Siddartha Devic
devic [at] usc.edu
Computer Science Department
University of Southern California
Rejections
In Spring 2026, I was on the full-time job industry job market. I applied to ~100 roles. I received three offers after interviewing with around 20 companies. The process was challenging, so don't feel bad about getting rejected! Here are some tips you may find useful from my job hunt.Below are some (probably not all!) rejections from my PhD! I also share some of my application materials here, even though they were unsuccessful. Take them with a grain of salt!
- [2026] Two papers rejected from ICML.
- [2026] Paper rejection from ICLR.
- [2025] Two paper rejections from ICML.
- [2024] Failed FAANG leetcode / systems interview for a research internship. Need to do more leetcode I guess!
- [2024] Rejected from Apple PhD fellowship (nominated, but did not receive). I feel like you need a strong relationship with industry researchers to get any of these. Research statement, Research abstract.
- [2024] One paper withdrawn from ICLR with low reviews.
- [2024] Applied for around 20-30 summer research internships. Recieved an interview at one place, which was only because I cold emailed the person and they knew my advisor. Didn't hear back from any other place.
- [2024] One paper rejected from COLT.
- [2024] Rejected from IBM PhD fellowship. Research statement.
- [2024] Rejected from Amazon USC PhD fellowship. Research statement.
- [2024] Rejected from Google PhD fellowship (was not nominated). Research statement.
- [2024] Microsoft research new england internship application. Research statement.
- [2024] Microsoft research FATE (fairness group) internship application. Research statement.
- [2024] One paper withdrawn from Webconf for low review scores.
- [2021-2022] No new research papers the first year of my PhD.
- [2021-2022] A paper of mine was rejected from all of AISTATS, Neurips, ICML over the course of more than a year.
- [2021] Did not recieve NSF GRFP. Research statement, Personal statement.
- [2020-2021] I applied to 22 PhD programs, and was rejected from most! But luckily I got into USC :)
- [2020 ish] Rejected from Goldwater fellowship. Research statement.
- [2019-2020] Applied to 12 NSF REUs, rejected by most.
- [2019] Rejected from AAAI undergraduate consortium. Research statement.
- [2019] Applied for 10-15 jobs at national labs / government contractors to do research at. Got an interview from one, didn't hear back from any others. Also cold emailed Sébastien Bubeck since I thought that would get me a job ;)