Hi, I'm Casey. I'm a professor in an information science department,
and this is the second video in a series about applying for PhD programs.
If you're still not sure about whether you want to apply for PhD programs,
you should check out my first video about should you get a PhD, and maybe reasons why you might not want to.
So I've been running PhD admissions for our program for five years now, and I have read a lot of
applications and talked to a lot of prospective students about their questions
and I am hoping to share my wisdom with you now.
Now my disclaimer for this video is stronger than in the last one in that
I am in a STEM field.
Specifically mine is an information science PhD program that is structured a lot like computer science, which means it is a lab-based,
grant-driven discipline where PhD students work very very closely with advisors. In other disciplines,
humanities-style disciplines, this is not true
and the application process can actually be a bit different in terms of things that you should do, in terms of
how important it is to have a research fit with an advisor, etc
So I really recommend that you talk to people in your field about best practices
for applying to PhD programs. That said, some of my advice is broadly applicable anyway
and some of it applies a lot to STEM based PhD programs if that's what you're going for.
I'll also try to mention those differences when I think that they're the most relevant
All right.
First piece of advice once you've decided which programs to apply for: look early at their
applications and their requirements.
This includes things like deadlines, of course, but also different programs require different things.
You don't want to find out two days before the deadline that this one program requires four letters of
recommendation when all of the other ones only require three. Also
it is increasingly common for PhD programs to not require GRE scores,
and so you want to know whether that's a requirement for the programs that you're applying to before you take the test.
Basically make a list of all of the things that you need.
I highly recommend keeping track of all the programs that you're going to apply to in some kind of spreadsheet.
All right, second piece of advice.
Know the faculty in the department that you are applying to a PhD program for.
This is in part about making sure that you are applying to the right places in addition to setting yourself up for a good application.
For a PhD it's not enough to just say, oh I want to do computer science
so I am going to apply to every PhD program in computer science that I can find. There needs to be faculty,
preferably more than one, who are doing work in the area that you want to work in.
So like, if all of the faculty in a computer science department are doing like theory and operating systems,
but you want to do human computer interaction, then who is your advisor going to be?
That is a way to know that maybe that's not the appropriate program for you, and I will probably do a whole video on
how to decide which phd programs are appropriate for you.
But that's probably the most important thing that there are good research matches because also if you're not doing the kind
of work that you like you're going to be miserable.
Anyway,
even if you're applying to a more humanities-style PhD program
where maybe the like specific research match between you and a specific faculty member is not as important there still needs to be a
general sense that the type of work that's happening in that department is the kind of thing that you want to do. So for example,
Communication is a huge discipline. Like for example, do you want to do organizational communication? Do you want to do rhetoric?
Like those are two very different things and you should see if there are faculty who
are who you want to be when you grow up essentially.
So knowing the faculty in the department and what kind of research they do is actually really important for two reasons.
And the first one is my third piece of advice,
which is that you should reach out to faculty who you are interested in working with. Now this comes with a big caveat
That again this varies by discipline, and in some that might be weird.
So if you're an undergrad right now in the discipline that you're
wanting to pursue a PhD in, you should totally ask faculty in your department. Like is this a thing that people do?
I doubt that it would come off bad if you accidentally do it when maybe you shouldn't, but
it definitely helps when it is appropriate. That said, it is not a requirement.
We absolutely get applications from PhD students where they didn't reach out to any faculty ahead of time and it's not a problem.
It can just be really helpful for you. Part of this is that and I'll talk a little bit more about this at the end.
Some of PhD applications is a little bit like job hunting and that there's a bit of
it's not you it's them.
For example,
if you want to apply to a PhD program where there's literally only one
faculty member that you can see yourself working with, what if that faculty member is A,
totally out of funding
or B,
has like a bazillion PhD students already?
They might not be able to take on new students,
which means that if you got into that PhD program you might have to work with someone else at least for a little while.
And sometimes that's just not ideal for you.
So this is definitely something that a faculty member could be honest with you about if you reach out to them ahead of time, like,
It is unlikely that I might take new PhD students this year.
However, here are some other colleagues in the department who are doing work that you might not know about
that I think maybe could be a good fit for you.
So if you reach out to one faculty member they're likely to point you to others for example.
I mean don't be discouraged by that because you never know and to the extent that like you don't feel like you're wasting money
on time or application fees it doesn't hurt to apply anyway, because like
maybe that faculty member will strike gold on grant proposals
before the end of the year when they have to make decisions about new students.
Now I could probably do a whole video on how to write
this email to a prospective advisor. But the main thing is make sure that it's
personalized. I have gotten so many
form letter emails from students.
I'm actually listed as affiliate faculty in the computer science department at my university and the number of emails that I get that are
like, I'm studying operating systems and would like to be your PhD student and I'm just thinking, do you have any idea who I am?
So don't do that.
Be polite tell them why you are reaching out to them.
I am very interested in X kind of research.
I mean I'm not saying that you need to like spend hours and hours researching every single faculty member in
your area because that gets ridiculous.
But look to see what the most recent papers they're writing are and is that something that you're interested in?
You can also look and see what the research that their current PhD advisees are doing because this also tells you something about how
flexible that advisor is in terms of the kind of research that they advise. Some people for example have a very narrow research area.
Some are sort of you know,
As long as you're doing something related to social computing
come on in. It really varies.
And that's the way to tell is by looking at what their students are leading.
And also when you write this email try to suggest various modes of interaction.
Please don't demand a meeting. Like can we set up a skype call the next week?
So for example, if the answer from that faculty is, I'm definitely not taking new PhD students,
that would probably be a waste of both of your time.
You know, they will probably offer to answer questions via email, for example.
But if it's a professor who's like really excited to recruit new students, and this is especially true for new
faculty, they like really want good students.
In that case, they're probably going to want to talk to you. All right, so the other reason
to know the faculty in the department, and this is true for any kind of PhD program, that you're applying to
is so that you can mention
specific faculty
in your statement of purpose/ personal statement,
whichever it is
they're asking for. This shows that you know the program and that there is a specific reason that you are applying to that
program. Every year we get applications where I can tell that they have applied to
every single program that exists in information science and have sent the exact same application to all of them.
I mean,
it's a little bit of an indication that you haven't done your research or that maybe you don't really know
what kind of work you want to do. Like if every program is really the same as any other program
then
have you found that thing that you're passionate about? Because not all programs are the same.
So you should try to find a way to connect your research goals to the kind of work that's happening in the department. I confess
this is a a bit of a tricky line to walk and you don't have to do it perfectly, and it'll be fine.
But basically you want to show that connection while not seeming too
rigid. The reason is again
you might not get interest from like the specific faculty member that you think you're interested in.
It could be that someone that you don't even know who's doing that kind of work might see your application
and pull it out.
And so you don't want to make it sound like I want to come here only to work with this specific person
and do this specific project. In fact don't like propose a very specific dissertation topic, like
I am going to do three studies and they will be this this and this, because that's probably not going to be the case anyway
and if there if all the faculty read it and they're like, well, I don't see myself advising that specific dissertation.
You need to show some flexibility as well. You should also emphasize research experience.
This is one of the most important things and it shows not only that you have experience and you know what you're doing,
but also that you know what it means to be a researcher, and therefore
it's likely that this PhD thing really is for you. That said, if you don't have research experience,
maybe look back to a class where you did a project that was research and talk about that, or talk about
why you know that research is the thing that you want to do. If you've been out of school for a while
talk about what you've been doing and how this led you to want to pursue a PhD. There's probably a lot more here.
I'm guessing that what to put in a personal statement is a whole other video.
But those are sort of the things that come to mind
immediately. And again, you should find out what the norms of your discipline are for this kind of thing.
And also if you can get people to read it for you. All right, my next piece of advice:
Be smart with your letters of recommendation.
Now the best letter is from someone that you've done research with and who's going to say good things about that.
This shows that you know what you're doing etc. And honestly, the best thing that I can read in a letter of recommendation is
I would take on the student as a PhD advisee immediately. I've written that in in letters before. If you don't have direct research
experience with a faculty member consider classes where you've done research and whether the professor of that class
could write a letter that speaks to that as well.
You could also consider people who know you very well in for example a professional context, though
I would say don't have a lot of those kinds of letters. I would say emphasize faculty.
Like if you have three letters
maybe two of those are from faculty members and one of them is from someone else. If you ask
someone to write you a letter of recommendation only because you took a class with them,
make sure
that - I mean obviously
you've got an a in the class -
but also that they remember you and that there are specific things about your performance in that class that they can talk about.
So for example if it was a seminar and there were 10 students in it
and they can talk about how you like dominated the class discussions and knew so much and wrote the best paper
they've ever seen. That's another thing is if it's a class and they can speak to your writing skills
that also can be super helpful.
Do not ask someone to write you a letter of
recommendation just because you got an A in the class and there were like a hundred students in it
and they're not going to be able to say anything about you.
I mean if the letter says they got an A in my class, that is not
useful.
If you're having trouble with this
and you ask someone who you think might not know you as well  - or actually you should do this regardless -
send them a copy of your CV or resume
and your personal statement because they might just pull things straight from that. Here's another question:
Like should I try to get a letter from someone who is a name?
Like if i'm an undergrad in a department that has like super fancy professor that I know that everyone else is going to know who
they are should I ask them to write me a letter of recommendation?
So if this is someone that actually knows you and can write you a good letter. Anyway, then like yahtzee,
yes, do it because that can be something good to say
oh my gosh this person that I really respect and admire wrote a letter for this student.
However, if all they write in that letter is they got an A in my class that is worse,
that is not useful. A letter from
fancy famous professor who says they got an A in my class is definitely not as good from like someone
like me who says
this is the most amazing student I've ever seen and I would take them on in a heartbeat.
So definitely keep that in mind when you're choosing your letter writers.
Also when you ask someone to write you a letter of recommendation, say
can you write me a strong letter of recommendation? Because anyone can write you a letter.
But if it's bad that's not useful. You only want people regardless of who they are
to write you a strong
letter.
So try to find that out ahead of time and how to set yourself up for some of these good letters of recommendations
pProbably between the lines here, like do research, get to know professors etc. All right next piece of advice:
Probably don't stress about test scores.
A lot of PhD programs are dropping GRE requirements, including ours just recently.
This is for reasons of equity and honestly research that shows that maybe they're not that useful anyway.
But
making students pay a huge amount of money to be able to send these test scores to everywhere
and to be able to take the test multiple times etc. It's just really a problem.
This was a big thing that I personally pushed for. And even when they are required
sometimes they're just not that important in the overall review process.
I at least barely even looked at them
and I'll tell you for example that my GRE scores were not ho. Like I actually did much better on the LSAT than I did
on the GRE and I've known people who had
perfect GRE scores that
did not do great in a PhD program so your mileage may vary. That said,
this could definitely be different in different programs,
particularly in big ones.
It might be that they have to do numerical cutoffs because they just get such a huge number of applications.
But in smaller PhD programs especially I'm certain that they're doing holistic applications
It's also possible that
that the type of program you're applying to, different scores might be different.
So for example, whether your quant score matters more than your qual score.
The other thing is that sometimes PhD applications will have a
writing sample or maybe a optional writing sample.
So for example, if you submit GRE scores where your qual or writing score are very low,
that's when you might want to submit a writing sample to show that you actually can
write. And if for example you're applying to a math phd program then that's the case when like maybe your quant GRE score does matter.
a lot. So your mileage may vary based on this, but I wouldn't let low scores
discourage you from trying. All right. So those are my big pieces of pieces of advice for the application process.
So now let me say a little bit about what I specifically look for in PhD applications, and I have no idea
how widespread my particular orientation towards this is. So
when I open up a PhD application here is the order that I read things in:
personal statement first, letters of recommendation second, and then everything else.
I usually don't actually look for like what school you went to or what you studied or whatever.
I actually think of the personal statement is the most important thing. It shows what kind of work you want to do.
What kind of experience you have?
And why you want to go to this particular PhD program. To me,
those are the most important things. I find it a big plus when students have some kind of research experience, again not because
like they have to prove to me that they know how to do it
but to show that like
you know what you're getting into. That said, not a requirement, and there are definitely reasons why
It can still be fine to not have research experience.
I also want to see that they have interesting ideas
but can fit into the kind of work that I do, so that I can actually advise them.
Well, like there are students who have wanted to work with me who want to do work that I just feel like I can't
be a good mentor because it's a bit too far
outside of my expertise. I want to see that
someone is eager to learn and they know why they want to do this and that they are
passionate about research and about getting a PhD. Also interesting backgrounds and
Interdisciplinarity in particular are a plus. I see students sometimes saying like
Oh, should I, like maybe if i'm applying to a STEM PhD I shouldn't mention my like art minor?
No, totally mention your art minor! Like that actually makes you more interesting.
But really in the end, this is so
individual that it's really hard to say and again, something that I hinted at earlier
sometimes seriously,
it's not you it's them. There are reasons PhD program in a particular application cycle
that have nothing to do with how awesome you are.
It might have to do with the number of PhD students already in the program and and particularly funding concerns.
How much how many new PhD students can they support how many new PhD students can a particular advisor support?
Is what you want to do a good fit for the program and for specific faculty?
So you either have to be willing to like completely change your research interests if you want to go to that school in particular
or you'd be better off somewhere else where there's someone who's a better advisor fit for you. And
finally
good
luck!
If you've decided to take this journey and you are applying to PhD programs
I am confident that you will be able to find the right program for you.
And if you do strike out know that it is not the end of the world. I actually applied for PhD programs
earlier in my life and was rejected from every single one of them.
It turns out that that was a good thing for me.
I actually can't see myself having been in any of those programs because
my interests changed so drastically over the next few years and so something that you might consider is
if you strike out, you might look at whether your dream PhD programs have
master's
programs.
It sometimes can be good to do a master's degree because you get more research experience and if it's in
if it's at the university that you want to go to for your PhD
sometimes you can actually just slide into a PhD program
If you do really well doing research as a master's student. And also because of all the reasons I suggested
if you apply again the next year, you might get in for because of any of those things that were outside of your control. So
Even if you don't do well it's not the end of the world. I promise.
All right, so
if you got into a PhD program, what are your tips for the application process? What do you think that like worked for you?
And if you are applying what questions do you have that I didn't cover here? So you can leave those in the comments down below
and i'll try to answer them individually or if everyone has the same question, maybe i'll make another video. In fact
What would you like a deep dive on?I am planning to do maybe a couple more videos in this series.
I'm thinking maybe how to choose a program, how to write a personal statement. So let me know
1hat would be good for that? All right. Well, that's it. Happy hunting everyone!
I'm Casey, and thank you for watching.
