After you get the application materials you should choose a much smaller number of universities (around ten or maybe less) to which you are going to mail the application for admission. This is essential since with each application you will send an application fee and a number of certificates, hence the cost per university is quite high. This selection process will be mainly based on the information you read in the material you received and on the opinions of your recommenders. But in general try to have one or two universities where you have a large chance of being accepted and try your luck with another number of big universities.

Several things are needed for a complete application and this depends on each university's requirments but generally you need the following:

• Your undergraduate certificates (with the grades).
• Your GPA. It is calculated simply by assigning 4 points to each distinction grade, 3 to each very good, 2 to each good and 1 to each pass. Then you multiply these numbers by the number of hours of each course (available form the certificate with grades). You sum all this up and then divide by the total number of hours of all years to obtain a result out of 4.
• Your graduate study certificate (results of Tamhidy).
• Your TOEFL and GRE results. The university will normally require originals to be sent directly from ETS. This is really costly. What is usually done is that you photocopy your results and go to Amideast to ask them to put a "True Copy" stamp on it. This latter way costs about 7 L.E. per certificate (Dec.96 price).
• Your statement of purpose: Why do you want to continue a PhD? What does this specific university has to offer you? Why this specific field? ....
• Recommendation letters: better to be from professors who know you well and who have connections in this university if possible.
• Sometimes your CV or photocopies of your MSc work.

When you start to fill the applications you will feel that you are the biggest begger in history. Don't be ashamed, we all felt that way. You must indicate clearly that you are applying for financial support. Usually three kinds of support are available:

• Fellowships: This is the best. You are just required to study and make your PhD thesis and you are given money for that. The reason why you are given the money is because the university retains the right to your work if it becomes patentable. Fellowships are not easy to get but if you have one you will be really at ease in your life.
• Research assistance (RA): Second best choice. You are required to assist the faculty in some research project as a part time job beside your study and you are paid for your work. Usually the research you do as a job is in the same field of your PhD and you can include a large amount of it as part of your thesis. This allows you also to have contacts with the industrial company which is funding the project.
• Teaching assistance (TA): The problem with being a TA is that you prepare and study courses to teach which may be totally different from what you are doing in your PhD.