ccpsux

Hi,

I am an undergrad applying for phd in CS.


in my personal statement, I would like to talk about a research experience (11 weeks over a summer) which didn't turn out so well because


1) while I was really excited about the research area, I didn't have a lot of relevant experience and relevant theoretical/practical background back then. This was my first experience in this area and it is also the largest project in scope I've done.


2) I (or we as a team) started out overly ambitious and the solution proposed turned out be quite complicated and never proven to be sound (my mentor was a very application driven person after all, and so he prefers something that produces great results most of the time to something that performs with mediocre outcome all the time)


3) had to use some other third party library to do some major analysis for the project (the reason was that this library worked on a similar but much smaller project before, even though some hacking was necessary). It turned out that there was a lot of hacking involved and solution just had too much overhead.


Essentially, the research was considered unfinished and the result not substantiated anywhere (in terms of publication) because of a wrong approach in my opinion.


In general, I do not want to come across as being critical on any one I was working with; the main point of this description on my first research experience is on what I learned that helped me later to be much more successful in my later research projects with other mentors.


My question is then what's the best way to write about this? I am thinking of just describing what I had done and learned for this experience, and my achievements later since this experience and what I would've done differently for this project, but at the same time I am concerned about the negative implications of such description if any. For instance, major things I learned include better idea about my research interest, my research approach, and the kind of research advisors I would like to have. However, I am not sure if this makes me sound like a very picky person who cannot collaborate with all types of people. :-/

In addition, some potential professors I would like to work with in grad school know my mentor for this research experience. I am not sure how I should take this into account. I certainly am not getting a letter of rec from him. For letters of rec, I will get two good ones from the most recent research projects I've done, and another one from a prof at my own school who has taught me.

please help


thanks

vader1990

Dear OP,

You have the right idea, but definitely don't talk negatively about research advisors.

You have to understand that people (professors, research mentors, etc) don't want people that bad mouth them behind their back. Especially if its about their research/how they run their lab. In the essay, talk about all the stuff you learned from the experience (ie, setting goals that are achievable within a particular timeline, doing more background research, etc) and how you have shaped your research philosophy around those lessons learned and how they have helped you (now) achieve. Don't mention better advisors because the truth is that in academia and industry, you cannot control who your advisor and supervisor is (often). You need to portray yourself as a candidate that can work with anyone and succeed in any setting. This type of candidate always looks more appealing than someone who can only work under certain constraints. So focus on taking about how YOU can learn from your experience and excel.

Of course once you get in, THEN you can be as picky as you want doing your rotations and picking your advisor.

Just by 2 cents.

Best wishes,
-DV

juillet

I don't see why you have to say that the research didn't go so well. Just talk about what you learned from the experience. You can quickly summarize the original goal of the research and discuss the benefits you reaped without elaborating on why you didn't publish.

ccpsux

vader1990 and juillet, thanks so much for the reply. One more question though, in this case, I suppose it's really fine to mention my mentor/boss's name for this research experience, right? I am asking because I wonder if grad school profs have tendancy of contacting every researcher an applicant has worked with. I guess they probably don't as they typically read a lot of applications?

ccpsux

any help to my previous post? :-/

juillet

Yes, it's fine to mention his name - just make sure he knows that you are mentioning his name. Committees don't contact every researcher you've ever worked with, but they may contact him if they have any questions about your file or your work.