This curated list of awesome advice for computer science PhD applicants consists of blogs found on the internet, with a slightly biased emphasis on the AI/ML and NLP area. These articles greatly helped me when I was applying to Ph.D., I hope they can also help you.
This page is cross-listed in this blog.
Application season can be stressful, but always remember to smile :-) - you are already awesome to have the courage to take this hard path!
General Advice
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CSRankings.org: Advice on Applying to Grad School in Computer Science (In case you are new to a field and need to learn about the professors in that field, I highly recommend use CSRankings.org to quickly find professors working in your area of interest.)
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Student Perspectives on Applying to NLP PhD Programs (by various Ph.D. students)
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Undergrad to PhD, or not - advice for undergrads interested in research (by John Hewitt, Ph.D. student at Stanford)
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Ph.D. Applications: FAQ (by Noah Smith, Professor at UW)
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Scott E. Fahlman's Quora answer on the admission committee process (by Scott E. Fahlman, Professor Emeritus at CMU, served many times in the admission committee at CMU)
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Applying to Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science (by Mor Harchol-Balter, Professor at CMU)
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HOWTO: Get into grad school for science, engineering, math and computer science (by Matt Might, Professor at University of Alabama)
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Reflecting on CS Graduate Admissions (David Andersen, Professor at CMU, chair of admission committee for Fall 2015)
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A PhD is Not Enough: A Guide to Survival in Science (by Peter J. Feibelman; this book is also super useful for PhD candidates and new post-docs! For Chinese speakers: a brife outline)
Statement of Purpose Advice
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How to Write a Bad Statement for a Computer Science Ph.D. Admissions Application (Andy Pavlo, Associate Professor at CMU)
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Inside Ph.D. admissions: What readers look for in a Statement of Purpose (Nathan Schneider, Assistant Professor at Georgetown University)
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Christopher W. Fletcher's guid on SoP (Christopher W. Fletcher, Assistant Professor at UIUC)