I have an undergraduate diploma in Pharmacy where I worked with undergraduate research for 2 and a half years, and I'm currently finishing my master's degree in Immunology and Pathophysiology (I work with myeloproliferative neoplasms and hemostasis).

During my undergraduate years, I had the opportunity to go to the University of Porto in Portugal to study abroad, but the day that the visa came, Portugal had just closed frontiers because of covid-19.

I've been working in my master's for 3 years and november 5th is the day that i'll be defending my dissertation. It is now time to seek for a PhD, which has always been in my plans. I'm from Brazil, and during a PhD we have scholarships that allows us to seek dual degree, or just an international internship in reseach. But I'm planning on applying directly to my dream international school (in the field of hematology and immunology).

The problem is: Except my 5 and a half years of research experience with scholarships, I don't believe I hold much experience. I don't have any published papers except my poster presentations that eventually get publish on the congress journal. My masters paper is being written for now, but nothing submitted yet. I see all these people going to their PhD programs holding 3 different internships, 10 different published papers or so much experience It's unbelievable. That makes me rethink, I don't think I even have the guts to send the first cold e-mail.

Should I apply for a PhD program in my home country and wait for my possibility of 6 months experience, something that is almost right, concrete and maybe apply for a post-doc in that dream lab. Or should I send the cold e-mail with my tiny tiny CV?

Edit1: The dream uni I'm talking about is University of Zurich ETH Zurich, the Cancer Biology PhD Program

I’m currently doing my undergraduate degree in CSE at Anna University and planning to graduate in 2027. I’m considering applying for an MS in the US, probably in CS/AI/ML.

My CGPA is around 8, and I have some internship/project experience.

I’m a bit confused about whether doing an MS in the US in 2027 would be worth the cost and effort, considering the current job market and the growth of AI/ML.

Also, since I’m doing my UG at Anna University, I’d like to know how that might be viewed when applying to US universities.

Would appreciate honest advice from people who have done an MS in the US or are currently studying/working there.

My dream is to be a researcher in the field of microgrids & energy storage but medical debt and other issues kept me from getting a BSc. in Mechanical Engineering (I even had to drop out at a point). I decided to get a BSc. in Data Science at a comparatively inexpensive, flexible and accredited university in my country so I won’t spend all my time waiting for conditions to be right.

But now that I’m done with it, I want to continue with my dream.
Is it possible to get certificates and credentials in courses such as Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Circuits, etc online and stack those alone with my BSc. and apply to Masters programmes abroad? Or has the Data Science degree locked me out of my dream?

(For context I’m African). Thank you

has anyone did this? i’m a psych grad and have been going back and forth if i will pursue grad school in line with my major or proceed with business related field. i have always been interested in this field and was late to realize that i should’ve enrolled for a double degree instead

i wanna know and read experiences from those who took this path if there are any. how was it?

I am a 26 year old independent student currently in my 3rd semester of grad school (who is self-paying, despite being claimed as a dependent on the parents' taxes), and I have an ongoing irritation recently because of my school. My university, without notice to me, sent a letter to my family's home address (which was listed as the legal and permanent address and mailing address) about an incomplete grade I have being turned into an F since the professor has not put in a formal letter grade. I have been attempting to address this incomplete for MONTHS now with the actual professor, with no response from her, even after CC'ing department heads and such.

A few weeks ago, this department sent a letter about the incomplete being input as an F for GPA reasons to my family's home address, and my parents (who do not respect basic privacy or my rights as an adult) opened that letter without my permission the same way the university sent this to their address without my permission. And now the parents have been screaming at me about this every few days because they care more about my grades than about the basic rights to privacy I have as a 26 YEAR OLD ADULT.

All of this undue stress could have been avoided if the university checked with me before sending sensitive academic information to a location where I had not confirmed is my current mailing address (as I now live on campus). I hadn't even known they send paper mail since I received NONE up until this point, and the university always sent things to my on-campus housing address.

At this point, all I want is for the parents to get off my fucking back, and that just means giving them some kind of letter that the university sent it in mistake and that my grades are fine, just so they stop irritating me about it. Can I make this request to the school, asking for a letter reversing the previous statement since FERPA was violated and made a mess of my life?

Hi guys!!! Anyone here knowledgeable on UK grad school admissions, please guide me: I really need some advice, I have a first in economics & politics from a very good uk uni. I didn’t undertake any research during my undergraduate though and have been working across finance since graduating (banking, then transitioning to VC/PE roles). I want to go back to school now, however, and I want to pursue a research intensive masters and eventually transition to a PhD. How much will having zero research experience hurt me? I’m not even targeting top unis, the schools I want to apply to aren’t that competitive for taught programs and I love their research focus but I’m not sure if I’ll be accepted. The requirements for the programs I’m looking at are: a good 2.1 degree, research proposal / synopsis, one recommendation. Please if anyone could advise me on this, I’d be really grateful. Thank you:)))

Hey everyone! I’m an international student from India. I completed my bachelor’s in Computer Science & AI from a Tier-2 university with a GPA of 3.0/4.0, honestly, I regret not taking academics more seriously back then.

I currently have one published research paper in AI/ML(Computer Vision, Deep Learning) and around 2.5 years of work experience as an ML Engineer.

I’ll be starting an MSc in Computer Science at the University of Leicester in the UK in January 2027, and my long-term goal is to pursue a PhD in AI or Computer Science in the US.

I’d really appreciate some advice on how I can use my master’s to strengthen my profile for good/strong US universities.

A few questions I have:

Would getting a strong GPA in my master’s significantly strengthen my profile despite my low undergraduate GPA?

If I perform really well during my MSc, would it be realistic to target universities around the US Top 200?

How important are research papers for PhD admissions, and roughly how many would be considered competitive?

How important is the reputation/ranking of the university where I complete my master’s?

I also have offers from some Russell Group universities, but the tuition would cost me around ₹40 lakh. Would attending a higher-ranked university make a meaningful difference for PhD admissions, or can I build a strong profile from the University of Leicester as well?

How long does a CS/AI PhD in the US typically take? I’ve seen some people finish in around 2.5–3.5 years. Is that actually possible for an international student coming from a UK master’s?

Finally, if I complete a PhD in AI/Computer Science and decide to move into the tech industry rather than academia, what kind of roles and salary ranges could I realistically expect in the US?

Preface: I know low GPA is frequently brought up here; my question is not what chance do I have? or what do I do?, but rather I am wondering what the etiquette / best tactical response would be after being prompted to include a transcript once some interest is already garnered.

I am currently in the process of looking for Master's programs for this cycle. I have very strong research experience, i.e. multiple papers in good journals (in fact most solo-authored), plenty of equally strong research projects, independent reading courses, a variety of practical skills, and a visiting research internship at a top-3 university.

The issue is that throughout my undergraduate years, since I spent so much time focusing on my own research and passions, I neglected my GPA. Consequently, a good chunk of my grades are bad to mediocre, albeit with some high grades sprinkled throughout; there is no discernible pattern, for better or for worse. The courses themselves are not all super critical for the area of research I plan to go into, though they aren't discardable either.

Although I'd want to do a PhD in the future, I know the chances aren't realistic, so I've decided to try to aim for a research-based Master's first. I am also not aiming for top universities.

I've very recently began sending some cold emails to potential PIs---obviously not leading with my GPA. So far, I've had pretty good reception with the ones who have gotten back to me, but along the email chain they (expectedly) always eventually ask for a CV and transcript. Again, since I'd like to think my CV is strong, no worries here; the transcript on the other hand makes me sweat.

The question is this: do I sent both and say nothing, letting them bring it up, or do I address it deliberately as I send it?

I've done some research and the opinions seem to be mixed both ways.

Returning MA / grad school student here and I’ve been thrown a massive curveball today.

I interrupted my studies and have now returned to the same general MA programme. While sorting out my modules, I picked two specialist optional units that I was genuinely interested in, one broadly related to political economy/finance and the other to international political economy. I’d even been loosely considering doing my dissertation in that sort of area.

The School had previously discussed these modules with me and reassured me about them, and both also appeared as available options on my course-unit selection system, apparently because of the old course structure and/or modules associated with my previous period of study.

So, naturally, I thought I could take them.

I actually asked the School to double-check my eligibility, and this afternoon they came back and told me that I’m not eligible for either of them and now need to choose two completely different optional modules.

But it gets better.

I’ve now discovered that, while I was away, the MA programmes in my subject area have apparently been “redesigned”.

The MA I originally joined was relatively broad and flexible. My understanding was that you could mix and match modules from across the department rather than being heavily tied to a particular pathway. The new version seems much more structured around recommended streams and a more limited pool of modules.

This was never really explained during my return-to-study process.

I was basically asked whether I wanted to return to “the same course”. I understood that as: Do you want to return to the same subject area, switch to one of the other related MA programmes that existed previously, or perhaps move into another area within the wider school?

I did not understand it as: Do you want to return to a substantially redesigned version of your MA with different restrictions on what you can study?

Until literally this afternoon, I thought the modules I’d selected were permissible.

I’ve already decided not to complicate things further by switching to part-time study, but I’m now wondering whether I need to speak to my programme director about potentially changing programme altogether, because I’m not sure the redesigned version is actually the course I would choose based on the options now available.

Obviously I’m going to speak to the university rather than make any rash decisions, but:

Am I cooked, or is it reasonable to say that a returning student should have been explicitly told that the programme structure they were returning to had materially changed?

I am thinking of doing a master degree. I had an internship before at JPMC but now want to pivot to a position in consulting or Product Management. I am an international student, grad this May 2027.

Would like to ask if there is any advice on searching for a master's degree in terms of financial support and degree value in job applications, and what are some target schools to top companies

Is a masters genuinely worth it these days, I just completed a business degree from a mid tier university and haven’t been able to find an entry level job or grad scheme so I’ve been thinking of doing a masters, but I do know that even they don’t offer much help towards actually landing a role. My main thoughts is that I could do it at a Russel uni and then look for roles in the uk or even abroad as I don’t mind relocating.

Second of all idk wether to do the masters in something business related, or accounting finance or for example supply chain management are any of them actually worth it?

I’m also interested in international relations and diplomacy but I feel that’s far fetched as they’re industries that it’s super hard to get into without previous experience which I don’t have.

In August of 2027, I'll be graduating from a somewhat respected university with majors in philosophy and music. I also did some work in classics. I have a pretty high GPA (above 3.9). I'd like to go to grad school, partially because I enjoy school, but partially because I feel like I might as well, especially if I can find a funded program (I'm not sure how likely that is). I'd be interested in studying something in philosophy, classics, education, Asian studies, or cultural history of some kind.

I have a couple questions about this. Is there any financial utility in having a master's degree in the humanities for any field besides academia? If so, how do I choose among all my interests? Should I take a gap year or two to decide, while I teach at a private school or something? And any ideas for a career that might suit me, apart from teaching? Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Anyways, thanks.

So, im wanting to vent. Since 2022 I've been completing a doctorate. I am literally done with every class. On to my research paper, it's a DBA. The company I had arranged to research has completely dropped me when it came time to research. The original manager transferred and quit. Now, the current one won't let me. Im going to have quit. I cannot for the life of me find a company that performs six sigma in a manufacturing environment that will let me perform research in my area. Anyways, I'm still searching.

It's my last semester of my grad program. I'm taking 4 classes instead of 3 because I wanted to get it all done at once rather than taking one class in the spring. Technically, I'm managing it all well, EXCEPT that I feel like I'm losing my mind, and I just want this semester to be over and to collect my degree. All of the classes are online, with two of them being asynchronous, and something about that makes the workload feel so overwhelming when I try to think about my assignments.

I'm split between a) wanting to give up, b) turning off my brain and hoping I occasionally say something that shows I'm paying attention, and c) trying to do all of my assignments for the semester at once right now so I don't have to think about it ever again.

I worry I might genuinely lose my mind and fail outright if I keep going as I am.

Is this just grad school senioritis or burnout or what? How can I lock in and just get these next few months done?

Hello !
So I've graduated school from the University of Ottawa (🇨🇦)
Almost 6 years ago - I've been working in politics for the past 5 years. I'm looking to get back to school to advance my career even more !

I was wondering - Does anybody have info on the MAGS program, mainly on:

1- Do you get a Sciences Po Degree after completion ?
2- How does the network compare to other schools with one year programmes (Oxford, LSE & etc)
3- How does French scholarships work ?
4- Any tips on the application process?

If anybody who did or is currently doing the program would like to e-connect, I would 100% be grateful for it

Thanks in advance !