Tips on Submitting a Successful Application

Successful applicants to the IGERT-TEECH program must address some key points in their applications. Here are a few tips on elements to consider when writing and submitting your applications:

• Express succinctly your personal goals and how they match those of a program that integrates engineering, technology and cultural heritage. We want to know why you are applying to this interdisciplinary program.
  
  
• Address how your past experiences have prepared you for this program. These often go beyond traditional academic measures such as courses, grade point averages and GRE scores, to encompass any of a wide variety of work and life experiences which illustrate your motivation to work hard and rise to challenges. Extensive work or research experience is often as good as and sometimes even a better measure of an applicant's future ability to succeed at graduate studies.
  
  
• Mention any published work, including papers in professional journals, conference proceedings, books, reports, newspaper articles, etc. Publications can be particularly relevant because they demonstrate the successful completion and dissemination of research – a good indicator of future success in a Ph.D. program.
  
  
• Articulate interesting areas for cross-fertilization and for transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries. We are interested in people who think creatively about how to solve problems. We are also interested in people who bring unusual and valuable skills to the program. Sometimes, we talk to applicants who have had another career, a double major, or a Master's degree in a seemingly unrelated field: a non-traditional path to the Ph.D. program may provide unique and valuable insights to draw upon in your graduate work. Think carefully about your background and share with us how it prepares you for a cross-disciplinary program.
  
  
• Converse or exchange emails with professors or technical professionals associated with the program: take advantage of any opportunity to engage with faculty members and provide them with a reason to look for your application when it arrives.

Good luck! Do not hesitate to contact us with questions at cisa3@ucsd.edu.