Straight to PH.D. with full scholarship, how did this straight-A student live his life in university?

Recently, Jin Xiaotian, a senior student majoring in computer science and technology has received an admission letter from King Abdullah University of Science & Technology– a straight to Ph.D. offer with full scholarship. This university is often referred as “Arab MIT”, an international private research university specializing in science and engineering, and is one of the universities with the lowest acceptance rate in the world. Only 200-250 students are selected from 10,000 to 12,000 applicants each year.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is the only university that Jin applied for. How did he make it? How did he spend his college life?

Interest is the Biggest Motivation

/ Stick to Your Favorite Major/

Jin Xiaotian has participated in programming and information competitions since middle school. He has always been very keen to mathematics and computers. As a student of Science, his GaoKao score was 30 points above the Tier-1 cut off of Zhejiang Province. He cast his vote on computer science and technology as his first choice for further learning in university. Following his passion, he decides to pursue master degree in Statistics. Jin said, “I will continue to study in my favorite subject and I am very excited about it.”

/Choose your Favorite Learning Vibe/

Wenzhou-Kean University is his first choice. The reason why he applied for WKU is that he believed that the international environment was the biggest advantage. Jin Xiaotian mentioned that faculty here at WKU are international, and the curriculum is international, as well as the instruction. At WKU, the small-size classroom, whole English learning environment, group cooperation and other teaching methods are of great benefit to his study. And all these have made WKU an attractive learning environment.

Adopting Right Method Saves Effort and Leads Better Results

In the four years of college, Jin’s average grade point reached 3.762 (4.0), which can be regarded as one of the best students in his major. At the same time, he won the first prize of the Dean’s Scholarship and had served as a peer tutor for two years inWKU Student Academic Support Services Center, responsible for one-to-one computer and math tutoring. He also served as a student assistant to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and the head of technology department of science and technology society…

During the four years in the college, he has his own insight of study: to learn more with less efforts by adopting smart methods.

Jin Xiaotian said, “It is not enough to learn the content in the classroom. It is necessary to make full use of foreign resource platform in the university and take this advantage to tap all available learning resources.” He highly recommends platforms like Couresera and Edx, especially MIT OCW, which he particularly mentioned that it is was treasure with various high-quality courses of MIT.

He also said that it was important to communicate with professors. Professors’ experience will benefit you a lot. With an introverted personality, he used to be afraid to talk directly with professors, but after stepping outside his comfort zone and began talking to them, he found that professors were very friendly. Also, having more contacts with professors, one may have the opportunity to participate in professors’ projects, whether it is for graduate school application or employment consideration.

Take unique path, win unexpected gains

For King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, this university sounds relatively new to many people. Jin said that most of his classmates chose European countries, America and Japan when decided to study aboard, while he chose the school in the Middle East, which is an unusual choice. He mainly valued its strength in science and technology and excellent research vibe, and he had unexpected gains.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, this young institution was established in 2009. It owns the world’s top scientific research equipment and laboratories, and it currently recruits masters and doctoral students globally. It has witnessed the fastest development in terms of paper citation rate among the academic institutions. It is called “House of Wisdom” (Holy Land of Wisdom) and “Arab MIT”.

With his wonderful academic performance, high TOEFL scores, and achievements in programming and information, Jin Xiaotian was admitted by the Straight-to-PH.D program of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and also received a full scholarship. How to successfully apply to this university? Jin noted that the school attached great importance to the applicant’s academic research experience, research interests, GPA scores, etc. He had three rounds of interviews, including interviewing with the mentor and academic officer. If one wants to apply for a school, he/ she need make every effort, and prepare carefully, improve GPA and English and meanwhile, display the potentials in research.

For the school, Jin Xiaotian said that the most precious gift left by WKU is independence. The international environment and independence spirit give him numerous possibilities. Kind and friendly classmates and teachers are the greatest wealth that WKU has given him; for the future, Jin said that learning is a life-long process. Learning gives him more choices in the future, and he hopes that he can return to the campus with glory and have a reunion with teachers and classmates.