Postgraduate
Applications
Computer Science
Stefan Kahrs
1
PG taught (not much to say)
• solely based on grades and degree
programmes
2
PGR & career
• PhD not generally necessary for a career in
Computer Science (other than an
academic one)
• CS tends to have very good employability
anyway, so it can be difficult for us to
attract good graduates for a PhD,...
• ...and that even applies for a fully funded
PhD
3
What is important?
• research proposal (unless it’s ear-marked)
• grades, and where from
• interview (if there is one)
• potential application killer: bad reference,
poor English, weird personal statement
4
Research Proposal, do-not
• plagiarise research from the WWW
• confuse CS with IT
• confuse finished research with a research
proposal
• apply to places that do not have the
expertise to supervise the proposed
research
5
Research Proposal, do
• pick your research subject first, and the
university(ies) to match it later
• find a problem to tackle and an approach
how to tackle it
• spend some considerable time & effort on
your research proposal, especially if you
apply for a funded PhD
• contact academics of the school with
overlapping research interests to discuss
research ideas before finalising proposal
6