Statement of purpose cs phd
CMU's application deadline is December Like a lot of new faculty members, I volunteered to be on the admissions committee because I wanted to see how the sausage was made.
I have probably reviewed over applications statement of statement of purpose cs phd cs phd the last two years, and there is one particular aspect of them statement of purpose cs phd I want to discuss. This post is not statement of purpose cs phd how to get admitted to a Ph. Mor Harchol-Balter already has a great essay that I strongly encourage anyone applying this year to look at. This post is also not about what goes on with the admissions committee during the review process.
How to Write a Bad Statement for a Computer Science Ph.D. Admissions Application
Dave Andersen aka "Dunks" has already covered this on his blog. Instead, I want to provide some examples of bad please click for statement of purpose cs phd of purpose essays that I read in the last two years.
In Statement guideshe warns you that should not write an essay that starts with an opening purpose please click for source talks about being the "boy genius" statement of purpose cs phd. The example that she uses statement of purpose cs phd emblematic of this issue:. The problem with this type of phd is that it is completely irrelevant to why we should admit you to our Ph.
Statement of Purpose for PhD in Computer Science Sample
Professors don't care that you got the first computer on your statement of purpose cs phd and started messing with it when you were really young. We don't believe you either. It also makes you seem really boring because you had to reach back to your childhood to find something interesting to say about yourself.
Nobody wants to statement of purpose cs phd with somebody like that. Do you want to know what I was doing when I was young? Flushing things down statement of purpose cs phd toilet e.
Does that make you a better researcher than me? Maybe, but probably not.
Statement of Purpose
I read Mor's guide when I was applying to graduate schools and I made sure to avoid this same pattern in my statement of purpose. Surely I phd others would heed the same warning when I joined CMU's admissions committee in But I was surprised at the number of essays that did start off with this "boy genius" article phd To give an idea of just how pervasive this problem is, I am sharing a sample of essays anonymized, modified, and paraphrased from the last two years.
There were at statement purpose another two dozen essays that were similar. I /writing-essay-paper-blank.html have a couple of unscientific observations about the type person that statement of purpose cs phd an essay with phd kind of opening: The applicants are from cv personal statement teenager around the world. There was no particular country or region that had more bad essays than others.
Most of the applicants were applying while currently enrolled in an undergraduate program. These applicants were usually weaker overall than other applications e. I am not sharing these examples to belittle purpose phd shame these people. Nobody was rejected from Homework help ontario Ph.
We take each application seriously and spend a lot of time thinking about whether the potential student would be a good fit for our statement purpose. I am providing these examples as a cautionary warning to those that are applying in the future to avoid this same trope. Statement of purpose cs phd statement some people that were dying to tell us about how smart they were before they hit puberty:.
Writing a Statement of Purpose
Then we had people tell us about they had discovered the mysteries of computer science in middle school. Some of them had this epiphany while programming, while one purpose phd got it while watching a movie:. Finally, we have people that could not help purpose phd but to write about how they were either inspired by something or were ripping it up in high school:.
You may be wondering whether it's okay if you start your essay with talking about some life changing experience that you had while statement of purpose cs phd undergraduate. The answer is "yes" but only if it is about something other than when you took a class.
If your essay starts off statement of purpose cs phd talking about how you took a class that statement really liked and it made you want to get a Ph. Ask yourself which of those two purpose phd would you want to read?
Lest you think that I am projecting or hypocritical, I would like to present the opening to my graduate school application from I statement of purpose cs phd be the first to admit that this is a bit ostentatious and dry.
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I am very happy with the completed SOP. When you apply to PhD programs in computer science you will need to provide them a statement of purpose or personal statement PhD as part of that application. This will often be the most important part of your application as it is the only chance that you have to make yourself stand out from the many other applicants that are after your place.
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Universities in the US appear to believe that the logical end of education is enabling an individual to think on her own. This is why they ask you for a "personal" statement to give an account of experiences which you believe helped you decide to apply, your expectations from graduate school, what you propose to do in school Of course, the typical personal statement is not so personal, and is usually edited by half a dozen people atleast.
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After considering my aptitude and the type of work that I enjoy most, I am convinced that I want to take up a career in research in Computer Science. A PhD is just one step towards realizing this goal. My preparation for the same.
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