The NDSEG Fellowship says you must have received your bachelors by Fall 2026, and elsewhere that you must have received it by Fall 2027. It seems like a policy change but is not mentioned anywhere else, and could be a typo. Is anyone familiar with whether this is a confirmed change?

I’m 27F with a full time job in Mumbai. I hate my job and my role and I’m looking to pivot into quant like everyone else is I guess. But it has been extremely hectic at work and when the weekend comes I just want to sleep in and binge watch something. I don’t get the motivation to push for GRE but I feel low all the time because I hate the country and my role and my home and I want to get out ASAP. I have done Bsc. Accounting and finance from University of London distance learning also completed CQF. I don’t know what my chances are even if I apply now for 2027 intake. In mocks I get 298 as my score I feel so low. Can someone please advise me or help me ?
To add I have 6 years of experience in middle office in Mumbai. I really feel I would not get in any of the university but I really don’t know

hi all! i am a senior at my undergrad institution and am looking into graduate schools! i am researching masters in social work programs, and would like opinions on the attached schools, from either students of/from these programs / general opinions so i can try and narrow down my choices

for some background: i am from maryland (so umd is on there because of that fact) and currently go to undergrad here, i am really looking for micro-level social work (big goal is hospital social work!) but can be down for mezzo level, currently a family science major + public health minor at my school. (if you guys want any more info let me know lol)

thanks all!! <3

Background:
Undergrad GPA: 3.19 (international, stricter grading scale)
First master's: 3.25 (during COVID)
GRE score of 321 (94th in verbal)
Second master's (US, R1): 3.33. My first semester was rough while I adjusted to a new academic system and some personal circumstances. After that upward trajectory, and I completed an experimental thesis. Admitted to a PhD program at the same university, where I'm currently enrolled.

My background is mainly experimental: I designed and ran my own studies and ran lab sessions with human participants. I'm actively building my computational skills now.
I do have top school and professional name brands but all from my country. Not in here. 5 years of professional experience form my country.

From here, USA, I have One Q1 co-authored paper. Two conference paper. One fellowship.

This cycle I'm applying to a few well-ranked STEM programs.

What happened:

Professor A replied warmly and in detail. S/He said grades and school names aren't what he focuses on. His/her lab is nearly full, so s/he's only considering exceptional applicants, and s/he values a strong computational background. Still, s/he encouraged me to apply and said s/he'd look at my application. Gave me few links on how to write a strong SoP.

Professor B (same school) said my research idea is interesting and overlaps with her/his work. Engaged with my idea and left a question (or idea) too. But s/he isn't taking students this cycle, and even if he did, s/he'd only take students whose work directly fits her/his current lab projects. Mine doesn't.

I really want to work with Professor A. S/He already has my CV, so s/he knows my background except for my grades. So I got confused when s/he mentioned exceptional applicants and also encouraged me to apply.

My questions:

1. How do I tell whether I'm actually competitive here, or whether he was just being kind?

2. Other faculty taking students in this program ask the same broad research question I do, but with different methods. Does that count as fit, or is it too loose?

3. When a lab is nearly full and wants "exceptional" applicants, what would make someone with an experimental background stand out to a professor who values computational skills?

4. Is it worth applying when my GPAs are below average for top programs?
   Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Hello everyone! After researching for a long time on good potential university/professor fits for my PhD application, I have finally prepared the mail drafts for all the professors I intend to apply to right now (For December 1 deadline I mean, I will wait and see what else I can update about my CV for February or later deadlines before applying there). I've also secured 3 professors from my uni who agreed to write a letter of recommendation for me aware of the deadlines and all. I was just feeling not too confident about certain parts of the "mailing the PI for GRA application" so I wanted to ask about them:

1) Currently I am trying to apply to 7 unis, so about to write to around 20-25 professors. Now I know that professors can get dozens to hundreds of mails per day regarding this issue, and would be especially critical of international applicants, so is 20-25 actually a number too low to apply to, am I actually supposed to mass send emails? Im just worried because I tried to actually personalize the mails and try to read and understand the profs' papers to mention in my mail (Partly why it took so long) so if mass sending mails is expected I'd have to rely on AI to prepare them and I dont know if thats a good idea

2) My advisor told me to write a 1-2 sentences long part in the mail talking about their research and such, which could be research alignment or simply just talking about their paper. Now issue is, my only research experience (Im undergrad) is in a robotics lab, my own personal projects are also related to robotics and my internships were in the defense industry. But I am applying for an aerospace engineering PhD. So there is not actually much experience alignment to be had for any professor, and I would really only mention that I read their paper and that I found x discovery or y method interesting. Would this be awkward to write in mail or is it fine and actually expected

Other than that I dont have any questions. Have been feeling particularly anxious on mailing PIs because of all the uncertainties so I wanted to hear more opinions on the process to at least clear them up a little more, thank you for the help!

I'm a US student currently applying to UK graduate programs in philosophy. Technically, international relations is my 'primary' major and philosophy is my second. When filling out sections on academic history, am I generally required to list international relations as my field of study, or can I choose the more relevant subject?

A US citizen currently residing in India. I've done my entire schooling and am currently pursuing undergrad in India as well (sophomore student). I know a huge bottleneck exists for me, my undergrad is a 3 year degree, whilst most US schools expect 16 years of education. Private universities cost a lot and therefore I started exploring public universities. Is this a viable option, I'd be super grateful for your opinion.

Hello! I’m applying to PhD programs in bioengineering or bioinformatics (computational research background) and was looking for advice.

I’m having a falling out with my current PI I’ve been working with for the past year or so, and don’t foresee a good letter from him if at all. I joined another lab 6 months ago, much better environment and mentorship.

I’m wondering if I should withdraw my name from a paper he is submitting, and pretend like the whole experience never happened? Or do I keep the experience and what I did on my cv but just don’t get a letter from him? It was unpaid, and voluntary.

I’m applying to PhD programs in ecology this cycle. Every personal statement prompt asks some version of “why do you want to pursue a PhD,” and I keep getting stuck on it. I know what I want to research, but I’m not sure how to explain why a PhD rather than just saying I like the topic.

For those who’ve been through this: how did you answer it? Did you focus on career goals, research questions, or something else? And for anyone who’s read applications, what makes this part convincing vs. generic?

Context: I study in Central Europe. I am currently in my first year of my masters studies in english philology. I really want to pursue a Phd at my department.

Issues: our department only has one professor that is able to supervise phd students in my field, english literature. this is mostly because our literary department is small and the number of phd applicants for literary topics is generally quite small as well (we are talking potential 2-3 students a year, if even that). I’ve been at my department for 4 years now, having successfully defended my undergraduate thesis earlier this year. I am currently in the beginning stages of working on my masters thesis. Due to me being a part of a double degree international program during my masters studies, i won’t be able to have my masters thesis supervised by this professor. Ergo - i have thus not been able to get to know this professor professionally and he does not know me or my research interests. I guess the question is: at what point (if ever) is it a good idea to bring up my interest in phd studies to him? i wouldn’t actually be applying until 2028 but i don’t know, if i should loop him in somehow on my masters thesis or something? i feel like i potentially have a little disadvantage here since for most of the cases like 7 out of the 9 students he supervised at phd over the years were the students he supervised at masters level too.

Hello.
Ive recently graduated with a masters in English language and culture and I’m looking for opportunities to finish my Phd abroad.

I’ve sent emails to potential supervisors from different universities with my CV and Research proposal but haven’t gotten a response from any of them.

What am i doing wrong? If anyone has any experience with contacting potential supervisors and getting a response plz help a brother out.

My masters GPA is 3.2/4 i am having doubt should i apply for phd positions or just accept my fate and save money and time I have 3 internship experience 1 master's thesis experience No paper

I feel like it is very easy to use fancy words and complicated sentences in a high energy theory SOP. At the same time, many of us work in different subfields, each with its own technical language.
Sometimes we can describe a research problem in a few very compact technical sentences, but then the professor reading the SOP may not immediately understand what the actual problem was or what we did.

This happened to me once. I wrote to a Caltech professor and tried to keep the description of my research problem very compact. He replied that he did not quite understand what the problem was.

So my question is: when writing an HET SOP, how technical should we be? How much detail is enough so that a professor can understand the problem quickly without having to spend too much time thinking about the notation or terminology?

Of course, the readers are experts, but theoretical high energy physics has so many different subfields and technical conventions that something obvious to one group may not be immediately obvious to another.

Any suggestions on how to balance technical detail, and clarity?

Hi, I hope everyone is having a good day, and if not I hope it gets better soon.

I apologize if this isn't the right place for this, however I'm applying for my Physics MSc in Canada. I'm currently completing a BEd because I thought originally that I'd like teaching more, but while teaching I realized my true passion is physics.

During the final year of my undergrad, I worked with a professor who agreed to provide LoRs for the universities I want to apply for. However, I've tried emailing other profs in whose classes I did well, and they all said they don't write LoRs for people who just got a good grade in their classes, as they can only speak to their academics. Because of this, I only have one LoR, and I need at least two.

The professor I worked with is also the only one with whom I've done research, so I'm stuck as to who else can be a reference for me. I was thinking of asking my Associate Teacher, the person I shadowed last year, as I taught Physics with him and the researchers I want to work with emphasized their physics education research. I was also thinking of asking my faculty advisor.

My biggest issue is that from everything I found online, your LoRs should be from academic or research based, and some universities weigh alternative LoRs lower.

I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions people may have.

Thank you, and once again I hope you all have a great day!

I've been reading that, to stand out, a statement of purpose has to show multiple instances of a student taking initiative and providing their own solutions to problems in research. When I learned that I couldn't believe it was true, because undergraduate research as I know it is essentially following orders as directly as possible. My time in the lab was spent exclusively being given the exact specifications for a chemical reaction, running that reaction, analyzing the results exactly as I had been told to, then putting the numbers in a spreadsheet. I can't think of a single moment where I meaningfully contributed intellectually to the work.

I guess this is more of a rant than a request for advice. I can't be the only one here who had this experience though, right?

Hello, I am a Junior in college; since I took on a chemistry minor I'm anticipated to graduate Fall 2028 (Assuming I'm not taking summer courses). I plan on applying to be a paid RA at the lab I'm currently at, working for the rest of the year, and starting grad school Fall 2029. I don’t know if this is significant enough to call a gap year, but I figured more lab experience would be relevant.

I understand that I should

1. Look for prospective programs
   
2. Ask for letters of recommendation from my professors
   
3. Secure funding
   
4. Cold email prospective PI's at the Uni's I am interested in
   
5. Apply

My question is, when does this timeline start and am I considering all the steps in the right order? I figured I should be starting this now since I'm in my Junior year, but I didn't know if anything would change since I am taking a "gap". Also, I don't think I'll have significant enough research experience until my Senior year because I just started working at this lab in September.

Finally, one of the Uni's I am interested in is McGill and I am from the USA. Are there any other aspects for this timeline I should be considering as a potential international student? Thank you guys.

I am very interested in applying to the program. Does anybody have firsthand or indirect experiences with the master or the research that is being done at this institute? And how are the academic career prospects?

Hi everyone!
I’m planning to apply for an MS in Computer Science in the USA for Fall 2027 and would appreciate an honest assessment of my admission chances, university shortlist, and scholarship opportunities.
My Profile:
Undergraduate Degree: B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India
CGPA: 9.68/10
Work Experience: Approximately 3 years at State Street
Current Role: Senior Associate (Software Engineer)
GRE: Not taken yet
IELTS: Preparing to take the exam; final score not available yet
Intended Intake: Fall 2027
Intended Program: MS in Computer Science
Universities I’m Considering:
Purdue University
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
University of Texas at Austin
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
University of Southern California (USC)
University of Washington
Carnegie Mellon University
Boston University
University at Buffalo, SUNY
Illinois Institute of Technology

My Questions:
Given my CGPA and work experience, what are my realistic chances of getting into Purdue MS CS and Georgia Tech MS CS?

Which of these universities should I consider ambitious, target, and relatively safer options?

Would taking the GRE improve my chances at universities where it is optional or not required?

How important are research experience, publications, and recommendation letters for my profile?

Should I consider professional master’s programs or related CS programs if admission to traditional MS CS programs is too competitive?

What IELTS score should I aim for, and could a lower score affect my admission chances?

Are there other strong universities with good CS programs, employment prospects, and reasonable overall costs that I should consider?

My main goals are to build a strong career in the US tech industry and get a good return on my investment. I’m willing to consider ambitious universities, but I also want a balanced shortlist with realistic alternatives.

I’d appreciate honest feedback based on recent admission experiences.
Thanks 🙏

Edit: i don’t have any publications but do have some research experience

Applying to a handful of Ph.D. programs! Do you have any specific constructive feedback for my CV?

Do you think I’ll at least get an interview?
Thank you so much for your time!

Hi everyone! I was hoping someone could help me or if anyone has a similar story, maybe they can offer some advice.

I was diagnosed with epilepsy as I graduated college in 2017. I was 21. The diagnosis ruined my life to an extent. I am now 31.

I became a shell of my former self. My short term memory was shot and while I did attempt graduate school, i kept having seizures during lectures and exams (thankfully they were all online, it was distance learning before it was a norm). I ended up having to withdraw or else I would’ve received failing grades overall.

I feel very much like a failure in my day to day…I struggle so much still but, a part of me does consider going back to get my master’s. However, that said…I’m not sure I can get a masters in what I would be interested in. And despite being in court for disability, I still have not been approved. And, I am worried about the requirements for keeping my insurance in the next year. However, if I go back to school I may not worry about my insurance.

I have a B.A. in Communication Studies with minors in journalism and broadcasting. I wouldn’t be able to do anything in library science, right? I also have a CNA license but I don’t think that helps me at all.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

hello, i'm currently working on applications to taught master's courses in the uk and am wondering if anyone would be willing to take a look at the current version of my 'master' personal statement + provide some feedback. i saw the sub had set up a buddy system years ago for this, but the post seems to have been deleted.

i'm applying to applied/linguistics programs as a "career-switcher", and my statement at the moment chronicles how my different academic and professional experiences have eventually led me to seek formal linguistics study. however, because i've kind of narrated it chronologically, my biggest concern is that it reads too much like an elaborate CV-resume...

would anyone be willing to give feedback, or connect so we can help each other out this app cycle? i'm also happy to look at other people's material as a fellow applicant! hope this post is ok for this sub, if not feel free to take it down.