Ashlyn Campbell

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone - Building Community for Graduate Applications

For many students, pursuing a PhD means entering a system no one around them has navigated before. When no one around you has navigated the process, even basic questions like What is a PhD? can feel overwhelming. The challenge is often not talent, but a matter of community. While graduate school preparation is frequently framed as an individual achievement, such as a high GPA and research experience. This framing overlooks the informal networks that make success possible: mentors who explain expectations, peers who exchange writing drafts, and communities that share timelines, funding opportunities, and encouragement. While there are many available resources like CRA UR2PhD, the GEM Consortium, and IAAMCS, finding like-minded peers with whom to engage when preparing applications to these programs together can be the missing link. Broadening participation in computing requires addressing this gap in community access. Research on peer mentorship and communities of practice shows that students persist and thrive when they are embedded in supportive scholarly networks.

This Birds of a Feather (BoF) session invites undergraduate and master’s students who are curious about PhD programs or research careers and who may wish to navigate the process within a community. We also extend an invitation to faculty interested in learning how they can support prospective graduate students. During this one-hour BoF, facilitated by two graduate students and alumni of Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), we will lead a focused discussion about what feels unclear, inaccessible, or uncertain about pursuing a PhD in the current climate. Participants will name the information gaps they are navigating, share experiences from navigating the process thus far, and identify what kinds of support would make the process more transparent. Rather than providing answers from the front of the room, the session will center on collective contribution and resource exchange. Together, we will form peer connections that extend beyond the conference and into the application cycle.

Please come back to this page mid-September for materials and updates!