Editing User:Benjamin Mako Hill/Prospective graduate students
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I have advised or co-advised students in the University of Washington's [https://com.uw.edu/ Department of Communication], [https://www.hcde.washington.edu/ Department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering] (HCDE), the [https://www.cs.washington.edu/ Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering] (CSE), and in [https://ischool.uw.edu/ the Information School] (iSchool). | I have advised or co-advised students in the University of Washington's [https://com.uw.edu/ Department of Communication], [https://www.hcde.washington.edu/ Department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering] (HCDE), the [https://www.cs.washington.edu/ Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering] (CSE), and in [https://ischool.uw.edu/ the Information School] (iSchool). | ||
== | == Programs at UW == | ||
My primary appointment is in the [http://www.uw.edu University of Washington] [http://www.com.washington.edu Department of Communication] and most of my PhD students have been based in this department. The department has an absolutely wonderful PhD program. When I was considering graduate school, I very nearly went here myself! The good news for me is that (because there is an unwritten rule that universities should not hire their own students) I now get to teach here! | My primary appointment is in the [http://www.uw.edu University of Washington] [http://www.com.washington.edu Department of Communication] and most of my PhD students have been based in this department. The department has an absolutely wonderful PhD program. When I was considering graduate school, I very nearly went here myself! The good news for me is that (because there is an unwritten rule that universities should not hire their own students) I now get to teach here! | ||
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It's OK if you're not an expert in all this stuff yet or if you don't know a lot of statistics. After all, grad school is school and learning new tools and approaches is hopefully a big part of why you're applying to graduate school in the first place. I had not taken a math class since high school when I started in graduate school. I learned a lot while I was there and I'm still working on it. What's important is that you show me (and the admissions committee) that you're interested and able to learn. | It's OK if you're not an expert in all this stuff yet or if you don't know a lot of statistics. After all, grad school is school and learning new tools and approaches is hopefully a big part of why you're applying to graduate school in the first place. I had not taken a math class since high school when I started in graduate school. I learned a lot while I was there and I'm still working on it. What's important is that you show me (and the admissions committee) that you're interested and able to learn. | ||
Personally, I'm much less concerned with things like grades and test scores than I am with a proven ability to build things, to ask interesting questions, to write working code, to craft solid prose, and to make the world a better place. Of course, admission is | Personally, I'm much less concerned with things like grades and test scores than I am with a proven ability to build things, to ask interesting questions, to write working code, to craft solid prose, and to make the world a better place. Of course, admission to our department is not entirely up to me and things like grades and test scores certainly help your case. | ||
== Applying to UW == | == Applying to UW == | ||
First of all, you need decide which program(s) at UW you wan to apply to. Each year, I am most involved in—and have most influence in—decisions within the Department of Communication. If you hope to work with me but are applying in another department, you should identify at least one other potential coadvisor | First of all, you need decide which program(s) at UW you wan to apply to. Each year, I am most involved in—and have most influence in—decisions within the Department of Communication. If you hope to work with me but are applying in another department, you should identify at least one other potential coadvisor. | ||
If you have not already, you should check out the following information about applying to the programs at UW: | |||
* [https://com.uw.edu/admissions/ma-phd-admissions/ UW Department of Communication MA/PhD Admissions Homepage] | * [https://com.uw.edu/admissions/ma-phd-admissions/ UW Department of Communication MA/PhD Admissions Homepage] | ||
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* [https://ischool.uw.edu/programs/phd/admissions UW iSchool PhD Admissions Homepage] | * [https://ischool.uw.edu/programs/phd/admissions UW iSchool PhD Admissions Homepage] | ||
== | None of the departments that I am involved in will allow a single faculty member to make a decision on whether to admit a student. In all cases, there is a committee of active graduate faculty who make these decisions as a group. | ||
== Comments about the Department of Communication == | |||
Most of my advisees are PhD students in the Department of Communication. The Department of Communication is wide and interdisciplinary and accepts a wide variety of students with interests in doing work that spans the humanities and social sciences. | Most of my advisees are PhD students in the Department of Communication. The Department of Communication is wide and interdisciplinary and accepts a wide variety of students with interests in doing work that spans the humanities and social sciences. | ||
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As I mentioned, some of my influence at the admissions stage stems from my ability to fund RAs. Being able to work as an RA for one of my funded projects helps your chances of being admitted to our program enormously. But again, you will only be at an advantage if you can convince the committee (and me!) that you would be interested and able to do the kinds of work that are described in the grants my lab has received or will apply for in the future. | As I mentioned, some of my influence at the admissions stage stems from my ability to fund RAs. Being able to work as an RA for one of my funded projects helps your chances of being admitted to our program enormously. But again, you will only be at an advantage if you can convince the committee (and me!) that you would be interested and able to do the kinds of work that are described in the grants my lab has received or will apply for in the future. | ||
== Asking questions == | == Asking questions == | ||
If you have questions about the | If you have questions about the department or the admissions process you should check the material on the [http://www.com.washington.edu/student-admissions/graduate-admissions-maphd/ admission website], look carefully through [http://www.com.washington.edu/student-admissions/graduate-admissions-maphd/faq/ FAQ], and contact the admissions staff who will be more helpful and more responsive than I am. | ||
If you have questions about my research or about working with me, you can email me directly at [mailto:makohill@uw.edu makohill@uw.edu]. If I don't know you, you should introduce yourself by describing your interests, qualifications and the reason you think these are a match for my research interests and methodologies. If you don't know my research interests and methods, you should look through [http://mako.cc/academic/ my academic page] | If you have questions about my research or about working with me, you can email me directly at [mailto:makohill@uw.edu makohill@uw.edu]. If I don't know you, you should introduce yourself by describing your interests, qualifications and the reason you think these are a match for my research interests and methodologies. If you don't know my research interests and methods, you should look through [http://mako.cc/academic/ my academic page] — maybe even read a couple papers — and try to make sure it really is a good match. | ||
Please keep in mind that I am often busy and not always awesome at email. As a result, it might take me some time to respond to prospective students. If it's been more than a week or two, feel free to ping me again. | Please keep in mind that I am often busy and not always awesome at email. As a result, it might take me some time to respond to prospective students. If it's been more than a week or two, feel free to ping me again. | ||
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== Meetings (prospective UW graduate students) == | == Meetings (prospective UW graduate students) == | ||
Many university faculty have blanket rules against meeting with prospective doctoral students. I personally met with both my masters and PhD advisors before I was admitted to their programs, so I will always consider meeting with prospective PhD students if time permits. If you are familiar with my work and you think you really are very likely to work with me, please get in touch with me. | |||
Of course, there are hundreds of students interested in pursuing their PhD at UW Communication every year, so it is simply not possible for the faculty to meet with every interested student. That said, I'm happy to meet with prospective students whose interests and background match what I'm looking for. | |||
This means that either of following things should be true: | |||
:* You are interested in graduate school because you want to study [[:wikipedia:peer production|peer production]], knowledge commons, and the production of online public goods like [[:wikipedia:free culture|free culture]] and [[:wikipedia:free software|free software]]. | |||
:* You are interested in graduate school because you want to do quantitative data science on online communities and plan to use programming, statistics, and mathematics as the core of your research program. | |||
I | If the above does not apply, ''this doesn't mean I don't want to work with you''. It just means I'm extremely unlikely to be able to impact your application to the department. If one of my colleagues at UW has referred you to talk to me, that's also good enough because it means that that they might ask for my opinion when the admissions committee makes final decisions later. | ||
== Meetings (admitted UW graduate students) == | == Meetings (admitted UW graduate students) == |