Whenever I share my experiences applying to CS PhD programs, I’m often asked several questions:

What kind of background do you need to get into a PhD program? Do you have to have publications? Does the undergraduate school matter? How important are grades? Do applicants from interdisciplinary backgrounds have a chance?

The answer is that there is no single standard response to these questions. Different advisors value different things, and expectations also vary depending on the schools you are aiming for.

Here is one tip I often share for evaluating your target schools:

Take the time to carefully check if the schools you are interested in have labs that genuinely excite you. Then, look at the members of those labs and check what their CVs looked like when they were admitted to the PhD program.

By doing this, you can often infer what a particular advisor cares about, whether they value undergraduate schools, how much weight they place on grades, whether publications are required, whether they accept students from interdisciplinary backgrounds, and sometimes even whether English proficiency seems to be a major factor.

With this information, you will be able to better evaluate your own positioning and have a clearer understanding of which aspects of your profile you may need to strengthen.