Field: ML theory

Got invited for an in-person interview! Wasn’t my top choice but why not since they are flying me out to Guantanamo Bay and they said housing is free! All I had to do was publish a few articles in a Burger peer reviewed journal. The acceptance also mentioned part of their decision was informed by my diverse cultural background and social media activism! If I did it so can you - I’m euphoric!!!

Contacted via email Jan. 6th, interviewed Jan. 15th, offer of acceptance during interview.

Interview invitation from POI.

Had an interview with a POI. Nothing too technical, discussed what I have been working on and what I want to do research on during the PhD. Very pleasurable experience. 4 papers at top AI conferences, I'm in a niche field.

9/10 GPA from IIT Bombay, 18 first author papers in low tier-journals, 81 TOEFL. Light colored skin. 1 online interview with PI I was interested in and acceptance 3 days later.

REAL mediocre profile with 1 first author in a top conference.

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you are being recommended for admission to the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science Professional Master of Computer Science (MCS in Urbana) program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign beginning with the Fall 2026 term. We believe that our graduate program can provide an excellent environment for your graduate studies. Im from PICT, will complete my Btech this year

Direct email from PI with interests. Sounds super competitive even after making it to the interview stage.

Email from PI who I mentioned and who's interested in hiring me. Sounds like she has limited influence over committee decisions?

Participated in three projects during Master's degree; 1 middle-tier first author, 1 top-tier co-author