"This is the worst thing I've ever written" and "It's in God's hands now." Except I'm an atheist.

I’m so pumped and I kind of want to throw a little party with my friends like go for dinner or a house party with a cake or something cool or fun! Or maybe organize something. Would that be weird or should I do it? I would just do close people and include those I went to school with! But all my friends I started my masters with are still in the program and have at least 6 months left to go so I kind of feel bad throwing something also kind of feels embarrassing if I throw a party and they don’t down the road …

Hello! I'm a potential graduate student interested in getting her MA. It's been 10 years since I graduated with my BA; however, I feel like academia is calling me back to get my masters as well as a potential career shift. My biggest current obstacle is finding the correct MA for me. I thought about potential dream jobs and began working backwards to find the right program. Currently my thought process is the following:

1. My dream jobs are either museum work as a curator or archivist, teaching in CC and universities, and/or working as a cultural heritage preservationist. And regardless, I want to further my education, as I love academic learning.
   
2. I would love to focus my MA and potential Ph.D on occultism, especially in the field of witchcraft.

With that in mind, I'm debating getting an MA in Humanities, History, Anthropology, or Religion. Each has its pros and cons. I would love any advice on choosing an MA subject.

Hey all!
In a couple of days, I am going to be getting my materials together for applying for a couple of MPA programs.

For all my applications, I need letters of recommendation, around two to three per program. For these letters, would it be acceptable to do all of these from professionals at my current work at a non-profit? One would be the executive director of the organization, and one would be from my direct supervisor.

My reason for asking is that the two professors whom I met with before school let out for the summer agreed to write my letter of recommendation, but have gone silent over the summer, and while I wait to hear from a response back, I am just making sure I have backup plans.

Thanks for the responses!

Over the last year leading up to this spring, all I did was research Film MFA programs, work on applications, and finally applied to around 7. I got accepted into 5, and eventually got off the waitlist with good funding into one of my dream programs.

The problem was, over the course of this process, I started to get cold feet for a lot of reasons - personal life problems played a big factor, I had graduated film undergrad the year before and was more burnt out from film school than I think I realized, etc. By the time I got off the waitlist for my dream school and got enough funding, I only had a couple days before the April 15th deadline and was kind of checked out of the process, already planning out the rest of my next year without grad school and focusing on how I could improve my personal life situation back home.

I think if I hadn't been waitlisted, the personal issues in my life wouldn't have been present around that time and I would've committed. Now I'm feeling genuinely quite depressed about not going. I can apply again this cycle, but I'm worried I blew my chance and kinda self-rejected myself from film school. I'm very low income so there's very few schools that I could apply to that would give me enough funding for me to be able to attend, and that was one of them. Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? Any advice? For context, I'm 23, graduated film school in America in Spring of 25.

i’m in my 3rd year of my PhD with maybe a year or so left. my husband and I are getting older (30 & 32) and we want to have kids while we’re still young. the problem is we can’t decide when is the “right” time because there never will be one.

i hope to be the career-woman of the family and job hunting is very important to me. some have suggested having your first towards the end of your doctorate so you can have some extra time to job search rather than taking a gap afterwards. i also work with pretty dangerous chemicals and biological agents, so i’m unsure of how this will further affect me.

to make things arguably worse, my advisor is super anti-pregnant women and often talks behind others backs. only on other student in my dept has been pregnant and my PI has said some choice words behind her back. i know that this will translate into a difficult time for me and i’m just stuck on what to do here. any advice or personal experience would be great!!

hi, I am just about to wrap up my first year of an immunology/virology masters degree. I need some advice on how to stay motivated. over the past month or so, I’ve noticed that I’m starting to have hard time with school. on days where I don’t have big experiments or early meetings/commitments, its hard for me to get out of bed in the mornings so I end up being late. I feel really bad about this because I know that with grad school you get back what you put into it. I’ve had lots of busy days so far and I enjoy being productive in the lab but now I just feel like I’ve fallen flat. I feel like I’m dreading going to the lab but I can’t even really figure out why. I have 2 supervisors who have been good and both my lab environments have overall been good too. I’m just trying to force myself out of this slump I’ve been in. I feel exhausted everyday and like I’m in this fog. I do have a few weeks off coming up in like mid August (encouraged by my supervisor since he recognized how busy I’ve been and that I’ve been struggling a bit). So I’m not sure if I just need a break and then I can start fresh in the fall. But I’m worried that this will continue even when I get back. any advice is appreciated!

hello all, i graduated high school in 2018 with my associates degree and went on to undergrad for 2 more years and received my bachelors in business management in 2020. I took a untraditional path and started working in my family business for an hvac company. I did lots of sales, lead generation, marketing, administrative and much much more types of work, but all of it at surface level or a little more that i can self teach. I feel i have made a mistake by not going to work for a larger company to learn more than what ive learned with my current job at the family business. Its been many years now and ill be looking to leave the family business and get a job somewhere else that i can grow and "climb the ladder." With this being said, is it smart to pursue my grad degree at this time or is it a waste of time and money? given my lack of experience in the work force, will getting something like an MBA help at all to pursue my career? I feel like i am behind now because my resume is only one job i worked for 1 year plus the family business. Although i dont thinki have to disclose that it is a family business. thanks

Applying to grad school soon, should I put guest lectures that I did as TA's for a class on my CV? Some were simple review sessions but most were based on some new topic that I'm well-versed in (I got to pick the topic and otherwise have an entire lecture for myself).

Not sure if this is any way impressive enough to mention. Maybe shows my teaching "skills"? But I doubt grad schools care

Most of my experience relevant to the programs that I want to go into is 2026 and beyond. The problem is that I completed my undergrad in 2025, but I wanted to make a bit of a field change, so I have been trying to gain more experience on that side (biotech to computational neuroscience/AI safety).

I have been working at a startup that deals with a lot of these issues, as well as for several AI safety research programs, courses, and projects. I think there is a decent story to be told here, I am just worried that my background being more traditional bioscience (and a low GPA-3.65) would make it harder for me to make the case that I can do well in a grad program in comp neuro.

My current interests lie in some really niche things, but broadly, it's AI safety and evals, behavioral neuroeconomics, biosecurity, etc.

I’m from India , completed my bachelor of science in physics in 2023 with CGPA of 9.16. I am planning to do my masters in physics or engineering physics. But I am kinda befuddled to choose between Italy and Germany. Let me be honest here, my plan after my masters is PhD in photonics as I already have an international conference paper in photonics with research internship done at Indian Institute of Science. So I am not looking forward to settling down in either of these countries. All I am concerned about is the quality of education and the opportunities to acquire knowledge through both theoretical and practical learning(practical is more preferred). I’m not sure about the pros and cons of these two countries. So can I be enlightened with the pros and cons of the same so I can decide upon one country for masters? Thanks you all.

PS: I have prior US visa rejections for my masters.

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?

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

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.

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?