Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
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Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
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Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#2An offer letter from Google or YCombinator (where you are the tech co-founder) which serves as evidence that you passed a challenging programming interview at Google, or that YCombinator believed you would be successful at developing your company product.
Interesting. Because I have no intention of moving to a Google or YCombinator location, I never applied to either, but this makes me wonder if merely having been offered an opportunity at such a place could have value. Even if one never intended to follow through.
Which might not be a great thing for the folks reviewing applications...
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#3An offer letter from Google or YCombinator (where you are the tech co-founder) which serves as evidence that you passed a challenging programming interview at Google, or that YCombinator believed you would be successful at developing your company product. Interesting. Because I have no intention of moving to a Google or YCombinator location, I never applied to either, but this makes me wonder if merely having been of…
In which case you move to #2 which (to me) seems much easier to get: A Github or other online repository of your source code demonstrating contributions to open source projects or impressive projects of your own.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#4I'm surprised that admission into Computer Science PhD programs is so competitive. I would think that with the strong job market for computer scientists, there would not be as many students who would want to make the commitment to a PhD program over other job and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#5I love this. Especially the part where it gives you a few problems that you can try to solve. Not only is a good way to find talent that may otherwise be detected. It increases the chances of finding new ways to solve some problems. (Edit: grammar)
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#6Hmmm. This is an interesting spin the Brown Professor has taken on the PhD application process.
For those interested in a career in research and development, a PhD is almost a must. Getting on to a prestigious PhD programme is incredibly competitive, and as someone who has gone through the whole process and seen it from both sides, I can say that I've seen individuals who'd make great computer science researchers not being given an opportunity because they don't tick the right "boxes".
Sure it's not perfect, but worth a shot if you're interested.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#7I'm surprised that admission into Computer Science PhD programs is so competitive. I would think that with the strong job market for computer scientists, there would not be as many students who would want to make the commitment to a PhD program over other job and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Entry into elite PhD programmes is as competitive as ever. Others, not so.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#8I'm surprised that admission into Computer Science PhD programs is so competitive. I would think that with the strong job market for computer scientists, there would not be as many students who would want to make the commitment to a PhD program over other job and entrepreneurial opportunities.
I believe someone who is not a good software engineer or even can't code at all, can still be admitted into some CS PhD program.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#9An offer letter from Google or YCombinator (where you are the tech co-founder) which serves as evidence that you passed a challenging programming interview at Google, or that YCombinator believed you would be successful at developing your company product. Interesting. Because I have no intention of moving to a Google or YCombinator location, I never applied to either, but this makes me wonder if merely having been of…
In which case you move to #2 which (to me) seems much easier to get: A Github or other online repository of your source code demonstrating contributions to open source projects or impressive projects of your own.
if you do that you might as well forget the PhD. Schools don't want to teach you, they want to accept the best applicants. Applicants who work on open source projects and can get a job anywhere. Applicants that became great learning from somewhere that is not the school that he is applying to. Whereas as a post doc you'll be someone's bitch working for 40K per year. Screw the PhD and whatever it is supposed to mean--that you did all your stupid homework assignments and kissed people's asses for three letters of recommendation and that you "gamed" the GRE.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#10This got me to consider applying to brown whenever I'm looking at grad schools.