These pieces of advice are a part of a workshop held in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as part of the orientation for new graduate students at 8-8-2016:
1- Get the department handbook.
2- Develop an annual calendar for your work to do towards graduation.
3- apply for financial assistance (ex. women and minorities website is www.sreb.com).
4- Choose your program of study (in case that there are many options).
5- Transfer credit from other universities or courses.
6- Apply for an assistantship (Graduate Research Assistant GRA or Graduate Teaching Assistant GTA).
Note: Try to avoid GTA in your first year.
7- Try to know the professional journals in your field (and advisor’s preferences).
8- Choose an Advisor (if you did not already have one).
9- “Come to the 21st century“, how? we will see 🙂
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Networking is magical to your career.
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check these secrets for success (here).
For more information about how to apply to USA universities, visit this link (here, in Arabic)
general notes:
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the most time-consuming chapter in your dissertation is chapter-2 (the literature review) or (the related work).
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look for proposals about recent trends or grants before selecting your topic.
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try to have self-efficacy which means that you should believe in yourself and your capability to succeed.
