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Applying for grad school? Sharing here a few pointers on grad school applications! Pl feel free to share w/ folks who might benefit! Disclaimer: I am not an expert! I came across some questions from different people and I see a pattern, so here we go: #AcademicChatter 0/N
Where to apply? How to do this? Start with a list of schools 3 dream schools, 4 would love to go, 3 safe( will get in most likely)! Google sheets, to do lists, color codes, then marie kondo the hell out of this process! You got this! 1/N
Webpage! I cannot emphasize how nice it is to see a candidates webpage with all information consolidated at one place! I have some students tell me that they don’t have enough content to create a webpage! You need it even more! 2/N
Webpage is not only for those who have >xyz publications! At the very least you would have an introduction, and may be even a few projects to showcase! I am sure you would have more items like courses, self taught or otherwise, your journey so far (bachelors etc.), etc. 3/N
Letters of recommendation(recos): reach out to people ahead of time so that they have ample time in writing a good one! Choose the references wisely! Choose profs/managers who can talk strongly about your work! Someone that worked closely with you. 4/N
Recos: I know not all of us have enough references to really choose from! It’s okay! Try your best! You are doing the best you can! Ask them to emphasize your research skills, your independent working abilities, coding practices, leadership and initiatives, work ethics, etc. 5/N
Email professors: Most professors won’t reply! I still recommend emailing because *some* do reply! Many have specific rules for emailing them on their webpage- follow them so they know you did your homework! Prepare short emails- intro, research alignment, actionable ask) 6/N
Email students from labs of your choice to know more about profs, departments, lab environment, working styles, level of autonomy expected, living costs, etc. Students are typically nice and happy to answer & sometimes even guide! Note they may eventually become your peers! 7/N
Statement of purpose (sop): This is a tricky one and I don’t have the best answer so take this with a grain of salt! I usually go for a bigger picture purpose as opening; eg what you want to do & why you want to do! Alternatively, what motivated you to pursue the program! 7/N
Motivating example such as the first time I created a robot I fell in love with AI etc.! Further down get into more conrete backgrounds eg what you did so far and what has it accomplished towards bigger picture goals you mentioned in the opening! 8/N
Followed by what you want to do in graduate school? Eg Research at the intersection of x and y! What specific problems you might tackle? Now, most important part to end with why this lab, prof, & school? What do you bring specifically for that place? Why you + this lab? 9/N
Sop: There is usually good advice on school’s websites too for writing a sop for example! Do your research thoroughly! You might also find sample sops online! It might be useful to get the statement proofread! Write a draft, get feedback, repeat! 10/N
Research experience: If you don’t have papers, there are ways to show you can do research: literature review your favorite topic, write it, host in on your webpage (see its useful to have one)! 11/N
Research experience: Reproduce a paper results , open source the code on your github, submit to the repro challenge (see @koustuvsinha ‘s webpage) this is another great way to boost your profile and shows that you already know the topic you are interested in! 12/N
Research experience: Read papers and summarize them on your webpage ( see “a paper a week” by @shagunsodhani ) 13/N
Network: Apply for summer schools, apply for bootcamps, etc! Try to find funding to go there( now hopefully it will all be online atleast partially)! Tak to profs, have a short pitch ready, tell them about your work, and your aspirations to go to grad school! You never know! 14/N
Network: Talk to alumni from your current school/workplace! The more people you talk to the better your chances are to find out more about places, people, fundings and opportunities in general ! 15/N
Grades: Usually schools might have a cut off that you need to meet! Apart from it, I don’t think they matter a lot! 16/N
GRE: This was an unnecessary pain when I applied! I hear this has been eliminated! If it hasn’t, I have zero advice on how to ace it! I was & am terrible at time-pressured online exams! Also, no one makes me read a comprehension passage at that speed in my daily research! 17/N
Overall: Keep an open mind to where you want to go and what project you want to work on! Don’t consider not getting the 1st choice as a compromise! Your 3rd choice might turn out to be better fit after all! 18/N
Since I have a lot of Twitter friends who are grad students/profs themselves—-if you have anything to add that you found useful and someone might benefit from that, please do share here! Thank you! 19/N
Funds: I assumed thus far in the thread that you have funding to pay application fees (my bad)! If you cannot afford it, I believe you can request the school(s) to waive it! Also note that you get paid during PhD! I do not recommend joining a PhD program without funding! 20/N
