2. Research matters, even more than grades
3. Publications matter, but letters of recommendation matter even more
4. Your statement of purpose should be the cherry on top of the cake
2/13
I've been serving on grad admissions committees at MIT for 5 years - in EECS and Media Lab
If you want to get into a PhD at a place like MIT, here's a thread with some advice based on my observations
1/13
2. Research matters, even more than grades
3. Publications matter, but letters of recommendation matter even more
4. Your statement of purpose should be the cherry on top of the cake
2/13
3/13
4/13
Letters shed light on technical competence, creativity, work ethic, & personal interaction. All of which are important for a successful PhD
5/13
The best LoRs I've seen usually come from a faculty/research who publishes in highly selective venues
If you are in CS, you can use https://t.co/VB8Wh9MKKR to see what are considered the most selective CS venues (ignore rankings for now)
6/13
7/13
8/13
1- Area of interest (& possibly profs you want to work with)
2- Briefly: your academics (grades,honors,projects)
3- Your prior and ongoing research projects. For each proj, talk about motivation, your role & contribution, & outcome/status
9/13
If I'm being honest, this is where the final cutoff usually happens at very selective schools. There are three ways around it
10/13
2- If you have more time, try your best to do research in that area
3- Do a Masters first
These can help you clarify your own purpose for pursuing research
11/13
12/13
13/13
https://t.co/pMQurb1AsH
How many languages do we speak in #SignalKinetics @medialab? Quite a few, it seems. Watch and say "hello" in whatever language speaks to you! \U0001f30d\U0001f38c\U0001f5e3\ufe0f#linguistweets #bilingual #globalcitizens pic.twitter.com/LcougoL973
— MIT Signal Kinetics Group (@MIT_SK_Lab) December 4, 2020
https://t.co/l6rI5QTCoT
More from Education
A list of cool websites you might now know about
A thread 🧵
1) Learn Anything - Search tools for knowledge discovery that helps you understand any topic through the most efficient
2) Grad Speeches - Discover the best commencement speeches.
This website is made by me
3) What does the Internet Think - Find out what the internet thinks about anything
4) https://t.co/vuhT6jVItx - Send notes that will self-destruct after being read.
A thread 🧵
1) Learn Anything - Search tools for knowledge discovery that helps you understand any topic through the most efficient
2) Grad Speeches - Discover the best commencement speeches.
This website is made by me
3) What does the Internet Think - Find out what the internet thinks about anything
4) https://t.co/vuhT6jVItx - Send notes that will self-destruct after being read.
Working on a newsletter edition about deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is crucial if you want to reach expert level in any skill, but what is it, and how can it help you learn more precisely?
A thread based on @augustbradley's conversation with the late Anders Ericsson.
You can find my complete notes from the conversation in my public Roam graph:
https://t.co/Z5bXHsg3oc
The entire conversation is on
The 10,000-hour 'rule' was based on Ericsson's research, but simple practice is not enough for mastery.
We need teachers and coaches to give us feedback on how we're doing to adjust our actions effectively. Technology can help us by providing short feedback loops.
There's purposeful and deliberate practice.
In purposeful practice, you gain breakthroughs by trying out different techniques you find on your own.
In deliberate practice, an expert tells you what to improve on and how to do it, and then you do that (while getting feedback).
It's possible to come to powerful techniques through purposeful practice, but it's always a gamble.
Deliberate practice is possible with a map of the domain and a recommended way to move through it. This makes success more likely.
Deliberate practice is crucial if you want to reach expert level in any skill, but what is it, and how can it help you learn more precisely?
A thread based on @augustbradley's conversation with the late Anders Ericsson.
You can find my complete notes from the conversation in my public Roam graph:
https://t.co/Z5bXHsg3oc
The entire conversation is on
The 10,000-hour 'rule' was based on Ericsson's research, but simple practice is not enough for mastery.
We need teachers and coaches to give us feedback on how we're doing to adjust our actions effectively. Technology can help us by providing short feedback loops.
There's purposeful and deliberate practice.
In purposeful practice, you gain breakthroughs by trying out different techniques you find on your own.
In deliberate practice, an expert tells you what to improve on and how to do it, and then you do that (while getting feedback).
It's possible to come to powerful techniques through purposeful practice, but it's always a gamble.
Deliberate practice is possible with a map of the domain and a recommended way to move through it. This makes success more likely.
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And here they are...
THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE
Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.
#24hrstartup
The winners 👇
#10
Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.
https://t.co/M75RAirZzs
@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.
A great product for a great cause.
Congrats Chris on winning $250!
#9
Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.
https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy
A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.
Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!
#8
SayHenlo - Chat without distractions
https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6
Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad 😲
Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.
#7
CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!
https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY
Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.
I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!
THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE
Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.
#24hrstartup
The winners 👇
#10
Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.
https://t.co/M75RAirZzs
@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.
A great product for a great cause.
Congrats Chris on winning $250!
#9
Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.
https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy
A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.
Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!
#8
SayHenlo - Chat without distractions
https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6
Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad 😲
Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.
#7
CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!
https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY
Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.
I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!
THREAD PART 1.
On Sunday 21st June, 14 year old Noah Donohoe left his home to meet his friends at Cave Hill Belfast to study for school. #RememberMyNoah💙
He was on his black Apollo mountain bike, fully dressed, wearing a helmet and carrying a backpack containing his laptop and 2 books with his name on them. He also had his mobile phone with him.
On the 27th of June. Noah's naked body was sadly discovered 950m inside a storm drain, between access points. This storm drain was accessible through an area completely unfamiliar to him, behind houses at Northwood Road. https://t.co/bpz3Rmc0wq
"Noah's body was found by specially trained police officers between two drain access points within a section of the tunnel running under the Translink access road," said Mr McCrisken."
Noah's bike was also found near a house, behind a car, in the same area. It had been there for more than 24 hours before a member of public who lived in the street said she read reports of a missing child and checked the bike and phoned the police.
On Sunday 21st June, 14 year old Noah Donohoe left his home to meet his friends at Cave Hill Belfast to study for school. #RememberMyNoah💙
He was on his black Apollo mountain bike, fully dressed, wearing a helmet and carrying a backpack containing his laptop and 2 books with his name on them. He also had his mobile phone with him.
On the 27th of June. Noah's naked body was sadly discovered 950m inside a storm drain, between access points. This storm drain was accessible through an area completely unfamiliar to him, behind houses at Northwood Road. https://t.co/bpz3Rmc0wq
"Noah's body was found by specially trained police officers between two drain access points within a section of the tunnel running under the Translink access road," said Mr McCrisken."
Noah's bike was also found near a house, behind a car, in the same area. It had been there for more than 24 hours before a member of public who lived in the street said she read reports of a missing child and checked the bike and phoned the police.
