Applying to PhD Programs in Computer Science (2014) [pdf]
I have the impression that CS PhD programs are more competitive than they have ever been, by a large margin, at least in the US. My pet theory on this is that US CS PhD students are exposed to globalization in a big way. If you look at figure D2 in the 2018 Taulbee Survey by the Computing Research Association [0], you can see that nonresident aliens as a fraction of enrollments in US and Canadian CS PhD programs rose from around 40% in the mid ninties to 64% in 2015, 2016, and 2017.<p>On the one hand I think it&#x27;s great that the US and Canada continue to attract research talent from around the world. But on the other hand I suspect that the increased competitiveness has changed the nature of the PhD program in computer science. I think that professors these days have so many options for grad students that they can choose students with specialized experience in their research field, which means that any &quot;exploratory&quot; phase of the PhD process has shrunk significantly. In the article, the author says that CMU expects students to choose an advisor within a month or two of starting the program, and I guess that in reality most students have applied to work with a specific advisor before stepping foot on campus. I wonder has it always been the case? Can anyone - maybe someone who did a PhD at CMU or elsewhere more than a decade ago - shed any light here?<p>Of course the increased competitiveness of US CS PhD programs is just conjecture on my part. It could be that the increase in nonresident alien enrollment just means that many US and Canadian citizens are not interested in a CS PhD these days, and that the PhD programs haven&#x27;t really changed, which also sounds plausible. From my experience during my short PhD attempt, the amount of time spent studying (classes, reading papers, etc) versus simply working for an advisor was smaller than I expected, and I don&#x27;t know if that&#x27;s because of a real change in the PhD process or simply my own naïveté.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cra.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2019&#x2F;05&#x2F;2018_Taulbee_Survey.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cra.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2019&#x2F;05&#x2F;2018_Taulbee_Surv...</a>