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This week: #education, #inspiration, #studentlife
In my dreams, we can accommodate all passionate and dedicated students interested in studying with us at Stanford. Alas, the admissions rate is small. So, what should prospective graduate students do to increase their chances of getting accepted? I've collected some of my thoughts below, based on 25 years of grad student admissions experience (these are my thoughts, not Stanford's). Of course, graduate programs and cultures vary, so I recommend that you explore other resources, too (Quora, LinkedIn, and Reddit often have discussions around similar questions, with participants from a wide variety of programs).
Contacting prospective advisors (by email)
First, some thoughts related to emails sent by prospective students to faculty:
- My colleagues and I receive many emails (often multiple per day) from prospective students who ask about opportunities in our research groups. Most of these students believe a faculty member decides who will be accepted into a graduate program. However, this is not often the case. Admissions decisions in many departments at Stanford are?made by an admissions committee. That committee may consider individual faculty members' opinions about prospective students, but the ultimate decision depends on many factors.
- It is not possible for us (faculty) to answer questions like "Am I competitive?" or "What can I do to improve my chances?". Whether or not a student is competitive depends on the pool of applicants, and assessing potential is a time-consuming task done carefully by the admissions committee.
- Many prospective students are frustrated that their emails to professors are unanswered. In some cases, it makes them despair. Don't take it personally. Remember that faculty receive many such emails, and responding to all such emails often takes too much time. Sometimes faculty don't answer because they are not part of the admissions process. Another reason I (and probably many of my colleagues) do not answer all emails is that many of them ask us to supply answers that can easily be found online or show clearly that the sender is not being truthful. For example, I often receive generic emails, also sent to other professors in my department, with statements like "I'm so interested in your research in X. I read all your papers," with X not my area of research, or the letter starting with "Dear Sir" clearly showing that they do not, in fact, know me. Then, many emails ask about application procedures, which can be found online, or about program details, which also can be found online.
How to increase the response rate?
How might you get the attention of a faculty member here or elsewhere?
- Write only if you are very interested in someone's research. Don't make blanket statements like "I'm so interested in your research," but show you know about the research. For example, last week, I received an email from a student who asked me a very pointed, well-thought-out question about a paper I had written a while ago. That got my attention. The student had some ideas (they were original) and was genuinely interested in the field. I did reply to the student and encouraged him to apply to our program. I cannot guarantee his acceptance, but this email impressed me. In other words, before you write, do your homework.?
- Do not ask Googleable questions. In other words, before you write, do your homework.
- Find out about admissions procedures (often online) before you write. Don't ask a faculty member if you can work under their guidance or if they have funding if admissions are made centrally. In other words, do your homework.
- Ask faculty in your current institution to make introductions. If I get an email from a colleague about a prospective student, "Talk to this student; it will be worth your time," I will likely engage.
- Still, the best way to approach a faculty member is in person. I understand it's tough when you live far away and cannot travel to meet someone. But there are many fish in the sea and many excellent potential future advisors in the world. Don't get fixated on any one professor or any one institute. Go to a conference near you that attracts speakers from other universities. Ask the undergraduate program you're in to help support you, or ask for conference support (many conferences have grants for student travel). Talk to speakers at the conference. Before you engage, again, do your homework so you don't approach someone at a conference and say, "I'm so interested in what you do. Can you tell me what that is?" as happened to me recently. Funny, but also a bit sad.
Don't get fixated on a particular school.
I want to say a bit more about fixation. I mean it when I say there are many fish in the sea. Yes, some universities are ranked higher than others. Does this mean you can only get a good MS degree or an excellent Ph.D. and good prospects after graduation if you get accepted to the few highest-ranked ones? Of course not. Open up. In the US alone, hundreds of universities offer outstanding programs and faculty. Don't pick a university just because of its reputation or ranking. Pick programs that provide the type of training and research you are passionate about (and there are many in each field), and be open to other than top-ranked places. You have to be realistic: the chances of getting accepted at Stanford, Harvard, MIT, CalTech, Cal, etc., are not that high - it is a lottery to some extent - and you can get excellent training and connections elsewhere also.
What makes you competitive, in general?
As you know, an application asks for several data/inputs, and all of them are taken into account when selecting students, including (not in any order of priority):
- Your CV. Yes, an admissions committee does look at this. What have you done apart from your studies? Did you do any summer internships? Where and in what? Did you publish any papers? Did you give conference presentations or attend conferences? Do you have experience in a variety of programming languages? Do you speak multiple languages? Did you have any summer internships? All of this information and more are informative and can be put on a CV. At the same time, keep the CV succinct and put only the most relevant and recent information on it (e.g., we are generally not interested anymore in what you did at high school).
- Your statement of purpose. I often find these hard to read. Many students seem to believe they have to convince the admissions committee that they are God's gift to the field. We all understand that you are probably not, and that's not what we look for, in any case. We look for passion, dedication, and genuine interest in our program and faculty. We look for motivation: what drives you to graduate school. That motivation must not be "because I want to save the world." You also do not have to write the statement to impress us with your mathematical knowledge. You come to us to further your learning. We will be there to help you grow. If you try very hard to convince us you are the best thing since sliced bread, it leaves little for us to do! Well, all joking aside, I want to say that you should relax, be honest about what you know and don't know, and be genuine in your interest in the program. Again, do not write a generic statement of purpose for all universities you apply to. Writing a statement to the specific department or institute is more effective. We want to understand why you are interested in studying with us. And don't make the statement very long. Remember that the committee needs to read hundreds. Be succinct, to the point, and be you. And to those of you for whom English is not the native language, don't worry too much about perfecting your grammar; professional coaches or translators are unnecessary. We want to hear your voice.
- Your transcripts. We do look at transcripts. Not just at the GPA. We are interested in what type of courses you took. It is, of course, not always possible for us to gauge the level, scope, or breadth of courses you took at your undergrad institute. But, if we cannot judge well, we generally seek advice, e.g., from colleagues familiar with your university.?
- Recommendation letters. Select the letter writers carefully. What are some less effective letters? Letters from course instructors, as they can usually only comment on your final standing in the class (which we can often already gauge from the transcript) and perhaps a bit on you as a person, but usually not much more. Ask only faculty or mentors/advisors who know you well and can complement the other material you present. We'd like to hear about your (again) passion, your creativity, your attitude toward learning, and your tenacity. We'd like to hear the opinion of the letter writers on your potential to succeed and do good research. ?
These are just a few thoughts that may be helpful. Don't hesitate to ask for additional input in the comments or send me a DM.
