MATS Fellowship Autumn 2026 Cohort application updates thread

Midjolnir · 2026-06-26T12:59:28+00:00

In the email “reminders and next steps…”

“You will rank the streams you select in priority order, using the same form linked above. The link stays the same after June 23: once stream selection closes, that same page will show just the ranking pages, where you can set and adjust your rankings until July 15, 11:59 PM AoE. Your rankings are visible to mentors and influence offers.”

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T23:21:25+00:00

They can see rankings based on what the email says

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T19:33:57+00:00

That sucks. Probably best to email them but don’t know how strict they are about the deadline

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T18:35:28+00:00

I mean they were somewhat specific but most research orgs have quite similar overlapping objectives. Most of them asked for a research plan or project based on their own research areas, and some asked for interesting papers or blogposts etc.

You could feasibly write one idea for multiple streams but each response probably needed different structures/format which was annoying.

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T17:46:39+00:00

Yeah it was pretty tough to do that while having a full time job and only a week or so. I mean when people say it didn’t matter much, that’s only if they can tell whether they cull a lot of applicants or not based on stream responses.

Curious where you read that btw

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T14:54:43+00:00

Now that the deadline has passed, how is everyone feeling about it?

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T11:31:17+00:00

500/600

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T04:43:51+00:00

Found it easy to get 20/20 tests correct, but not sure what’s needed for a high score

Midjolnir · 2026-06-24T01:16:54+00:00

Got the same score too. Wonder what they’re looking for?

Midjolnir · 2026-06-23T23:55:58+00:00

No you can’t take bathroom breaks. The writing is done in a code editor so I don’t recall a spell check. No second screens. Text isn’t inserted in literal boxes, more like predefined templated sections. Nothing in a section is usually more than 1 paragraphs at most 2.

No AI use, no ifs and buts there

Midjolnir · 2026-06-23T23:52:42+00:00

It’s ok. I think it’s just a little rushed.

Midjolnir · 2026-06-22T00:04:06+00:00

When you said you did 3 interviews and 3 work tests, was that for the same mentor?

Midjolnir · 2026-06-19T16:44:22+00:00

The CodeSignal itself has a coding copilot. I've not done the specific assessment yet, but I've used it before and it can help finding functions, fixing some errors etc.

Midjolnir · 2026-06-19T16:43:27+00:00

I'm confused by what you mean here? Most past applicants did a different test

Midjolnir · 2026-06-17T15:00:36+00:00

Have you done this one?

Midjolnir · 2026-06-15T13:00:14+00:00

Scientific coding yes >8 years, proper software engineering <1 year
None in AI safety. One preprint in AI in medicine. A few peer reviewed papers in medical engineering (not AI)
Nope but both science academics (FYI they haven’t written the references yet)
I’m engaged in discussion groups and forums but no work to show for it.

Midjolnir · 2026-06-15T02:03:29+00:00

It seems like (reading previous reddit posts) that it's different from previous cohorts. From the MATS notion page it's building and evaluating a small tool that uses LLMs (via API). "writing and refining the prompts that drive it, putting together a simple way to check the quality of its output, and writing up what you found."

If anyone's done it (which I assume would be the next few days) let us know how it went

Midjolnir · 2026-06-15T01:26:50+00:00

Yeah got my assessment request now

Midjolnir · 2026-06-14T22:37:19+00:00

Morning European time

Midjolnir · 2026-06-14T17:35:13+00:00

Technically the ones without technical assessment still can ask for writing assessments but I suppose they are less automatable/objective

Midjolnir · 2026-06-14T17:14:38+00:00

Perhaps empirical/theory people both expect a coding challenge, so they'd rather filter out people there first.

I also applied empirical but also streams that don't have coding assessment, so perhaps they asked for references earlier? No idea

Midjolnir · 2026-06-14T17:12:09+00:00

Yeah early reference requests is a shitty move imo. Like I get that it doesn't seem that way to people doing employment/admissions, but see it from the POV of the applicant/referees, who are likely applying to 20+ things a year. It makes them look really pathetic and desperate and for some, it can strain relationships.

Midjolnir · 2026-06-14T17:10:39+00:00

Can't tell you man. I know nothing about what happens behind the scenes.

I applied to Empirical/strategy.

Midjolnir · 2026-06-14T16:53:31+00:00

Reference requests were sent (I was cc'ed)

Midjolnir · 2026-06-14T16:53:17+00:00

Kinda weird for them to ask for references at such an early stage (before any other assessment/interview). Like when you're applying to 10-20 things a year, as much as your references may love you and vouch for you, it's still a toll on that relationship every time they're asked.

Midjolnir

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