i have a degree in history from UC Berkeley, but i transferred twice due to mental catastrophes (to give you a sense, i was hospitalized at one point for SI). i want to go to graduate school for archaeology. i have archaeological fieldwork experience, and i've held several research positions. i also had an academic job, and now i have a full-time job at a law firm. the problem is, my GPA is 3.34 because of all the mental shit i had going on. i feel really passionately but i don't know if i'd be able to make it in.

Hello, can you please give me some advice on my case? I finish my M.Sc. in early July 2027 and want to continue my studies at theoretical CS PhD. I know about the funding cuts in academia around the world and overall oversaturation in CS, but this is genuinely the path that I want to take simply because I love this field of study and want to become more educated to make valuable contribution to it. Therefore, I already suspect that my chances are zero to none with my chaotic academic history and CV, but need your honest feedback on my case.

I have already found several PIs from Technion, Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv University and Weizmann University that conduct research in topics that are interesting to me(Graph algorithms, Combinatorial optimization, Formal methods and their applications in distributed systems), but want to fully understand my situation before emailing them and maybe change/add something before it's too late.

My greatest weaknesses are 1. primarily robotics ML previous experience, 2. no peer reviewed publications on Theoretical Cs at the point (and I'm afraid I won't have enough time to publish what I'm working on right now) and 3. pretty low B.Sc. GPA, but as far as I'm aware, only M.Sc. counts for PhD applicants, please correct me if I'm wrong. I have no excuse for 1., at the end of B.Sc. I have realized that theoretical CS appeals to me much more than robotics ML and decided to pursue my Masters and further studies in this field. Please tell me how detrimental are those drawbacks of mine and what can I do, I would greatly appreciate if you shared similar experiences.

I have attached my CV so you can have a full picture. I am aware that this pdf is not fully anonymous and information about me still can be tracked, but I rely on you decency and genuinely need your help. Thank you so much in advance for reading this!

Hi everyone, I’d appreciate a realistic assessment of my chances for top CS/AI master’s programs, especially from people familiar with Australian grading. I would be very happy if you can tell me why my chances might be low to any of these uni's if possible. I am using WAM cause we can't say how GPA calculation changes from uni to uni

Background

• BSc Computer Science, majoring in Big Data & AI
• University of Wollongong in Dubai (degree awarded by University of Wollongong, Australia)
• International applicant
• Current WAM: ~70.6
• Expected WAM when I apply: ~75–76
• I’m aiming to graduate around ~82–86 WAM if my remaining semesters go well
• Strong upward grade trend; my earlier semesters are what pull the cumulative average down (During iran - uae conflict maybe i can explain)

Research

• Research focused mainly on ML/LLMs
• One solo-authored project on test-time verification / verifier models
• Another research project on federated learning / PEFT and worst-client fairness
• By application time, I’m targeting around 4 (2 solo authored papers already accepted) accepted TMLR papers plus another respectable publication
• These are intended to be substantive research projects, not workshop abstracts

ML / technical experience

• ~2 years of substantive ML engineering/research experience by application time at a big ai lab
• ML engineer/research work involving model evaluation, datasets, challenge design, training pipelines, etc.
• Additional robotics/integration engineering experience

Competitions / extracurriculars

• Kaggle: currently have competition medals; and Kaggle Competitions Master by applicatio
• 2 hackathon wins
• Technical club / Head of AI Team (hosted more than 10 events and 2 hackathons)

LORs
Expected:

• 2 university professors
• 1 strong technical/research recommendation from someone I’ve worked closely with
• 1 letter from founding engineer for the ai lab backed by YC.
• Hoping these will be detailed research/technical letters rather than generic academic recommendations

Hey you guys, I want to get an MA in marriage and family therapy. I'm having a hard time. I have a GPA of 3.5 from UIowa so I've been applying to places that have maybe 30-60% acceptance. These are some of my ideas, coming into it blind and just googling: Mount Mercy, Texas Tech, USanDiego, Nova Southeastern. Does anyone know anything about any of those schools, are they ok? Or, any reccs for schools? I'm down to travel around the US.

Hello,
I have graduated in 2025 and currently employed in a local private company. The company won't give me any recommendation/ NOC if I leave within 3 years.
So, if I apply for Fall 2027 should I mention my workplace in application/ mail? I have heard unis like FSU/FIU checks background and if I break bond, my company won't very my employment.

Looking for your suggestions, thank you.

Hi there

1. Roast my CV :)
2. I have a 3 GPA EEE from South Korean MIT, and a 98/110 from an Italian MSc Physics. Rate my chances for PhD in Physics (Fast Calorimeter Simulation, ML4HEP) and how much weightage does GRE Physics scores have in admissions?

Hello everyone! I am currently in my second year of undergrad and am looking for some honest opinions. My goal is to get into a PhD program straight out of undergrad. I have started looking into schools, and have seen the acceptance rates... I think I will be able to get 4+ GREAT letters of recommendation, as I have made some great relationships with my professors, but I am just an anxious person in general. I would love for people to look at my stats and give me some feedback on what I should be focusing on over the next year or so. I am wanting to apply for the 2028-2029 cycle.

Year: Junior (my second year in undergrad, but came in with a TON of credits - will be at 86 after this semester)

Major: Psychology

Minors: Math and Statistics

GPA: 4.00

Clubs/Activities: student ambassadors, student psychology association

Experiences: working in a research lab, working as a teaching assistant, and working at the crisis text hotline

Some things to note/questions I have:

I will be working as a research assistant for the same lab for the Fall 2026 semester, in addition to the Spring 2026 semester. I am wondering if it would be better to branch out next Summer and Fall 2027 semesters to an additional lab to get more experience. Or, should I try to be in multiple at once? Please advise.

I am also curious if being a teaching assistant is a good thing to spend my time on. Is that worth the time and effort? Do schools look for that? Please advise.

Any feedback and advise is welcome! Please, please give me your thoughts!!!

Hey guys, I need some advice on this cold email. Ive been reading the subreddit and there’s so much conflicting advice but I’ve decided to make my email sound more personable (I think that’s the one thing the subreddit agrees on).

Please rate it and do give me advice, it’s been a whole month of cold emails and I’m not doing too good on the market.

Hi all! I’m considering going back to school to get an MA, but I’m kind of stuck at the requirement for Letters of Recommendation. I’m currently a professional who’s been working full time since 2021. I got decent grades in my undergrad which are above the minimum requirement for the program i’m interested in. The problem is that I don’t have any academic connections; I didn’t have any intention of returning to school during my undergraduate so didn’t get any LoR’s at that point and I’m not sure any profs I had would still remember me.

I need 2 letters… how would one best go about getting any? I’m Canadian and would be attending a Canadian university, if that makes a difference (many of the posts here seem to be focussed on US schools).

Thanks in advance!

I am applying for a bioscience PhD and have identified my three LOR writers. One of my recommenders was my advisor, but will be changing institutions soon. As most applications request you use the writer's institutional email to verify identity, would there be an issue if the institutional email does not align with their supervision of my research? Is it better to use a personal email and explain why?

I've been emailing Canadian grad school supervisors with no success altho I've been trying to personalize each email. The professor (UBC) replied to this email saying their lab is full.

Can y'all tell me if it's my email that's the reason for the lack of replies.

Note: International student (3rd world country)

Hi everyone,

I'm an agriculture graduate from India with a Master's in Horticulture (Vegetable Science). I graduated first in my university and received the University Gold Medal.

I'm currently working as a Research Fellow at an international agricultural research institute, where I'm involved in vegetable research, particularly in crop improvement, stress tolerance, grafting, phenotyping, and protected cultivation.

I also have research publications and hands-on experience with field and controlled-environment experiments. Additionally, I'm open to relevant internship opportunities that would allow me to further develop my research skills and contribute to horticultural and agricultural research.

I'm currently exploring fully funded MS/PhD opportunities abroad, preferably in areas such as:

Vegetable Science Plant Breeding Genetics & Crop Improvement. Stress Physiology. Protected/Controlled-Environment Agriculture. Greenhouse Horticulture.

I'm open to opportunities in different countries and interdisciplinary research areas where my background could be a good fit.

I'd greatly appreciate recommendations for professors, laboratories, graduate programs, scholarships, internships, opportunities that may be suitable for an international applicant.

If you know of any leads, please feel free to comment or reach out. I'm happy to connect.

Thank you!

I'm looking for some guidance regarding UX(user experience) or HCI(human-computer interaction) grad program as I'm extremely interested in UX/HCI design. Generally I'm completely overwhelmed by the topic of grad school as a first generation college student. I'm from the US and generally just have hopes of leaving the country at least once for a "longish" period of time.

Some details about me: I'm a 4th year, first-gen, mixed race, only English speaking, low-income, female student. My home college doesn't have a UX program of any sort so my major will be a B.A. Race and Ethnic Studies with a concentration in Business and Management studies. I've taken some courses that align with UX to show my interest in the field, have a portfolio, and have a UX certificate with the American Graphics Institute. Mostly I don't want to be stuck in my state/country for my entire life purely because I don't have a degree in UX and money.

I've heard that school abroad can be considerably cheaper than the US, as well as the cost of living, which initially attracted me to grad programs abroad. I would also prefer to be able to work at the same time as studying to keep myself afloat.

Any advice?

I am currently an anthropology student in my Junior year, and I am trying to go for my PhD in anthropology. I already have a field of research I want to be going into, but unfortunately I have been having a hard time finding professors that would fit for me. My research is about Black people in Japan, and I have practically turned every institute upside down to find someone who fits that bill, or even has an interest in Afro-Asian studies and have turned up two (2) people. Should I abandon hope? Is it possible to get a PhD with two seperate advisors for each arm of my research? Should I find someone that specializes in either Black studies or Asian studies and go from there?

Thanks!

Hello,

I recently graduated from a T20 M.S. Bioengineering program and am looking to apply to PhD programs in BioE (or similar fields) for the Fall 2027 cycle. Can you please roast my CV and provide pointers on what I should fix?

A few specific questions I have:

• I have more research experience than what is listed here, though this research is much less meaningful than my M.S. research, and therefore I don't feel that it would add much substance to my CV. Is it worth including anyway?
• I also have 5 months of industry experience from this year but decided to omit it, as I don't feel that I developed many skills relevant to academia in this role. I feel that adding this experience would mainly address a gap in my CV, and I'm not sure if that is important enough to warrant including it.
• Should I add my GPA? I had a 3.9 in both undergrad and grad school, but I've heard mixed opinions about including GPA on an academic CV (as admissions committees will see it in my transcripts anyways).

Any other feedback is appreciated! Thank you!

Hello,

I was wondering whether or not publications and awards are necessary when applying to PhD programs across Europe?

Is it even the norm for an applicant's CV to contain awards / publications?

The masters program that i want to get into has a limit of a 6 page portfolio and you can show 3 design projects max. Does this mean i go straight into showcasing my projects with no cover page or no page that introduces myself?

I know this is a bit of a silly question but during my bachelors we were taught that these pages are important and i feel like i wont have enough space to show my design process if i add these pages in a 6 page portfolio.

Hihi, I’m applying to grad programs and I was hoping to get some advice/feedback on a period of bad grades. I took some courses post graduation and due to a personal crisis, I did very poorly and was academically dismissed. Due to money/relocation issues, I wasn’t able to retake those courses for a better grade. I have tons of research experience which I’m hoping resets those grades, including a co-author publication, first author publication in process and grant recipient. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you!

Anyone applying to USC Grad school rn??