Jump to content

siitrasn

Members
  • Posts

    79
  • Joined

  • Last visited

1 Follower

Profile Information

  • Application Season
    2017 Fall
  • Program
    Human-Computer Interaction

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

siitrasn's Achievements

Espresso Shot

Espresso Shot (4/10)

18

Reputation

  1. It's a bit difficult to tell what your goals are for studying HCI from your personal statement and study objectives. I understand you are looking for feedback before your Fullbright deadline, but my suggestion is that you tailor your personal statement to each school you're interested in applying for before asking for feedback. With your current versions, it's very hard to offer feedback because it sounds like you're applying to a non-HCI field since your statements are filled with references to AI. (Hint: Talk more about why you care about interaction/design.)
  2. I'm not a PhD in psychology but I did my undergraduate in psychology and spent a year volunteering at a developmental psychology lab. I thought I might be able to contribute a bit to the conversation by focusing on one part of what you said that I think will make your profile stronger for applying to developmental psych programs. I think you have a really great opportunity during this time to engage in research at this lab and try to get a conference paper, talk, or publication done during this time. As others have said, being deeply involved with the research and having your name on some sort of proof that you were a significant contributor to the project can help improve your chances of getting into graduate school. Even more importantly, I think you can use this opportunity to get a strong letter of recommendation from your lab advisor for a recommendation to a PhD in the U.S. FYI, at my lab when I was an undergraduate, we had lab coordinators every year who had graduated from bachelors/masters programs that would be in charge of running and operating the professor's experiments, recruiting subjects, and working out administrative issues (e.g. lab supplies). A lot of our lab coordinators were also major contributors to the research at the lab, and went on to enter some great PhD programs. Since the PhD is a lot more about your interest and fit with the department, you also want to think about which area of developmental psychology you are interested in. There are so many different intersections and overlaps with areas in cognitive and social psychology as well. For example, my undergraduate psychology department had researchers working on cognition, language acquisition, and infant vision among other fields, so figuring out the labs that you are particularly interested in will give you a better idea of what other competitive applicants look like. Topics like social cognition and language development also have a lot of potential research projects that your Chinese background can be helpful with since there may be cross-cultural applications as well.
  3. Along with what @pbandj mentioned, other popular choices would be extracurricular mentors (sports, arts, etc.), school counselors, or community/religious leaders.
  4. Someone else on the results thread is in the exact same situation in regards to UC Irvine MS in Information and Computer Science as myself. Any chance he/she is on the forums as well?
  5. Just wanted to update this topic by adding that something somewhat happened to me, and how that experience illustrated to me the fact that graduate admissions is filled with things outside the control of an applicant like administrative issues, time issues, communication issues, and faculty politics. I applied to 4 masters programs, and received 2a/1w with no rejects until my last school contacted me late March about a rejection. I was disappointed since the program is a great fit, and I ended up accepting an offer over the first weekend of April for another school. Just one day after I had submitted my acceptance of another school's offer, the program that I had been rejected from sent me an acceptance later. Much to my surprise, it turns out that I was indeed accepted (after contacting their offices for clarification) and that, simply due to the volume of applications they receive, rare administrative issues lead to mistakes with the application process. The reason I wanted to share this story is because I think it illustrates just how frustrating the experience of applying to graduate school can be. You can be more than qualified, yet receive a reject for some reason completely unknown to you; you could be a strong candidate but silly things such as the foul mood of your application reviewer, poor communication at a school's admin office, or a simple mechanical error could lead to your rejection. In my case, I found out that I had actually been accepted, but I can imagine there are students who were accepted yet never found out they had actually been accepted due to an error that no one at the office ever bothered to fix. (Arguably a rare occurrence, but you never know.) You never know if your rejections end up taking you to places you never imagined. In my case, I might not have decided to go to the school I've decided to accept. Figuring out our options as we go is all we can do, and why everyone has their own interesting stories and experiences to share. Good luck!
  6. I really appreciate you sharing your story with me. It's pretty inspiring how you went from undergrad to masters to PhD, but it definitely seems like your maturity helped you map out your path in a way that I've seen some of my peers (in their 20s) struggle with due to not being sure about how school will play into their career goals. I never really thought about comparing lost income to lost time, but I think in my situation lost income is more important than time. I don't mind doing a PhD after a few years out in industry with a masters, especially if I'm planning to start a family before getting into a PhD. Also, I'm a bit relieved to hear both you and @OhSoSolipsistic mentioned the strong applied nature of HCI research, which suggests that I might be worrying a bit too much about whether or not I'll be making myself less competitive for PhD admissions if I do end up deciding to do one. Assuming, that is, that I end up in a research role after doing my masters.
  7. Thanks for sharing your experience with your MA/MS. You're absolutely right about HCI being mostly applied work, which might make product research more valuable for PhD applications even if I don't end up working for a publication-focused institution after graduation. I'm also interested in a PhD for some of the same reasons you listed; a lot of the jobs I'm interested in require a MA/MS minimum, with many preferring a PhD to climb into a more senior research role. I also feel a PhD would train me better for being an independent researcher, much like you mentioned. Did you apply with a SoP mentioning an interest in industry or academic work after getting your PhD?
  8. I would say Cornell Tech has a stronger program in HCI and their location isn't too bad since their campus is in NYU, but I'm not sure if the MPS of Cornell InfoSci is at the same school. If you're talking about their main campus in Ithaca, you might want to consider UT Austin since that location is still very good for getting into the Tech industry. Also, big cities in Texas are fine places and can be liberal if you are worried about being an international student.
  9. I'm deciding between two programs that are both professional/terminal degrees in my area of interest (HCI). I'm basically torn between deciding on the school that would allow me to be more flexible if I decide to pursue a PhD versus one that is better for job placements if I decide a PhD isn't for me. Current goal is to work a year or two after graduation before deciding to apply to a PhD. Instead of asking for advice on my situation, I'm wondering if any of you would be willing to share your stories facing a similar situation. Did the terminal masters and work experience make you equally competitive for your PhD admissions? How did academic versus industry experience weigh in your PhD app? Here are a few points I'd love to hear others talk about: Time: One program is a year, which means less opportunity cost and a quicker return to the workforce. The other is two years and arguably provides more opportunity for research and publishing. Research Credibility: Does publishing matter for PhD admissions? If I plan to work in industry as an analyst/researcher after the masters degree, would that be convincing enough to admissions committees I know what research at the PhD level is like? Long-term Goals: How did you weigh your dream/goals of a PhD and scholarship vs employability? It's always been a dream of mine to become a scholar-practitioner that does both basic and applied research. A PhD doesn't usually increase employability, salary, or competitiveness except in a few highly specialized situations. PhDs also have a high opportunity cost.
  10. You have a fantastic profile and a really strong record, including some publications in HCI which is amazing. So I think your qualifications are pretty good and you don't really need to worry about never making it into HCI I'm a U.S. student accepted to MHCI and HCDE, and your research background is much stronger than mine even though my goal is to become a researcher. I would say szsz is probably correct that you may have needed to word your SoP a bit differently. From your background and goal stated in your post, it sounds like you would be a great fit in a PhD program at an HCI institution that allows you to train your math background into research specifically for HCI, particularly in areas where computational work (log/corpus analysis, data visualization) would be used much more in depth than at a masters program. A lot of Masters programs in HCI ask specifically about your career goals after graduation since these programs are not designed to be research-oriented, but rather industry-focused to get you a job. If your career goals are not articulated in your application I think that can be a strong factor in how committees view you. In my case, I am still thinking about a PhD but I avoided mentioning any of that in my applications and only talked about my intended career in industry since these programs are not preparation for a PhD. Also, there are people that join Masters in HCI programs with 0 background in engineering/design/psychology like biology or other fields. I do not think having a different background hurts you, but using your outside experience to convince people that you are ready for a masters program is something you can consider reviewing if you decide to stick with HCI. I understand that in China it is very crucial to find a job before graduation, and that the job market can be very tough if you don't have enough 'guanxi' to help you get a job. If you are really hoping to get employment, if you are willing to do more programming (particularly learning languages like Python, Swift, etc.) I am sure there are a ton of opportunities in the software industry to do HCI-related work in China at places big or small.
  11. Just want to chime in as devil's advocate to what HappyRoyla is saying, in that I worked with two extremely young professors as an undergraduate and I found it to be a great experience. Young professors may not be able to guide you as well, but for a Masters program you're not committing 3-4 years as an apprentice like you would a PhD so your work doesn't have to be nearly as dependent on a single professor. Another point to consider is that young professors are just starting to take off in their career -- if they think your work can help them get a publication, they can be very open to helping out and committing to you, in addition to also being incredibly energetic due to their relatively young age. At my undergrad alma mater, many famous and established professors were incredibly busy with their own projects, some even spending a significant amount of time off-campus to deliver talks or write books. PhD students would be teaching their classes when they deemed it more important to work on their personal stuff than teach a course, so definitely consider this as a factor. That being said, 9k is barely enough just for rent in San Diego with a roommate or two. SDSU has more options to living, but around UCSD/La Jolla you'd find 1 bedroom apartments costing $1400+ per month.
  12. siitrasn

    San Diego, CA

    Yep, North Park is a good area as well! Totally slipped my mind. Parking is an absolute nightmare at UCSD, with a lot of the cheaper parking spots (B spots?) being far away from buildings way out in the parking lots. It's a huge campus so you'd be walking a bit from where you park, unless you get lucky. Although, since I graduated in 2012, I heard they've built a a new parking complex near Sixth or something like that. Also, as nevermind mentioned the shuttles can be pretty convenient. I don't remember 100% since it's been a few years, but don't they have wifi so longer commutes can be time to work?
  13. siitrasn

    San Diego, CA

    Summer is a good time to start looking around La Jolla since it's got a huge student population and leases will be up last Spring/Summer. I know UCSD has on-campus grad housing, but if you're looking for neighborhoods off campus I remember Hillcrest being particularly popular. Also, there should be buses that take you from a bunch of places around La Jolla to campus via the San Diego public transport system. (Source: undergrad at UCSD)
  14. ASU reportedly has a strong program in design / HCI but I haven't really hard much about their publications in places like ACM or CHI, so I'm not that familiar with the program. If I'm not mistaken Purdue also has an OK program as well. While GPA might be a bit weaker than average you have decent GREs to back it up. I'm not sure how strong your TOEFL score is (as a native English speaker), but that might also be a factor relative to other students. Since you already have conference publication/presentation and work experience, I'm sort of surprised you didn't get better responses from the programs you applied to. I feel like most MS programs really value and emphasize work experience. Have you considered getting some people to read your SoPs and provide feedback on how well they address the question of why you want to study in these programs? Maybe you did plenty of work in this area already, but I feel like your SoP is probably the thing that might make or break your application. Another thing I can think of from your application is that you're applying to programs like Northwestern EDI, which from what I know has a strong tradition in design research. I'm not sure if you're coming from an engineering/research background but if design experience is highly valued, it could be simply a mismatch between your profile and what the schools are looking for.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use