Are you a Ph.D. Applicant? You have come a long way! Hope this helps.

That's great! Unlike the majority of the people, you have decided to pursue research. Now, before you finalize this decision and submit your applications, I have tried to put down some major points about the process that may help you.

I specifically assume that you are either someone who is a senior or has completed his/her bachelor's degree. Also, it is considered that you are applying for a Ph.D. in the fields related to engineering (any major specialization) or applied science. I am specifying these because I have struggled to find some guidance specific to my domain. I do not agree with the concept of "generalization" while giving advice for a Ph.D. All programs are different and, in fact, the same program is different in different universities.

Alright, just calm down. I know you have too many doubts and want to know it all at once. But, my friend, it will never happen that you get everything in one place. Even if you get a lot of info from here you will still be investing a lot of time surfing to find more details. It will happen, and that is a good thing.

Let's begin. The first thing that you need to make sure of is the list of all generally required documents for your Ph.D. applications. This list includes your statement of purpose (SOP) or letter of motivation, Transcripts (Grade sheets), English scores, Passport, Resume/CV, and 3 Letters of Recommendation (of course you are not going to write them, but make sure you have the professors ready). All these documents must be ready at least by the month of October. By ready, I mean that you should have your first draft of SOP and CV ready along with other documents.

Now, how to write an SOP? For this, you have hundreds of videos on YouTube. However, I will strictly suggest that you follow these steps and be yourself. Trust me! You do not need to know what sentences you need to write, you just need to know what must and must not be included. That's it.

Research about the program: Find out the department's recent highlights. For instance, the ECE dept. of UMD (Area: Quantum Technology) is benefited from the presence of world-class quantum centers (JQI, QTC, IREAP, QuICS). Also, maintain an Excel sheet where you note down the web pages and details every time you find something more about that university. This is very important as you will not remember everything when you start drafting. This spreadsheet will help you with your writeup. Here you can also note down all the details/requirements that the program mentions about the SOP.

Attract the Research groups: Dedicate a paragraph to detail your interests in 3 to a max of 4 groups for a particular program. Two sentences max for each group. Actually, one is enough. It will contain the area that the group is currently active in and your specific topic of interest in their group. For instance, "I wish to work on vortex beam-controlled correlated electronic phases in twisted bilayer materials in Prof. X’s group that has made exceptional contributions to topological photonics and quantum optical control of electronic states." You need not be too precise with the topic of interest unless you are sure about that or have already talked with the professor. Also, make sure the paragraphs, before this one, that are explaining your background and research interests align with these groups. So, modify each SOP accordingly.

Must Include Content: 1. Your area of study during B.Tech or BS. 2. Brief description of the motivation towards that particular program. 3. Your preferred subfield in that program and why. 4. Your past research works, describing what was difficult about it initially, how did you overcome that, and what did you learn. 5. Do mention a statement or two in the end about how your research work makes you suited for this program. 5. Finally, a little boasting about the program's unique things and your specific interests in some of the research groups. 6. Any hardships that you have faced that affected your grades or other places in your profile. But, make sure that you keep it real short and present it as if you have overcome it and have gained something out of it, not just as a reason for some weak points on your profile.

Must not include content: 1. Your achievements before your college life (unless it was something recognized internationally). 2. Too much of your extracurricular (No one cares. If there is something like you headed an IEEE Student chapter or volunteered for a social cause that brought a difference, mentioning a few lines will be good.) 3. Getting too much technical without actually being aware of those terms. I have seen many people do this thing. Never, try to use words that you are not completely aware of. This may be disastrous. 4. Do not keep boasting about yourself throughout. Instead, show the areas you have touched and convince them that you are someone who is capable of working even in a new domain with minimal time for preparation. This can be done while you describe your past works (It all depends on the way you pen down your story). 5. Do not make your SOP cluttered. Mentioning more than 3 past works is not something I would recommend. 3 is the maximum count. Merely mentioning them is not at all good for your application. You need to be elaborative on each of them as discussed earlier.

Review: It is one of the most necessary steps. As I told you earlier, your first draft should be ready 2-3 months before you actually submit it. Once you have your draft ready, share it with the ones who are currently pursuing their Ph.D. in America. Believe me, sharing with the ones who have never applied to the US will not help you. LinkedIn is a great place. At least it helped me a lot. I did not get help from anyone whom I knew and who had applied earlier. However, connecting to some amazing graduate students on LinkedIn allowed me to share my first draft of SOP and get amazing feedback. Some of them were so unique that I did not even have any idea about them before. After my first revision, I still made 6 more revisions before I actually submitted my SOP. Yes! There will lot of revisions that you will do. So, start early. As, during self-revision, you will have to write a draft and then forget about it for at least two weeks. Then, revisit your draft with a completely fresh mind and you will be surprised to see so many mistakes.

Cold Mailing: Mail the professors before submitting your application (preferably between Oct-Dec), then reply to the same mail after you have applied to the program and let them know you are interested and have applied. Wait patiently for the response, most may not, but a few may. What to mail? Okay, so divide your mail into three paragraphs (none of them should be more than 3-4 sentences). The first one describes who you are and what is your intent. The second one talks briefly about the work you did and papers you read from his/her group. The last one will be your request for a conversation or a reply or availability of positions or anything that you want to know. Remember, always read your mail and check if you will go through such a mail if you were some big name. If not, rewrite the mail and keep it crisp and concise. Also, make sure of the timing of sending your mail. Usually, most prof. go through their mails early morning (at least
most of my emails, when sent during that time, were read and later replied to). However, have patience and accept that you will, in general, have to mail 2-4 times to get a reply (Don't keep pestering them with the same mail).

Congratulations! You have a great SOP in hand. Now, notify your recommenders about your applications. Apply for a maximum of 9 programs. It is an optimum and safe number. Actually, I could only apply to 6. But it is a sad story so let's not get into it. Remember! it is always advisable to tell your recommenders if you want some specific qualities or instances to be highlighted in the LOR. Give them some major points that you would like to be mentioned. But, do not share the same points with all the recommenders. That would be a foolish thing to do. Finally, for your resume, have a look at mine here. I think it is structured in a great way or that is what many people have told me. So, yeah! That is all that you need to apply for a Ph.D.