套磁在美国大学研究生申请阶段有着非常重要的作用。因为硕士是没有导师带的；申请理工科比文科有用，因为对于理工科的学生来讲，所拿到的奖学金其实就是教授的研究经费的一部分，因此与其说是学校给你发奖学金不如说是教授给你发。而对于文科，情况完全不同，研究经费一般由院系决定，教授可以起到的作用很有限。

　　下面是堪萨斯州立大学kansas state univ 电子工程系的一个印度assistant教授对套磁的看法和建议。这位刚刚博士毕业的印度年轻人意见很尖锐，很多地方语气甚至都不太友好。但是，认认真真地看完绝对对你的申请道路有着非常非常大的帮助。

　　International applicants seeking assistantship/admission: please do not send me emails blindly without reading this

　　Every day I receive emails from international candidates for information, for advice, and especially requesting financial assistance. Unfortunately, I delete most of them without even reading them carefully. I get so many irrelevant emails that cannot reply to each. Extremely rarely has one caught my attention. Please do not send me emails without reading this first. I am only interested in corresponding to candidates who are exceptional, and have a strong interest and experience in my immediate area of specialization, and I highly prefer ones with a Master's degree.

　　For your benefit, I have included in this page, some writing tips, when corresponding to me, and perhaps also in writing to other faculty members in US Universities. When corresponding, do not mention your age/date of birth, your gender, nationality etc. These are superfluous information.

　　I am NOT interested in: Extra-curricular activities, performance in high school or before, TOEFL scores, hobbies, software skills, UNIX/ORACLE/NOVELL certification and other items unrelated to my research area*.

　　I am SOMEWHAT interested in: Your awards/academic honors, academic records, GPA, GRE score (2200+), experience.

　　I am HIGHLY interested in: Your publications, research interests (have supporting evidence for your claim, don't just claim you are interested, unless you actually have done some work in the area).

　　*(Incidentally, I do not know what NOVELL or Microsoft certification are.

　　Research is more concerned with things like advanced mathematical skills,creativity etc. Too much software skill actually may even count negative in my group).

　　Information I CANNOT provide

　　1. Chances of getting assistantship in the department (other than my own available research grants - I do not have any right now, although not very likely, it may change in future).

　　2. Deadlines for assistantship/admission.

　　3. Any information on admission procedures and policies.

　　4. Minimum GRE/TOEFL scores required.

　　5. How to get application forms.

　　6. Whether a decision for assistantship or admission was made.

　　7. Other faculty who would be interested in a prospective student's background (you can easily see faculty research interests from the department website).

　　8. When an admission/assistantship decision will be made.

　　9. Any other information, other than that below,

　　The only information I CAN provide

　　1. Compatibility of your interests/background with my own research area.

　　2. Possibility of getting research support from my own (not departmental) funds. I am always trying to get external funding for my research projects.

　　3. Possible research areas you could work on with your background, with me.

　　I know how interested some students are in coming to the USA for a higher degree. I have written this as a useful guide for you. I have also written this to let prospective international students try and focus their own efforts properly, instead of wasting their energy sending me emails. Here are two sample letters.

　　A sample letter that will never get the candidate an assistantship with me:

　　Unwanted email

　　Respected sir,

　　I am very interested in going to the US for higher studies. I am seeking admission and financial assistance in your esteemed University. I am very interested in artificial intelligence and computer architecture. I have programming experience in C++, C and Java. I am also familiar with several software packages in the Windows environment (MS Word, Excel Spreadsheet etc.). I also have networking certification from NOVELL. My GRE score is 2050, and I got 99 percentile in the TOEFL exam.