Read Before Emailing

Useful Information for Students Seeking Various Things

I appreciate hearing from people worldwide but lately the volume of emails has become quite overwhelming and hard to manage. I am providing some responses to common email requests I obtain. Please pardon my inability to respond to each and every email. If you are on campus and drop by during my office hours, I am very happy to chat in person.

Letters of Recommendations for Students Who Have Taken My Classes.

I am very happy to recommend students who have worked closely with me as research students, assisted me in teaching classes (as course assistants) or taken multiple small seminar classes with me where I have interacted very closely with them. If you are in any of these situations, you know how to find me and please ask me in person when we meet.

Otherwise, please read below.

Dear Student,

I am so glad that you are going to seek higher studies to further your career. I teach very large classes that involve hundreds of students (on-campus) and thousands of students (online). Sadly, I cannot get to know everyone individually. This makes it hard (if not impossible) for me to write honest and effective letters of recommendation for you. Graduate schools ask me to typically fill out a form that asks questions such as:

  • How well do you know this person?
  • Will you hire this person in your research team?
  • Would you place this person in the top 5-10% of all students you have taught in your career?
  • Is this personā€™s research aptitude in the top 5-10% of all students you have encountered in your career?

I am professionally obligated to provide honest answers to questions which is usually some version of ā€œI do not knowā€. My letter itself can only say that you have taken my course and obtained a great grade. It will lack specifics about you as a person, the quality of your past work, and your overall fitness for the program that I am recommending you to.

For any graduate program worth considering, such a recommendation will do nothing to help your application and will, in fact, hurt your chances. Also note that with grade inflation, an ā€˜A gradeā€™ in my classes typically places you in the top 35% of students. Many of the good programs paradoxically expect all their successful applicants to be in the top 5-10% of their respective cohorts.

Therefore, without knowing you better, I cannot supply you with a letter of recommendation that will help you in your future goals.

I would strongly recommend that you seek letters from people with whom you have worked in a professional capacity or professors with whom you have interacted, so that they may be able to answer questions about you.

best wishes,

Sriram

Requests for MS/PhD admissions

Dear Student,

Thank you for your interest in my research.

Admission decisions in the CS department are made by the admissions committee.

MS Admissions are handled by the CS deparmentā€™s graduate committee. Faculty members who are not part of that committee are not empowered to admit individual students. Therefore, emailing me is unlikely to help.

PhD Admissions If you apply to CU Boulder and mention my name along with those of my colleagues in CUPLV in the departmental portion of your application, I will have seen/read through your application. I hope that your statement of purpose talks about specific aspects of my research that interests you, to the extent possible. Your recommendation letters will tell us more about your past work and potential to do research in my area. I will read these carefully. At that point, if I am recruiting PhD student for that year, I will (or one of my colleagues will) reach out and arrange to chat with you in person (we will fly you out here if you are a US-based student) or online. In the meantime, I encourage you to look through my research publications to understand the nature and scope of my research.

best wishes, Sriram

Requests for (Research/Teaching) Assistantships, Grader/Course Manager Positions.

Dear Student,

Thank you for your interest in my research and congratulations on your admission to CU Boulder. I am so glad that you will be joining us.

Research Assistantships I do not offer research assistantships to MS students unless they have (a) taken multiple classes with me and proven their ability to do research in my area; (b) worked with me on a research project for at least a semester with positive results; and (c** exhibit a strong inclination to continue on for a PhD.

Teaching Assistantship The process of assigning teaching assistants, graders and course managers is handled by the department. You should receive an email from the departmentā€™s graduate advisor explaining the process in detail. Please note that I do not have any control/influence over that process.

best wishes, Sriram

Enquiries About Postdoctoral Researcher Positions

Dear Student,

Thank you for your interest in my research. I offer postdoctoral positions to very few students who have a PhD in an area close to my research. If there are open positions for postdoctoral reseachers, they will be advertised through my main web page and CU Boulderā€™s career pages.

I wish you all the very best in your research.

Sincerely, Sriram

Requests for Help with Coursera Classes

If you are taking the course for credit, I strongly advise you to approach me through your course coordinator. In other words, contact the course coordinator or program support and have them approach me. Otherwise, please know that I am unable to help students individually given the large volume of emails I receive.

Occassionally, I will receive something interesting/worthwhile/useful from a student who is taking my online class. I try my best to respond to those emails. Once again, please know that I am unable to respond to each and every request.