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老皇历，也许过时了。另外，每个专业也不同。仅供参考。

Writing in Chinese takes too much time, so I will write itin English. (If you cannot understand this simple Blog but wants to study inthe US, maybe you should improve your English first.)

I applied to three graduate schools in 1985, while most ofmy schoolmates sent out 5-10 applications. We all had our Master’s degrees whenwe planned to go abroad, but the truth is you don’t need a Master’s degree toget into a Ph.D program in the US.

Two of my applications went to department programs, insteadof professors. One went to a professor, who was considered “a rising star” bymy Chinese mentor. I read two papers by this professor, and wrote him a shortletter. (Not sure how good my English was then, but my typing skill wasterrible.) He wrote me back, telling me that I can be his student IF he getsfunded by the NSF. I had no idea how hard to get such funding, so I was not tooworried (but I would be very worried today).

Looking back, I might be better off had I tried a well-knownschool and got in. However, I have learned a great deal under the guidance ofmy adviser. As a bonus, I even learned how to write research papers from him,which actually took a little longer that getting my Ph.D. (I was lucky, since NOTevery Ph.D knows how to write well in English. Trust me.)

One of the two programs I applied to put me on a waitinglist for spring semester. Since I got an offer from the professor, I nevercared about the waiting list. The other program rejected me, but it didn’t hurttoo much since I was “taken” by then.

I think one can apply to a program or a professor or both.If you contact a professor directly, you should “profile” him first. The moreyou know about his work, the better. If you apply to a program, check out theprogram and the professors related to the program. Regardless, it is NOT “gofishing.” Even for college (B.S.) application, I suggest two schools at eachlevel and send out no more than six letters, the same for applying to M.S.programs.

I hope this helps.