Caltech

1. 1

   Resume shortlist

   Institute academic ranking (CPI plus department score)

   Rank mixes CPI and a department score from resume, SOP and interview, about 50-50. Prior research internships raise the score. Top 3 forwarded this year for the CS-side projects.

2. 2

   Technical interview

   Department panel interview
   10 min

   resume projects · why international research · academic fit · future goals

   Panel of about 3 professors; about 10 minutes in one account.

3. 3

   Other round

   Project-wise SOP submission

   project fit · SOP

   Separate SOP per offered project (3 projects this year); preference rating of each.

4. 4

   Technical interview

   Interview with host professor
   easyeliminatory

   project interest · tools comfort (Linux, bash, HPC, GitHub) · large datasets · future goals

   Conversational and light; no technical questions in one account.

Advice from candidates

25 pieces of advice, in their own words. Names removed.

• Should be concise, no more than one page, good if you have done any kind of research before and highlight it well, even if you don’t have good results from it.

  resume · 2023-24

• Keep good CPI (most imp of all), be honest in presenting your experiences in CV, if you are into research from early on and the project doesn’t really align with your interests, since you have already decided your domain of interest irrespective of the university being really good, will definitely give you some kind of exposure but not necessarily in your field of interest so look for other external programs which don’t have a tie-up with IITGN, still if you don’t have any hopes for it and as the last resort go for this opportunity floated by CDS (this is mainly true for CS students, for other domains it may vary). So giving your domain of interest should be the priority even if it means staying in the campus continuing the project with your advisor in IITGN, it will definitely have more impact on your CV, unless you have decided upon a fixed domain and the project being offered is exactly in it.

  general · 2023-24

• Regarding the SOP, it is a must submit document for people applying for academic internships through CDS. This document is important as during the academic ranking process of each department, the professors of IIT-GN who are taking your interview might ask questions from it. Hence for SOP describe your past research experiences in a crisp manner, describe how courses at IIT-GN helped build your research skills, and mention your future goals and how a research internship at one of the top universities outside India might help you for your budding research career.

  SOP · 2023-24

• This is the most important document when applying for Caltech. Mention your past research experiences(project-course and research internships), skills developed, and important courses(mostly core courses or graduate level courses) completed at IIT-GN. You can mention your POR’s, but in reality it doesn’t really matter to the professor as they are more concerned with your research experience and skills. Do not add unnecessary information to your resume to make it long, 2-pages should be sufficient.

  resume · 2023-24

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