Frequently asked Questions (FAQ) for applying to METU Cognitive Science

1. I have a lower score in one of the requirements. Can I apply?

It would be a waste of application fee. Applications are screened by the graduate school before we get to see them. We won’t see your application.

2. One of my documents is missing. Can I apply?

No. If it is the proof of degree (BS, BA, MS, MA, etc.) which is missing, and if you are expected to graduate before the upcoming registration of accepted students, your institution can give you a letter of expected graduation, or temporary diploma if you have already graduated but not yet received your diploma.

3. I don’t know what to write in the letter of intent. Can I apply with a generic one?

We don’t recommend it. We read LOI very carefully. We suggest you answer the questions we asked in the department’s pages for LOI. Please keep it short, say a page or two.

4. I want to prepare for application to your department. Can I take your courses as a special student?

Sorry; No. We don’t accept students on the basis of their knowledge of cogsci. Our required courses are meant to prepare accepted students for research; not to prepare prospective students for application. We just don’t have the resources to address both kinds of students. Other courses require basic cogsci knowledge, so you would not qualify for them.

Special students are expected to be students who study at another institution where they don’t have the course which they require for their research in that institution.

5. Can I do the interview online if there is an interview?

If you are outside Ankara for an official or health reason or your residence is outside Turkey, which you must somehow document/prove, you can. This is always considered an extremely exceptional case by us for Turkish residents. It is not exceptional for non-residents of course.

6. Is there going to be an interview of the applicants?

For programs with thesis, there is an interview. For programs without thesis, there is no interview.

7. I don’t see applications opened for MSc with thesis. Does that mean there is no way to do MSc with thesis?

Surely not. Since there is no undergraduate cognitive science degree in Turkey yet, we accept all our MSc students to without thesis option first; then, move them to program with thesis depending on their progress and desire. The decision is based on performance. Our thesis programs strongly support our research.

If you happen to have an undergraduate degree in cognitive science, and desire to move to thesis option, it won’t take very long to do so if you qualify.

With this process we are also trying to protect our applicants from paying extra application fee by not knowing which program to apply and ending up applying to both programs instead to be safe.

8. If I apply to a program with thesis and don’t get accepted, can I be accepted to a non-thesis program?

No. University regulations do not allow us to accept you to a program you did not apply. If both thesis and non-thesis options are advertised by us, and you wanted to know which one to apply, first see FAQ #7 (above). Second, you will be screened off without interview from application to MSc with thesis if you don’t already have a degree in cognitive science. We don’t want people to waste their money on application fees.

9. Do I need a degree in cognitive science to apply for PhD?

No. Prepare to be accepted with preparatory period (hazirlik) if we think you need it.

10. What are some resources to familiarize myself with cognitive science before I apply?

Here are some links. We emphasize that they may not truly reflect the amount of technical training the field needs; but, they give you an idea about what we study. How we study them is taught in our courses in detail. Be prepared to be trained for some programming,modeling, testing, and experimentation. We support these with some introduction to computer science, linguistics and psychology. Philosophy is common requirement, which we also teach.

• Cognitive Science under the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognitive-science/
• CogSci Proceedings at mindmodeling.org, e.g. https://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2017/
• Articles listed under the Cognitive Science Society webpage: http://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org/
• MIT CogNet Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science: http://cognet.mit.edu/
• Collections of work in cognitive science, e.g. the ones announced by academic researchers in the field:
• Classic (Online) Readings in Cognitive Science: https://cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/575/F07/classicreadings.html
• 10 Classics from Cognitive Science: http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/rgoldsto/cogsci/classics.html
• The one hundred most influential works in cognitive science: http://web.mnstate.edu/schwartz/cogsci100.htm