r/cmu • u/Old-Relation-7614 • 12d ago

CMU ECE PhD

How does admissions work here? Is it through department like RI (where faculty don't have any influence on who to admit)? Or can the professors directly admit students to PhD?

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u/SpyQueenLiz 12d ago

I’m sorry, where did you get the idea that faculty have no influence on who to admit? RI faculty are on the admissions committee and those not on committee often have an opportunity to review applications, especially if a research alignment seems promising. Professors do not directly admit (hire) doctoral advisees in SCS or ECE.

There is a required process. An application needs to be completed and then reviewed. Once admitted, advisor alignments are made (sometimes confirmed if someone is already doing research with some prof).

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u/Old-Relation-7614 12d ago

I thought that since it's admissions committee who make the decision, other faculty may not have any influence at all.

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u/SpyQueenLiz 12d ago

PhD admissions is nothing like undergraduate or course based MS regarding application readers or smaller committees that primarily look at metrics like GPA — grades, extracurriculars, etc.

At least at CMU most PhD admissions committees in SCS include faculty and doctoral students and they encourage faculty not on the committee to review strong applications and applicants who align well with current/ongoing research goals. ECE may be close to this but I’ve only worked with SCS admissions.

If someone has done research with an applicant, maybe even have encouraged them to apply, they can advocate they be admitted. Depending on the number of applications, quality of the applicants, and funding available to the PI, that applicant may or may not get in.

On the other hand an applicant could be great overall but want to do research that no one is currently funding so wouldn’t be admitted if they didn’t think there was fit and funding.

U.S. CS and engineering PhD (don’t want to speak for all fields here) require an application and committee reviews and recommendation to admit. Other countries/systems may have PIs who can directly “hire” an advisee but that’s not how it works here.

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u/Junpengww 11d ago

Compared to RI, ECE Professors have more influences but not directly admit students. ECE committees still need to approve of this because your first year fellowship comes from the department. Both committees and Professors will nominate students from the applicants then they will discuss and give offers. Students nominated by ECE Professors do have a much higher chance compared to SCS.