Applying for Post Grad Study in the US or Canada

Hi. I applied to 3 universities in North America last year to do a PhD in Classics - 2 in the US and one in Canada (I'm going to the one in Canada). It is very hard to get into postgrad programs, especially the best ones. Realistically you need to get a first class degree, and you should have excellent grades throughout, as they require a detailed transcript. You'll have to take the GRE's if you want to apply to the States, they're standardised tests in English and Maths. You ought to take them in September of the year before you're going. I didn't do them and the result was that I was only able to apply to the two universities in the States that I wanted to go to that didn't require them (most Canadian universities don't require them). You should start researching potential schools now - seriously, the whole process takes up so much time which is better spent doing study. Talking to your lecturers is obviously a good starting point. Some resources I found good were:
http://gradschool.about.com - good for general advice
http://www.petersons.com - good for locating courses

You should also pick up the book Getting What You Came For by Robert L. Peters. It's a really good guide to applying to grad school, getting through it, and getting a job at the other end.

Finally as for funding, well, the sciences are much better funded than the humanities. If you're good you'll get funding, but realistically what's most likely to happen is you'll get offered a small amount or no funding from a really prestigious school and a full scholarship from a less renowned school. Unless of course you're a genius. But generally speaking I think it's fair to say that there's better funding available in North America. That's certainly true of the humanities, anyway.

There are really lots of things to consider, and as I know nothing about engineering I can't give you specific advice. The best thing I can say to you is talk to your lecturers, as they'll give you the best advice and can put you in touch with people who've done postgrads in the States in recent years.

Best of luck with it anyway!



edit: Some more things I forgot to mention.
There are two Livejournal communities dealing with the grad school process, here and here. However it's an open secret that a lot of academics read those journals, and I'd advise you to lurk there rather than post. There's a lot of spin going on there too and a lot of people trying to psych one another out. So be on your guard.

The other thing I'd advise you to do, wherever you're planning on applying, be it the States, Canada, or Ireland or England, is to get involved in as much research as you can while you're still an undergrad. Ask your professors if you can assist them on projects. If there are student conferences or journals, you should submit papers to them. Also the No. 1 most important part of your application is your letters of recommendation. TBH these are no good if they're just form letters "x was one of the best students I've had" which generally indicates the lecturer doesn't really know who you are. So get to know your lecturers.

Also you should pick up a modern language or two. This is absolutely essential in the humanities, and I'm sure it's quite important in the sciences too. A reading knowledge is enough. If the programs you're applying to require you to pass an exam in French or German, well, by indicating you know one or both of them already you're ahead of the competition.