Thinking of Going to Graduate School?

The process of applying to graduate school can be overwhelming, especially given how opaque and expensive it can be, especially if you are not from North America. I have been asked for advice many times on this so, while I make it clear I don’t consider myself an expert on this topic nor do I claim to have all the (or, really, any of) the answers, I’ve decided to gather some resources that may help you if you’re thinking about applying:

  • As part of the SIGGRAPH Research Career Development Committee, I am organizing a new mentoring program to help students apply for graduate school positions in Computer Graphics by pairing them with experienced graduate students in our field. If you’re reading this in Fall 2021, you can sign up here. If time has passed as it inexorably does and it is no longer Fall 2021, you can stay up to date on future programs by following our Twitter account.
  • Here’s the research statement I used when I applied in the Fall of 2018.
  • I faced a hard decision on which lab to join for my PhD. Something that really helped with making a choice was asking a consistent set of questions to every prospective advisor. Here they are in case you find them useful.
  • Episodes 101 and onwards of the Podcast Hello PhD make for a good guide on the whole application process, albeit some of their lessons can be limited to the biomedical sciences.
  • My labmate Towaki Takikawa wrote this amazing overview of Graduate School in Canada, which I highly recommend if you’re considering different schools to apply to!.
  • Here’s what MIT EECS professors say they look for in a graduate school application. Makes for a good read!

If you are thinking about applying to graduate school and are a member of an underrepresented community in science, do feel free to contact me if you want advice with application strategy or even just chat about life as a PhD student.

By the way, if you’re considering different universities to which to apply or aren’t sure where you want to go, I encourage you to try U of T, the best research institution in Canada. So far, my experience has been nothing but positive here. There’s life outside the US!