CS grad school applications
Hey there! These are a series of blog posts where I will describe my experience with 2021-22 grad school applications. Let’s start with some background and motivation, typical research paper style xD
Personal History & Motivation
In 2020, I completed my undergrad in CS at PES University, Bangalore, India. During undergrad, I was involved in some research projects and learnt what research entails. To explore it further, I worked at Microsoft Research (India) for 2+ years – first as an Intern, and then as a pre-doctoral Research Fellow.
At MSR, I experienced all aspects of research: ideation, design, experimentation, productization, and publishing. This was influential in identifying my research interests and deciding to apply to PhD programs. I applied to grad school for Fall 2022, and received admits from 6 schools, and I’m starting as a CS PhD student at UC Berkeley.
My motivation with this series is to primarily share my unique experience with these applications, assisting others in the process. I want to reach undergraduate students (especially at lesser known universities), encouraging them to consider research careers. When I applied, I found it helpful to read similar posts describing what previous applicants, professors, etc. had to say. Here are some reliable resources that I recommend:
- Kalpesh Krishna’s compilation
- Prof. Jean Yang’s experience
- Prof. Harchol’s (CMU) famous talk
- Prof. Shriram Krishnamurthi’s CS PhD FAQs
Disclaimers
- These posts describe a single individual’s (me) experience ONLY and are not to be misconstrued as universal advice for any kind of success.
- My experience (as of today) is from an applicant’s perspective ONLY, and hence, I cannot speak on what the admission commitee is looking for.
- My experience is limited to (a) Computer Science (b) Ph.D. applications to (c) US universities ONLY.