what are the universities working in this subject.
- Do you have relatives or friends in some location so that you prefer
to be with them? If so then you will be looking for universities in a
geographically restricted area.
- Do you have any medical problems that make your choices limited?
- What are your actual abilities and desires? This means would
you really like to go for a highly ranked university that will be quite
hard in its studies but allows you a distinguished career afterwards. Or,
would you prefer a smaller university with less competition where you can
easily show your dominance over the other students. The answer to this
question is closely related to the answer of the next one.
- Would you like to immigrate or stay for a while (2-3 years) before
coming back to Egypt? If this is the case then try to go for a good name
(university with reputation and a good professor) and try to do good work
in your thesis so that you can easily find a job after you finish your PhD.
If on the other hand you want to come back immediately after the PhD then
remember that in Egypt a PhD from any university in the US or Canada is
nearly the same so don't go for a hard time in your PhD unless you
really want to learn more.
- Would you like to live in a large city or in a small country town?
This should not be your choice alone if you are engaged or married. Your
spouse may find a job in a large city or even find another institution to
study in, which is not that easy in a small town. However large cities
mean high expenses and need for transportation, this is something you
must consider also.
Think about all the above points and you must contact your friends who
are already studying abroad to help you. Your professors/recommenders could
also be of help since they may know faculty members of several
universities and hence can give you a good advice. The universities web
pages are also a good source of information and guidance. There are in
general two points that you should remember:
- Large universities have different fields of study and a lot of
funding hence the competition for admission is very hard. However if you
are admitted you generally have a good funding.
- Small universities are some what restricted in the number of fields
they offer and their funding is usually not large hence the competition
is less for admission. Once admitted you may face one of two cases:
either the funding will not be enough and you will have to pay some of
your expenses or, due to the small number of students, the amount of
funding and lab equipment available for each student are quite high! The
only person who can tell you which case is the most probable is a friend
who is already at this university and preferably in the same area of
study.
You can also see the history of this document and how
it is maintained.