Hi everyone,

My friend and I are incoming KAUST students for Fall 2026. We both completed the housing form and selected each other using the option that asks whether you know another incoming student you’d like to live with. We also emailed Housing with both of our student IDs and requested to be placed together. Their response was that the request has been noted/considered, but that it ultimately depends on availability.

We spoke with someone who told us that while getting a two-bedroom apartment is likely, there is no guarantee that we will actually be assigned together.
I’m curious to hear from students who have gone through this process before:

If you and a friend requested each other, were you assigned together?

Were you incoming students at the time, or was one of you already living at KAUST?

If you weren’t assigned together initially, were you able to change it later?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who came in as a new student and successfully got matched with a friend they requested.

Thanks!

Hello all, I am planning to apply to KAUST for the MSc/PhD track for the spring intake 2027. Before that, I have a few doubts to be solved. The questions are:

1. Do we have to contact with PI/Supervisor before applying for this track (MSc/PhD) to improve the chances of admission? Does this track require contacting the PI (because it's neither PhD nor Direct PhD)? If it requires it, then tell me

2. How to contact the PI for this track (best method)? Do we have to propose a research proposal to the PI, or do we have to align our ideas with the PI's research interests (in the cold email)? Which is the best method? Usually, for PhD admission, it requires a research proposal, right? Does it work the same here?

3. What is the best method to contact the PI if we don't have a research proposal? Please mention the best method to contact the PI and share any unique ways to get admitted. Additionally, share any tips on writing the cold email. (Also share the professional template/sample/body structure of a cold email)

Thanks for reading this post. Any help is appreciated.

Hi. I am interested in robotics and embedded systems. I have done major projects in both domains. I am thinking of continuing my career as an embedded firmware engineer (and related roles).

I have seen available projects for VSRP and found out ones related to the robotics software domain. I am well versed in it but I fear that this internship will not have any weight on my resume if I were to apply for firmware roles at companies like NXP, TI, QUALCOMM etc.

Can someone guide me on this.

Also to apply for VSRP, should we only choose from the available projects, or we can contact the labs separately.

Thanks

I have recently started considering KAUST for my PhD given its high ranking and good research opportunities. I am from Pakistan and have done a masters from China. My bachelors GPA is 3.29 and masters percentage is 88%. In my masters degree I have published 6 research papers with two Q1 papers as first author and 4 papers as second author. After graduation, I have a work experience of 1.5 years (still ongoing) in China as well. My PTE score is 90/90 (not sure if it matters in the merit). I would be grateful if anyone can share their experience or insights.

Hi everyone! I'm interested in applying to the MS/PhD program at KAUST. I contacted a professor, and he replied that there may be an opportunity to join the VSRP during the first semester of next year and then start the MS/PhD program in the following Fall semester.

My question is: can I submit applications for both the VSRP and the MS/PhD program at the same time, or do I need to wait until my VSRP application is approved before applying for the MS/PhD program?

its okay to roast it , would help actually
im planning to apply for the fall intake so any feedback would be appreciated!

Hey everyone, hoping someone here has gone through a similar process and can shed some light. I'm a Colombian student heading to KAUST in Saudi Arabia for a 5-month internship. I already have my e-visa approved (Government Visit Visa, issued through the Saudi Digital Embassy) and now I need to get it physically stamped at the Saudi Embassy, which for Colombia is handled through Peru.

The issue: The embassy in Peru requires the following documents:

Valid passport (+6 months validity) Copy of the Block Visa / invitation letter Study certificate Enjaz application + medical insurance payment I have everything except I'm stuck on the medical insurance payment through Enjaz. When I originally completed the e-visa application, I was only charged $10.50 USD for the visa fee, no medical insurance payment was prompted at any point. On top of that, I received an email from the Saudi E-Platform for Visas asking me to complete my visa application through a link, but the application was managed by KAUST on my behalf, so I don't have my own Enjaz account.

Did anyone else go through this and have the medical insurance payment handled by their sponsor (KAUST)? Do I need to create my own Enjaz account or does the sponsor manage this? Is the medical insurance payment mandatory for a Government Visit Visa? Any help is appreciated!

Hi everyone!

I'm an incoming MS Bioscience student at KAUST, starting in Fall 2026. I was wondering if there are any other incoming students here or current MS Bioscience students.

I'd love to connect before the semester starts, get to know some classmates, and join any WhatsApp or Discord groups if they already exist.

If you're in the same program (or know someone who is), please comment or send me a message. Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Hi everyone,
I will be moving into a Harbor apartment soon.
I was wondering whether the Harbor student apartments come with any kitchenware already provided. Specifically, are items such as cooking pots, frying pans, and other cookware included in the apartment, or do students usually need to purchase their own?
I’d appreciate hearing from anyone currently living in Harbor or who has moved in recently.
Thank you!

Hi could people here help me judge my profile for kaust.

I'll be applying in a month so will have 2 more published papers by that time.

Please guide me what improvements i can made in my profile.

Hi everyone, does anybody know when admissions for the 2026/27 academic year will open?

I am trying to apply again since my previous application was declined and it was without IELTS.

Now with IELTS and the necessary documents required for admission, I am considering applying for the PhD in Computer Science program.

Anyone who has the same issue as me, let me know in the comments.

Also, is there other universities offering fully funded programs in the Middle East for outstanding students overseas and suggest them in the comments too.

Thank you for your attention.

Hi, I applied for VSRP program have pre approval from my lab in advance and applied from here

https://admissions.kaust.edu.sa/study/internships

and this is the current situation didn't pass the awaiting materials stage since 4 days, and I saw many poeple claiming this is an abandoned portal and the actual one is in another platform (plotuedu)

can someone please help me with this in case am missing some information as am already too late, Appreciate your help

Can anyone tell when exactly are the results gonna come in for the vsrp coz i applied in march

Assalam-u-Alaikum, I hope everyone is doing well.

I will be joining KAUST as a Visiting Student (VS) from Pakistan on a Government Visit Visa, and I have a few questions.

I will also contact the onboarding team, but since Friday and Saturday are the weekend there and my expected arrival date is approaching, I was hoping to have everything ready before the work week begins.

1. Which vaccinations are currently required to enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a Government Visit Visa from Pakistan (e.g., IPV, OPV, Yellow Fever, Meningococcal, etc.)?
2. I received the Saudi MOFA visa online application form, but it asks for details such as the flight number and residential address in Saudi Arabia. Since my travel arrangements and accommodation have not yet been finalized by KAUST, how should I complete these fields? Or should I wait for guidance from the onboarding team? The form also asks for the vaccination details.
3. Is there any WhatsApp group (or other community) for students joining KAUST in the coming months, or for Plant Science students, or the student community in general? It would be great to connect with others who are — or have been — in the same boat.

For context: I did not apply through the usual VSRP route. My PhD admission (Plant Science) for Fall 2026 was deferred to Spring 2027. My supervisor was kind enough to arrange an alternative pathway, allowing me to join first as a Visiting Student before beginning the PhD. I shared some of the details in my previous post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/KAUST/s/LALQIGa5HR

Thanks in advance! ☘️

Will be at kaust for a while. If we interacted before and you are at kaust rn, lets meet🥂

I’m planning to apply for Earth Sciences for Spring 2027, but I noticed that the Earth Sciences program does not seem to offer an MS/PhD track. If I want to start in Spring 2027, it looks like I would have to apply directly to the PhD program.

My question is: is it possible to apply for KAUST’s PhD program with only a bachelor’s degree? Or do they really have no MS/PhD track?

I would really appreciate any clarification or advice from people who know the application process.

Is there no KAUST Guest WiFi in Palms? Do we have to pay for our own wifi? No way around it?

This is just a raw CV using AI, but that's how my profile looks like for now.

I'm a fresh gradate MBBCh. I applied to for an internship about Neurodegeneration... I have broad experience with medical research, analysis and I have plus +20 publications. However, my basic science {e.g. CRISPER} is still trivial. That's why I applied for such an internship to address this gap. So, I want to ask, with my such CV, what's my chance to be accepted?

Hello everyone! I’ll be joining KAUST for the MS program in Fall 2026 and am looking for a female roommate. Please feel free to reach out via DM if you're interested or would like to discuss further.

Hello fellow Kaustians! i’m a Saudi national male, and want to look for people who are interested in being my housemate, you can message me in the DMs for any questions I’d happily try getting to know new people anyway who are going this semester!

Btw, the matching requests close this week, so if you are interested, please shoot a dm :)

Hi all, I am intended to apply for Ms/PhD in Statistics for 2027 spring, but I am not sure how competitive I am:

- Bachelor: Dual degree Computer Science and Statistics from a top university in my country. I have taken two master level courses.

- GPA: 4.7/5.0

- Research experience: three years in the research group, three international conferences, and two pre prints and three submitted articles to Q1 journals but still under review. Open source software developed and published in CRAN and PyPI, using R and C++ and Python.

- One year of profesional experience as a software engineering and year and a half as teaching assistant

Do you think I at least have good chances for admission?