Code to PhD

Announcement

Applications for Code to PhD's PhD Application Support Program are now closed for the 2025-2026 application cycle. However, we are still providing support to this cycle's applicants through our monthly 1-1 office hours. We have PhD student office hours volunteers with a variety of research interests spanning AI, HCI, HPC, CPS, Security, Algorithms, and Theory from universities like RIT, Northeastern, CU Bolder, University of Utah, UCI, Northeastern, UMD College Park, Tufts, Purdue, Texas A&M, CMU, and UChicago. 

If you would like to sign up to meet with one of our office hour volunteers, click here: Code to PhD Monthly Office Hours Info.

About

Code To PhD is a completely student-run volunteer initiative of Computer Science PhD students across the U.S. We aim to help underrepresented students apply to Computer Science related PhD programs and find mentorship to support them through their graduate studies. With PhD student volunteers from UChicago, NYU, UMass Amherst, Columbia, UCI, and many more soon (!), we are organizing office hours, panels, and a graduate application support program to help answer applicants' questions about CS-related PhD programs and help them find quality mentorship.

Our Core Values: We believe that making Computer Science PhD programs more diverse and accessible across socioeconomic status, ability, gender, race, sexual identity, and nationality makes for more rich, equitable, and conscientious research advancements. For far too long, the voices of marginalized people have been silenced by institutional bias, the withholding of resources, and various other forms of discrimination, which inhibits the advancement of all fields of research. We believe that together as a community we can begin to address these inequities through strengthening our bonds, sharing resources, and centering care towards each other above all.

Events

• Upcoming
• Past
• All

Prospective Students

If you are a prospective student, applying to CS-related PhD programs, we will have various initiatives aimed at supporting you! To stay up to date on our programs, including when panels/office hours occur and when the mentee application for our application support program opens up, please fill out this google form and you will be added to our mailing list: Mentee Interest Form.

Get Involved

We are currently recruiting PhD students (in CS or other related disciplines) to be mentors for our mentorship application program!! Fill out this form if you would like to volunteer: Volunteer Sign Up. If you are interested in volunteering for panels/office hours or joining our initiative’s leadership team, please fill out this interest form and we’ll be in touch!

Blogs

Application Resources

There are various initiatives that aim to help students apply to graduate school! Here is a compiled summary of them.

Choosing Programs

It can be hard to know where to even apply to. It is helpful to read papers and look at the top conferences in the areas you’re interested in to see who is publishing the research you like. From there, aim to find 2-4 professors at a given institution of interest, which is where CSRanking can become a helpful resource to find PIs in certain research areas and their websites.

• csrankings.org: ranks CS programs around the world and can be helpful for finding professors in your area.
• csstipendrankings.org: information (some slightly outdated) on PhD stipends.

Writing Your Application

For crafting the personal statement, SoP, and just generally receiving mentorship, these resources were helpful.

• cs-sop.org: database of CS PhD Statement of Purpose examples posted by previous applicants.
• Graduate Application Support Programs: programs where applicants are matched with current PhD student mentors that can help you with your application material. Application deadlines tend to vary year-to-year, but these were the deadlines for the 2024-2025 cycle.
  • Carnegie Mellon University SCS GASP
    • deadline: October 8, 2024
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology EECS GAAP
    • deadline: October 15, 2024
    • MIT has other application support programs outside of EECS as well: MIT GAAPs
  • University of Washington CSE PAMS
    • deadline: summer
  • University of Massachussets Amherst CICS PhD Applicant Support Program
    • deadline: rolling
  • Cornell University CIS SASP
    • deadline: October 25, 2025
  • Northwestern University PhD Application Feedback Program
    • deadline: November 4, 2024
  • UC Berkeley EECS EAAA
    • deadline: October 6, 2024
  • UC Berkeley School of Information Ph.D. Applicant Feedback Program
    • deadline: November 1, 2024
  • Stanford CS SASP
    • deadline: October 25, 2024
• For a more general guide on application dos and don'ts, there is also Applying to Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science by Professor Mor Harchol-Balter at CMU.

Application Fee Waivers

There are a variety of ways to get fee waivers. Make sure to look at your target schools’ specific fee waiver policies to know what they accept, but here are common routes one can get fee waivers:

• Demonstrating financial need: some programs will waive you application fee if you are on financial aid at your current university and you submit your aid statement.
• Conferences: if you are able to attend conferences like Tapia or Grace Hopper, many programs will have booths where they give out fee waiver codes. Some schools will also waive your application fee if you submit proof of conference attendance.
• Targeted programs or organization membership: if you are a member or participate in some of the following programs, you may qualify for a fee waiver.
  • Graduate Application Support Programs (by school)
  • REU programs (by school)
  • Association Computing Machinery Women Council (ACM-W)
  • The Leadership Alliance (and affiliated programs)
  • Black in AI
  • LatinX in AI
  • Posse
  • QuestBridge
  • ...
• Some programs just waive fees for everyone like CMU Societal Computing :-)

Some General Comments

Don’t be afraid to reach out to graduate students in the labs you are interested in to ask them about their experiences and to receive advice.

Good Luck!

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