You shouldn't have to pay for a PhD, look around for a fellowship and your tuition and living fees are covered. This is the slight advantage of having a Masters, you can use it as a leverage to go on to the PhD especially the relationships with the faculty that you may have already. The downside is that you don't have as much choice in what you want to do your research on plus it's quite competitive although PhDs in general are already very competitive nowadays.

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Added on February 24, 2011, 5:45 amBut then again if you're in the rural areas you miss out on the opportunities presented by the real world. Technology in Silicon Valley, TV/film in Los Angeles, finance/media/fashion in NYC, biotech in San Diego etc. These influence universities a lot and you don't want to miss out.

It's not so hard to skip out on parties, do you party every night in KL now?


This post has been edited by tishaban: Feb 24 2011, 05:45 AM

It depends a lot on where you go and what field. I would definitely ask up front and show your portfolio before you even take the time and effort to apply. If they say yes they can consider giving you advanced credits then go ahead and apply.

The only thing is if you're going to one of the top universities, they most likely won't accept these kinds of advanced placements but as with all things, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Some US universities (and UK universities too) will accept your SPM trial results for your applications. The application cycle starts usually towards the end of the year and you get an offer by the spring (April onwards) for entrance in Aug/September. So yes for the most part you'll have 9+ months of not much to do.

Note however that top US universities eg. the Ivy Leagues, MIT etc are starting to require 12 years of education so you no longer can apply straight after SPM. They'll take A-levels or form 6 as the 12th year.