u/Alone_Reality3726

I am planning to apply to CS PhD programs and am considering which research areas to pursue. I want to identify areas that:

• lead to lucrative job opportunities in the short, medium, and long term;
• offer substantial entrepreneurial opportunities, preferably without requiring large amounts of upfront capital;
• are likely to remain active research areas for many years; and
• provide opportunities to make a significant impact.

I am researching publication, hiring, funding, and investment trends, but individual researchers may have insights that are not apparent from publicly available data. Which areas currently offer the strongest combination of income potential, entrepreneurial opportunity, research longevity, and impact?

Conversely, which areas may appear hot but are already producing diminishing marginal returns or becoming crowded? (LLMs?)

I understand that money should not be the sole reason to pursue a PhD or choose a research area. However, financial outcomes are a legitimate consideration. There is no particular virtue in becoming a starving scholar when it may be possible to do meaningful research and also become financially successful.

I also recognize that research direction often develops during the PhD rather than being fixed before admission. Still, I would like to make an informed choice about which areas to explore from the outset.

I am grateful for your feedback.

Working to apply to PhD programs in the near future (to do ML research) as a current MS in ICME student (https://icme.stanford.edu/). Trying to decide whether to apply to the CS department (https://www.cs.stanford.edu/) or the ICME department (https://icme.stanford.edu/). I am also low key looking into the EE department (https://ee.stanford.edu/) because there seems to be a legitimate pathway to doing ML research through it. The theme / general area I would like to work in could be described as "Provably trustworthy machine learning under adversarial conditions".

Any advice on how to choose between ICME or CS (or EE)? Specifically would be grateful for any insights you might have on the differences between the two departments in terms of:

• administrative concerns
• access to resources
• access to faculty
• quals
• dissertation requirements
• postdoc opportunities

I have spent some time in industry and I am returning to school. Also military (National Guard), not sure if that changes your feedback on choice of departments.

Is this a thing at all? I remember over a decade ago I was hearing about people working full time as engineers at cisco, xilinix, etc and doing PhD's at stanford. Do frontier labs, or FAANG companies have people who do this sort of thing?

Working to apply to PhD programs in the near future (to do ML research) as a current MS in ICME student. Trying to decide whether to apply to the CS department or the ICME department (or also low key looking into EE because there seems to be a legitimate pathway to do ML research ) at stanford. The theme / general area I would like to work in could be described as "Provably trustworthy machine learning under adversarial conditions".

Any advice on how to choose between ICME and CS? Specifically would be grateful for any insights you might have on the differences between the two departments in terms of:

• administrative concerns
• access to resources
• access to faculty
• quals
• dissertation requirements
• post-doc opportunities

I have spent some time in industry and I am returning to school. Also military (National Guard), not sure if that changes your feedback on choice of departments.

LLM's seem to make it so much easier to run experiments, write papers, etc. As a result, are we seeing phd students finish their phds sooner than ever before specifically in CS? If not, why not?

I’m prepping for SFAS and was wondering whether it’s useful to train rucks with a rubber duck/training rifle.

I looked online and they seem stupid expensive — mostly $200–$500. If anyone has one collecting dust that they’d be willing to sell for a reasonable price, I’d be interested.

By default, I think my state seems to send us to the distance learning version of the maneuver Captain's career course. Is there a benefit to trying to go to the in-person one and is that even a realistic possibility through the national Guard if I request for it?