Hi! I am Aditya Chetan, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Cornell University.

Here I have posted my application materials from my Graduate School Applications for PhD programs in Fall 2022. I applied to about 10 schools, interviewed at 7 schools and was admitted to 3. The materials in question are for Cornell University, where I eventually decided to go.

Cornell requires a Statement of Purpose highlighting your research background and plans along with a Personal Statement which talks about how you would contribute to the student community at Cornell.

Structure for SoP

For the SoP, a broad overview of the structure that I followed based on advice from senior graduate students and faculty members is as follows:

Introduction

Start with a brief introduction, where you are from, which program you are applying to and what are your research interests and motivations.

[Optional] A bit more introduction

Give a slightly more detailed overview of your experience if required. In my case, I was switching fields, so it was important for me to highlight that I have past research experience.

About your research

Arguably the most important part of your statement.

Take 2-3 core ideas/problems you have worked on or are excited about and write in detail about the problem, where were current solutions, what you proposed and how it might tie into your future goals.

  1. Note that while writing you use active voice, asserting the contributions you have made.
  2. Try not to be overtly technical but also not to be completely superficial. Your statement might be read by a general committee as well as by the faculty member you are applying to, and you want to appeal to either of them.
  3. It is okay to state ongoing projects here as well.
  4. Neatly categorizing the ideas just makes it look very nice. Trust me, my statement looked like a hot mess before I added headings!

[Optional] Are you more than your research?

While it is not always necessary, I found it worthwhile to write about other responsibilities like teaching, and open source contributions that I had made as an undergraduate and how they have prepared me for graduate school.

Sticking the landing

Lastly, write about 2-3 potential PIs from the university, and how their interests align with yours. This last part needs to be tailored to each university and requires some time where you go through the papers of each PI and figure out if you align with their research directions or not.

  1. Try not to be very strongly vocal about a particular niche direction of a PI as they might have moved on from it.
  2. A balanced assertion of how your work aligns with that of the PI will be better in my opinion.

A bit more advice

  • Go through multiple versions of your SoP, start with a bloated draft and start refining down.
  • Focus on using active voice throughout the statement. It shows ownership, confidence and is concise. Eg. “I proved P=NP” instead of “The proof for P=NP was developed by me”.

Some more materials

Aside from Cornell, I want to share a couple other statements of purpose that I enjoyed writing. Only the last paragraph differs for these universities as they were all written in the same year.

I would love to help out with reviewing application packets or discussing graduate school applications with prospective applicants. Please feel free to drop me an email with your questions and subject line starting with [grad-apps] at achetan40@gmail.com

This page is still a work in progress. I will keep updating it with any advice I find myself repeating or with any interesting questions I receive. So please don’t hesitate to shoot your emails!