美國教授如何判別學生是否有潛力-转载来的，以后写email或许有帮助
作者: Sanjoy Das, Assistant Professor, Kansas State University
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Ph.D. 1994, Louisiana State University.
9 q3 q$ K7 ^- |. W8 @3 ]# KEvolutionary algorithms, neural networks, Y4 {/ P. @0 \
artificial intelligence, discrete optimization.
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! p, n) f% u OInternational applicants seeking assistantship/admission: please do not
$ [: l1 t" y! O" |6 h, y: _# F* Nsend me emails blindly without reading this
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Every day I receive emails from international candidates for information,
3 N6 J2 }" E+ R9 D; y& [for advice, and especially requesting financial assistance. Unfortunately, I
5 A5 Z/ Z0 L7 K; v5 S Pdelete most of them without even reading them carefully. I get so many / W% g- g( {( U9 {" \
irrelevant emails that cannot reply to each. Extremely rarely has one
4 m% o% |$ ?6 m# y5 Z8 F, v9 W; s$ jcaught my attention. Please do not send me emails without reading this
. p& q4 q8 d, ^# @first. I am only interested in corresponding to candidates who are
# C" E" x E6 r/ n. J9 [' _exceptional, and have a strong interest and experience in my immediate . b% C5 f( e0 K8 y
area of specialization, and I highly prefer ones with a Master's degree. 0 h; E6 h8 Y* F1 U, _
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Here are two sample letters: 2 j8 s0 a k* `8 h, x
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A sample letter that will never get the candidate an assistantship with me:
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Unwanted email # y: ~5 N: k/ ]+ Y( o# B6 e- q, g
1 o5 E9 v F& H ~- M R* BRespected sir, 8 W* f- k2 Y1 L @* b
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I am very interested in going to the US for higher studies. I am seeking
% g. W6 [4 i0 D9 Yadmission and financial assistance in your esteemed University. I am ( G/ M4 } c7 J) o7 i% i& ~1 z
very interested in artificial intelligence and computer architecture. I have 8 n& l1 u# u4 H+ `* l" U
programming experience in C++, C and ｊａｖａ. I am also familiar with
, {5 x/ x# _3 R( u4 qseveral software packages in the Windows environment (MS Word, Excel
& J& F& N- |2 E6 c" V: L6 B5 FSpreadsheet etc.). I also have networking certification from NOVELL. My
/ ?+ b4 N; Q7 m' y3 J1 y- OGRE score is 2050, and I got 99 percentile in the TOEFL exam.
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* s3 Q; q. U5 c: i `I request you to spare a few moments from your precious time to go
7 j E% `* Z/ B, Gthrough my attached resume.
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+ O6 c* E5 Y) fSir - if you are kind enough to offer me assistantship, I promise to work
* F* i, d- {% }8 \! yvery hard for you. I have a very good academic record since primary ; E, i! j: ~) d& F8 ^% H3 W) u8 O
school. Alternately, can you tell me what are my chances of getting
5 ]; a) o% ?6 zassistantship from your department?
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Can you kindly inform me about the last dates for Summer term 2002
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b2 o z M; Y& k# bThank you for your valuable time,
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Yours obediently
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ABC
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My comments: I simply delete these emails, which I consider garbage .
0 ]5 ?; } E1 r, GThe person seems to be too obsequious and flattering. In the emails that
: [" y" L+ t- C/ PI do read (occasionally), I do a first scan for keywords like "precious",
& J% A1 h7 ^% W& s2 ]5 B+ D V"respected" etc. deleting the email if I find one. Obviously the person is ! J. t% Q o2 @# k
not professional enough. The person is interested in artificial intelligence & i; l! D, L5 ?8 W! }! Z- k
and computer architecture - these are quite unrelated areas, making me 3 D2 B( u( C5 w+ Q4 K
think that he is trying to cover as many professors as possible to get aid
7 U8 ]- u1 c# k' J8 t: _7 a3 ~0 efrom any possible source. Besides, he does not have anything in support
$ l, b5 K d5 y) W6 I0 Jof his claim (about his interest in artificial intelligence). He emphasizes on
. V3 w H, Z( O2 N# T2 x. Nhis software skills, making me think that his goal is to get a programming 1 l" ~ o" Y6 C! z
job in the US and higher studies is only to allow him access to the US job 2 T. i) T- u) M' V+ N
market. His GRE scores are OK, but not exceptional. He asks me to tell " M2 p8 H- e, |, z
him what his chances of getting an assistantship are, elsewhere in the
+ u2 L" L! i# T. D' Tdepartment. I have absolutely no way of finding that out, and even if I
, y d. x* \% u3 ]knew, I would not bother to reply back. He also asks me to give him - i8 N6 {6 i# \& j5 N/ j# b0 ~' @
information about summer deadlines. How am I supposed to know that?
/ {2 S o+ N9 V* E+ r+ T(I would typically expect that this information should be available from " b2 ]2 ~- r! J8 ]0 m# _
the University web site, or from the grad school, but my guess is as good
' p6 W$ {7 G0 O8 E Zas yours.) Finally, this letter is too generic . He probably uses exactly the . t6 u j1 q& B( [% ], N
same format for hundreds of email letters to various professors
; i. o" ^3 Q8 d$ T. |; t3 p6 cthroughout the country, leaving no stone uncovered. I receive hundreds ; a9 L7 j! Z$ `; U/ J
of email like this. Regretfully, I cannot answer everyone, and these . Y0 y* P2 D* D1 _ M
applications do not interest me at all. 2 ]/ r2 x# T" p. n0 u& x
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8 G& i8 p# N' z/ b% r% YNow, here is a letter that would DEFINITELY attract my attention:
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Excellent email , F \9 j8 f, B) f3 u& L
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Dear Prof. Das, . w2 U$ i* O4 V+ }/ S$ x; K
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I am applying to KSU (amongst other places) for a Ph.D., and I am very " \& ?7 u9 y: Y* T$ S
interested in your research areas. I would like to explore the possibility of
j2 ~( g7 p2 Y4 j9 ?doing my research with you, with financial support.
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One possible area that would interest me a lot is in applying Tikhonov
8 P6 O+ r2 |! h3 d% r( B$ `regularization to your problem in computational neuroscience, since I 9 S6 U: M6 `0 t6 g
understand that neural data can be very noisy, and yet sparse. : I7 p8 }! P/ Z; r, Z: ^) ^
Alternately, I am also interested in applying evolutionary algorithms to ! M+ V2 x# y2 Z2 N
your genetic neural network parameter estimation. One of my other
; R$ n' d8 E, c+ n5 u$ ]interests in in parallel processing. Are you considering parallel , @& B5 J3 P. ]2 z% j
implementations for any of your optimization/estimation algorithms? 5 f+ I7 Y8 e: Y' ]. e9 _4 n! d
Considering that the projects that you list in your web site would probably ; H, _9 }( P5 D$ l b
be very computationally intensive, that may be a worthwhile strategy to
, _5 r5 {% W9 z" l8 I. I; Bpursue. ; q1 C. i' O( q
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I presented a paper entitled "Hybrid Gradient Descent Based Training of . K( {$ @; u" [& M: H1 U# G4 t
Probabilistic Recurrent Networks" in the International Conference on
6 X. r) R3 q" _: k7 P# TNeural Networks and Image Processing, Bangalore, last year. It is a - O6 C9 ]; r6 x& s. r
reviewed publication. If have attached a copy of the article in pdf format. $ p3 ^/ N, k0 f
3 e {+ p: k T" U, p' j, _4 WIf you have available funds, and are interested in my application please
6 ~* }' _- G* }, Z$ }) w" N1 Llet me know soon.
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9 ?: |/ p& K! E& YXYZ : G; v9 j7 b6 ] r7 L/ U+ e/ x
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My comments: This is a straightforward letter from someone with a * A) r7 y( M" u( @- v; l" S% f
genuine interest in my area . He is an exceptional candidate. He has
8 P) a! `# g5 t# y1 B# o jevinced a keen desire to learn, and already has considerable mastery
/ _' i- t6 r4 i) s+ ~2 L Jover my area of research . If I have any funding available, I would
: c# m& b, Y3 m( edefinitely try my very BEST to get this person . This person may have an
3 q" X1 m! ]' ?4 t' JMS degree, while many applicants have only a BS degree.
