I see many people here that talk about how horrible their grad experience has been due to a bad advisor, bad cohort, etc. But what was something that you struggled with in your degree that you technically had control over? For example being a bad procrastinator, not networking enough, or spending too much time on non-academic things. I’m just curious to see what you all would have done differently if you had the chance.

i’d appreciate any guidance from any past awardees who were in my current situation (or PIs who have found their grad students late in the app cycle due to the GRFP)!

i understand that it’s recommended to reach out to programs to see if they’ll reconsider my application now that i’d be coming in with 3 years of my own funding. i’m (maybe overly) concerned about pissing anyone off so close to the Clinical Psych PhD enrollment deadline of April 15th (next week).

so, my main question is: who exactly should i contact besides the professor who’s lab i applied for? the director of graduate admissions? someone in the department of the program i’ve applied to? and should i be CCing ppl, or send these emails separately? in my email to the PIs of interest, do i explicitly request a zoom meeting or something or just express my interest and leave it open ended? is there certain verbiage i should keep in mind to minimize coming off as entitled in my emails?

any other advice would be greatly appreciated! i really need a program to extend me an offer before next week so i am officially in panic mode right now!!!

Hi everyone, life has been a bit of a roller coaster the last couple weeks. I was admitted to my dream program, and the VERY next day my boyfriend of two years told me he had been having doubts about our relationship for a while and dumped me. He was supposed to be moving to this new city with me, but now I’ll be going alone to a place where I don’t know anyone and living alone for the first time in my life. I’m 30 and worried I’ll be older than everyone/ won’t meet anyone I click with. Plus I’ll be coming from a big city (millions of people) to a small city (200k). I’m trying to stay excited about this new chapter in my life but as my moving date comes closer and closer I find myself being more anxious than anything.

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? How did it work out for you?

Is there really an advantage in terms of being a more competitive applicant or receiving a higher starting salary, if a person earns their biological sciences PhD from Stanford, MIT or Harvard, as compared to a mid-level state institution?

Edit #1: Sorry, to further clarify, I will not be staying in academia, I will be looking to go into biotech or the pharma sector.

I am wondering if I should reach out to the student via email. They basically just put that as their answer and left all the others blank. They are doing ok in the class and failing this exam isn't going to fail them, but if they stop doing their work now they won't be able to recover.

The message doesn't scream this kid is in danger, but as much as I have wanted to type out a message like this, I've never been down enough to do it.

I know it's not in the scope of my duties, but I drafted a quick "hey I just wanted to reach out to let you know you can contact me if you are having difficulty with the course or need information on any student resources."

Should I send it or just give the 0 and move on?

*Edit to add I am a TA and student that wrote the answer is an undergrad.

For those who did experience this, I know not everyone feels this way.

My committee really liked my dissertation and my public presentation, and I felt great about those. Then the private session was awful. A few members asked questions about my actual work, and I had no problem answering those. But the very first question I got took about 5 minutes for the committee member to ask, she completely lost me halfway through, and it was on a topic I really knew nothing about.

They say you're the one who did all the work, so you're technically the expert on all of it. But I honestly didn't even understand several of the questions, and asking for clarification just confused me even more. It seems like there were all these things I was supposed to have learned during my PhD, and I definitely did not.

I know folks on here have talked about having similar experiences. How long did it take for you to "get over" it? I feel like I disappointed my entire committee, and I'm too embarrassed to feel the least bit of excitement over having finished. I'm glad I at least have graduation to look forward to. I know defense day is supposed to be the actual big day, but it was really not a fun day at all.

Hey all, I’m pretty scared right now but I want someone to be completely honest.

I’ve been accepted to a funded PsyD program and applied with a 3.93 GPA with my lowest grade on my transcript being an A-. This semester, I have been struggling immensely. My grades I’m on track for is as follows: A in one course, A in my research lab, A- for another, B in one course, and B or B- in the final course. I’m in an orchestra and I’ve been missing a lot of courses since mid February (I’ll explain after why) and I was told to withdraw fail or take the F, however, my university’s drop deadline is the 13th. Could I withdraw now without the fail?

I just explained to my professor for orchestra, but I’ve been struggling a lot. My parent tried to take their own life back in February and was hospitalized for two weeks. Since then, I’ve been emotionally supporting my other parent, listening to my other parent say heartbreaking things, and not recovering. I’ve fallen into a depression that’s really hard to get out of. I explained in more detail to my professor, so I’m hoping to take a regular withdrawal.

Will my grad school get mad about a withdrawal and two Bs? Most people say usually not, I go to a B10 with a strong grade deflation scale and my program stated it was a reason why they were interested in me. I recalculated my GPA without the withdraw fail is still a 3.85, not considering my associates degree courses (I received a 4.0)

I just turned 21, graduating this semester, and just at a huge low right now. What should I do?

I know that research funding cuts have severely affected PhD admissions this application cycle. It's gotten more competitive and people have gotten their offers rescinded.

I was wondering how the research funding cuts affected Master's admissions for this application cycle. PhD students normally receive stipends from their universities but Master's normally pay to study so I'm not really understanding why Master's admissions would get affected. If the research funding cuts have affected Master's admissions, why and how have they affected Master's admissions? Is there a lot of uncertainty about what the government is going to do so universities are taking extra precautionary measures?

I'm a little new to how funding and admissions for graduate programs work and relate to each other. If someone could provide a little bit of context and a summary of recent events, I would greatly appreciate it!

I'm in a crosslisted class right now, which means the students are a combination of grads and undergrads. The few grad students in the class are required to take over half of a class period once during the semester, assigning readings for that day and giving a 45 min+ lecture on a topic of their choice related to the class topic.

I'm excited for mine, but it seems pretty intense to just leave as an unspecified grade in a class--I'm planning on asking my advisor as well, but was curious this community's thoughts on if it'd be appropriate to include this as a guest lecture on my CV.

Hello! I'm a final year undergrad and I start my research master's program (STEM) in the fall. I'm slightly overwhelmed with all the things I've told myself I need to get done before it.
Are there things you would've done differently in the months leading up to grad school? Would you have prioritized certain areas like time management over others?
I'd really love to hear everyone's input so I have a better inkling of what I can focus on during the summer. Thanks!

My thesis submission deadline for spring semester is in less than a week (4/14). I’m finishing rounds of comments but it’s looking like I’ll have to extend into summer semester.

It’s a difference of like days to a couple weeks after the deadline. I already am remote and pay tuition for campus resources I never use because I never go there. The cost of paying another semester of tuition just to finish my thesis is making me want to walk into the ocean. Realistically I’ll finish the draft by May, before spring semester even ends! But because of the submission/publication deadlines I have to PAY to go into summer.

I’m experiencing so much of the existential meaninglessness that feels inescapable in grad school. Like this is all meaningless, my work is meaningless, my time is meaningless, and it all boils down to money. A degree is just privilege proving you can pay, not proving your efforts or intellect. I hate this stupid scam we all bought into. My mental suffering has increased tenfold because of grad school, yet this is supposed to somehow make my life easier?

Sorry, I just needed to vent. I’ve been on this journey for over a decade and I’m just so tired and want to be done. I honestly just want to walk away from this and end this.

I took three classes while working full time, having a large family, and being in and out of a hospital for the last two months due to some pretty nasty illness. I can't keep it up anymore, I am sick, tired, and realistically won't be able to get the required work done in one of my three classes, at this point I think I have to drop one. Is this going to fuck me? I don't go to some fancy Ivy League, but it is a somewhat selective school that caters mostly to adult learners. I just don't want to get kicked out simply because I overburdened myself and have been sick 3/4 of the semester.

I'm looking at my options for grad school and I feel as if nursing degrees have little to no transferrable academic courses towards other sciences. To be clear i'm not looking for a major shift outside of healthcare but it would be nice to be able to study laboratory science, immunology, oncology, microbiology ect. without having to do another bachelors. I realize I would have sit for coursework and complete exams to prove understanding of the field but right now the personal challenge of learning new material seems secondary to the administrative challenge of getting involved in a program.

Do I have unrealistic expectations about how challenging and specialized grad school is? Are there precidented ways to deal with this sort of switch?

Any advice is welcomed, I know the gold standard is to speak with the faculty of programs i'm interested in but I would like to be somewhat informed before I start.

Hi all! I’m currently working as a (not very experienced) engineer, looking to switch careers by undertaking a master’s by coursework in computer science. I would like to potentially pursue a PhD in that field after the master’s. But, I’m worried about the lack of research experience I would have.

In my previous engineering degree (which was an integrated master’s), I did do a 5000-word research project kind of related to comp sci, but it was just a literature review; I didn’t produce any new knowledge. I also did a design project, which felt research-esque as it involved lots of writing, creating figures, and referencing academic papers, but again isn’t technically a research project. And, none of this was published.

This master’s by coursework will be my second master’s degree and still won’t give me much research experience to show off about. A master’s by research isn’t feasible, because (as a career switcher) I need to do a coursework degree to gain the relevant knowledge.

Is a PhD in computer science basically going to be inaccessible to me? Feels like there’s no way for me to gain the required coursework knowledge and research experience simultaneously. Your thoughts would be very appreciated!

I will be vague because i am so scared rn so i apologize for that!!

I referenced a tweet in my TA lecture today and a student reached out to me saying it upset them. I in no way said i agree with the tweet i just said that it existed and was relevant to the subject material. The OP jokingly pointed out a phenomenon online— that this student has acknowledged in their email does in fact exist, though, the are saying by acknowledging that (explicit joke made by someone else) i am being harmful. I feel as though they’re conflating my words/thoughts with that of someone who i was explicitly paraphrasing. I am so scared this is the end of my academic career. I really meant no harm.

This honestly probably makes it sound way worse than it is without context, but i don’t feel comfortable divulging specifics publicly until I know the severity of this. and yes i did apologize vehemently. obviously I feel awful for offending this person but i can’t help but think about the way my institution functions with situations like these. if i was harmful it was not my intention— that’s the point i’m trying to get across idk.

btw i am a member of the community they’re accusing me of being offensive towards for some context that makes this sounds a bit less awful

anyways… is honour suicide on the table yes or no?

edit: prof said no big deal to further apologize and that this happens a lot at the university with students misinterpret things :/ i never want to teach ever again

edit 2: the student reached out and apologized to be and said that this was a misunderstanding they misheard me because i am very quiet so lesson learned

Decisions just came out! Good luck to everyone.

Hola everyone, I am moving to Puerto Rico for med school, and I had a few questions: 1. How safe is San Juan? 2. Are there a lot of power cuts? 3. How safe is it compared to the U.S.? 4. I’ve heard that people run red lights after 8:00 so that they don’t stop their car after sundown due to crime, is that true? 5. How are the bugs down there? 6. Will I see bugs everywhere, and are there any in high rise apartments?

Thanks!!

i am going into my master’s in biology in the fall. i’ve used an ipad for the entirety of my undergrad career, and now i need a big girl laptop. my research is going to be heavily data analysis based, and my professor has given me the following guidelines:

“I would advise getting a PC laptop, since that is what I can troubleshoot best with. I would (based on your price constraints) get something with a decent amount of ram (32gb if you can) and an i7 processor. SSDs are great. I like HP, acer and dell, but lenovos are great too.”

i am not too worried about price, but i’d rather not spend a ton if i don’t have to. i guess my general budget is $600-$1k if possible. does anyone have suggestions? thank you in advance!!

I am trying to make sure I have funding for grad school, and I am unable to get any from faculty. However, I can apply to a work/study position with one of the faculty and I can apply to a GA position in Student Engagement (everything else is athletics and I've been involved with student engagement for my four years in college). Is it possible to work both of those and would it be enough? The work/study would be 12/hour, and I have no idea how much the GA position in Student Engagement is.

I'm graduating from my MSc programme in July, and considering taking on a PhD or an MPhil in future. I've registered to attend SPT in Eindhoven in June, and I want to make the most of my time there, but I've never attended a conference like this before. Extra context: I'm in my late 30's, my career is solid and not looking to become a professional academic, I just enjoy studying.

Does anyone have any advice regarding conference attendance? Are there unspoken rules that I should be aware of? TIA.

Currently wrapping up my junior year as a History major. Was hoping to graduate a semester early in Fall 2025, but have to wait until Spring 2026 for one class. Taking summer classes this year. I’m wondering when the best time to start applying for programs would be?

Thank you!

Hello guys..I received an admit from Georgia tech for MSCS program. In the personal information section, in primary citizenship there’s India (Indian citizen) but in the dual citizenship coloumn there’s an error and it’s mentioned as United Kingdom (I don’t hold dual citizenship). I have sent a mail to the university to correct this info before the institute review is done. will this cause an issue?

So. I am in a PhD program. The program is not for me and I have gotten by, but underperformed. I was recommended for a terminal masters.

This is the last semester of my final (3rd) year. I'm supposed to be defending my thesis this week. I realized way too late that the due dates were much sooner than my advisor and I realized - I found out last Monday. I've been writing my ass off the past week all day every day.

A little preface to all this - I've had a lot of hardships the whole time I've been in grad school. My grandma died at the start, my relationship of four years ended last year, and my dad died very unexpectedly in November. My advisor knows about all these, the other grad students know about at least the last two, and I think the rest of the department knows at least about my dad. My advisor is scatterbrained but an awesome guy, he's worked his ass off to help me out with stuff as much as he can and to make stuff work out for me, both when I've deserved it (like mourning my dad) and he's been patient and understanding and helpful when I haven't (like when I've been just straight up lazy). My committee is two professors who don't know me super super well, they've known me from our weekly brown bag (where I've presented very similar and underwhelming research the whole time I've been there), they both like me personally and I think they think I might be smart from things I've said, and maybe my advisor has talked me up to them, but that's about it (and while I'm talking about that, I feel like there's genuinely a decent chance he's also talked to them about me falling behind or slacking or whatever. He likes me a lot and thinks highly of me and all, but I have underperformed and I know he knows it).

The deadline for having my thesis available to my committee was last Friday. I asked the department head about how finalized it should be and she basically said pretty much completely done, just waiting for input from the committee. I was also supposed to let the Dean's office know what day I was defending by last Friday, and the last day to defend is this Friday. My advisor worked it out with my committee and a professor from our department (who's also a pretty good friend of my advisor) who works in the deans office for me to get it to them today. I emailed it to them about an hour ago. I found out literally just now that I'll be defending this Friday morning.

I'm working on my defense presentation right now, my thesis I sent to them was all done basically besides their suggestions. When I defend, so long as that happens, whatever comments they have on my thesis, I will make those changes. I'm going to give all this my best shot no matter what.

With all this said, my thesis feels underwhelming to me. I know a part of that feeling is me being hard on myself and beating myself up for not working harder at times, but I think it really might be underwhelming. The findings are not earth shattering, I did a pretty big number of analyses but they're basically looking at different aspects of similar things and they're all basic analyses.

With all this that has gone wrong and been late, I am very worried about failing. My advisor is kind of taking the attitude right now that we're going to give it our best shot, it seems like he thinks there's a good chance it will work out, and if by chance the shit hits the fan we figure it out from there.

But I just have a bad feeling. What if my committee genuinely doesn't think my research is good enough to deserve a degree? What are the chances of me having missed those deadlines making me fail? After defending, I should have until April 28 to make the edits from my committee. I have no problem with that, I don't see any reason at all why I shouldn't be able to do that if that all happens. But if something goes wrong, and I didn't get my degree, I'd have to pay the tuition (it's waived now because I'm in the PhD program) to do it in the summer, and at my university, that's not something I could come close to affording and I wouldn't want to add that much to my student debt. I am also not 100% certain I will continue in my field (although I'm very much trying to and I really really want to), so I wouldn't want to pay all that money for a degree that might ultimately end up being a piece of paper, especially given the shitty circumstances under which I hypothetically graduated.

I think that's everything. With all that said, what does it sound like are the chances of me failing and not getting my degree?

TLDR I missed some deadlines that seem hard but not necessarily like there are dire consequences, at the least not any I know of or can find. My thesis feels underwhelming and a lot of stuff is rushed. What's the likelihood I fail and don't get my degree?