Here I plan to add resources about Grad School admissions, preparation, and other things that I feel might be (or have been) useful to me as well as others pursuing higher education (Masters or PhD) in Computer Vision, Machine Learning and related fields.

My Statement(s) of Purpose

I had applied to graduate school programs (into the Fall 2022 admissions cycle) in the U.S.A, Canada and Europe to groups pursuing basic and fundamental research in Computer Vision, Machine Learning. Additionally, given that before my application cycle I had been working as a Pre-doctoral Research Fellow at Microsoft Research India on problems at the intersection of Applied Machine Learning, HCI and Healthcare I also applied to groups that were pursuing similar research to maximize my chances for admissions given the great competitiveness in pure Computer Vision / Machine Learning research groups.

I do plan to expand on this more in the coming days / weeks / months. Please be patient. Until then it might be useful to take a look at the SoPs (although these might become obsolete in times to come, but hopefully will still be useful).

Another thing to note is, now that I think in hindsight, I should have made my SoPs more consise and compact, rather than trying to maximize content. However, it is easier said than done. Taking a look at more reference statements might make more sense, and getting feedback from your advisors / professors / mentors / seniors should help.

Find below the SoPs for the programs I had either gotten acceptances from or was interviewed by:

Europe

  1. ELLIS* (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) → (sop_pdf) (admitted)
  2. IMPRS-IS** (International Max Planck Research School - MPI-IS and the University of Tuebingen) → (sop_pdf) (interviewed)
* I finally joined the ELLIS PhD program at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the Amazon Lablet in Tuebingen. However, my co-advisor at Amazon, has now started his Professorship at the Institute of Science and Technology, Austria (IST-A) and I shall now be associated with IST-A.

** For the IMPRS-IS program I was interviewed by 2 groups, however there was a mismatch in the potential research directions between the P.I. and the ones I wanted to pursue, which led to no final offer.

U.S.A

  1. University of Washington (UW) CSE → (sop_pdf) (admitted)
  2. MIT MediaLab* → (sop_pdf) (admitted)
  3. University of Pennsylvania (CIS) → (sop_pdf) (interviewed)
  4. Carnegie Mellon University** → (sop_pdf) (interviewed)
* At MIT MediaLab I was interviewed again by 2 research groups, and was given a potential admission offer, however as I already had accepted the ELLIS offer, and also due to the group pursuing more applied research I decided to withdraw early.

** At CMU I was finally given a visiting scholar / research assistant role at the Robotics Institute. But since this did not translate to a PhD offer, I decided to forfeit this as well.


Note: I had broadly applied to two major types of research groups: (1) Machine Learning and Computer Vision, (2) HCI + Applied Machine Learning / Computer Vision. And for that I had two different versions of my SoP. You can get an idea by reading my ELLIS SoP vs UW / MIT.

More details on the application process, and my experience so far into pursuing a PhD in Europe and ELLIS to come soon. Stay tuned!

My comments on the ELLIS PhD Program (LINK)

Additional will also try to compile a list of FAQs that I get asked time and again.

Resources

Statement of Purpose Template (Latex): Download Link


Interview Process

Interviews are a crucial part of the process. Although this might vary based on the Professor/Group, however I found it useful to have a deck of slides describing my prior research projects.

  1. These slides were very useful in having a nice discussion with my potential advisor, and clearly depicting the things I wanted to describe.
  2. As a general framework, I had 1 slide on my prior background, and overview slides of the important projects I had worked on.
  3. Then, I had a set of detailed slides for my 2 most important projects that I felt would be worth discussing, and were important problems to solve for my PhD.
  4. Thus, sharing a copy of my slide deck which might be a useful reference for applicants. Slides Link


Advice from former Microsoft Research Pre-doctoral Research Fellows

Applying to graduate school is often a full-time job, requiring lot of effort and research by individuals. It can be very useful to speak to successful applicants. Here is a resource that can be helpful (link here).

While I was a Research Fellow at MSR India, I had the good fortune to work with many brilliant fellow RFs who had very successful Grad School admits at top US schools (CMU, UMich, UW, etc). I reached out to a few of them with a questionnaire, that they graciously answered. I asked each of them the following queries that were very useful:

Q1. How many uni's did you apply to? also did you apply to uni's outside of the US (Canada, Europe)?
Q2. Any specific criteria in selecting the uni's ?
Q3. Where all did you get your LoRs from and how many? In the sense that were they all from MSR or also some from your undergrad college?
Q4. Any resources you used during SoP writing?
Q5. Any general advice you would have from your experience of the application cycle.

Such responses were very useful when applying, and also when making the final decision on selecting the final graduate program which I eventually joined.
Take full advantage of your network and resources at your disposal.

Have a fruitful application season you all. You got this :)
FAQs

Q1. How does one discern the right advisor. Is reaching out to current PhD students the right approach to understanding the advisor? Additionally, how feasible is it to know the suitability of a potential advisor through just 1-2 Zoom meetings?
A1. This can be quite subjective based on one's research aspirations, area of research, your nature, etc. In this link (click here), I have shared on questions that one might ask during the interview process). Remember, the interviews should not be one sided. It is also a wonderful opportunity to chat with great people in your research area, ask questions and gauge how well you would fit into the group. Be confident, be positive and ace it. All the best!


Q2. I am encountering a dilemma in choosing between a new professor and an established one within the field. Both options present their own set of advantages and disadvantages. How do I decide?
A2. This totally depends on the type of research you wish to pursue. I would recommend taking a look at the past research projects / collaborators of your potential advisor and make a decision. Again keeping in mind points mentioned in the previous answer might help. At the end of the day, this is a judgement call you would have to make, speaking to current students / collaborators might help here.


Q3. Does the USA provide more opportunities during/post Ph.D., especially given the concentration of major tech companies US?
A3. Yes, while this might be true, however the only potential challenge I see with doing a PhD outside of the USA and then working in the USA are VISA / work permit issues. Otherwise European PhDs are equally if not more competent / prestigious. Given that is the case, there are ample opportunities now even in Europe. Most top research labs have centers now in Germany, Switzerland, England, Netherlands, etc. So finding a job may not be that hard once you complete your PhD.


More questions and answers coming Soon!
Note: Please understand that these materials are written based on my personal experience and may / may not be applicable to everyone. So try to take these with a grain of salt (as most things in life ;) ).