For a few weeks, I helped out on the Admissions Committee for the Masters in HCI program. I have no idea how much I can actually talk about this process, so I’m going to err on the side of discretion for once and give only the broadest of strokes and my general impressions.
The HCII gets hundreds of applicants from around the world. We can only accept a fraction of them, so some winnowing has to happen.
Admissions is a thorough process, involving faculty and staff, doing multiple reviews of candidates. It’s a multi-week (indeed, multi-month) process. Applications come in in January. Faculty like me are given their set of candidates to evaluate in February. It starts with individual assessments, with each person reviewing a set of applicants. Applications have several parts: letters of recommendation, transcripts, a statement of purpose, a video introduction, a resume, and a portfolio. It took me about 30 minutes to review each applicant, write notes, and then enter my scores and notes into the system. I basically buckled down and spent most of a weekend reviewing my set of applications.
Even though my individual vote wouldn’t reject anyone immediately, the applicants I said No to, I felt really guilty about until someone reminded me this won’t ruin their lives and that applicants are probably applying to multiple programs. Just because they don’t go to CMU doesn’t mean they won’t go somewhere. One of the current students told me they’d been rejected from CMU the year before and it became a good thing because they got more professional experience in the meantime and applied again, that time with success.
Once all the individual assessments are done, the MHCI Admissions Committee convenes as a group to review the collected set. Over many hours, the group discusses and debates the applicants. I had some favorites from my initial set that I was ready to argue for but didn’t really have to as they all made the cut. As with every school, you admit slightly more than you think will accept because even though CMU HCII is a top school (arguably the top school for HCI), not everyone accepts and plans change and etc. etc.
And thus (more or less) an academic cohort is made. It’s fun to imagine these students, who I’ve only met on paper, in my classes this fall. I’m excited to meet them!