How do I study to get into a PhD program of a top US university two years from now?
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I've recently graduated from a well-known Indian university with a GPA of around 7.5 on a 10 point scale. I've very little research experience as of now but would like to get into a top university in the USA after my MSc. What are the things I should concentrate on from now, apart from studying hard? And how do I get good research experience? Is my undergraduate GPA bad enough to hamper my chances of selection in PhD program two years from now?
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Answer:
I am sorry I will make it quick, due to things I have on my table. Nothing matters in the end for a PhD admission then your research. Even if you have a masters or not! Just be genuinely interested in research. 1) By that I mean, know the top conferences in your field so that you can read good papers published and be updated about state of the art. 2) Fixate upon your subfield, in a given field and then start working on that to improve the state of the art. Chances are even if you don't then also you will have a good knowledge or potentially good ideas. 3) Try to publish in conferences you have identified, and if you manage to get one that is your ticket. In my experience it is lot easier to talk to your potential advisor at a venue while showing your work, rather than on an email. Also, you will get to meet him personally and that is very important to see if your personalities match. 4) Read PhD Grind, to get an idea about PhD. 5) Remove top from your mind, and any other quantitative thing. This can only happen if you really love research and not running for name game which most Indians do. It is important to be with the right person in PhD than in the top US university. Thanks for the A2A, but next time please don't do it anonymously. I would like to know, who am I advising. Psychologically it will make it more personal to me, and in the end you will get a good advice. Win-win for both.
Shreyas Saxena at Quora Visit the source
Other answers
thanks for the A2A. Now that you have decided and want to do your PhD in a top college in the US, there are certain credentials you need to have. you have to understand certain things like your bachelors is over and your grades are not really something you can bank on. The points I ve mentioned here are in the decreasing order of importance, but still very important. 1) Do your masters with complete sincerity. Which means, get an impeccable score in tests because grades do matter, A LOT. Your Masters thesis has to be great. 2) Work on good projects and finish them. Being an international student the best way to prove you have worked and completed good projects are publications. Having a couple publications will undoubtedly increase your chances manifold. 3) If possible, get good internships. If you have an internship abroad and have a recommendation from the prof you worked under you will be in a very good place.If you have time now try to get a position in the university where you will be going for your masters. 4) Try to be involved in other activities apart from academics where teamwork, leadership and other skills can be developed. A successful PhD candidate requires these skills. You need to be passionate about your work.That will equip you 50% of the skills you need. Rest of it is hard work, patience and knowledge.Best of luck.
Jatin Nath
Thanks for the A2A. I have some advice for prospective students here: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~jason/advice/prospective-students.html#criteria I agree with that the notion of "top school" is a distraction. You want to find a place where your career will flourish. Great advisors are distributed all over the map, depending on where jobs happened to be open when they finished their PhD. The ones at slightly lower-ranked universities (or non-U.S. universities) may not get as many strong applicants as they deserve; so they are more likely to accept you and invest energy in you after you arrive. Of course, great advisors are in the minority. Your job is to figure out who's doing cool work -- meaning significant work that you would personally love to get involved in, alongside other exceptional students in a supportive environment. One way to improve your odds is to make contact with the advisors who interest you. However, you want to write to them as a fellow researcher. When they hear from you, they should sit up and take notice of you as a serious, creative thinker who has the potential to both help them and learn from them. So first become worthy. Study their recent papers and related papers (here's http://cs.jhu.edu/~jason/advice/how-to-read-a-paper.html) to build up a solid technical understanding of the research area. While reading, look for research opportunities for yourself. Can you replicate their work? Apply it in new ways? Follow up on their "future work" section? Spot improvements or connections that they missed? Invest some real time into actively playing around in the area. At some point you will genuinely want technical advice or feedback. That's when you should reach out by email. You can cc their grad student co-authors to increase your chance of getting a reply. The above strategy supposes that you are already independent enough to identify, study, and extend good recent research. The more common approach is to apprentice yourself to someone local as a kind of pre-grad student, and contribute to their ongoing projects at a level where you'll be a co-author on the publications and they will write you enthusiastic letters of recommendation. Don't just do any old project, though. At least some of your work has to look exciting to the faculty who eventually read your PhD application -- it should not look boring, shallow, or 5 years out of date. How do you find someone to be your local research mentor 2 years before you've started a PhD? These are often informal, idiosyncratic arrangements. Fortunately, you are currently doing an MSc, so the obvious strategy is to pitch in on research going on at your university: see http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~jason/advice/how-to-work-with-a-professor.html. Also apply to summer internship programs at universities and at industry research labs. Do let everyone know that you're looking for projects -- and what your specific interests and aptitudes are. Your professors may be able to help match you up; so might other students who have done research in your home country. Again, if you approach people who don't know you, do your homework so that you'll make a good technical and personal impression on them.
Jason Eisner
The following is specially for Ph.D in US not MS (in Computer Science) "well known" Indian university is a very vague term. Even IIT Giwahati and IIT Bombay are not same. They are DIFFERENT. I agree with in most of the points. But you have not even mentioned what is your subject of interest ? What is your future plan after completing grad school ? These questions are very very important. Also I don't know your bachelors degree. I assume that you have completed B.Sc, Option 1 The best place place you can go to now is CMI as you are not eligible for GATE with a B.Sc degree. But you should go to CMI if you are (really! ) academically aligned to theoretical computer science. Unless this decision can turn out to be a blunder. Option 2 If you do not know what is your interest and you are not strong in mathematics, or you don't like theory then you can go for M,Sc from any university. In that case you can not move to US (for Ph.D) in two years. You have to have an M.Tech from one of the IIT's . Moreover I would like to clarify the flowing things, I feel essential to reach US "top" university. 1. A good Indian University Tag , Brand Name (IITs) or An University from where lot of people has gone outside before 2. Few research papers (At least one) MOST IMPORTANTLY 3 Connection : A strong LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION from (at least one of three) a professor who has connections to the university you are applying to. It is best if your seniors from the same faculty has gone to these places before. Remember this is a MUST step. Having said that I must say Ph.D is not a rosy thing. Frustration is a part of it if you do not handle it properly. And there is always some bypass to the above default rules. For example if you somehow published a paper in any of the following conferences, SODA, STOC, FOCS, INFOCOM, SIGIR, ACL, IJCAI, AAAI then you are good to go. But then consider yourself as lucky and exceptional. Remember getting into a good university is like a strategic game. You need to have the right things on your side to fight. I hope that will answer your query. Please let me know if you have further questions and please be more specific (on subject, topic and so on).
Hirak Sarkar
Thank you for asking me to answer. I have very limited knowledge of the Indian and American educational systems, so will try to answer your question from a personal perspective. As you are interested in going into research, are there any universities or companies doing the type of work you might be interested in? Are you able to find out more from lecturers and professors who know you personally? Are you willing to move in order to do the work you want to do? If you can answer any of those questions with a "yes", then get moving and that will be your first step towards your goal. As for your question regarding gaining admission into an American university, from what I have heard, they seem to look at more than academic results. This is quite different from British universities, where Oxford and Cambridge readily admit that applicants are assessed mainly on academic ability. If you have done related work during your undergraduate studies that may be of interest to the admissions board, your chances may be increased. I hope it helps, and look forward to better answers from well informed people.
Tinya Yu
https://researchconnection.com/?utm_campaign=W1&utm_source=Q1&utm_content=RC is a place to find graduate mentors or programs across the country.
Anonymous
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