Ppplying to Computer Science PhD programs in the US

1. PhD Demystify: A Guideline for Prospective PhD Students in CS

This guideline helps demystify the PhD admission process in Computer Science in US universities. It aims to encourage international (and domestic) students from smaller countries and universities to apply to CS PhD programs in the US.

• PDF: https://nguyenthanhvuh.github.io/phd-cs-us/demystify.pdf
• Github Source: https://github.com/nguyenthanhvuh/phd-cs-us/
• For discussion and questions, open a new Github issue https://github.com/nguyenthanhvuh/phd-cs-us/issues

2. Links for Prospective Students

This list is inspired by various curated lists of resources, e.g., Paul Liang's awesome-phd-advice, which focuses mostly on current students. This list is specifically tailored for prospective students applying to Computer Science PhD programs in the US.

• 1. PhD Demystify: A Guideline for Prospective PhD Students in CS
• 2. Links for Prospective Students
  • 2.1. Letters of Recommendation (LOR)
  • 2.2. Statement of purpose (SOP)
  • 2.3. GPA and Standard Tests (GREs, IELETS, TOEFL) -->
  • 2.4. Funding (TA, RA, Fellowships)
    • 2.4.1. Fellowships
  • 2.5. Choosing Advisor and School
  • 2.6. Contacting / Cold-Emailing Professors

1. Applying to PhD Programs in Computer Science by Mor Harchol-Balter

2. Demystifying PhD Admissions in Computer Science in the US: A Guide for International (and Domestic) Students by ThanhVu Nguyen

3. Getting a Computer Science PhD in the USA by Shriram Krishnamurthi

4. Blog post on PhD Admission by Philip Guo

5. PhD Admission post by Yonatan Bisk (customized for CMU admission)

6. HOWTO: Get into grad school for science, engineering, math and computer science by Matt Might

7. Grad School Resources by Kalpesh Krishna

8. Ph.D. Applications: FAQ by Noah Smith

9. Awesome CS PhD application advice by Jed Yang

10. Undergrad to PhD, or not - advice for undergrads interested in research by John Hewitt

11. Quora answer on the admission committee process by Scott Fahlman

12. Reflecting on CS Graduate Admissions by David Anderson

13. The PhD in CS: Getting There and Being Successful (Youtube) by Michael Hilton, Janet Davis, and Ian Ludden

14. Applying for a PhD in NLP by Zhijing Jin and ACL Year-Round Mentorship Session

15. Demystifying ML PhD Admissions to US Universities by Hima Lakkaraju

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1. Student Perspectives on Applying to NLP PhD Programs by Akari Asai, John Hewitt, Sidd Karamcheti, Kalpesh Krishna, Nelson Liu, Roma Patel, and Nicholas Tomlin

2. Machine Learning PhD Applications — Everything You Need to Know by Tim Dettmers

2.1. Letters of Recommendation (LOR)

1. Advice for Requesting Letters of Recommendation - Goldhaber-Gordon Group, Stanford University
2. Advice to Graduate School Recommendation Letter Writers - Brown University
3. HOWTO: How to get a great LOR - Matt Might

2.2. Statement of purpose (SOP)

1. Database of Example PhD SOPs by the CS-SOP initiative

2. Some Suggestions on writing your statement of purpose by Jennifer Mankoff

3. Graduate School Personal Statements by Christopher Fletcher

4. Inside PhD admissions: What readers look for in a Statement of Purpose by Nathan Schneider

5. How to Write a Bad Statement by Andy Pavlo

6. Tips and Tricks, How-To Guide for Grad School SoPs by Erica Weng

7. Graduate School Statement of Purpose by MIT EECS

8. How to write personal statement for graduate school application by Stanley Chan

9. Writing a Google AI Residency Cover Letter by Katherine Lee and Ben Eysenbach

10. Public examples: [Cody Coleman], [Sai Rallabandi], [Jeremy Lacomis], [Sean Kross], [Zahid Hossain], [Jean Yang]

2.4. Funding (TA, RA, Fellowships)

• Computer Science Awards, Scholarships, & Fellowships - GitHub by Chinasa T. Okolo

2.4.1. Fellowships

1. Tips for the NSF GRFP Application by Danielle Perry

2. NSF GRFP Advice by Christine Liu

3. NSF Fellowship by Alex Lang

4. Tips by Tara Safavi

5. Public examples: [Extensive NSF collection by Alex Lang], [Victoria Dean (NSF personal)], [Victoria Dean (NSF research)], [Tara Safavi (NSF)], [Paul Liang (Facebook)], [Devendra Chaplot (Facebook)], [Sai Rallabandi (Facebook)]

2.5. Choosing Advisor and School

1. Questions to Ask a Prospective Ph.D. Advisor on Visit Day, With Thorough and Forthright Explanations by Andrew Kuznetsov

2. How to Choose Your Grad School by Tim Dettmers

3. How to Pick a Graduate Advisor by Ben Barres

4. The Definitive ‘what do I ask/look for’ in a PhD Advisor Guide by Columbia CS

2.6. Contacting / Cold-Emailing Professors

1. Advice on Contacting Faculty for Prospective Research Students by Dave Evan