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Jacob Zelko (Nov 25 2022 at 01:03):Hi folks!
I came across the Adjoint School about a month ago or so and was hoping to get some input from the community on a few questions I had! Here they are:
Thanks folks and I am happy to add clarification as needed! Hoping this could also help with answering questions other potential applicants may have!
(Also, cc @John Baez from an earlier conversation)
John Baez (Nov 25 2022 at 12:49):When you actually work with someone at the Adjoint School you will not be working on an arbitrary topic of your own devising: there will be a small set of mentors, each with a topic, and you'll choose one and work with them on a project in that topic. You'll have some ability to craft the details of that project, but it works best if you follow the lead of the mentor and work on the subject they're interested in.
John Baez (Nov 25 2022 at 12:50):As for what makes a successful application, I guess the best thing is to demonstrate that you know stuff about applied category theory and - even better! - have done stuff in applied category theory... especially in the specific topic that one of the mentors has proposed as a research project.
(By the time you apply you'll know who the mentors are, and what their proposed topics are.)
John Baez (Nov 25 2022 at 12:55):But: there are a lot of people here who have either been mentors at the Adjoint School, or have been students at this school, or both - as well as people who have applied and not gotten in. All of these people probably have interesting things to say about your question! So I hope they speak up!
Ralph Sarkis (Nov 25 2022 at 13:11):For what it's worth, here are my answers to the "important" questions of last year's application (which was accepted). Note that I was very lucky there was a project led by Fillipo Bonchi with whom I already wanted to work.
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John Baez (Nov 25 2022 at 13:24):Thanks, Ralph! This sort of thing could be very helpful to would-be students - not to "game the system", but to get a better sense of what applying to the Adjoint School is really like.
Jacob Zelko (Nov 25 2022 at 17:46):This is amazing!!! Thanks so much for the thoughts @John Baez and @Ralph Sarkis ! Thank you for sharing!
Jacob Zelko (Nov 25 2022 at 19:29):P.S. Renamed the topic here to be more general for others who may look up information about The Adjoint School. :grinning:
Jules Hedges (Nov 26 2022 at 18:57):John Baez said:
But: there are a lot of people here who have either been mentors at the Adjoint School, or have been students at this school, or both - as well as people who have applied and not gotten in. All of these people probably have interesting things to say about your question! So I hope they speak up!
I'll say the pessimistic bit: back when I was an organiser in 2019 we had to reject something like 4/5 of applicants, most of who had strong applications and could probably have done well in the school
John Baez (Nov 26 2022 at 22:28):Pessimistic, but it should make folks feel better if they get rejected: it doesn't mean you're bad!