skywalker404: Grad school - um... help? (give me some advice)

Greg (

skywalker404) wrote,
@ 2006-02-25 11:50:00

Current mood:	thoughtful
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Entry tags:	geek, goals, lifegoals, school

Grad school - um... help? (give me some advice)
As I've mentioned before, I'm interested in going to grad school. As usual, I'm not aiming low; my top choices for schools are MIT and Stanford. I think my greatest area of interest is HCI, though networking, software engineering, and AI are also very interesting to me.

However, what really interests me is The $100 Laptop Project (affiliated with MIT, but an independent organization). You may or may not know, but I've always felt that "higher calling" feeling; specifically, that I want to do something really great, not just "cool" or even "impressive". And the $100 Laptop seems like it could be that. Talk about affecting a lot of people; if I could help build the software used to teach children who use these laptops, it would help advance children all over the world, AND could be eventually ported into American schools, as well. Not to mention the ebook possibilites (I don't mean our proposed company, I just mean in a general sense).

As I've been investigating it, I'm also starting to remember how much (like scuzzlebutt) I'm interested in not only my own learning, but also in advancing our learning systems (ie: improving the POS public school system we have, or at least helping people who go through it to learn better). I've been perusing the projects of MIT's Future of Learning Group and easily half the things listed I've said "Oo! That sounds cool!". (I almost wonder if I should try to go back for a BS in Education or something similar, but I don't think I want to start down that road).

In any case, to the point: I'm trying to figure out where I should start, in the sense of what I need to do. Off the top of my head, my guesses are the more obvious stuff (not in any order):

Take GRE (study for it first? what is it like?)
Obtain letters of recommendation from professors @ UCI (& bosses? who do letters of req have to come from?)
Write essay(s) for each school I'm applying to.
Contact the $100 laptop project, or should I contact some of the people involved in it directly?
Try to initiate contact with professors at one/both schools in the HCI departments.
I remember hearing that if you have a professor pulling for you, you'll get in as long as you meet the minimum requirements [or nearly that easily]. On the other hand, if you have no inside contact, it's WAY more challenging to get in. Is that true?
Apply to Stanford & MIT (and possibly Berkely & a school in Washington that is known for HCI)

I have a feeling I'm missing some things, not to mention the easiest way of doing them. Help?

(15 comments) - (Post a new comment)

mmm, grad school ...

velvets
2006-02-25 08:07 pm UTC (link)

Grad school apps are NEVER fun, but here is what I did - which seems successful!

- Go and actually visit the schools - including getting an appointment with an admissions representative / counselor (this way they can add their own comments about you to your admissions file - this was amazing for me!)
- I didn't have to take the GRE - it often depends on your GPA, contact admissions / look at websites to check. BUT I hear you should take a class, just like for the SAT
- In terms of letters, it also depends on the school. I sent in 4, three from professors and one from my boss. Also, if you did any interning or volunteering that is relevant ask that person.
- I'd contact the project as a whole, and specifically people in particular areas you are interested in, try and meet up with them if you can.
- Try and form a connection with faculty, go to their office hours and ask if you can do anything to help with their research/projects. BUT, I don't know about those schools, I didn't have any inside faculty support and I got in just fine. I hear that volunteer/experience AND personal statements are worth just as much - but letters of rec are the most important. (read about them on about.com, I found it helpful)

Where in Washington? I might be of more help there.

Good luck, the process can be kindof a bitch - but as long as you just work at it, it's not so bad.

(Reply to this)

clioamare007
2006-02-25 09:07 pm UTC (link)

1. I am excited for you, Greg! I think that you're on the right track. Go for the top program! I agree with the first poster. Really, check out the schools that you're interested in by visiting the schools and contacting graduate students. Ask HARD questions like "what's the program like? what's the politics"....and yeah, contact the professors that you want to work with or think you might want to work with. You can always change your advisor later. And oh, keep contact with the department's secretary and graduate counselor because they can be very helpful. Otherwise you may end up at a program that is not good for you.

2. For your GRE, it depends on the programs that you're interested in. Some schools require GRE, some do not. But I would think that majority of the programs require it. GRE score is crucial to not only determining your admissions (beside your personal statement, transcripts, and recommendation letters), but also your fundings as well. I find that my cohorts received the TOP fundings for variety of reasons, but high GRE score was definitely one of it. I don't think you have to worry much though...your resume, your work experiences, and undergrad education are stellar (in my opinion anyway!)

Some schools specify how many rec letters they want and where they want to see 'em coming from. Most will say three; so I think 2 ought to come from your professors that you know love you and the last one come from your boss or your mentor at work...who know your passions, your skills, etc.

3. In my opinion, contact the people from the project directly. :D

Hope this help! Miss you! :)

(Reply to this)

	arichi 2006-02-26 02:09 am UTC (link)
	Hey. I'm in Irvine as I see this; I can't give much details now. I'll give you very much indepth about it when I get back to LA. If you haven't heard from me by Monday, please bug me about it. (Reply to this)

	saizai 2006-02-26 02:26 am UTC (link)
	Wow. I don't think I can offer any advice you don't already know from more informed sources - but would say, go with contacting the laptop people directly and squeeing at them. If possible, hunt down a prof who's also affiliated... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	saizai 2006-02-26 02:37 am UTC (link)
	Oh, also: try tapping Tiki - tikiwanderer - re. advancing learning systems. I think it's a field she's interested in, and might be able to point you to some good resources. Not American though. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	chrisjericho 2006-02-26 04:39 am UTC (link)
	The GRE is the easiest test in the world, possibly easier than the SAT. Letters of rec are preferrably 2 academic (profs) and 1 other (boss) though if you've had more work experience 2 other and 1 academic won't kill ya. The Career Center has 30-min info sessions about grad schooling (or you can just pick up a packet with a useful timeline). (Reply to this)

sprocket21
2006-02-26 05:00 am UTC (link)

I just went through the grad school app process (and got in! :D), so I hope my advice helps.

The GRE Verbal is difficult, and the math is easy but very competitive, so missing just a couple of math problems is bad. To compare, a 750 on verbal is freakin' amazing, but a 750 on math might only be adequate for the schools you're applying for. Look on the grad section of their sites, they should post the median verbal and math GRE scores. You can't really cram for either section, but if you subscribe to the Dictionary.com Word of the Day or pick up a book of common GRE words, that should help.

For letters of rec, you want professors, and you want professors who know about what the programs you're applying to care about - namely, research experience. Have you done any research? If so, have any professor you've worked with on research write you a letter. Also, profs can shore up your weak areas. I didn't do so well on the GRE math, so I had my stats teacher write me a letter to make up for that.

The most important thing in the application is your personal statement. Work your butt off on it, and have a professor you like and trust look it over for you. I went through about 7 revisions of mine with a Crim professor. If you want to look at it, let me know. Avoid cliches and things that sound like they could be in everybody else's essay, things like "I have worked with computers since I was a child" etc etc.

I don't know that inside contacts are as influential as you say, but I'm sure they help. Even if you don't get into that program, it's nice to have a network of people, so no harm in building it up. :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

princemalachi
2006-02-26 06:15 am UTC (link)

I think the people above have everything covered. I can't stress enough how important it is to make a connection with the faculty you want to be working with. If you can convince the professor that runs the lab you'll be working in that they *really* need you, that professor can make almost sure you get in, no matter what. You're just one guy in a sea of applicants, and an incredible essay, incredible test scores, incredible gpa are all just generic indicators. Geniune distinction is priceless in this situation. Being an underrepresented and disadvantaged minority helps too. Try and push the 'black-hispanic-handicapped-refugee-villager' angle.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	anonymous_cowar 2006-02-26 07:23 pm UTC (link)
	Since you didn't go directly to grad school after graduation, I think a big question for those who would be reviewing your application would be, "What has this guy done outside of school". Make that impressive and relevant to what you want to do in grad school. (Reply to this)

	sugarmama13 2006-02-26 08:19 pm UTC (link)
	If you are interested in teaching, you don't need a degree in education (there really isn't one). You will need the CBEST, credentialing and a degree in your field of study. You might want a higher degree (Masters, PhD) depending on what you want to do, so your best bet to go with what interests you in your field. (Reply to this)

skywalker404
2006-02-26 09:13 pm UTC (link)

Thanks

lazyfirecloud!

she had really good letters of rec (which I'm going to have a harder time getting)
"i got all 3 from profs, but [one school] allowed more, so i had one from my boss on top of that."
have a backup school: "if you know 1-2 profs at uci, you can get it more easily, and you do since you went there for school"

"it is good to get in contact with people from other schools (to increase ur chances of getting in), remember that they get a ton of email, and a ton of people emailing them baout grad school. Basically you have to make it sound like you really know what they're doing, and ur really really really interested. otherwise it goes straight to trash. at least that's what Lathrop [told her]"
"in your personal statement, emphasize your work experience, and emphasize why your unique (i did the whole i was born in france and went to french school till end of high shcool). You have to show that taking YOU in, and not some other dude, is definitely the right thing to do (because U will bring something new, that the other dude won't) [for instance] work experience is diefintely one of them, since most people who apply to grad schol didn't have much work experience or internships (cuz they were doing so much research)"
"and yeah read a lot of material and show that you are really relaly really interested and have really looked into it. cuz hey between a dude with good grades that has done decent research but doens't seem to give a real damn about the program, and a dude that has good grades, has a decent amount of experience in the industry, and seems relaly interesetd in the program, reaserched about it, etc... you know who they're gonna pick =)"

GRE

there's a program you can get from the gre website; best training since it's now all computer, not on paper
"you probably don't have vocab problems like i do, so you don't have to worry about learning a bunch of stupid words."
"the math is acutally not that easy." "the math is just about running out of time, since the more u answer correctly the harder they get"
"the writing is super easy, i got a 12 out of 12, and i'm not even born here" "don't really bother studying the written part, just read 1 or 2 subjects, brainstorm what you would write about, and read the provided answers"

ideas for prof's to ask for letters of req

Best bet
- Thornton (142)
- Kobsa (104)
- Lueker (H23)
- Lathrop (171)
- Jacobson (185)
- Franklin (54, 143)
- Scherson (152)
didn't interact as much with
- Dourish (105)
long ago, do they remember me?
- van der Hoek (52)
- Nardi (131)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

jamned
2006-03-03 02:12 am UTC (link)

Math professors usually have a CV (curriculum vitae) posted on their websites. I'm not sure if ICS profs do the same or post a resume. If they do, you could look up which universities the professors have been to, and which they collaborate with. Comparing who they know or where they've been with where you want to be might help in narrowing down who you want to ask.

I might also suggest emailing one or more of the professors you're considering asking and see if you can do "under the table" undergrad research with them--help them out, give them a chance to get to know you and also see if you like what they're doing. You may not need any more information on the third reason, but I think the other two might help.

On first glance, I might say don't ask lecturers for rec letters (first) if they haven't done any CS-related research before. My friend recently told me what his research professor told him: if you have someone who's willing to call the school for you, that usually means leaps and bounds over anything else. It's not necessarily that the caller needs to know someone at a particular school. The phone call is usually meaningful because it's off the record and allows room for criticism, so the receiving side takes it more seriously. That said, if you have a professor or lecturer who's really enthusiastic about helping you and you suspect he/she might do this (without your asking), then they'd be good candidate for a letter.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

scuzzlebutt
2006-02-26 10:41 pm UTC (link)

Second that thing about contacting profs at schools - while its good to be an eager beaver, you can very easily be too much of one, especially if you consider how many other people email them to try and gain an edge on admissions.

I'm not sure whether you can volunteer or do anything for or with profs here or at MIT, since managing you may be more time they have to spend that they'd rather spend on students they have and/or the stuff they're working on.

Getting to know what you're doing this for and what exactly you want to get into is probably the biggest hurdle. From there, you find whoever is doing what you're interested in, read their stuff top to bottom, generate questions, and make contact.

I'll hook you up with a friend doing a MS here and he can fill you in.

(Reply to this)

	piggydc 2006-03-03 08:09 am UTC (link)
	I don't really have any good "advice" for ya, except...go to Stanford. come back to PA. ;) jk i'm sure you'll go wherever you know is good for ya. gluck, bud. (Reply to this)

I'm interested in not only my own learning, but also in advancing our learning systems

to0n
2006-03-09 09:30 pm UTC (link)

I could do a post on this seperate, and I don't want to yak yer ear off on this but a couple things on it.

The public school system itself can be changed to a certain extant to maximize benefit to students. But providing better texts, improved facilities, equipment, etc can only go so far. There are several changes that would have to be made first in order for a public school system to maximize benefit to students:

Teacher Salaries - Currently, as it stands, Teachers are some of the more lower paid/overworked public employees in the world. One should make the incentive to teach more rewarding financially. Raise salaries to a level that are almost consumerate with the workload (Teaching involves working more than "at school". Trust me on this). This way you reward those for the love of teaching, and attract more teachers, but not people who just want the cash.

Parental Involvement - Parental involvement is key for a childs success in education. It's all to often now that students are sent to school to learn EVERYTHING, not just Academics. And while school does develop childrens social skills, it shouldn't be the only venue. This means that parents of children need to have a more active role in their schooling. Unfortunatly, this runs into the daily stresses that most parents have - Work, Support, the rest of the family, Spouse/Sig Other. Not everyone (esp. those lower on the socio-economic ladder) has the ability to walk away from work at an earlier hour to go and work with thier child in their learning.

Improved Infrastructure - I think both of us had it nice, in the sense that we both went to affluent/semi affluent school districts that didn't suffer from an overloaded school infrastructure. However, I can tell you that my mom experianced a hell of a time for a period of a few years, when her class size was enormous (35kids/teacher). This means less individual attention per student, which has a correlation to how well a student performs in school (esp. primary grades k-5/6). More teachers, more class rooms, smaller class settings, improved locality to students (I had a 30 min commute for all of my school career, because my "home" district, Palm Springs Unified, sucked ass.) are only some of the ways that can improve this.

So, not everything can be solved via technology - There's a hell of a lot of socio/cultural/economic/political factors that go into improving our POS public school system (How political? Aside from School Boards, PTA, etc, ever wonder how things get funded? Property tax 9 times out of 10).

Just wanted to put that out there. Improving technology in the class room alone won't be enough to improve it to any substantial degree.

(Reply to this)

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