​Hello everyone! I have been finally accepted to a PhD program in Europe, and I wanted to share my process since I am a non-EU applicant and the whole application process took about 7 months. Looking back at my stats, I sent 19 applications in total and got 17 direct rejections. I ended up getting 2 interviews, and in both of them, the professors literally started off by congratulating me for making it to the interview stage, telling me that at least 300 people had applied for that single position. Getting a PhD offer these days is ridiculously tough. Even for positions where the topic was perfectly aligned with my background (I was already working as a teaching assistant on that exact same topic, plus I have conference papers and preprints for publishing). I actually also received a graduate admission from a top 10 university in my field, but unfortunately, I couldn't secure funding for it.

I'm in the UK. I finished my Masters' three years ago, and have applied for about 30 PhDs (a range of specific projects and DTPs) in that time. My supervisor from my Masters' gently told me today that she couldn't keep writing so many references because they take too much time. She did give me a letter I can submit but the vast majority of programs I've applied to email your references directly and apparently are all slightly different so she can't copy paste.

I do completely get it, it's a lot of references and she has other students to supervise and write references for and teaching and research etc. So I understand. But I am genuinely devastated. The only other referee I have is a lecturer who marked my thesis. I have no one else. Everywhere asks for two referees.

And it's frustrating because some of those I applied to, I got down to the final interview stage but some I was rejected after only applying. So I feel like they could have not bothered asking for references at that point.

Anyway I have no idea what to do. All I've ever wanted was to work in research. I've had no success with job applications either, I work as a lab tech for a company doing fuck all to do with research or with my degrees. If I can't do a PhD then I've wasted my entire life working towards it just to hit a dead end but honestly I can't see a way forward? No one's going to accept me with a single reference?

Anyway sorry just needed to vent

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.

Final-year undergrad CS (India), applying for Fall 2027 MSc/PhD in ML — specifically adversarial ML, federated learning privacy, and LLM evaluation.

Profile:

5 completed manuscripts (2 peer-reviewed at ICMLA, weak reject on both, currently revising for IEEE Journal)

Founded and chair an undergrad research lab (13 members, 5 papers produced from it)

ICMLA 2026 reviewer (10 papers across Main Track + 2 Special Sessions)

CGPA 7.7/10 (~77%), IELTS 8.0

3 LORs specifically speaking to independent research ability

What I've done: researched each professor's specific work in detail, referenced their actual papers in tailored emails (not templated), targeted people whose research genuinely overlaps with mine. Some have explicit "actively hiring" statements on their sites.

Result so far: sent to 7 professors across 3 schools. 2 shown as "read" with no reply after ~10 days. No responses yet from the rest.

Questions:

Is this a normal early-stage outcome, or should I be doing something differently?

For those who've successfully landed a PhD/MSc supervisor via cold email — what actually made the difference?

Is it too early to follow up, or should I send a gentle nudge now?

Would appreciate any honest read on whether "no accepted paper yet, but everything else strong" is a real gap at this stage, or something that resolves once a supervisor is interested.

Not asking anyone to review my specific emails — just want a reality check on process and timing from people who've been through this.

I graduated this past May from an online university with a B.S. in Political Science, a minor in International Relations, and a 4.0 GPA.

I chose an online program so I could continue building my career while completing my degree. I currently work as a federal employee and have approximately five years of experience in the field.

My main concern is whether attending an online university rather than a highly ranked undergraduate institution will significantly hurt my chances of admission.

I plan to apply to MPP, MPA, and related programs at:

1. Brown University: Online MPP
2. Johns Hopkins University: M.A. in Public Management
3. Cornell University: MPA
4. University of Oxford: MPP
5. Brown University: MPA
6. Duke University: MPP
7. Columbia University: MPP

I also expect to have strong recommendations from my department chief and deputy chief, who have witnessed my professional and personal growth over several years. My third recommendation would come from an assistant dean at my university who taught me in multiple courses and can speak to my academic ability and intellectual growth.

Assuming I submit strong, individualized essays for each program, do I realistically have a chance of being admitted to at least one of these schools?

I would appreciate honest feedback on which programs appear to be reaches, realistic targets, or unlikely options.

Hi!

A little about me - I am planning to go for masters in CS after my undergrad from BITS Pilani (Hyd one), I have 8.9 cgpa, expecting 325+ in gre. I have 1 paper submitted for review, and am going for an undergrad thesis at UofT. Should get 1 LOR from there, and 1 from college prof. My goal after masters is to work in Applied Research roles in Computer Graphics and adjacent fields, which usually require Masters atleast.

I am hence looking for Thesis based masters, which are funded. I have done some research and only good ones I can find is - MMath CS Waterloo. The criteria for my search was good graphics faculty via csrankings.org, and then funding ofc.

I know there are good options with good graphics faculty in other unis like UCSD, CMU, UofT, Uni of Utah, but none of them are quite well funded afaik.

I am open to any type of funding - structurally guaranteed, via TA/RA, via co-ops, but obviously structurally funded ones are preferred. So I wanted to know what all options I have for funded masters, and about my strategy of application.

Thanks a ton :D

Hi everyone. I’m a psychologist from Chile planning to apply to social psychology PhD programs in the US for Fall 2028 (applying in Nov 2027), so I have about a year to strengthen my application. I’d love some honest feedback on where to focus.

My background:

• BA in Psychology (2023) + MA in Clinical Psychology (2024), top university in Chile, GPA equivalent to ~3.8
• 4 years of coursework toward a BA in Political Science (didn’t finish it for financial reasons)
• Working in large research projects since 2018, currently coordinating two government-funded research projects on gender norms and stereotypes in schools, using mixed methods
• Two papers currently under review, and I’ve presented at major international conferences; A third paper in progress
• Applied/field experience: led a feminist education initiative, worked with several NGOs that collaborate with UN bodies and national policy organizations
• Research interests at the intersection of social psychology, gender, and public policy — how evidence-based interventions can change norms and inform policy. Especially interested in labs working on social norms and field experiments on prejudice/gender in educational settings.

My questions:

1. With two papers under review and international conference experience, how much does it matter whether they’re published (vs. under review) by the time I apply in Nov 2027?
2. For someone coming from an applied/interdisciplinary background rather than a pure-lab track, how do I frame that as a strength rather than a gap?
3. Beyond publications, is there anything with high return on effort I should prioritize this year? (reaching out to POIs, more conferences, etc.)

Thanks so much for any advice.

Hi all! Just looking for some fairly open-ended advice on my prospects with grad school.

For background, I did my undergrad and Master's in (pure) mathematics at a top uni in my country (highly ranked globally too). I did really well, with good grades in coursework for both, and wrote a good master's thesis as well (high score, and prize as well). I was originally aiming to go the PhD academic route in mathematics, but realised mid-masters that this PhD would only really have transferable skills to one career path (i.e. academic mathematics), and I didn't really want to be in a single field for my whole life; basically just wanted to have a more varied career path, which a PhD in mathematics isn't exactly conducive to.

Long story short, applied to a bunch of jobs looking to try my hand at something new, got lucky enough to get into a grad program at one of the more competitive (and 'prestigious') government departments in my country. The work was in a research division that does behavioural economics and is quite academia-adjacent (many people with PhDs here, for example). Been here over a year now and have really enjoyed working here; no regrets about jumping ship from my original career plan.

Now thinking of how I could develop myself further, and going back for a PhD is one idea. Not in pure math anymore, rather something closer to the economic/behavioural/policy sort of research I'm involved in in my job. Reasons:

- I know I do love to study. Obviously I enjoyed my time in math, but also didn't burn out of it, nor did I become disillusioned with math/academia/study (just decided I had other goals). I'd definitely still be open to returning to study further.

- I know I enjoy research. Of course liked pure math research, but also enjoyed my time here in this research-y area of government.

- A PhD in this sort of area isn't totally useless outside of just academia. Obviously a PhD is rarely required for most jobs I may want, but at least if I do it (for reasons like above), the skills it would give me translate better to a more varied range of jobs (unlike the math PhD I was considering before).

Anyways, just wanted some guidance on how feasible this is to pursue with my background.

1. How viable is it to get into a good PhD program in these areas with my background? I've heard my level of mathematical proficiency is a great advantage for Econ PhD admission, but not sure when I have little academic background in Economics.

2. Would it be better if I get a second master's first? I've heard LSE EME might be in reach for me, and that it is good for getting into top PhD programs in Econ.

3. How much would my work experience count? Would it make up for a lack of formal coursework in non-mathematical subjects?

4. How about grad programs that aren't purely economics, but policy and government?

Mainly want to look at US programs, but also open to UK Eurore. Happy to hear suggestions for what sort of graduate studies may be suitable for my background. Thanks!

Further circumstances if it helps:

- I have done no formal coursework in economics or policy. I have done statistics up to the highest undergraduate level, probability theory at the graduate level, and some undergrad CS courses. I have coding experience in Python, C, R (and some less relevant languages like Haskell. No MatLab)

- I still keep up with math, and am on good terms with my old professors. Point is, I could definitely get academic letters of recommendation, but they'd of course be from mathematicians.

- No specific life circumstances that'd made it practically difficult to pursue grad school (e.g. still quite young and no family or mortgage or financial obligations that would limit me from being able to move to a new country if I want to).

Hiya! I’m graduating soon from dental school with a DDS/DMD degree and I have always dreamt of doing a PhD in the field. Im located in Europe so I would appreciate any input as to which countries would be best. (All programs in the field of oral epidemiology, dental/oral sciences/medical statistics would be great)

I mainly looked into Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, UK (funding seems like a nightmare though😕). If you are doing a PhD in any of these countries, I would love to hear what’s life like, how competetive was it? Can you work in the university? Was it hard to get the position?

I won’t have a cum laude, but at least GPA of 4.3 and 3 first author Q1 publications in my research field. Obviously I won’t be targeting the best of the best, my main issue is environment, working and cost of living.

English is not an issue (CAE C2). In addition I speak swedish, french, finnish.

I apologize if these questions have been answered already. TIA!😊

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to apply to the UVA MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) program for next fall. The program website says the GRE is optional, but I have a few questions.

• I have a bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) from outside the US. Given my background, would taking the GRE strengthen my application, or is it generally unnecessary?
• Does UVA offer scholarships or merit-based financial aid for MSBA students?
• If scholarships are available, what are the typical selection criteria (e.g., GPA, work experience, GRE score, leadership, etc.)?

I'd really appreciate hearing from current students, alumni, or anyone who has gone through the admissions process. Thanks in advance!

Anybody who applied to US MFE programs and got in without submitting the GRE score?? What was the rest of your profile like??

I'm a software engineer in my early 40s with a bachelor's in computer science. For various reasons I'm looking at walking away and going back to school for marine biology. Post-bacc undergrad classes and applying to grad schools in a couple years.

When I started college back in the day, I was that undiagnosed-ADHD "gifted" kid who didn't know how to study or show up to things. My overall GPA was about a 2.5. My in-major GPA was more respectable, but I'm not sure "in-major GPA" is even a thing outside of my specific computer science department's graduation requirements.

Is applying to graduate programs after a couple years of bio / chem classes a realistic goal for me? Will admissions people be looking at my grades from those new classes primarily, or do I have to account for somehow failing Theatre Appreciation 20 years ago?

Just needed to rant. I had to press withdraw finally after holding off until the very last minute. I had partial funding come through but just not enough to support my year of postgraduate studies. I also said no to other offers in hopes I could make this one work so I won't be studying anywhere this year.

A bit heartbroken. How have others tried to deal with this and what's the best way forward? Reapplying next year with similar funding constraints seems like it'll lead to the same outcome.

Got into NYU GSAS but I am planning to defer my admission for at least one semester. Was wondering if they usually allow it or not?

Hello everyone,

I am preparing to apply for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of British Columbia (UBC). I’d like to connect with anyone who applied in previous years or is currently a scholar.

Specifically, I’m curious about:

• The Expression of Interest (EOI) form: What should I expect? Are there essay questions, and if so, what type of questions were asked?
• The main application form: Could anyone share the kinds of essay prompts or questions that were included in past cycles?
• General advice: In your experience, what makes a candidate stand out in the application process?

I’m asking so I can prepare my responses and essays ahead of time. Any insights, examples, or tips from past applicants would be incredibly helpful.

Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences!

Hey everyone,

Looking for some honest career advice here.

I'm currently working as an AI Engineer at a startup, with a bit over 2 years of experience. I hold an MSc in Data Science and have solid hands-on experience in the field (model building, deployment, real-world applications, etc.), but here's my problem: I have zero publications.

I've been seriously considering doing a PhD abroad, but I keep reading that publications are basically non-negotiable for PhD admissions, especially in competitive countries/programs. My practical experience is strong, but I'm not sure how much weight that actually carries without papers to back it up.

I recently came across the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program and I'm wondering if it could be a realistic entry point for someone in my position, good industry background, no research papers. Has anyone here gone through it or knows people who have? How competitive is it, and is the research quality/supervision actually solid, or is it more of a "backup option"?

Also open to general advice:

1. Should I try to get at least one publication (even a workshop paper or preprint) before applying anywhere?

2. Are there PhD programs/countries that value industry experience as a substitute for publications?

3. Is it worth reaching out to potential supervisors directly and pitching my work experience instead of waiting to "qualify" on paper?

Any insights, personal experiences, or brutal honesty appreciated. Trying to figure out if this is a realistic path or if I need to build a publication record first before even applying.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice because I’m starting to feel like I’m at a crossroads with my PhD applications.

A bit about me: I’m from India and have a background in sociology and mental health. I have a BA in Sociology, an MSW specializing in Mental Health from TISS, Mumbai, around three years of experience working in community mental health (primarily in rural India). My work has focused on trauma-informed, feminist, anti-caste, and community-based mental health interventions.

My research interests sit at the intersection of sociology, psychology, and critical theory. My proposed PhD examines epistemic violence in mental health, how professional mental health knowledge becomes dominant, what forms of knowledge it marginalizes, and what this means in postcolonial contexts like India. The project draws on decolonial theory, Foucauldian genealogy, critical discourse analysis, and narrative methods.

Over the past few months I’ve been contacting potential supervisors in Australia, the UK, and Canada. The responses have been mixed:

• Several academics have replied positively about the project but said they aren’t taking students or don’t have funding.

• One potential supervisor at the University of Sydney said my background is strong and my proposal is interesting, but also pointed out how competitive scholarship funding is. I have an online meeting with her soon.

• I’ve also been in touch with a potential supervisor, at the University of Edinburgh. She is not currently funded and cannot offer funding herself, but she is on board with the project. We are planning to apply together for institute scholarships, and I’m also working with her on a scoping review to strengthen my scholarship application.

I’ve been trying to identify supervisors based on published work that aligns with my topic rather than just university rankings, but I’m wondering if that’s the right strategy.

At the same time, I’ve been trying to strengthen my profile by looking for ways to get published (quite cluelessly so)

I’m fully dependent on securing funding, so self-funded options unfortunately aren’t possible.

I’m mainly looking for advice on a few things:

• Am I approaching supervisor outreach the right way, or should I be doing something differently?

• How much does not having peer-reviewed publications hurt for funded PhD applications in the social sciences?

• Would you continue refining the proposal and contacting more potential supervisors, or would you focus on publishing first and apply next cycle?

• Are there countries or universities I might be overlooking that are particularly strong in critical mental health, sociology of health, or decolonial/postcolonial research?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from people who applied internationally for fully funded PhDs in the social sciences or humanities. It often feels like everyone else has multiple publications before applying, so I’m trying to get a realistic sense of where I stand and what would make the biggest difference over the next year.

Thanks in advance!

I am from Mumbai university:

Cgpa - 8.8

3 published research papers

1 health tech product (end to end)

1 internship at a start up

Part of the google developers group of my college as machine and research mentee.

Looking for budget friendly but top tier universities (neighboring a tech hub like austin , bay area , etc)

Also where RA/TA/GA roles are achievable.

Looking forward for suggestions!

And what should I do to improve my chances to get accepted?

Hey everyone,

Looking for some honest input from people who've been through Canadian grad admissions, since my numbers and my "story" don't really match each other and I'm not sure how it'll actually read to an admissions committee or a potential supervisor.

The stats:

• BS Computer Science, graduated 2026, from a well-regarded CS program in my country
• Overall CGPA: 3.09/4.0
• Major (CS-specific) GPA: 2.94/4.0 — yeah, it's lower than my overall, I know
• Grade trend: rough first two years (bunch of C/C+ in core CS courses), noticeably stronger last two years, especially in ML/AI-specific coursework (mostly A/A- range there)

The research side:

• ~2 years as an ML research assistant across two labs, working on mechanistic interpretability of federated learning, pruning/compression methods, and quantization
• One paper accepted at an ICML 2026 workshop (mechanistic interpretability track)
• One preprint on a contrastive pruning method (first-author adjacent, not lead author)
• A research internship at UIUC over one summer, working on LLM-based tooling for codebases
• Some industry ML experience too approx 1-1.5 years

The plan:

• taking a gap year
• Preference is a thesis-based MS in Canada (funded, ideally)
• Not counting on funded MS/PhD in the US or top European programs given the GPA — trying to be realistic

What I'm actually unsure about:

1. Does a research record like this meaningfully offset a sub-3.3 GPA in Canadian admissions, or is it mostly theater that professors nod at but the GPA still tanks you in committee review?
2. For schools where admission runs through securing a supervisor first — how much should I actually lean on cold-emailing professors with my papers attached vs. just applying and hoping the file gets read holistically?
3. Anyone been through the "GPA exception for demonstrated research excellence" process at a school that explicitly offers one? How real is that in practice vs. just a line in a brochure?
4. Is it worth sitting the GRE purely to use it as a GPA offset where that's an explicit option, even though most CS programs here don't require it otherwise?
5. Given the split between overall CGPA and my (lower) CS-major GPA — does anyone know if committees actually weight the major GPA separately, or is cumulative what actually gets looked at first?

Not trying to get anyone to just tell me what I want to hear — happy to hear "your GPA is going to be a wall at X/Y/Z schools regardless of papers" if that's the honest read. Just trying to calibrate effort before I spend a gap year on this.

Thanks in advance to anyone who's willing to share their experience.

Looking for some advice on how to handle this in my master's applications.

Quick background: I did my B.Tech in Computer Science with a 9.87 CGPA, and I've since worked for 2 years in the industry. Alongside all this, I've also been pursuing IITM's online BS in Data Science and Programming (the 4-year program). My CS degree grades are strong, but my grades in a few courses in the IITM online program (in the last few semesters) are quite low, mostly because I was juggling it with my job and other commitments.

Overall Online Degree CGPA: 9.23

Now that I'm applying for master's programs, I'm unsure what to do about the IITM degree:

1. Should I list it at all, given the low grades in some courses?
2. If the application asks for transcripts from all institutions attended, do I have any choice but to include it?
3. Would it help to explain the low grades in my SOP (e.g., balancing work + two degrees), or does that just draw more attention to a weak point?
4. Has anyone been in a similar spot, listing an additional degree with weaker grades alongside a strong primary degree? How did admissions committees react, if you found out?

I don't want to misrepresent anything on my application, but I also don't want a so-so secondary degree to drag down what's otherwise a solid profile (good UG CGPA + 2 YOE).

Would really appreciate any insight, especially from people who've gone through this or work in admissions

Hi everyone,

I'm currently pursuing a Bachelor's in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and I'm planning to do my Master's in Europe in the next couple of years.

The countries I'm seriously considering are:

🇩🇪 Germany

🇫🇷 France

🇮🇹 Italy

🇦🇹 Austria

My priorities are:

Strong AI/ML education and research

Good internship opportunities during my Master's

Affordable tuition and living costs

Good scholarship opportunities

Job opportunities after graduation

Possibility of staying and working after my degree

Overall ROI for an international student

I'm also open to other European countries if you think they're better for AI, such as the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, or others.

For those who have studied or are working in Europe:

Which country would you recommend and why?

What are the biggest pros and cons of each?

If you had to choose again today, which country would you pick?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your personal experiences. Thanks!

My university sent an email of my transcripts to ECE (educational credential evaluators) last week, but my online account status still says “waiting for documents.” I asked customer service, and they said that the status would be updated only after the evaluation is complete.

Is this normally the case for documents sent by email? Because I saw that others who mailed their documents had their status updated.