Ohm

After being accepted, I'm pretty much sure everyone gets all hyped up about travelling to a new place, especially if it's another country! Planning what to do after getting there, looking up nearby places to holiday and hike are all just the beginning of things! Then there's buying all the stuff - new clothes, getting suites stitched, electronics, etc. So what are you planning, looking forward to, and/or have already done?

I'm going to be living in a place where temperatures go to -15 degree celcius!! And I currently live in a place where it reaches a scorching 50!! It's gonna be one hell of a change!

I'm going to be living in a place where temperatures go to -15 degree celcius!! And I currently live in a place where it reaches a scorching 50!! It's gonna be one hell of a change!

I'm going to be living in a place where temperatures go to -15 degree celcius!! And I currently live in a place where it reaches a scorching 50!! It's gonna be one hell of a change!

After being accepted, I'm pretty much sure everyone gets all hyped up about travelling to a new place, especially if it's another country! Planning what to do after getting there, looking up nearby places to holiday and hike are all just the beginning of things! Then there's buying all the stuff - new clothes, getting suites stitched, electronics, etc. So what are you planning, looking forward to, and/or have already done?

Neural networks is a very mathematical oriented field...add something there which talks about your strength in complex mathematical solutions apart from analysis and logic. Having worked on ANN myself, I think it's more about how you model the problem before coding. Might I also suggest a bit of shuffling in the sentencing? The first paragraph seems to merge the answer to the question 'why san Francisco fits you' and 'what are your interests', which are unrelated.

After being accepted, I'm pretty much sure everyone gets all hyped up about travelling to a new place, especially if it's another country! Planning what to do after getting there, looking up nearby places to holiday and hike are all just the beginning of things! Then there's buying all the stuff - new clothes, getting suites stitched, electronics, etc. So what are you planning, looking forward to, and/or have already done?

My friend go for the MPhil. You already said a PhD is your ultimate goal. So MPhil is the way to go.
 
Plus its full ride.

I would reject someone instantly if they were a bad fit...and would tell them the exact reason. Not make them wait for 3 months!

My biggest policy push would be to send out rejections as soon as someone is no longer in the running, so that they can all move on. 
Clearly not going to cut it? Rejection email ASAP! 
Decent candidate, but looks like a bad fit? Rejection letter today! 
On further reflection, we're inviting a bunch of other people for interviews (and there won't be enough spots for them, so there's definitely not a spot for this other candidate!)? Rejected now!!
Came out for the interview and was a total jerk / intolerable diva / just plain bad fit? Rejection email NAO!
 
I'd be the Oprah of rejection letters.  YOU get a rejection, and YOU get a rejection, and YOU GET A REJECTION!!  YAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

break into a panicked sweat, immediately step down from my job, and hope that i saved up enough of my salary to become "chief beer officer" for all applicants instead. yknow, the person who hands you a nice cold one immediately after your decision is made, no matter what the outcome.
 
that's a thing, right?

Adding to the above....
 
If you're applying for a PhD program, make sure you have a good thesis written and ready. Have it proof-read by your current guide - this helps mitigate any possibilities of the guide feeling that the idea has been stolen from his projects. Frame it to be crisp and short, a maximum of 2 pages Check your CV/Resume to make sure that you've got down all the details. All internships and company training should be mentioned separately and a brief of what you did should also be provided. All project work should be mentioned in Chronological order.  When mentioning publications in the resume, arrange them in order of weight (first author papers/higher impact factor papers in the beginning and so on). Provide links where the reader can download the papers from, or in case they need to be purchased, attach a copy of the paper and send. Do not write stories about your personal traits in your resume. The maximum you can do is a SWOT analysis and leave it at that. A very pictorial resume also stands out, so try including charts/diagrams Research on the department and your POI before writing your SOP or contacting the prof directly. You need to show that you know their work, for which you'll have to go through the papers published by that lab/by the professor concerned. Check if the university needs you to send in hard copies of the application, and any supporting documents. Make sure you send them in before the deadline, cause some universities have the same deadline for online submission and the hard copies t reach them (maybe 5 days gap). Don't go for last-minute submission of the apps. More additions welcome.

1. Standardized applications. DEAR LORD. STANDARDIZED APPLICATIONS. One program, all your information.
 
2. Lower the damn application fee.
 
3. Have adcomms release dates of decision in advance.
 
4. Funding. Enough said. 

I've got another one - video applications! All applicants have to make a 5-minute video of whatever they want to say/show/prove and send it across

I would fire everyone, move to another country, and laugh into the night.

Hope not! It's gruelling...and everyone makes mistakes. You just have to hope that they're not bigger than your competition's

I would reject someone instantly if they were a bad fit...and would tell them the exact reason. Not make them wait for 3 months!

To all who said standardized applications and lower fees, I'd vote for you. And if not that, why not at least send an explanation of what your fee is actually paying for? Really, they're extremely variable: some of the top schools charge $50, one medium school to which I applied charged $125 - who sets these costs? It must be a big stream of funding for the department, though. One school told me they only accepted 10 percent of the applicant pool, which, judging by the response on here, must have been about 120 people (12 acceptances x 10 = 120 applicants). I think their fee was $50 at least, which comes to $6,000. Not that much, but still.
 
My first change would be to hire a temp each year, maybe a work study undergrad, to keep in touch with all applicants about where they are in the process: didn't make the first cut? Let them know. Moving to a second round? Let them know right away. So much better than waiting with foolish hope that, even though you saw on here that 12 people were accepted weeks ago, you might somehow get accepted to the program. Of course, weeks later, that stupid hope is dashed by the rejection letter that could have gone out at the same time as people received their acceptances.
 

Adding to the above....
 
If you're applying for a PhD program, make sure you have a good thesis written and ready. Have it proof-read by your current guide - this helps mitigate any possibilities of the guide feeling that the idea has been stolen from his projects. Frame it to be crisp and short, a maximum of 2 pages Check your CV/Resume to make sure that you've got down all the details. All internships and company training should be mentioned separately and a brief of what you did should also be provided. All project work should be mentioned in Chronological order.  When mentioning publications in the resume, arrange them in order of weight (first author papers/higher impact factor papers in the beginning and so on). Provide links where the reader can download the papers from, or in case they need to be purchased, attach a copy of the paper and send. Do not write stories about your personal traits in your resume. The maximum you can do is a SWOT analysis and leave it at that. A very pictorial resume also stands out, so try including charts/diagrams Research on the department and your POI before writing your SOP or contacting the prof directly. You need to show that you know their work, for which you'll have to go through the papers published by that lab/by the professor concerned. Check if the university needs you to send in hard copies of the application, and any supporting documents. Make sure you send them in before the deadline, cause some universities have the same deadline for online submission and the hard copies t reach them (maybe 5 days gap). Don't go for last-minute submission of the apps. More additions welcome.

It's been a hell of a journey but finally I've completed all the applications and am now just waiting for the application outcomes (fingers crossed!) 
 
Meanwhile, I'd like to share what I learned in the entire process (and probably answers to most of the questions asked in this forum). I know this might be repetitive with previous posts, but I still want to do it for some reason!  
 
Applying is NOT easy work. It requires extensive research on the universities, professors, their areas of interest, your possible areas of study, etc. If you do it fast, you're doing it wrong. The more you research, the more options you find Your chances of getting into the university of your interest is purely based on your match with what the program has to offer. You may have GREAT stats, a 4 GPA, 360 (or 1600) GRE, 120 TOEFL, 20 top journal publications/conference submissions, but you still will not be selected if your area of work/interest is not a major research area in the university, be it MIT or Harvard or Cambridge or any university for that matter. The safety rule is to apply to 6-8 universities of which (say you're applying for 7) 4 should be in your grade, 2 above your grade and 1 below your grade (commonly called the 'safety' school). An example of profile evaluation can be found here. Prepare your recommendation letters WELL ahead of the application process. Discuss with possible referees and decide who will recommend you for which program. Give them their resources and to avoid all last-minute non-submissions, running around, reminding and forcing, here's a useful tip: Get signed hard copies of recommendations in a sealed envelope from the referee beforehand. This can be done as much in advance as you need. This will help in case the referee retires, changes his mind, gets too busy, or in some unlucky cases, dies Most of the schools accept paper recommendations if directly mailed to them. Also, regarding the people who recommend you, it is not necessary that they be top professors, department heads, etc. Not everyone can get to work with the top people, mad if you have great recommendations from ordinary professors, it still will work just fine. DO NOT FORCE/SIT ON PEOPLE'S HEADS. Work extensively on your SOP. Do not keep any stories or beating around the bush. Make it as direct as possible. If the question is 'What made you passionate about your area of interest' do NOT start a story from your childhood describing how you grew up playing with construction blocks, etc. etc. Give them the life-changing even if any. Just be direct and honest. It's not a creative writing competition.Have many people proof-read it before you finalize it yourself. Also, never ever read another person's or sample personal statement(s) before you have finalized yours. Their style will stick to you and you will become repetitive. Contacting possible guides in the university of interest will be of good help. Ask them for open positions in their labs/under their guidance. Make a strong impression in them in your email. Keep in touch with them. Compile all your documents and keep scanned digital copies of all in a separate folder in your computer. This will come to be highly useful when you are uploading them to the websites. Go through the application forms slowly and check every detail before submitting and payment. Check the email ids of the referees and verify if the correct, latest versions of the documents have been uploaded After you submit the form, BE PATIENT. Do NOT write to/call departments constantly asking for updates on decisions as it will irritate them and might even result in rejection of the application. Keep your referees updated regarding the decisions.  Not everyone can get admitted everywhere. It's also heavily dependent on luck. So do not be upset when you get turned down by some schools despite you doing everything properly. Talk to a lot of people who've applied before. Clear all your doubts and get to know the exact process before you start. It will help in avoiding small mistakes. Be clear on what you want. If you want to get into a school only if they offer funding, then there is no point in keeping the offer without funding. You do not want to spend and regret. In the end, if nothing works out for you, take it as tough luck and proceed with life. Don't beat yourself thinking you're not worth it, cause at the end of the day, there's no one 'not worth it'

I would reject someone instantly if they were a bad fit...and would tell them the exact reason. Not make them wait for 3 months!

I would reject someone instantly if they were a bad fit...and would tell them the exact reason. Not make them wait for 3 months!

Ok, Hilarious! :D 
 
And regarding what ThePope said (God, that statement sounds so tacky!), I've heard the same thing from many others. Personally, from what I experienced last year, if you don't hear back till the first 2 weeks of March, be happy cause you're certainly not rejected. But if it goes into the end of March and then April, then be worried. The first mails that are sent out are the rejects, so don't worry. You're name is still on the 'Under Consideration' pile! The ones who already have got their admits needn't necessarily be tier-I students. They can be students whose research work EXACTLY matches that of their POI, or students who've already contacted their POI beforehand and discussed possible studentship. Others are considered after their places have been filled.
 
Bottomline: It's not yet time to worry

Ok, Hilarious! :D 
 
And regarding what ThePope said (God, that statement sounds so tacky!), I've heard the same thing from many others. Personally, from what I experienced last year, if you don't hear back till the first 2 weeks of March, be happy cause you're certainly not rejected. But if it goes into the end of March and then April, then be worried. The first mails that are sent out are the rejects, so don't worry. You're name is still on the 'Under Consideration' pile! The ones who already have got their admits needn't necessarily be tier-I students. They can be students whose research work EXACTLY matches that of their POI, or students who've already contacted their POI beforehand and discussed possible studentship. Others are considered after their places have been filled.
 
Bottomline: It's not yet time to worry

I would reject someone instantly if they were a bad fit...and would tell them the exact reason. Not make them wait for 3 months!