Kevin Alarcón Negy
Cornell University
Computer Science PhD student
Expected graduation: 2024
Contact Information:
Email: kevinnegy@cs.cornell.edu
Address: Office 407 Bill & Melinda Gates Hall
(107 Hoy Rd, Ithaca, NY 14853)
Guide to the PhD Application Process
Visitations
Visitations, both pre- and post-admittance, are a fundamental way for university professors and students to interact in person and get a feeling on whether they are a good fit for each other. Pre-admittance visits are either self-funded, funded by a grad prep organization, or by the hosting university. Post-admittance visitations are funded by the university to help convince admitted students to accept their offer. Both are crucial to getting into a great PhD program.
Another note about visitations: there is less pressure during post-admittance visitations than any other visitations. They have already admitted you, obviously, and are now trying to recruit you. Enjoy it! Ask questions, talk to grad students, find out what your life would be like if you attended. You can be even more direct with professors about being your adviser. Asking "If I come here, would you be willing to be my adviser?" is definitely appropriate if this is a major deciding factor for you.
There is also a pre-admittance, post-application visitation. Fortunately, getting invited to a visitation of this type means you are a competitive applicant. Unfortunately, this type of visitation is an interview where you will spend the entire visit with your competitors. Treat this type of visitation exactly as you would a pre-application visitation.
In this section, I will cover some dos and don'ts and then list some helpful generic questions to ask professors.
Do
- Apply for as many pre-application visitations as you can. Getting accepted to any of these is a good indicator that you are a competitive applicant. These applications have early fall deadlines so you can use these initial applications as a foundation for the actual grad applications later.
- Sacrifice classes to go to these. Personally, I was only admitted to schools that I had visited or spent time at in an REU. Many fellow applicants experienced the same phenomenon. It is acceptable to miss some class, as long as you already have an acceptable GPA and can still pass.
- Find out from the hosting organization's administrators whether you should reach out to professors yourself to arrange meetings or if they will arrange meetings for you. See emailing a professor for more information about how to contact professors.
- Dress appropriately. Visitation programs will have a dress code suggestion, but it may be wise to dress more formally than what the guideline suggests, especially the more casual a program insists it is. This is your time to make a great first impression with professors and although academia is thought of as a mostly liberal establishment, there are many traditional social rules everyone is expected to follow, including dressing like you are serious about this opportunity.
- Look at professors' websites and articles in advance. You are visiting these universities to find a potential match in an adviser; you should be meeting professors whose research interests you. Websites and articles can inform you of what professors are working on and give you some talking points if a professor expects you to lead the conversation.
- Ask professors if they are taking students in the following year and ask to put their name down as a potential adviser in your application. You want to be direct in showing enthusiasm about working with them. Asking these questions gives you knowledge about what your prospects of working with them are, whether that be affirmation or rejection.
- Send follow-up thank-you emails to professors and visitation hosts. A day or two after meeting, send a thank you email to each professor thanking them for taking the time out to meet you and expressing enthusiasm for applying to their university. If they are someone you would like to work with, mention that as well. Don't expect a response, but this email will help them remember you down the road (in addition to being the polite thing to do).
- Review your own resume before visiting. Professors will ask you to tell them about yourself. They will ask about your research experiences. Be prepared to summarize what you've done so that you don't seem unprepared or clueless about things you've done.
Don't
- Drink heavily, party, stay out late, etc. People are observing you to see if you are a good fit for their university. Act responsibly and professionally. Your performance meeting professors will be affected by your choices the night before.
- Be on your phone. You want to show your excitement about being there and give everyone your undivided attention. Being on your phone communicates to them that you have better things to do.
- Be impolite. This covers having poor manners, eating rudely, etc.
- Assume professors will lead throughout your conversation. I have met professors who introduced themselves and then stayed quiet, waiting for me to speak. Instead, be prepared with questions and knowledge of their work to guide you in your meeting.
Good questions to ask professors
• What projects are you working on right now?
• Are you taking students next year?
• How often do you like to meet with your students?
• How hands-on do you like to be with your students' projects?
• How many years does it take to graduate from your lab?
• How many students are in your lab group?
• I'm very interested in working with you. May I put you down in my application as someone I would like to work with?
Updated as of January 2019.