Didn't get in anywhere - now what?

[geekman]

Anyone else in this situation or has been in the past? It seems kind of pointless to work at a career oriented job if I plan on reapplying to schools next year.

I screwed up by applying to programs that were out of my league and in an area that I was not specialized in. I'm paranoid that I'll never get into grad school...

[coffeeintotheorems]

This happened to me last year. In fact, this year I got into a place that rejected me last year, probably due to funding issues. Where did you apply this year?

[newms]

Would it be possible for you to work with a prof's research group over the summer at a local university? If you were able to work on research project over the summer that is similar to your interests then that would be a good boost for your application. Additionally you can try rewriting your SoP and make it more focused on your interests and how your background prepares you to be successful at pursuing your interests. You should probably also look at your school selection and choose schools that

(i) are very good fits for your interests

(ii) will likely have space available for the group/lab you want to work with

(iii) are not ridiculously competitive to get into (or at least apply to a mix of schools so that not all your schools are extremely competitive).

Would you be applying to machine learning programs next year? If so, look for schools that have machine learning programs that are not exclusively housed in the computer science department, since you've said before that you don't have a CS background. Quite a few schools have overlaps with the CS and Statistics departments when it comes to Machine Learning, for example see Purdue, Michigan, Alberta and I'm sure that there are many more.

Additionally, if you want to get yourself some exposure and have the opportunity to meet profs and researchers in the field, I would have suggested that you go to the Machine Learning Summer School in June, but I just noticed at the site (http://learning.stat...mlss/mlss/start) that it says that the registrations are now full - however, they have a waiting list in case someone who has previously registered drops out, so you can consider getting on the wait list.

Edited April 27, 2011 by newms

[geekman]

Well, next year I'm going to apply to Stats programs... I think I am better off sticking with what I'm good at and have been studying for years. I am now scarred - I'm afraid of applying to any top programs for next year. I am even weary of applying to schools within the top 50.

At my university it's really hard to get involved with real research unless you're a PHD student. Have you heard of people doing research at schools without ever attending the institution? I really need to get some better LORs somehow. I'm just at a loss of direction.

Edited April 27, 2011 by geekman

[geekman]

One more thing I forgot to add - since I now have a huge head start on the Fall 2012 process, what are your opinions on contacting professors of interest? Is it a good idea? Does it help at all in the application process if you've expressed interest in working in their group, etc?

[newms]

Hey geekman,

I was in your shoes last year with limited research experience as well. Now, I'm preparing to go to a top 20 school with full funding in the fall - it can happen, so I would definitely encourage you to not rule out top 50 programs. The key is research fit. What helped my application the most, I think, is that I was able to focus my research interests and find programs that were good matches for my interests. How solid are your research interests? Are they solid enough that you could write broadly about a potential research area or project in your SoP? If not, then perhaps you could read current papers in your field to get a firm grasp of your interests.

As for contacting professors of interest, I think it's a good idea, but it's not absolutely necessary. It would be good to find out if the POI is interested in taking on new students to see if it's worthwhile to apply, but be aware that profs often receive a lot of emails like this and a lot of times, they aren't able to respond to emails from prospective applicants. Perhaps you could introduce yourself briefly and in addition to asking if they would be looking for new students, ask a specific question about their research. Good luck.

Edited April 27, 2011 by newms