Does a students research interests affect his or her chance of being admitted?
Yes, a little. We expect every student to be open to many facets of Computer Science when they arrive, and encourage them to feel free to change their area of concentration after they get here. Our main criterion for admission is the applicant’s intelligence, curiosity, and ability to explore without detailed supervision. That said, if a faculty member in a research area is looking for students, the admissions committee tries to accommodate him or her by focusing a bit more than usual on applicants in that area. Of course, the applicants don’t know which areas fall in that category, so they shouldn’t worry about it. Individual faculty members get many inquiries asking if they will be accepting new students during the next admissions season. As you should be able to infer from the previous paragraph, these inquiries are misguided; students are admitted to the department, not to the research group of a particular faculty member.
Related Questions
- Will I be working with other NanoJapan students during the research internship or matched with a Japanese graduate student or mentor?
- How can a faculty or staff member sponsor a student or group of students for a Student Research Symposium presentation?
- Does a students research interests affect his or her chance of being admitted?
