Research Experience for PhD Applications

[asaluja]

Hi everyone,

I just came across this forum yesterday and it's good to see that such a resource exists. I'm gearing up to apply for grad programs for Fall 2010, in EE/CS (specifically, speech recognition for Indian languages and development of low-cost, low-power mobile speech recognition technologies), but I'm confused as to the correct "route" to follow, as explained below.

I graduated from a top-rated program in Electrical Engineering (concentrating in Signal Processing) in April 2007. I did well academically (graduated with distinction, i.e. top 10% of the class, as well as Tau Beta Pi) and took a couple of introductory graduate-level courses as well as one advanced graduate-level course in EE, along with several graduate-level courses in other disciplines (primarily Financial Mathematics). I've not taken the GREs yet, but I've done well enough on the practice tests that I'm not too worried about it.

What does worry me is the relative lack of research experience, compared to a lot of you out there. I worked on a small (1.5 months long) research project for an EE Prof in undergrad doing some fiber-optics stuff, so not directly related to my research interests. I also have some research experience in Financial Math, doing a 10-week internship in a research group at an investment bank before converting that internship into a full-time job in quantitative finance but away from research. So I guess you can say that's 4 months worth.

I am hopeful that I can write a convincing, solid SoP incorporating recent papers written in the area. However, given my lack of research experience, some people have recommended I get back into academia through the Masters route, i.e. apply to Masters programs first, get some research experience there, and then apply to PhD programs. Although I did my undergrad in the US, I'm not a US citizen or a resident, so I think funding for Masters would be quite tight for me, whereas from my understanding, funding for PhD students is pretty much nationality-blind and is based on if your research group can fund you.

As far as LoRs are concerned, another issue is that one of my recommenders is a Prof from Freshman/Sophomore year, is that too far back?

So I'm not exactly sure what to do - based on my background, should I apply to Masters programs, PhDs, or both?

Any feedback, thoughts, comments will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[frankdux]

don't sell yourself short. you've got some research experience. also, this forum isn't an entirely accurate representation of the masses that apply. most people on here have a lot more research than most applicants. many people apply without any undergrad research experience and can still get funded acceptances somewhere.