The Proof is Trivial!

I'm going to Cornell to do my PhD starting in August. Just had my US visa approved on Wednesday.

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You can't possibly know at this moment where you would want to go, unless you know exactly what you want to research already and the strengths of each university in that research. The most important criteria for choosing your PhD is the potential advisors/actual advisor who admitted you at the university, and also its research in the specific field you want to go into. For example while MIT, Berkeley and Stanford commonly seem high-and-mighty and all that for CompSci, they were actually quite low on my list compared to Carnegie Mellon or Cornell as they did not have a good specialisation in the research direction I wanted to do. (Although they would have been nice to get into for pride points But that's another thing, universities tend not to take students either if they pursue directions that are uninteresting to their faculty.)

Well I was being a bit bored of the UK, and the funding situation is much better in the US, so that's why I went instead of staying. It's not really a gap "year" though, in the US PhDs tend to be five years or more, averaging six, whereas in the UK pretty much you are kicked out after four years maximum (you are expected to finish in three) if you still haven't graduated. If you ever decide that this is too much of a slog, doing Part I - II in Cambridge and then a Master's in the US would achieve what you are saying

What are you going to work on?

Six years is insane! Even four years is insane! Why so long?!?! Surely you will be doing the same amount of work as you would do in an English PhD? Mmm yeah I might do that... the only thing would be the tuition fees though

Btw, what's the non-academic side of Emma like? Is the bar and pool good? Are the ducks as friendly as they claim?

Theoretical foundations of programming languages pertaining to type theory and category theory.

I think Cambridge is one of the best in the world for that.

In category theory, certainly, due to the Maths department, but in the computer science side of it it's more uncertain. Plus the Cambridge Programming Languages and Logic group are working on projects that are a bit too devoid of applications. It's why so many practical PL people in Cambridge work with Microsoft Research on top/instead of the Lab.

What do you think of the CST? I didn't like it.

A mixed bag of what the faculty happens to be interested in, which always has that feeling of being rushed and ad-hoc. Regardless, it still holds up on its own against courses in other universities in general, but there are some glaring weaknesses (albeit there are a few strengths as well). Personally four years ago I thought JMC at Imperial would be a better course, and I'm more convinced I was right as time goes on.

Plus the Cambridge Programming Languages and Logic group are working on projects that are a bit too devoid of applications.

And the negging's for....?

I'm more curious what is the upvote for.

What's the negging for

The layout's all wrong.

What?

Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers.

Essentially the amount of papers you need to have published before you graduate is a requirement in the US, but not in the UK (but that's not to say some incredibly industrious UK PhD students couldn't publish the equivalent amount in only three years). At some places in the UK you can graduate from a PhD without ever having a paper published in a prestigious conference or journal. Also the US admits PhD students on the basis that they are initially working towards a Master's, and if they can pass a certain number of qualifying exams (many of which the new students are able to pass without any further study) to ensure breadth of knowledge then you are formally a PhD student. You may take a leisurely pace in fulfilling those requirements before doing significant research (although you do need to do enough in order to satisfy some advisor who has to pay your stipend). In general in the UK you are admitted on the assumption you can do research already, and if it's obvious you cannot after three or four years then you are just kicked out.

Emmanuel is a really active and friendly college, so you'll have no problem in socialising and finding friends The bar is really cheap (if not the cheapest) due to it being student-run, and it's much nicer in decor than the other well-known student-run bar (Sidney). The ducks normally stay out of your way, except during Easter Term (right now) when people eat meals out on the paddock and the ducklings come and steal the food.

Hmm, do you think that would help launch someone into an academic career more than the UK PhD then? Sounds far better in the US tbh!

Out of interest, how significant a contribution must be made to warrant a PhD? Because it seems unlikely that everyone with a PhD has been able to really "discover" something new (or perhaps I am being incredibly naive).

Ahhh that all sounds awesome Is it true that the maths students have to go in a week before freshers, btw?

Yes at some colleges.... and Emmanuel is indeed one of them.