Top-ranked master's/MBA plan

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

But what happens if he is unable to do so or changes his mind?  Then all that effort, time and money for an online US bachelors / masters would be a complete waste. 

In some pragmatic sense, yeah. But I'm saying that the point about the online undergraduate degree would be moot if they earn it and attend any in-person grad program. There are other in-person programs to aspire to, fortunately.

[Jesse666]

I don't know how the Chinese university system works, but if you would be able to transfer that coursework to another university in China, then you may be able to transfer at least some of it to the USA. You would need to have your Chinese transcript translated and evaluated by an evaluation company in the US.

Whether UMPI will help you reach your goals or not depends on YOU. For the most part, American universities do not put very much emphasis on "rankings". Other things matter a lot more. These things include:

1.) Whether the Bachelor's degree is from a Regionally Accredited college or university. UMPI is Regionally Accredited.

2.) Your college or university grades. Depending on what program you're looking at, more competitive graduate programs are usually looking for a GPA of at least 3.5. I do not know what program you are looking at and what its minimum requirements might be.

3.) Your reference letters. Some graduate programs require letters of reference, in English, that state why you might be a good fit for their program. I think that some professors at UMPI will write you a letter, but many will not do it for online students. These letters of reference can sometimes be a challenge for international students to procure.

4.) Your application "essay". Many graduate programs require the student to write a letter or essay that explains why they feel they should be admitted to the program and what they hope to accomplish out of it. You obviously should not lie, but saying that you're only applying because the school has a high ranking is something that is unlikely to impress the admissions people. If your desired program of study requires a letter or essay like this, you might want to start thinking about what to put in it now.

In general, your "whole application package" is way more important overall than what UMPI's ranking is. UMPI does have a good ranking, but people from this forum have gotten into similarly-ranked schools with Bachelor's degrees from schools that have a lower ranking than UMPI.

Thank you very much for your reply.  When applying to companies or universities in China, factors such as university ranking and educational quality may be used as selection criteria, which can result in students from lower-ranked University being screened out. However, I am not familiar with the situation in the United States, so I am curious if top-ranked American schools also use university ranking as one of the criteria when admitting master's students (for example, by not considering students from universities ranked outside of the QS50).

Additionally, I am interested in learning more about UMPI and its reputation in the United States. Would it be considered within the acceptable range of top-ranked schools? Because my end goal is to apply for a master's from a top-ranked university, will Upenn LPS have more advantages over UMPI when applying for a master's degree?  Thank you again for your help and expertise.

[rachel83az]

[font=Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system,]Thank you very much for your reply.  When applying to companies or universities in China, factors such as university ranking and educational quality may be used as selection criteria, which can result in students from lower-ranked University being screened out. However, I am not familiar with the situation in the United States, so I am curious if top-ranked American schools also use university ranking as one of the criteria when admitting master's students (for example, by not considering students from universities ranked outside of the QS50).[/font]

[font=Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system,]Additionally, I am interested in learning more about UMPI and its reputation in the United States. Would it be considered within the acceptable range of top-ranked schools? Because my end goal is to apply for a master's from a top-ranked university, will Upenn LPS have more advantages over UMPI when applying for a master's degree?  Thank you again for your help and expertise.[/font]

Like I said, American graduate programs do not care about ranking as much as they care about your application package and what YOU bring to the table. Whether you go to a top 10 school or a bottom 10 school for your Bachelor's, you've still got a good chance of going to Stanford for your graduate degree. UPenn has very little advantage over UMPI when it comes to admission to a graduate school. UPenn might give you a slight advantage if you were applying for a graduate degree from UPenn itself or from a nearby university. Otherwise, the name and the ranking of the school don't matter as much as the application that you put together. 

I understand that ranking is very important in the Chinese academic and business world, but I doubt that most American university admissions people are even that aware of the QS50 list and exactly which universities are on it. Ranking simply does not have any bearing on the admissions process.

Not that it matters that much to Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc., but UMPI is well-ranked within the USA. It simply happens to be located in a state with a very low population. The entire state of Maine only has a population of about one million. The physical UMPI campus is located in one of the least populated regions of the state. The result is that, even when well-ranked, UMPI hasn't been talked about a lot because there's just nobody to talk about it. 

https://www.umpi.edu/articles/umpi-recei...-u-s-news/


Your whole admissions package will be much, much more important than whether you go to somewhere like UPenn or UMPI for your undergraduate degree.

[spohara]

FWIW, I got into a top 10 grad school with a 3.2 GPA from a middle ranked state school. I have no idea what the admissions folks are looking for, but I suspect a lot depends on how many people want to get into a particular program. In addition to the advice above, many programs want a writing sample. Be able to string a few sentences together and write something decent as an undergrad. Maybe score well on some of the standardized tests, but I didn't take any.

[bjcheung77]

@Jesse666 兄弟, You've provided a great introduction and follow up along with concerns, but it's still missing more important information such as your budget, commitments, study habits, previous credits for possible transfer, etc.  For the Masters program, are you looking at online degrees or are you planning for a two/three year move? Instead of going UMPI > 1 > 2 > 3, it may be cheaper, easier, faster to go from UMPI > 2 > 3.

I see you're very proactive by asking questions and getting answers for your concerns, that's great. There are numerous variables at play, without knowing the big picture and an overview of what you have, it's hard to pin-point your options. You should fill in the template and addendum here as a start and wait for responses:  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

If you haven't already reviewed some threads/posts of how others have done things, I suggest taking some time to review posts and the WIKI for details on plans and how others have gone on from Excelsior, TESU, UMPI, etc, onto graduate school. I believe you're looking for the most economical yet effective/efficient way to get from the Bachelors to the Masters, the 4 options you selected doesn't compute well with me.

Let's do a random sample of what you proposed and compare it to something I would do instead.
Your option:  UMPI $2800 > Stanford Online $45K > Stanford $45K = $92,800 in 5 years.
Recommendation: UMPI $2800 > GT $10K > UT-Austin $10K > PhD living in Australia/Canada/USA.
Depending on how you play your cards you have been dealt, you can do a PhD instead of the final Masters.

According to this and other sites, top 50: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Government
GT is not on the list, but UT-Austin is! Along with 1 Aussie, 3 Canadian, and several other global universities.
Here's a post you should review, ranking link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid359195
My Posts #6, #12, #14: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid378107

[WenJie]

As far as I am aware, online degrees are not recognized in China (yes, even one from Stanford or Upenn).  You would have to take your degrees on-campus for it to be recognized.  

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023...e-colleges
https://monitor.icef.com/2023/02/chinese...e-degrees/

Accurate, but this is going to be irrelevant if the OP applies for and goes to an in-person graduate program abroad.

But what happens if he is unable to do so or changes his mind?  Then all that effort, time and money for an online US bachelors / masters would be a complete waste. 

Many, many people from China plan or dream to go to Harvard / Stanford or any other elite US school.  But only a very fortunate few actually end up getting accepted and/or being able to afford it.

You can ask about the conditions of Stanford online transfer to on-campus learning. The HCP project transfer to the campus that I have known before has specific conditions. In addition, I do not know whether the conditions for certification in China are based on whether you can be certified if you stay outside China for enough time or if you must mark "on campus", because Stanford's online program does not seem to mark "online".

[bjcheung77]

@Jesse666 兄弟, hasn't logged back in for a year, but I noticed they've got a second account that has no posts...
@WenJie, you're a year late to this thread, it's better than not responding though, as it gives this a 'bump'...
I wonder what choice Jesse666 made over the last year, there were advice and options provided, interesting...