Hello Ariel: Thanks very much for your response, it’s very helpful.
However, for my situation it’s a bit different: If I double major in dentistry and CS(I’ll probably do them in different colleges, the below is just discussing on the CS part). I could choose a top college in Taiwan. However, in the top college I’d have to invest like much more time in order to get a top 10-20% GPA(like 3.8). In applying master in USA, it seems GPA matters much more than your college name(especially because they don’t know how big the difference of students intelligence is between the top-teir and mid-teir school in Taiwan.) Therefore, there’s a case for choosing mid-teir school in order to spend less time and maintain high GPA.
So the choice may be like: 1.spend 1000 hours extra on chasing GPA, and get a 3.2 GPA in a top-tier school 2.spend 1000 hours extra on chasing GPA, get a 3.8 GPA in a mid-tier school 3.spend 2000 hours extra on chasing GPA, get a 3.8 GPA in a top-tier school. It seems obvious that 1 is the worst for applying master degree in USA, so the choice is between 2 and 3, whether it’s worth investing like 1000 hours to improve your “college school name” on the resume. What do you think?
(And of course, there are still other advantages of choosing a top-tier school, like better peers and research environment.)
Happy to help! I agree with your framing of the problem.
I asked Claude which Taiwanese universities US masters’ programs are most likely to have heard of. Claude says NTU has the strongest name recognition, followed by NCKU, NTHU, NCTU. Others aren’t as well known internationally. If that’s accurate, that tells me that if the top option you’re considering is not one of those four, (2) mid tier + high GPA would be the best option.
If you’re planning on working on AI risk, my understanding is that most of these companies are US or Europe-based. These companies will have even lower knowledge of the distinctions between Taiwanese universities. Unless your hiring manager or interviewer is Asian, you’ll likely only get a boost from NTU and probably no benefit from NCKU, NTHU, NCTU. That leans me more in favor of (2). (Speaking as someone who interviews candidates and contributes to hiring decisions, I had dim recognition of NTU and no recognition of NCKU, NTHU, NCTU prior to writing this comment, but I expect my Asian colleagues would.)
Based on this, unless your top option is NTU, (2) mid tier + high GPA is likely best. But do your own research and don’t just take my word for it :)
Hello Ariel: Thanks very much for your response, it’s very helpful.
However, for my situation it’s a bit different: If I double major in dentistry and CS(I’ll probably do them in different colleges, the below is just discussing on the CS part). I could choose a top college in Taiwan. However, in the top college I’d have to invest like much more time in order to get a top 10-20% GPA(like 3.8). In applying master in USA, it seems GPA matters much more than your college name(especially because they don’t know how big the difference of students intelligence is between the top-teir and mid-teir school in Taiwan.) Therefore, there’s a case for choosing mid-teir school in order to spend less time and maintain high GPA.
So the choice may be like: 1.spend 1000 hours extra on chasing GPA, and get a 3.2 GPA in a top-tier school 2.spend 1000 hours extra on chasing GPA, get a 3.8 GPA in a mid-tier school 3.spend 2000 hours extra on chasing GPA, get a 3.8 GPA in a top-tier school. It seems obvious that 1 is the worst for applying master degree in USA, so the choice is between 2 and 3, whether it’s worth investing like 1000 hours to improve your “college school name” on the resume. What do you think?
(And of course, there are still other advantages of choosing a top-tier school, like better peers and research environment.)
Happy to help! I agree with your framing of the problem.
I asked Claude which Taiwanese universities US masters’ programs are most likely to have heard of. Claude says NTU has the strongest name recognition, followed by NCKU, NTHU, NCTU. Others aren’t as well known internationally. If that’s accurate, that tells me that if the top option you’re considering is not one of those four, (2) mid tier + high GPA would be the best option.
If you’re planning on working on AI risk, my understanding is that most of these companies are US or Europe-based. These companies will have even lower knowledge of the distinctions between Taiwanese universities. Unless your hiring manager or interviewer is Asian, you’ll likely only get a boost from NTU and probably no benefit from NCKU, NTHU, NCTU. That leans me more in favor of (2). (Speaking as someone who interviews candidates and contributes to hiring decisions, I had dim recognition of NTU and no recognition of NCKU, NTHU, NCTU prior to writing this comment, but I expect my Asian colleagues would.)
Based on this, unless your top option is NTU, (2) mid tier + high GPA is likely best. But do your own research and don’t just take my word for it :)