Undergrad Research for PhD Admissions

[CSallday]

Two questions:

 

1) Do we have to know our exact research area when applying to top CS grad schools? Or do they want us to go into grad school exploring topics/advisors?

 

2) Similarly, if we happen to know exactly what we want to research in grad school, will having all our undergrad research in a different field hurt chances of admission? For example, if I did my undergrad research in a couple areas (let's say parallel computing and mobile computing), but I want to pursue a different area (say machine learning) in grad school, will the fact that I haven't done research in the field I want to pursue hurt me? 

 

[complexbongo]

1) No.

 

2) Having research experience in any way will never hurt your chances, regardless of what area it is in. 

 

Admissions committees want to see a candidate's potential to perform excellent research. As long as you have shown that, they will be confident that you can make a transition into a different area. That being said, it is good if you have taken at least an undergraduate course in the field you plan on pursuing. 

Edited January 2, 2014 by complexbongo

[Icydubloon]

1) Do we have to know our exact research area when applying to top CS grad schools? Or do they want us to go into grad school exploring topics/advisors?

 

If you know, it helps tremendously when writing your SOP and telling your story. If you don't know, that's okay too. Most students switch research areas within the first couple years.

 

 

2) Similarly, if we happen to know exactly what we want to research in grad school, will having all our undergrad research in a different field hurt chances of admission? For example, if I did my undergrad research in a couple areas (let's say parallel computing and mobile computing), but I want to pursue a different area (say machine learning) in grad school, will the fact that I haven't done research in the field I want to pursue hurt me? 

 

It shouldn't hurt you. As long as you didn't hop around 3 different labs in 1-2 semesters, you should be fine. However, the best is to tie your research in a different field with your intended, future area. Also note that machine learning is the most competitive and popular CS research area at the moment. If you're interested in ML but have not taken an AI class or done research/projects in that area, then yes, I would say it would hurt to say you're interested in an area but have nothing to prove your interest.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Icydubloon

[Pauli]

1) Do we have to know our exact research area when applying to top CS grad schools? Or do they want us to go into grad school exploring topics/advisors?

 

Seconding on the "No." If you haven't chosen one already or been connected to a research lab already, you usually have a year to decide after taking specialized courses of the research areas in that program and familiarizing yourselves with the research labs there.

 

2) No. Research experience is research experience. I did undergrad research in AI and Robotics, but my grad research is in HCI.

[Azazel]

Two questions:

 

1) Do we have to know our exact research area when applying to top CS grad schools? Or do they want us to go into grad school exploring topics/advisors?

 

2) Similarly, if we happen to know exactly what we want to research in grad school, will having all our undergrad research in a different field hurt chances of admission? For example, if I did my undergrad research in a couple areas (let's say parallel computing and mobile computing), but I want to pursue a different area (say machine learning) in grad school, will the fact that I haven't done research in the field I want to pursue hurt me? 

 

1. Thirding all the other people who said, "no."

 

2. I don't think so. You can play this in a bunch of different ways. Personally, I pretended like I wanted to stay in the area where I'd build up a research track record, then I switched areas once I was accepted to grad school. That made it easier to tell a story in my applications. That's not the only way to do it though --- I know people who were more straightforward about switching in their applications, and they were still admitted to top schools. 

[Jonathan R Shewchuk]

1)  I'm gonna partly contradict everyone else.  In Berkeley CS, it helps a lot to know what area you want to work with, because then professors in that area may choose to fund you.  We do have "general admits" who aren't associated on entry with any particular area, but they're a small minority.

 

2)  Not much.  A strong student who did solid research in area X in CS and now wants to do area Y in CS will be just as exciting to a prof in area Y.  Solid research talent is rare; ability to learn a new field is commonplace.