<p>As a freshman computer engineering major who just went through the whole sh!tty experience known as “college application”, I know I’ll be facing probably the same agony again 4 years later as I apply for grad schools. </p>
<p>I know there’s a variety of “hooks” that high school seniors tend to put on their college applications, such as being first-gen-college-student, winning Intel ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair), AMC-USAMO, etc.; so are there any similar (pretty sure they have to be academic) “hooks” in PhD admissions (especially for STEM majors)?
–like some kind of nationwide math/CS competitions? but would they necessarily help as much in PhD admissions as say, a more traditional resume booster like publishing a top conference paper? </p>
<p>I’m already doing research with a pretty well-known professor in his field, and hopefully I can get things published by the end of my undergrad career and get a good rec letter. But still, I want to spend some of my free time on possible “hooks” just to further strengthen my PhD application four years later, provided there are those “hooks” out there that do help me with my end goal of grad school admissions (Just like back in high school how I spent my Saturday mornings doing AMC past exams).</p>
<p>I’m aiming for top EECS PhD programs, specifically MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and the like–not only because I’d like to pursue a career in R&D (like Microsoft Research), but also as sort of a revenge X( , since I wasn’t admitted to any of their undergrad programs, partly due to I had only good (but not stellar) academic background and painfully no “hooks” whatsoever; and fortunately PhD admissions care about pretty much nothing else but academics, so I’m committed to spend the next four years working on that, so that four years later I can finally get to where I initially wanted to be. </p>
<p>Doing well on the Putnam Exam or winning a Goldwater Scholarship will get the admissions committee’s attention, but the most important factors in PhD admissions are research experience and a strong showing in your undergraduate coursework.</p>
<p>First of all - I think it’s very good to think ahead, but I also want to urge you to follow your interests and not be slavish to the demands of a grad school application. You just started college; you’ve got some time yet, and your interests may change a bit.</p>
<p>With that said, I wouldn’t say that there are “hooks” per se. “Hooks”, to me, are things that are not within a student’s control (or perhaps only somewhat within their control) that may enhance their desirability to a school - like race/ethnicity and first-gen status or being a development candidate (rich parents). Personally I don’t think of ISEF as a “hook” - that’s an achievement. It’s no different in kind than winning the school science fair or winning Math Olympiad - it’s just different in scope (being national as opposed to local or regional).</p>
<p>With that said, no, there’s really no hooks to graduate admissions. There are, of course, accomplishments you can strive for, but they are all research-related: presenting at national conferences, especially in fields where conference papers count heavily (I think CS is one of those fields) and publishing a paper in a scientific journal (although a national journal would be great, even a student journal would be nice. Undergraduate authorship is not common on journals, although if you started in your freshman year I suppose it’s feasible). You could also win a national fellowship, like the NSF, NDSEG, or Hertz fellowship. Having one of those would definitely enhance your desirability, but the problem is you apply at the same time you are applying to grad school, and probably won’t find out about the fellowship until after admission (NSF notifies in April).</p>
<p>Also, just a tiny note: I think your target schools are fine for career purposes, but don’t think of it as a sort of revenge or “getting where you wanted to be.” Grad school is so, so different from undergrad, so you won’t really have the same experience. I know how you feel because my PhD institution was coincidentally my dream undergrad school - I didn’t apply in undergrad because I thought my family couldn’t afford it. While I liked being a graduate student there and it was the perfect program for me, my experience as a grad student was waaaay different than an undergrad’s experience. (I also decided that I was glad I didn’t go there for undergrad, as it’s a pressure cooker.)</p>
<p>@juillet : thanks for sharing, The Awesome Super Moderator!
I’ll definitely keep your advice in mind when it comes to grad school applications. I understand that a PhD program is like being paid to do research for schools, and researching (for now) appeals to me, not to mention the professional connections a prestigious school can give me. </p>
<p>Yes, here what I meant by “hooks” are academic accomplishments, especially in the forms of national/international competitions, like the Putnam Exam @Fifty mentioned. Unfortunately our school doesn’t seem to have people interested in Putnam and no teams have been formed yet (maybe I can start one…); however, the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, is big here, so I’ll be looking into that. </p>