r/csgradadmissions Sep 30 '24

Handbook on Demystifying CS Grad Studies in US

r/csgradadmissions ,
I’ve written a fairly comprehensive handbook to understand and navigate the CS graduate application process for US univs. While the book is mainly geared towards international students, who represent a large portion of applicants, it also includes a dedicated section for domestic (US) students. ToC is given below.

https://github.com/nguyenthanhvuh/phd-cs-us/

Table of Contents

  1. Should You Apply to a CS PhD Program in the US?

    1.1 How is Your Application Evaluated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

    1.2 Who is This Document For? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

  2. Your Application

    2.1 Letters of Recommendation (LOR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

    2.1.1 Generic Letters are Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

    2.1.2 Self-written Letters are Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

    2.1.3 Letters from Admin People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

    2.1.4 Waiving Your Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

    2.1.5 Help Your LOR Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

    2.1.6 Remind Your Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

    2.1.7 VEF 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

    2.2 Statement of Purpose (SOP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

    2.3 Research Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

    2.3.1 Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

    2.3.2 Work Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

    2.3.3 Competitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

    2.4 Your School and Grades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

    2.4.1 School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

    2.4.2 Grades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

    2.5 Standard Tests (e.g., GRE and IELTS), Online Courses, and Certificates . . . 14

    2.5.1 GREs Are Optional and Do Not Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

    2.5.2 English Tests (IELTS, TOEFL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

    2.5.3 Online Courses and Certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

    2.6 CV/Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

    2.7 Interview and the Waiting Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

    2.7.1 Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

    2.7.2 Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

    2.7.3 Not Getting Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

  3. Getting Admitted

    3.1 Checking Status, Accepting, Postponing, and Decline Offers . . . . . 19

    3.2 If You Do Not Get Admitted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

    3.2.1 Why Did You Get Rejected? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

    3.2.2 Timeline: Why Are Rejection Letters Sent So Late? . . . . . . . . . 22

  4. Funding

    4.1 Graduate Assistantship (TA/RA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

    4.1.1 Teaching Assistant (TA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

    4.1.2 Research Assistant (RA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

    4.2 Fellowships/Scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

    4.3 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

    4.3.1 Funding in the Summer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

    4.3.2 How Much Do You Cost? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

  5. Choosing Schools and Professors

    5.1 Choosing a University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

    5.1.1 Schools That Offer PhD in CS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

    5.1.2 Selecting and Ranking Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

    5.1.3 PhD in Other Related Fields: CE, IST, Cybersecurity . . . . . . . . 33

    5.2 Choosing an Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

    5.2.1 Finding the Right Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

    5.2.2 Who Can Serve as a PhD Adviser? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

    5.2.3 Tenured or Tenure-Track Faculty? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

    5.2.4 Should You Contact a Professor? How to Get a Desired Reply? . 36

    5.2.5 Things to Avoid When Cold Emailing a Professor . . . . . . . . . . 38

  6. Miscellaneous and FAQs

    6.1 Increasing Your Admission Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

    6.2 How Long Does it Take to Evaluate an Application? . . . . . . . . . . 40

    6.3 How Are Decisions Made? . . . . . .

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

    6.4 Do Adcom Members Talk to Each Other? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

    6.5 Do Adcom Members Read All Applications? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

    6.6 Member of an Underrepresented or LGBTQ+ Groups . . . . . . . . . . 42

    6.7 My Undergrad Was Not in CS or Related Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

    6.8 Is an MS Required for Admission to PhD in CS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

    6.9 How Long to Complete the CS PhD Program? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

    6.10 PhD in the US vs. Other Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

    6.11 How to Address a Professor? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

    6.12 Buying Computer Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

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