6:09 AM
hunger is still around and has to be solved before doing other things.
@Malavika I think preparing for TOEFL doesn't require to go to cram school. If it is needed, I wouldn't take it because I don't want to go to cram school for such a test. But I don't need to take it now.
I also wouldn't go to cram school for GRE. I can't get a high school after taking it three times and don't want to apply for USA schools.
applying for USA universities take too much, application fees, recommendation letters, GRE fee, GRE subject fee, TOEFL fee, mail fees for GRE, GRE subject, and TOEFL administrator to send grades to the schools you apply for. If you fail to get admitted to any university, you will lose a lot of money in vain.
but all the above are not my current problems because I have long given up USA.
I don't really feel USA is that good. USA visa fee is also very expensive.
when I just graduated, I almost didn't have money, so I can't apply for USA at all.
to apply for USA, you need to have extra money first.
to apply for other countries, you only need to have money for food and housing.
so after graduation, I first tied to look for a paid position, only after which did I start to prepare for USA applications.
but finally I decide to give it up.
applying for Europe is really easier.
actually I have finished.
I have a place to go now.
I didn't target on a particular university; I applied for a lot of places.
I probably applied for over 20 places.
actually I applied for positions, rather than universities.
for PhD in Europe, it's often application from a professor, an institute, rather than the university.
a university may have more than one PhD position to be apply for.
for example, I have applied for two positions in Uppsala University earlier this year.
if you applied for USA, you can't apply for many universities unless you have sufficient money because each university requires application fee and the grade mailing fees you need to pay to TOEFL and GRE.
Well. TOEFL or GRE would only mail your grade to 5 universities without charging extra fee. If you apply for more than 5 universities, you need to pay extra fee each university for the grade to be mailed.
well, the USA universities don't accept self-mailing the grade, they require the test administrator to mail them the grade directly.
so the test administrator can take this change to charge you a lot of money.