Applying for a PhD in NLP

— Insights from the ACL Year-Round Mentorship Session

December 1, 2021

Panelists: Rada Mihalcea (Professor@University of Michigan; President of ACL 2021), Mrinmaya Sachan (Assistant Professor@ETH Zürich), Lingpeng Kong (Assistant Professor@University of Hong Kong)

Notetaker: Zhijing Jin (@ZhijingJin)

Since many people are preparing for the upcoming grad school application season, in this session of ACL Year-Round Mentorship, we will focus on advice on applying to PhD in NLP.

Top Suggestions

1. Try to apply more broadly
2. Care more about the faculty members than the fame of the school
3. Key ingredients in application: Good work, passion, and genuine interest in research with evidence

How Do Professors View Applications?

• “I am mostly looking for genuine interests in research (e.g., strong desire to grow). This can be difficult to detect, but I try my best to identify that.”
• “We look at the ‘whole package’ of an applicant, such as evidence-supported passion, and insights on other remaining open questions regarding the previous research.”
• “In the meantime, we need to budget our time.”
• “For example, often I start from reading the CV, to get a main idea of the background, GPA, research experience of the applicant. And then use the CV to guide a quick read with selective attention on other materials. For example, I look at statement of purpose to further check the past research and passion of the student, and I scan recommendation letters for endorsement of the student’s capability. It is helpful if I already know the recommenders will give trustful recommendations.”
• Various opinions on emails:
• Some opinion: “I will read every application in the system that mentions my name. So I do not encourage students directly sending emails to me.”
• Other opinions: “For me personally, I find it really time-consuming to read applications from the system directly, so I will pay selective attention to applications of people who also sent me an email notification.”
• “For emails, I do like those applicants whose research direction closely matches with problems I care about.”
• “A tip to students before emailing: Do pay attention if some professors provide guidance on their personal website about how to send emails to them.”

Debunking Myths about PhD Applications

We received many great questions from the attendees, and we posted the entire mentoring session as a video on our YouTube channel.

Q: When professors view PhDs’ applications, do they read every application that mentions their name, or how many applications do they usually read out of the pool?

A: Different schools have different systems

• Some schools (e.g., MIT, Stanford) have very hard committee to select the candidates
• Some schools (e.g., ETH, UIUC, HKU) can be more professor-driven. “All the applications are directed to me, and I read all the applications myself.”

Generally, the committee will filter applications, then the professors look at applications mentioning their name. When professors view these applications, top concerns are good work, or evidence-supported passion and genuine interest to do research.

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Q: Given the entire application package, what materials do professors look at?

A:

• “Some personal answers: I look at the CV first (which contains GPA, background, previous research experiences). I also pay attention to letters, especially from people we know (because it saves time for me to verify). Then I decide how much time to spend on other materials.”
• “In the later stage, for confirmation, we need to chat in person and make sure the candidate is who we really want.”
• “I will look for research experiences, e.g., from CV (with bullet form under each project, including the research problem and highlights of your work). It is not always straightforward to identify whether the research experience is due to the passion of the individual themselves or by peer pressure. I try to unpack the self-motivated passion to discover things. I also confirm this by the statement of purpose.”
• “I also look at the number of languages a person speaks, since it reflects some genuine interest in NLP. I also care about how a person is engaged in the community they care about.”

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Q: How can I identify good supervisor/professor/lab that suits me?

A: Top suggestions:

• I think the most important thing is to talk to the students of that lab. Talk to the ones who know how PhD life goes with the professor. E.g., check the style between professors and students such as hands-on vs. hands-off.
• I think a good professor should (1) give insightful research suggestions, (2) provide good resources, and (3) support your taste and freedom and not force you to do things you don’t like.
• In my lab, my top criteria is to ensure every student is happy first. Then comes research.

Note: Look at professors in a holistic way. Look at other things professors do to the extent that matters to you.

Also, when comparing different choices, think about multiple ways how a potential professor can help you during your PhD and after your PhD, e.g.,

• Guidance when you just start your research,
• Help when you get frustrated in the middle of your PhD research,
• Connection and career advice when you look for destinations of your next career stage after the PhD
• And many others, such as life-long friendship :)

Extending your radar of professors:

• Advisors matter more than schools
• Brainstorm how a professor can have synergy with your style and your career path

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Q: How to explain your research to the professors in the application? Specifically, how do professors view papers that are work in progress or under review?

A:

• The right way to address this is to still provide a link of your existing writing/previous drafts & tell your letter writers to mention about your research & your personal statement should also describe this research clearly
• E.g., I care a lot about students’ bachelor/master thesis projects.
• I do not personally undervalue the ongoing work. This is totally fine. I care about the quality of this research project. A good research should be a good question + a good solution. When you write about your research, make sure you justify your choice of research question and the importance of it.
• If you manage to have an interview with your target professors, when describing your previous research to them. Do not treat your professors as if they know this research already. It is often appreciated if you start with a beginner-friendly introduction of your work.

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Q: When preparing the PhD application materials, how should I write about my research experience?

A:

1. Step back and look at everything you have done. E.g., reflecting on your theses, internship research experiences, term projects in the classes you have taken.
2. Sit down and think about how to present it. E.g., you can write your first draft with all the contents, and then pass it to more experienced people to check how you should better highlight your research experience

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Q: Considering an undergrad applying in 1–2 years from now, how can we best prepare before applying for a grad school?

A: To gain research experiences, try to reach out to various opportunities:

• Bachelor/master thesis projects, term projects, etc.
• Reaching out to PhDs and postdocs to get you involved in their projects.
• There can also be research in internships with industry labs. Good research happens in many different places.
• You can make use of office hours to reach out to professors to propose your projects.

The more varied research experiences you have, the better they can help you understand what is best for you and help enrich your application.

Do not overdo it: Another thing you should pay attention is that 1–2 years can still be a long time — don’t overlook your classes. GPAs do mean something, and, more importantly, things you learn in classes may be unexpectedly helpful later in your research.

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Q: How to email and contact professors? What is the best way?

A:

• First of all, check the professors’ homepage for emailing guides. Try to be respectful for them.
• There are two cases where I welcome emails about: (1) you are interested in my lab with your research experience/interest closely matching the directions I care about, (2) you have an interesting question w.r.t. my previous papers.
• As for the format of the email, in my case, I try to be open-minded to the types of questions and the style of contact.

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Q: How to decide between a research master and a PhD?

A:

• One should apply for a PhD when they are ready to commit a number of years fully to research.
• If you are hesitating, feel free to do a master or pre-doctoral position. And after that experience, if you confirmed your interest in doing a PhD, thten these experiences are also good add-ons for your future applications. Many professors pay attention to pre-doctoral research experiences of the applicants.

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Q: What are the opportunity costs for getting a PhD?

A:

• Time investment: Varying from 3–6 years, depending on the school.
• In most places, you get paid during the PhD, but the salary is not super high.
• However, in the long term, the time does pay off. You will find that the door is open to you for certain career opportunities to which you would not be able to access before.

Final Advice

• Reach out to your mentors for guidance on how to apply and where to apply.
• Only do a PhD if you love that. If you love it, you do it. If you are not sure yet, try a research master first or industry research first.
• The cost of PhD is high, but the process can be enjoyable. Enjoying the ride; don’t stress out and look at the peers too much. Think of your goal and recognize the unique value of your achievement.

More Pointers

• For more suggestions, feel free to check out our curated github repo about tips for applying for a PhD in NLP/AI.
• All resources and future events of ACL Year-Round Mentorship can be found here.
• If you are interested in joining our ACL Year-Round Mentorship as a future mentor or mentee, feel free to apply here.