First, Chinese students need to find an
appropriate graduate school to accept them
for advanced education. Most top graduate
schools need to interview their applicants
before offering a place. This can be difficult
to arrange for applicants from China. In
addition, many schools have limited slots
for international students because of NIH
training grant restrictions. Having benefited
from talented Asian students, some U.S. uni-
versities have started to send professors to
Asia to interview candidates there, which is
a good idea.After they get admitted, Chinese students
must overcome visa problems. This has
become much more problematic since 9/11.
Often multiple interviews are required at
American embassies or consulates, and even
then, visa requests are frequently declined. For
those that are successful in gaining permission
to study in U.S. graduate schools, Asian stu-
dents have to face many challenges including
language, communication and socializationskills, and learning through critical evaluation
of existing knowledge, probably in increasing
order of difficulty. The last is especially prob-
lematic for many Chinese students, because
the culture of the educational system in China
is quite different from the United States: what
the textbooks say is regarded as absolute truth;
respecting authority (professors) is an impor-
tant virtue. Asian students are not used to
group discussions and critiquing textbooks,
lectures, published papers, or what professors
have to say. In addition, a general lack of labo-
ratory training in the undergraduate curricu-
lum in China makes students’ laboratory rota-
tions disorienting.The help they receive from their American
classmates and professors is invaluable. For
students who are newly exposed to the envi-
ronment and culture, an off-hand, careless
remark could be devastating at such a fragile
stage. On the other hand, a kind gesture or
word from a fellow student or professor can
encourage a student immeasurably and may
well change the destiny of his or her life.
The many students who are successful as
graduate students move on to postdoctoral
fellowships, and many of them then to facul-
ty or other senior positions. Often the limit-
ing factors are presentation skills and the
ability to engage in interesting and effective
scientific exchanges with their colleagues,
both of which are important determinants in
evaluations for these higher positions. These
deficiencies stem from the original differ-176 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS II
Often multiple interviews
are required at American
embassies or consulates, and
even then visa requests are
frequently declined.The culture of the educational
system in China is quite
different from the United States:
what the textbooks say is
regarded as absolute truth;
respecting authority (professors)
is an important virtue.A kind gesture or word from
a fellow student or professor
can encourage a student
immeasurably and may well
change the destiny of their life.