PhD Application Tips! | Advice for Applying to PhD Programs

I've been running PhD admissions for our department for years, and these are some of my best PhD application tips! Covers organization, reaching out to prospective advisors, personal statements/letters of purpose, tips for letters of recommendation, and how much GRE scores matter. This advice is most relevant for STEM and maybe especially Computer Science PhD programs, but a lot of it is definitely broadly applicable.

00:00 Introduction
01:35 Check application requirements
02:19 Know the faculty
03:59 Find potential advisors
08:16 Mention faculty in statement of purpose
10:56 Be smart with letters of rec
14:20 Don't stress about test scores
16:24 What I look for
18:20 It's not you, it's them

The first video in this series was about whether you should get a PhD at all:    • Should You Get a PhD??? | Reasons to ...  

+ RELEVANT LINKS +
Template for reaching out to potential advisors:   / 1301907707579031555  

Advice for new PhD students:    • Advice for New PhD Students | How to ...  

More on "it's not you it's them":   / the-academic-job-search-its-not-you-it-s-them  

I tweet a lot:   / cfiesler