Advice for preparing to apply to science Ph.D. programs

[Wiki]

Philip Guo - Advice for preparing to apply and actually applying to science Ph.D. programs

Summary:
The Ph.D. application is best viewed as a job application rather than as a traditional college or professional school application. Candidates are applying for the job of a paid research assistant who just happens to also be able to take classes and work towards a degree. Therefore, to maximize your chances of admission, you must show how you will be a valuable asset to the school in terms of producing research results.

[CalmLogic]

My favorite part:

Besides having publications, how do I demonstrate that my research has impact?

You need to show tangible results of your work, whether it be a software system you've built, an experiment you've run to completion, a statistical analysis you've performed on real-world data, etc., and more importantly, demonstrate the significance of those results in advancing your particular field (even if it's in some tiny way). You will need to write persuasively about the impact of your research in your statement of purpose, and your advisor will have to corroborate your claims in his/her letter of recommendation.

Philip Guo - Advice for preparing to apply and actually applying to science Ph.D. programs

[Wiki]

However, if you've worked for a significant amount of time (e.g., 8 years), then you should show how your work experience prepared and motivated you to come back to pursue a Ph.D., which might be difficult if you've been outside of the research community for too long.
Philip Guo - Advice for preparing to apply and actually applying to science Ph.D. programs

Having long non-research experience above text adds to my worries.

Does contribution to an open source project, related to my research interests, has any significance in context of PhD admission?

[CalmLogic]

Does contribution to an open source project, related to my research interests, has any significance in context of PhD admission?

I guess the signficicance would depend on the kindof contribution, e.g. just doing code work vs. contributing an original, optimized algorithm.

[Wiki]

What about those innovations in product development, which were never published? Mentioning them in SOP and LORs referring those will work?

[CalmLogic]

Of course, it will help, though such product development is not viewed as being on par with peer-review publications.

[neeshu]

To be doing research in Computer Science is a real challenge because everything is there before even you can think its their.