AMA: PhD Admissions Chair at Brown University CS

[jeffhuang]

I'm a computer science professor and chair of the admissions committee in computer science at Brown University. As part of graduate application season, I'm doing an "ask me anything". I'll answer questions while this is on the front page.

I'm can talk about anything, but to mention a few things we've done as an admissions committee this year:

1) Dropped the GRE requirement https://www.academia.org/ivy-league-schools-drop-gre-requirement-for-some-graduate-programs/

2) Broader application fee waivers see FAQ at https://cs.brown.edu/degrees/doctoral/applications/

3) Outreach to nearby liberal arts colleges, HBCUs, women's colleges, smaller universities in the region, etc.

Happy to answer any questions about PhD admissions and policies, Brown CS specifically, grad school life, give my own opinion as a faculty member who admits students myself, or anything.

Minor edit: also invited the former admissions chair to this thread (it was his idea to do this AMA), and cross-posted on the gradadmissions subreddit on reddit.com

Edited December 6, 2019 by jeffhuang

[zkysfls]

Hello! I want to ask two questions.

The first one is: is it mandatory to have a paper published when applying to phd in CS? especially for AI/ML field?

Second: Is it recommended to cold-emailing professors before apply?

Looking forward to your reply! Thanks!