Applying for Graduate School

in S.T.E.M.Jia-Bin Huang

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaignwww.jiabinhuang.com

Jan 6, 2016

Resources• Why Pursue A Ph.D.? Three Practical Reasons [Link]

• by Philip Guo (University of Rochester)

• Why You, Too, Can PhD? [Link] • by Ross Tate (Cornell University)

• Applying to Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science [PDF] • by Mor Harchol-Balter (CMU)

• HOWTO: Get into grad school for STEM [Link] • by Matt Might (University of Utah)

• A Guide for Applying to Graduate Schools in USA [Link] • by Jia-Bin Huang (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

• PTT – studyabroad

•What is a PhD?

•Why Pursue a PhD?

•Why NOT to Pursue a PhD?

•How to Apply for Graduate school?

What is a PhD?Ph.D. = producing new knowledge

• It is a job!• Duration: 5-7 years• Salary: 1,800 – 2,500 USD

per month• Course: 8 - 12 courses• Research: ~3 papers• Summer: internships at industry or research labs, salary: 6,000 –

9,000 USD/month

Why Pursue a PhD?

Trade money for freedom

Freedom

$50k

$100k

$150kFinance

Engineering

Grad School

As a new STEM grad

In grad school, you have the freedom to

•make a name for yourselves,

• fail in a safe environment,

• choose from more jobs later.

Make a name for yourselves

Formulating

Executing

Selling

Executives, managers

Senior engineers + You

Surveying literature, find important problems to solve

Implementing stuffs, conducting experiments

Writing research papers,publish code, systems, presentation in conferences

Project managers, sales, marketing, PR

Industry

All by yourself!

Grad School

Collaboration• Freedom to choose whom you want to work with

Freedom to fail

$50k

$100k

$150kFinance

Engineering

Grad School

Fail in a safe environment

Fail: fired

Fail: stifled

Fail: grow

Choose from more types of jobsBachelor’s / Master’s

• Development engineering• Test engineering• Product/project manager• Investment banker• Financial analyst• Entrepreneur• K-12 teacher

Ph.D.

• R&D engineering• Corporate/gov’t researcher• Management consultant• Financial quant• Research scientist• Assistant professor• College-level teacher

Why NOT to Pursue a PhD?Grad School• Uncertainty

• Isolation

• Poverty

Industry• Short-term pay-off

• Teamwork

• 3x to 5x salary boost

Image credits: https://www.facebook.com/MobileGirlMiM/

Graduate school application• Timeline• Transcript – grades and classes• Research Experience• Recommendations• Statement of purpose• GRE and TOEFL

Potential Timeline• May – Sept:

• Prepare GRE and TOEFL• Researching potential schools

• Oct: • Request official transcripts• Draft personal statement• Request reference letters

(with supplementary materials)

• Nov:• Finalize the list of schools• Revise personal statement

• Dec:• Contact professors of interests• Complete and submit all applications

• Jan:• Make sure the applications are

successfully sent (official transcript, GRE/TOEFL scores, reference letters)

• Feb – April:• Receiving interview requests,

admission, rejections• April 15: decision

• May – July:• Getting ready

• Aug: • Starting graduate school

Transcript – Classes and Grades• GPA 3.5 – 4.0 are roughly the same• A GPA of 4.0 alone with no research experience will NOT get you into

any top program• Low GPA?• If Major GPA or upper-division GPA is higher, call that out• Research experiences help

• GPAs are evaluated in the context of undergraduate program• A GPA of 3.4 in CMU may count as 3.8 or 3.9 in other less well-known programs

• Extra (graduate) classes help?• Only if these extra courses lead you to work on an interesting research problem

Research ExperienceThe single question for evaluating a student:

“Does this person have the potential to conduct scientific research?”

Where you might get research experience?• Do research with a professor.

• Summer internship at a research lab or another school.

• Getting a job as a research assistant.

• Master thesis if you are a master student.

• Work alone or with friends, ask professors for advices.

Recommendation Letters• Avoid D.W.I.C. (Do Well In Class) letters. => Count for ZERO.• Ask someone who can comment on your potential to do solid research

with specific examples.• You would like to have these words in your letters• Self-motivated, strong research potential, own initiative, independent, and driven

• A letter counts more if admissions committee knows the recommender• The credibility of the recommender counts• Prof. X: student A is the best student I have seen for my entire career.

• Might count for ZERO as the Prof. X always sends such letters• Prof. Y: student B is among the top 20% of the students I worked with.

• Might be very strong as demonstrated by the performance from Prof. Y’s research group.

Statement of Purpose (SOP)• Or personal statement

• Actually, a “research” statement.

• What research you have done? What research you hope to do? Why you like research?

• A writing sample. Show how well you can write.

A Personal Statement Template• First paragraph

• Describe the general areas of research that interest you and why. (Helpful for a committee to determine which professors should read your application.)

• Second paragraph, Third, and Fourth paragraph• Describe some research projects that you worked on. What was the problem you

were trying to solve? Why was it important? What approaches did you try? What did you learn? It’s fine to say that you were unable to fully solve your problem.

• Fifth paragraph• Tell us why you feel you need a Ph.D.

• Sixth paragraph• Tell us why you want to come to a specific school. Whom might you like to work

with? What papers have you looked at that you enjoyed reading? Why is the school the right place for you?

A Simplified Admission ModelGPA

Scor

e

1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

TOEFL/GRE

Scor

e

Scores

Research

Scor

e

Experiences

SOP

Scor

e

Quality

Recommendations

Scor

eQuality

Maximizing your chances• Research, research, and research• PUBLISH!• If possible, publish in internationally recognized conferences/journals

• Apply broadly• Say 5% acceptance rate for top schools and 10% for regular schools• Applying 10 top schools,

Prob[getting an admission] = (1-0.9510) = 40.2%• Applying 10 top schools and 10 regular schools,

Prob[getting an admission] = (1-0.9510 0.9010 ) = 79.2%

• Don’t show weakness: GRE/TOEFL, references, SOP, curriculum vitae• Ask for feedback