I recently graduated with a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering at Duke University, NC. Before that, I earned an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), CA in 2010. Based on my experience while applying and during the program, I would like to share my thoughts here. I am sure there are plenty of books and other resources for this information, and I hope the information in this post compliments that information.
Application process
Most universities have application deadlines around December for admissions for Fall semester (starting Aug/Sep). Some universities also have application deadlines around September, for programs beginning Spring semester (Jan.). Check with the university/department for exact dates and other details. Keep in mind that a majority of students would join in the Fall. But that shouldn’t hesitate applying for Spring term, if it is working out well. The application package usually consists of
- Research Statement
- 3-4 recommendation letters
- CV and related details
- Application fee ($$$)
Research Statement
I referred to this book while preparing my statement. It provided some solid examples of what the committee is looking for, what part of your profile to highlight and so on. Approach this task with an open mind. Get initial drafts done and then share it with your current Advisors, friends etc. for feedback. Avoid plagiarizing parts from others essays. Depending on your research depth in the field you are applying for, you can get more technical or keep it a bit high-level. If you are having trouble getting your words down, consider practicing techniques from this book. Be prepared to customize the research statement for the program/lab you are applying for (more hints below).
Recommendation Letters
Some recommenders are happy to write the full letter by themselves (and keep it confidential as well :0 ), while some expect a rough draft from you before they polish it. Either way, make sure that you share with them all the possible points they can write about you, like the cool class project you worked on, the research project where your contribution made the difference and so on. Please encourage your recommender to share their personal experience of working with you, whether you demonstrated leadership experience, mentored a junior student, volunteered for tasks and so on.
Timeline wise I would prioritize sending requests / rough drafts of letters to your recommenders over all other activities of the application process. Professors are busy during the semesters. Plan to have a buffer of a month or so before you start nudging them. Consider having a backup recommender as well, in case one of the recommenders forgets to turn in the letter on time or is particularly busy around the application deadline period.
Application fee
If you are applying from outside of the US, you might find the application fee quite steep. However, keep the long-term perspective in mind. Recovering the application fee will take a trivial amount of time once you get into the program, or later in your career. However, refrain from applying for programs where no faculty has shown interest in working with you, or you wouldn’t be as keen on studying there even if you get admission (some call it “safe schools”). Consider getting a credit card that reduces unnecessary foreign transaction fees
Finding the right match
Academic factors
- Advisor’s working style – hands-on vs. hands off. And how it changes through the course of the program
- Lab culture – do students collaborate with others or work independently on projects? Is there a group meeting or everyone meets advisor 1-on-1?
- Lab organization – How many students are there? Is there a PostDoc in the group? What is the typical duration of Ph.D. students and PostDoc? Do PostDocs mentor Ph.D. students? How are mentorship responsibilities divided between Professor (also called Principal Investigator (PI)) and PostDocs? Do senior Ph.D. students mentor junior students?
- Grants – Hows the funding scene in the lab overall. Are current students facing difficulty getting a continuous stream of funding? Did a student leave the group for lack of funding?
Non-academic, but reasonably important factors
- Location: Big city vs. mid-size city vs. university town. Big cities provide broader access to the real-world and opportunities but come with additional cost and distraction. University towns offer limited amenities, but students in the university town tend to bond better as a group. Mid-size cities provide something in between the extremes. Cities in the US are not as walkable as those in Europe or Asia, so you might want to have a car in the later years of the program.
- Weather and seasons: Severity of winters, rainy or dry. Depending on which part of the world you come from and how fast you can get used to the weather — also its impact on your physical and mental health and well-being.
- Proximity to family and friends: Ph.D. programs are long and can take a toll on your mental health. It is worth-a-while to stay in touch with your family and friends, whether its occasional phone calls or impromptu weekend trips or planned trips for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Also the convenience of traveling back home.
Finding potential advisors
There are many universities around the US and many professors within each University that could potentially work with. So how do you go about finding a great advisor and an excellent research lab? I have several approaches in mind
- Ask your current advisors to see if they know advisors who might be looking for students or whose research interests seem to catch their attention. Professors network with others during conferences and working groups and are reasonably aware of the activity level and quality in other groups around the world. This approach is possibly the best approach to find the advisor since you get a first-hand recommendation of both the technical and interpersonal quality of your advisor to be. This approach is a feasible option if you are finishing your Master’s degree and your university advisors are still accessible. However, if you have graduated already, and/or looking for researchers in a different research area, you might be your own.
- Reach out to potential advisors yourself. Professors love to hear from folks who are excited about their research and are interested in working with them, so never hesitate in reaching out to them. There are several ways to find out folks who are working in areas of interest. I find technical magazines (such as IEEE Computer in my field) the best resource to start with. Articles here are published in research areas which are hot and exciting and written by folks who have breakthrough results to share with (read -they have or will soon have $$$). If you find an article interesting, think about ways to extend the research. Are there potential assumptions that need to be revisited? Has the research been done in one kind of system that can be done on another system? If you have ideas or comments worth sharing, reach out to the authors. Try to strike a conversation (more details in next section)
- Meet them in a conference, seminar or a similar setting. If you are presenting a paper (on your master’s thesis or otherwise) in a conference, actively network around with other participants. Ask what are they working on. Share with them what you are working on, and what opportunities you are looking for. Be upfront and courteous to ask them if they are aware of open positions and possibilities. Researchers are usually excited about such conversations and can offer you great leads.
- Attend conferences as a student member. Even if you don’t have a paper to present, conferences almost always allow students to participate in conferences, at a pretty discounted registration fee. You can also consider volunteering for the conference to get some discount. Again, researchers are always looking for new students and happy to share their network as needed. They would look for someone who is excited about their research area, is ready to learn and work hard, and good at communicating and working in a social setting.
Getting in touch with potential advisors via emails
In your email, describe your research interests, current research tasks, and potential future goals and how it relates to the Professors’ work. Keep your emails short and to-the-point. Extra details can go on your website or LinkedIn profile, and you can add a link in the email. Avoid attachments. Your first email should be 1-2 paragraphs max. with total 6-10 lines. So you should be able to summarize your research statement in a few lines, and connect with their work and create the bridge. It should sound like a win-win situation, but you don’t have to try too hard to do it.
Note that if a Professors doesn’t reply, it does not mean he/she didn’t read the email. So it is possible that you apply to their university, and he/she will recall your email after picking up your application. So never lose hope. However, If they explicitly reply that they are not hiring, then you should move on.
If a Professor expresses intent, immediately add relevant points to your research statement. Keep polishing the statement as the conversation goes further along. Also take notes on points that you would like your current Adviser to talk about in the recommendation letter, so that can strengthen specific aspects of your statement.
University Rankings, reputation and related discussion
Never think that some program/lab is too high for you to reach, or it’s too low for your profile. If you have the right intention, everything works out. Given the amount of “data” we are surrounded by, it is easy to get obsessed with the rankings, ratings, and reputation of universities and departments. However, keep in mind that your success in the Ph.D. program largely depends on your motivation, your relationship with your advisor and other collaborators and to some extent luck and destiny in getting the right projects and timings. 5 or 10 years after graduation, you will remember the opportunities you received and the relationships you developed, not the rankings of the lab/university you worked in. Besides, it is hard to rank research opportunities. Universities/departments are usually ranked by the $$$ they attracted in research grants, which is hardly reflective of the student’s experience working there. Rather than getting obsessed with the rankings, have a broader perspective in mind.
Once you receive an admit from a university, they usually invite you for a campus visit, sometime around Feb / March. Even if you are outside of the US, I would highly recommend you to go there. The university would cover your stay and travel within the US. You can interact with your potential Ph.D. advisor(s), students, and other faculty and staff in the department. Also, meet the fellow students who plan to join the department as well. After interacting with folks there, you can take a better decision whether the place is a right fit for you.
Funding
Ph.D. programs in the engineering disciplines in the US are almost always fully funded. Full funding means tuition fees, health insurance, and stipend. The stipend amount varies across universities, but it is typically in the range of $2000 per month. In some state/public universities, you might need to pay a small tuition fee, around $1000 per semester. In summary, you will be spending only a small sum of money out of the pocket during your program.
In the US, usually, the advisor is responsible for the full funding of the student. Which indirectly means that you are his employee and he/she is your boss. Some departments cover the first one or two years of funding. However, you can always apply for fellowships from within the university or outside. Outside fellowships can come from government-sponsored research labs (such as NSF, NIH, Department of Energy) or private corporations such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft. Unfortunately, only US citizens can apply for government-sponsored research fellowships. University fellowships are usually open to all students, and all years of the program, however, they tend to be competitive. Your advisor and the department will help you prepare your application for the same. When you apply for a Ph.D. program, your application is usually considered for university-sponsored fellowships automatically, or your advisor can push your case when you are an incoming student.
When your admission letter says that your funding is covered, it means that the department will cover your funding in case your advisor falls short, conditional that you are in good standing and making progress on your program. Although your advisor promises that he/she is funding you, it does not mean he/she has 5-6 yrs worth of your expenditure sitting in an account. It means your advisor (+ department) has funding to get you started, and he/she is hopeful that they will be able to find funding for you in the future. Given the uncertainties in academic funding, it is a tough task for an advisor. As a Ph.D. student, you are expected to work with your advisor to help him apply for grants for your lab. Also keep an eye open for outside funding (e.g., industry internship), whenever it aligns well with your research interest and can take some burden off your advisor’s shoulders.
Contrast between European and US Ph.D. programs
Application
My limited knowledge about the Ph.D. programs in Europe is shaped from a summer internship in Zurich and my interaction with visitors from various EU countries in our lab, so pardon me in advance. Here’s how I look at it. A Ph.D. program in Europe is treated like a time-bound research project with reasonably well-defined goals and objectives. A Ph.D. program in the US is treated more like an experience of maturing as a researcher, which includes teaching experience, handling research projects with varying level of responsibilities from being an assistant to a senior in your lab to being the project leader, identifying thesis-worthy topics, seeking out collaborators to work with and so on. Thus, applying for a Ph.D. program in Europe is like finding a job position, whereas applying for one in the US is like finding a match (like a relationship). Given the number of variables and its uncertainties in an American Ph.D. program, the experience can significantly vary among students even within the same research lab. A friend of mine once told me, “Every Ph.D. thesis is unique.” Thus, it is worth spending the time and energy to research the advisor, the lab, and the university/department culture to find the right match
Work experience
I would refrain from generalizing my observations here. But given how often I have seen this pattern, I wouldn’t outright ignore it. I feel the students in European style Ph.D. programs are expected to master a skill (think of experimental work vs. data collection vs. data analysis vs.…) and get involved in all projects (and publications) in their lab that require that skill. So the first author on the paper is responsible for framing the problem and get pieces solved by colleagues who are masters at it. In a US-style Ph.D. program, the first author is expected to be good at most of the skills required on the paper, and involve colleagues and collaborators only as needed. The result is a difference in the breadth and depth of skills you acquire and polish over time. I see enough counterexamples as well, where Professors of European origin continue their style of work in the US and the other way round. The takeaway here is that if you are coming from one form of learning, be prepared to unlearn and adapt to the new style when you cross over the Atlantic. In case you experience difficulties, never hesitate to bring this up with your PI. They probably understand it better.