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Rejections

Here are some (probably not all!) rejections from the past couple years! I also share some of my application materials here, even though they were unsuccessful. Take them with a grain of salt!

• [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• [2024] One paper withdrawn from ICLR with low reviews.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 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• [2024] One paper withdrawn from Webconf for low review scores.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] 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 ;)