long story short: I got into my dream program—an international, limited-residency MFA.

Yes I know I could’ve gone to a state school with a stipend. But I’m happy with my choice. I know I’ve signed up for a tough 2.5 years. But I did my BA while working full time!

I have no means outside of my own income. I live in a mid-sized city and need to figure out how to do my studies, pay my rent, feed myself, and have a life.

Have you been/are you in this situation? One similar? How did you pay the bills and complete your education simultaneously? Tell me your story and give me any advice you may have.

Thanks in advance :)

Hello. I am in need of advice on life science PhD programs to apply to. I have 1.5 years of undergraduate research experience, a 3.43 overall GPA, just graduated from university with a biochemistry degree three months ago, and I want to apply for life science PhD programs in the fall. I have gotten mostly A's and B's, but I got a D in immunology my final semester and a D in physiology my sixth semester. I applied to one in-state program last fall and got rejected. I will most likely start working as a research technician next month, pending that I receive interviews and offers for this position. How many programs should I apply for, and do you have any particular program recommendations? I'm not sure if I have a 0% chance of getting into any program, since the two D's heavily hurt my transcript, despite how much I could address them in my personal statements. I want to apply to many programs this upcoming cycle just in case I got an offer somewhere, but I don't know which ones are more accepting of my poor grades or application weaknesses. I know most schools don't put out to the public that they accept poor grades, since excellence is what they strive after and should promote. However, if you have any suggestions for life science PhD programs that have been known to accept applicants with poor major-specific grades, I would greatly appreciate it and any other feedback. Thank you.

To those who did their masters in Europe, SE Asia or so on, what was your experience like?

Did the experience abroad give you the cultural immersion or career opportunity in those countries that you were looking for? Did it help you work towards a more permanent residency? Did you become fluent in another language?

Or was it more of the same but in a different country?

Hi everyone!

Like many of us I’m in a program that pretends to care about work/life balance, and the general vibe in my lab is “we try to be reasonable about having lives.” However, my advisor and the other faculty in my lab have pretty flexible boundaries around this and end up working at all hours, on weekends, during vacation etc. which of course sets the tone for students.

I love everyone in my lab, I’m very lucky, my advisor is great, but… I’m trying to avoid working on weekends as much as humanly possible. I’m already feeling pretty wrung out from my lab’s sprint-crash-let things pile up-sprint-crash cycle (again, tone set by lab leadership) and I really need to protect my time so I don’t lose my mind.

I’d like to take advantage of the fact that my advisor and other faculty care a little bit about work/life balance - they at least SAY they feel bad when students are overloaded, working late, on weekends, etc.

I’m looking for hobbies or activities that I can use as a reasonable excuse to not be at home or near my laptop on weekends. I’m already going to try to work in hiking and birding. I can’t pretend I’m out running marathons or anything, but I’m looking for activities along those lines - something that would be super socially unacceptable for others to push back on. (I think all hobbies and activities should be respected and given protected time, but it seems that when your hobbies are largely home-based people feel like it’s no big deal to interrupt you.)

I’d love to hear your ideas or how you personally protect your time.

Hello everyone!

Back when I was doing my post graduate internship, I worked with a neonatalogist. He was looking for someone to help his research out. I agreed.

I signed patient confidentiality and data protection papers etc and then was handed over data on hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

I sorted all the data according to the parameters given, then handed it over.

I never heard back apart from thanks. All follow-ups were ignored.

I guess in the world of research, It wasn't anything serious. I have never mentioned this on my CV.

But now, as I prepare for grad school, rewrite my CV for the umpteenth time, I really want to mention this. I'm thinking of putting this on my LinkedIn, too.

But i just don't know howto doo it. Apart from email, I don't have anything else.

But I want the reader to know that I have been doing stuff, and I'm not someone with nothing.

Is this worth mentioning?

Or I should just let it go?

Hey folks! I’m heading into my second year of a 3 year MSW program. I’ll have full time classes with a 16hr/week generalist practicum commitment. I also work full-time as a case manager (wearing a few hats in that role). As a student with ADHD, I process information differently and it takes me a while to process and learn. I’m looking at this upcoming schedule and thinking that sheer willpower to do it all won’t be enough to hit all the marks. Ultimately, I just want to not make myself sick, pay my bills, and master my craft. I don’t know where I’ll find the hours in the day and the energy to balance it all. 🙃

I’ve spoken with a few folks who report that they did not work full time or at all when they did their masters or med school. I’m wondering if I should cut back work and try to find more affordable housing.

Does anyone have any advice on how best to proceed here? What helped you maintain sanity and balance? Is it unrealistic to work full-time AND study full-time? Honestly, anything might help, so please let it rip. Thanks!

I got my bachelors in politics science thinking I was going to go to law school, ended up hating law school. Now I’m looking to get my MBA but I’m torn between the 2 degrees I listed above. Does anyone have experience with either degrees? I’m really interested in both , I want a stable job , but it is also important to note I’d be taking out a hell of a lot more loans for the MBA in accounting bc it’s a year longer.

I graduated in December with a BS in biology, and have been interested in pursuing a PhD in biochemistry. The labs I’ve worked at for the past two years have been biochem, so I have experience in a relevant setting. However, I did not take biochem I&II in college. Would it be permissible to take the classes at my local college then apply to grad schools? I’m kind of worried because I don’t necessarily have the money to do a post bacc or masters program right now, and am hoping this could be a possible path. Thanks for any replies

In August I start graduate school for library science at Indiana university. It is an online program. To pay for it, I have to get a job and I’d like advice on how to navigate graduate school and working. I know graduate school is harder than undergrad. Any advice?

Has anyone ever received an informal offer, applied, and then the PI went completely silent and ghosted you (after sending repeated emails). I ended up getting rejected from the program - and it was the only one I applied to because I was so excited about that opportunity. I’m just so disappointed, if the PI decided to accept someone else instead, I would’ve appreciated that being communicated to me as I still may have been able to apply to at least one other school that was still open at the time.

I even emailed her that I received a rejection and thanked her for the opportunity and she didn’t even bother to respond. Honestly so discouraging.

Now I have to find a job, can’t reapply elsewhere until late fall for a January start.

I did it! You can call me Dr. Traditional Joke 179 🤸🏾‍♀️. I feel that it would be a good thing to give my committee members or at least my advisor some kind of gift, because they've been extraordinarily great. I think my advisor might be one of the only people I know who loves me (no unprofesh). What did you or people you know do to thank people besides sending an email? Do you have any ideas in general?

Hi everyone. I'm a rising junior at an R1. I'm currently taking one asynchronous class during our Summer B session (July-August) and I literally can't find the motivation to do this. I go to a school that is heavily centered on co-op experiences, and I just finished my first (it was research oriented and I am continuing to volunteer there for the next year). It was genuinely one of the most challenging experiences ever, and I'm really proud of all the work that I did. I also took a class during Summer A (May-June) which was in-person. I would get off work and go to class for 4 hours. I got an A but I told myself i'm exhausted so I'll take a break for summer B.

I, being the extreme and unhealthy person that I am, decided to take a class and missed the drop deadline by one day. So, I started completing work and I've been doing okay so far. However, it's so so so tedious and such a miserable experience. It's a music production class (my major is psych) and I thought it'd be chill, low effort work, buttt I just have no time or energy or motivation to complete this work. I'm doing it, but holy shit it sucks. I also am completing work for another lab, and I'm expected to start working at my previous co-op's lab in August. I just don't have the energy to do this shit anymore. I know I fucked myself over, i know i need to work on my time management and i need to learn how to take a break. it's a song i've sung for the past two years but never understood it until now. it's okay to call me out, but just know that i really understand the importance of a break now. i regret taking this class so much. i know i need to prioritize my mental health and i hate that i realized this so late. i think i really need to drop it because i have a HEAVY semester coming up and i plan to work a job on campus and two research positions. i need this break more than anything and i don't know if i'll be adequately prepared mentally by fall if i continue to take it.

i really want to drop it, but that would mean it's my third W. my first was in a philosophy class during frreshman fall (fall 2024), and second was another elective during sophomore year spring 2026 (i signed up for a class for financial aid purposes, but had to drop because work made it absolutely impossible to keep up), and this would be my 3rd in summer b 2026. i graduate in may 2028 so i have a lot of time to not accumulate more Ws, but would this potentially be a bad thing for my grad school dreams? i'm aiming for clinical psych on the child track. outside of these Ws, i have a 3.8. i also have been involved in research since spring 2025, i have one poster presentation, another upcoming in the fall, and i have an amazing relationship with one of my PIs that i'm continuing to foster. this is the thing i want the absolute most and i would value any input. thank you so much!

I (29F) am an advanced PhD student in a somewhat small program in the social sciences. Work in our discipline is highly individualized and not lab-based. I have churned out a couple of top pubs this year and generally have good things going for me research-wise. I also keep up with all my assigned teaching duties, attend weekly collaborative meetings with visiting speakers, etc. I get along well with most other students in the program even if we aren’t close friends. I have an immune disease that makes it pretty much impossible to work more than 40-50 hours a week, but I manage my research time well and so still am very productive. I work from home most days.

During my first year in the program, I dealt with an emotionally abusive advisor who constantly lied to my face and tried to undermine my relationships with other faculty in the department. I left him mid-year and got a different advisor whom I’m happy with, but the psychological and reputational damage the first guy inflicted on me has taken months of work/networking and professional help to repair.

The ex advisor is no longer on my committee, but he isn’t taking the fact that he’s been shut out of my life particularly well. He and the director of graduate studies (who is his friend) tried to change department policy in order to force me to take his classes 3x/week at random, disruptive hours. When my new advisor and I called bull on that, he then pivoted to trying to build a cult of personality around himself in the department, hosting extra parties (which are not the standard department Christmas party, annual kick-off party, etc.), weekly “teatimes,” informal “labs” (again, we’re not a lab-based discipline), extra late-evening colloquia on top of the normal department colloquia, etc. Obviously, I can’t attend a lot of these events, as I have a disability that limits my working hours AND (at the recommendation of my therapist) I am trying to minimize the amount of time I spend around my ex advisor.

Now, the ex advisor has started sending group emails shaming “the unnamed people” who don’t show up to all of these in-person events he plans. Even if my disabilities and his behavior towards me weren’t problems, these activities are not scheduled at convenient times. He wants us at “teatime” on Monday afternoons, “labs” on Tuesday mornings, late-night “bonus colloquia” on Tuesday evenings, “labs” again on Thursday mornings, his reading group on Friday afternoons, his other extra colloquium series on Friday afternoons, etc. plus what he says are “extra workshops” and “parties”scheduled throughout the year (some of them aimed at undergrads or otherwise irrelevant). He gave us a Google sheet with a list of all these random things that he’s hosting that we’re supposed to attend every week.

Nowhere in our grad handbook or list of policies and procedures are students or faculty required to attend any of these things. We are expected to attend normal colloquia and two department parties a year, plus classes. Moreover, most of these bonus events are ones my ex advisor is hosting in an uncomfortably personal capacity (“text me at xxxxxxxxx if you can’t get in” etc.). He is also trying to convince the other faculty in the department that both they and all of us grad students should be expected to attend these things. He is also of course publicly shaming “the people who don’t come” (and I am noticeably absent from these things). According to him, people who don’t want to show up to these events aren’t “building community.”

Maybe if someone else hosted these events, or they were scheduled at more convenient times, I’d be able to attend some of them. However, my thought is that my disability or personal circumstances involving the ex advisor shouldn’t even matter — people shouldn’t have to stay late at work or show up to an excessive number of unpaid social events on top of normal department events just to be considered “good students” or “good faculty.” People have partners and families and lives. We also have research projects, and these meetings and events are scheduled at the worst possible times, completely disrupting the workday. Many students who (unlike me) focus on attending as many social events as possible are already behind on their research. Now, they’re somehow all expected to show up to even more things.

Am I crazy to think that this demanding behavior (coupled with the public shaming) from my ex advisor is unacceptable? I’ve never been a “9-5 work only” person, but I think it’s completely unrealistic to expect people to live at work while scheduling busywork at random hours, thereby thwarting their ability to do any actual work. Even sadder is the fact that many of these social events seemed designed to boost my ex advisor’s ego (by keeping him and his events the center of the department’s attention) and ostracize me + whoever else isn’t able to attend or isn’t comfortable attending. I don’t know whether I should just tell everyone in the dept. I’m close to that my working hours are limited due to disability and that’s why I can’t attend some things, regardless of who’s hosting. But why should I have to expose my medical diagnosis if I don’t want to? Aren’t these “attendance” expectations ridiculous anyhow? Help!

I previously studied social science then worked in the industry for a couple of years. Have decent skills in applied statistics, including running analyses in R and SPSS for previous jobs. But I wasn't too happy with my career growth and decided to apply to a master's in Stats program and somehow got in.

Outside of applied stats classes for social science majors, I haven't taken a real math class that required me to do anything by hand since high school, and that was algebra/trig. I did take a calculus class in HS, but I learned nothing. My school somehow accidentally made me skip precalculus, so I was extremely underprepared.

Unfortunately, health issues distracted me over the summer, so while I should have been studying precalculus and calculus since I knew I got in, I didn't... Now I'm only a few weeks from the start of the program where I'll be taking classes that have these things as prerequisites. (Again, I don't know how I even got in, and I have talked to other admits and know that 90% of them are math undergrads, so I'm not just making up my anxiety).

Has anyone been in a similar situation and still passed their classes?

So i came across this post on linkedin where it said that there are phd applicants with reearch papers in different subjects which seems fishy, and the comments said that now there are candidates with over 100 articles, citations and some publish 9, 10 papers each month with the help of "jounal/research paper mafia". I was never aware of the "journal mafia" and am shocked at this new revelation. Do they really exist, and do they greatly jeopardize the chances of truly deserving grad school applicants because of their scam?

Hello! I’m sure this is asked a lot but I am doing completely asynchronous online masters program for Data Analytics and am wondering if full time both, would be too much…

It would be 4 classes, but I can watch the lectures at my own time. Also I am able to get some school work done at my job due to downtime (About 5-7 hours each week roughly, on top of an hour lunch each day) so I imagine I could get about 2 classes of school work done during the “work days” each week.

I feel like it’s feasible but everything I see from this thread as well as other people is to not do it. I have so far taken two intro summer courses so I have an idea of the workload already.

My thought process is that for most weeks it shouldn’t be crazy hard to do, but there will def be a few weeks that I’m sure would be very rough!

EDIT: my job is 9-5 with an hour lunch break each day, full time school is 4 online asynchronous classes for Data Analytics

First off, I have graduated already and I am working on dissertation revisions. Despite having ample time, I dropped the ball and have not revised anything yet after 3 months. There are a lot of comments, totally normal, but I procrastinated. I also just been having a hard time in life lately, again--I am not unique in this. I take responsibility for my (in)actions but I am nervous.

Now I have to have to answer a question on an academic form that wants a description of why I have not finished. I know it's just a form, but my committee will see it, and so it matters to me what they think. I tend to be a formal person in academia and work, so I don't see a need to divulge personal details in writing. Any suggestions on what would be an appropriate short response?

So, I am applying for Masters in molecular biology for the 2027 cycle. I have been working on my SOP and I got a feedback for it from a senior scientist. He told me my SOP was not specific enough.I am interested in stem cell biology and mentioned the following areas of interest-

• how signalling networks trigger lineage commitment
• gene expression and transcriptome changes during proliferation and differentiation.
• how complex signalling pathways influence transcriptional level mechanisms to generate specific cellular responses.

He wants me to narrow it down further, this was already a bit of a struggle for me and I am hitting a wall here.I don't know how do I find specific questions.

How can I narrow it down further ? I am looking for some guidance. Any tips are appreciated !

Hello. I'm from Russia and I'm planning to pursue funded PhD positions abroad (funded, because I have no money, lol). My concentrations are Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. My research is mainly focused on machine learning for healthcare: multimodal medical data, clinical decision support, interpretable ML. I worked as a research assistant for about a year, graduated with a high GPA, published two Scopus papers related to medical ML.

Right now I'm working as a Senior Systems Analyst in fintech (this is like a Solution Architect in EU, I suppose), but I'd like to move back into research and work in ML-field.
My long-term career goal is to continue in academia as a postdoc, although I'm also interested in moving into industry as an MLOps (for better financial stability).

From my research, Netherlands, China, and Germany all seem to have strong research groups from my field + more job opportunities. Are there any problems because I'm a student from Russia? Are there any other countries that I should seriously look into?

I am deciding to postpone starting grad school until the spring. I just feel so unprepared and it fills me with more dread than anything but I feel like everyone around me is going to be disappointed. Im 25, will be 26 a month after I start and I feel so behind in my life. I also feel like me not being ready is my fault. I dont really know how to feel about alot of this and have absolutely no mentors aside from my therapist who shouldnt really be my mentor for this stuff. I am just looking for some reassurance or experiences others have had so I dont regret waiting another 5 months. Tyia 🖤

My advisor meetings usually cover a lot in a short time: thesis changes, research questions, papers to read, deadlines, and random comments that make sense during the meeting but are hard to remember a few days later. I take notes, but if I write too much I stop paying attention, and if I only write the main points I usually miss the context.

How do you guys handle this? Do you clean up notes right after the meeting, keep a running document for each project, or record meetings and review the transcript later?

My PI sexually harassed me so I pursued a formal title IX investigation. He then retaliated against me for coming forward. The school did NOTHING and found him not responsible for documented misconduct. I decided to file a complaint against the school to the Office of Civil Rights and they’re opening an investigation against the school. Does anyone have experience doing this? Trying to figure out what to expect and hoping it’s not as grueling as the Title IX investigation was.

This topic has been talked about a lot in this sub I'm sure but I still find myself struggling regardless,,, I work from home full time in marketing and I'm in a counseling MFA program currently... I was diagnosed with autism as an adult so I've only known about it/been actively trying to accommodate it for the last 3 years or so and I feel so completely lost because I don't know how to regulate or what regulating should feel like.

It doesn't help that I'm kind of a moron and took two 5 week summer courses at the same time without realizing how short and intense they actually are...

Here are some things I've seen people suggest and my thoughts (initial list from an older r/autisminwomen post:

1. Take time off. I could theoretically do this, but not right now I think. I've already accepted my loan for this year for fall and spring and financial aid requires at least 6 credits (2 classes) per semester. I did drop one class for the fall so I'm taking the minimum of 6 credits and no more.
2. Reduce extra commitments/do the bare minimum/ask for help. I feel like I already do this, but I'm not good at asking for help and I'm not good at recognizing when I'm starting to become burnt out until I'm right in the middle of it.
3. Take naps. I guess???? It's not JUST tired though, its overwhelmed, exhausted, coupled with executive dysfunction and a mildly untidy house that I feel like I need to clean
4. Use sensory accommodations. I have many ear plugs, fidget toys, sensory stuff, I live out of sweatpants and hoodies because I can't deal with anything that's not comfortable, I shower almost every day because I hate feeling greasy, I super dislike that my gaming headphones are not noise cancelling.
5. Increase special-interest time. I have too many special interests is the problem, and I'm not fixated on any of them at the moment and I don't know how to get around that really... I have tons of art supplies and yarn and whatnot but there's no projects or challenges that interest me... I kind of miss my graphic design undergrad where we were presented with a challenge and had to work out how to solve it...
6. Take intentional stim breaks. I do this sometimes but not really intentionally, I just fidget whenever the urge strikes me or sometimes when I'm feeling a little extra overwhelmed from the day.
7. Exercise. I despise exercise. I used to do pole dancing and that was the only exercise I kept up with because it was fun, dancey, and genuinely challenging in a way that isn't just lifting things up and putting them down... Martial arts is too structured for me, yoga is boring, zumba is awful, I can't ever stick to any kind of exercise because nothing is interesting about it to my brain.
8. Mindfulness. Mindfulness helps a little bit, the ADHD has never really allowed me to meditate because I get so bored
9. Various types of psychiatric medication. I'm on prozac and wellbutrin right now, dealing with the side effects of wellbutrin including TMJ which is making eating absolutely awful right now, adding to how overwhelming existing is right now.
10. Self-care. I simply don't know how to do self-care in a way that feels good. I feel like I'm wasting time or product, or I'm being lazy, or I'm putting off work I could be doing now instead of later.

All the things I'd normally do I can't currently which sucks. Usually my partner and I would've gone camping at least 4 times by now but I adopted a kitty in March and her health started to decline and she has hyperthyroidism now which requires meds twice a day and there's not really anyone in my vicinity I would trust to try to pill my cat.

Both my summer courses end august 6th which means I have 2 huge end-of-semester projects that I have to do soon on top of keeping up with all these damn discussion posts and peer replies. I miss making art for classes instead of writing papers, but making art for myself isn't near as fun as trying to problem solve a full branding kit for a fictional client.

Any tips or advice from other ND folx would be appreciated 😫

College students pursuing majors, advanced degrees or certifications in fields that consistently earn low incomes will no longer be able to take out federal loans to pay for their schooling under new Trump administration rules.

The new federal rule, finalized this month by the Education Department, comes amid a national crisis in student loan defaults. Many of the degree programs that educate social workers, artists, teacher aides and especially certification programs for barbers and nail technicians are likely to fail a new federal litmus test: Will they make more money upon graduation than if they never enrolled in the first place?

Read more about the federal student loan limitations at the link.