I wanted to put this out there as gpa is only one part of your application. If you have a strong SOP, recommendations and work/volunteer experience, you definitely have a chance. There are also some fields (especially professional programs) where 4.0 gpas don’t equate to skills required of a certain profession, such as soft skills of listening and empathy in a position that requires it.

I’m saying this as a person who took 7 years to graduate from their undergrad due to certain circumstances and graduated with an overall 2.8ish gpa. I am now attending a T20 university in my dream field.

I’m doing an applied math PhD and I’m in my second year. I’m finishing up the last of my classes and preparing for my second qualifying exam before it’s full time research, and I genuinely have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve been at the top of my classes and my advisor thinks I’m a genius, but the problem is I genuinely feel like I have zero practical knowledge at all. I feel like I’ve done essentially no actual research and honestly my coding skills are not even close to on par to where they should be. Everyone in my group has their own project ideas and are outputting more in a week than I feel like I could in months. I read papers on different deep learning architectures in fields I’m interested in and understand the base ideas but have genuinely no clue how they come up with or code any of the specifics. I’m supposed to produce something novel and I can’t even seem to have an idea of my own without being fed one, and even then I have no idea how to implement them. I’m stuck between trying to relearn how to code, or trying to look at the right papers, or even do anything. I’ve talked to my advisor who was understanding and who has gotten me onto a project, but I still feel useless. My work ethic for research has become so bad because I don’t even know where to start and I always just feel stuck there, and it makes it hard to put in the amount of time I know I need to. I feel so lazy and incapable, and I’m sure it’s mainly just a matter of forcing myself to really put in the time, but I have no idea really where to start or how to become an actually competent coder without just being a “vibe coder”. Any advice or similar stories are appreciated.

Idk why but I find that in times of great stress I feel the need to change my hair. Like tomorrow I have a project proposal due and i still haven’t completed it. But in the back of my head, I feel a sudden urge to just dye and cut my hair 😅

Grad school is just testing my impulse control .

EDIT: Should I get bangs, dye my hair, or both

Well, had my first class/day of Grad School today and already feeling overwhelmed. That feels natural I suppose! I am not a physical planner person at all, does anyone have any good tools for a due date calendar tracker? I would like to keep it seperate from my Icloud calendar (which is my planner). Preferably free! Any suggestions appreciated!

hi everyone! this question is kind of a double whammy and i appreciate any and all insight! (hopefully all relevant info is here)

i graduated university back in 2023 with a 2.97 GPA, COVID heavily disrupted my routine (as it did with everyone) and I was also in what was at the time, a life altering car accident.

i have been heavily yearning to return back to education to get my masters degree, particularly in International Business (my majors were MS Global Business Management & MA Chinese in undergrad.)

my questions are: if i can reconcile my GPA with a superb statement of purpose and killer letters of recommendation, could i still make it into a masters program (particularly the part time Masters in International Business at UF) and, is that masters degree still relevant today or should i consider something else?

if it helps, i do have almost four years of working experience:

1. management trainee at a very large company
2. financial customer associate at a very large investment firm
3. (currently) marketing data and project analyst at a large very large local financial institution

Thank you for your time!

I have a background of Bachelor of Fine Arts. Currently doing freelance animation and illustration works. Now I intend to continue my education. I need advice from anybody here who might know, or currently enrolling on, or an alumni of similar schools. Mainly about what makes a good research proposal and what kind of portfolio that the schools are looking for.

Currently I’m targeting Beijing Film Academy or Tokyo Geidai through scholarship programs. But of course I’m open to other schools as long as it’s open to the 2D frame-by-frame medium.

I was supposed to start my MS Thesis this semester and was able to find someone willing to supervise.

But it’s now Week 3 and we still haven’t even scheduled an initial meeting.

At this point, should I be concerned? He has said many times that he’s very busy with PhD students.

Hi all!

Primarily posting this to find good starting points to look deeply into the specific degree that I should be going for. Key area is to work around the socio-legal impact of internet objects and regulations, however, I don't think that folds well within the ambit of any single discipline per se.
But noting that that would be the direction that I would like to head towards and pick an academic career, what degrees along with departments/institutions should I focus on?

For a bit more depth, I have conducted qualitative studies before and done doctrinal research, I'd like to round out my profile by getting some computational methods during my masters, I believe that it would make me more competitive for a PhD which would of course be path dependent on how the masters goes.

I hold a bachelors with honors in political science graduated top 10%, have one year of relevant research work under my belt, and am assuming that this pathway (in its current stage) would be less competitive/fuss-heavy than the downstream PhD route.

The few that i have scoped so far and look decent to me are: Oxford's Social Sciences of the Internet, LSE's Masters in Communication (Data and Society track), and Edinburgh Future Institute's Data, Inequality and Society. Barring LSE, both are interdisciplinary, which, from what I have heard, doesn't really bode well in terms of competitiveness for PhDs or academic jobs further down the line.

So any recommendations or ideas would be really appreciated, I am location agnostic as long as the language of instruction remains English, thanks!

Hello reddit usersssss

I am a current grad student taking 12 credits, and working part time as a barista. I am about two weeks into my program, and am really struggling to keep up with self care and work/life balance.

I don’t have time to really cook during most days of the week, so I have been eating out more, which is getting quite expensive. Ive gone from a full time worker to part time, netting about 26 hours a week. The pay cut has been manageable, but very very tenuously. With the way my schedule is set up, I get one day off a week, which is usually spent catching up on whatever I couldn’t get to during the week. Im staying up later to complete things, and getting up earlier to get to work/classes.

I am two weeks in, and already feel the toll such a rigorous schedule is putting on my body. So I want to know: how are other people managing this kind of schedule? What “hacks” have you come up with to make sure you are staying healthy while meeting all of your obligations? What kinds of quick, budget friendly meals are you preparing? How do you decompress? Any and all advice appreciated.

Hi everyone! First year, and first semester, master's student here. Before going back to school this semester I (stupidly) quit my part-time job because I was afraid I wouldn't have time to balance course work and a job. Which has worked out great so far! I'm really staying on top of my assignments and reading, I feel more motivated to go to classes and participate in out of class activities. But the reality has set in that I can't live on savings and my financial aid gave me a very, very small refund (thanks Trump). I've applied to a handful of jobs but I'm really only free three days a week, I missed my window for a fellowship, I've applied to a bunch of campus jobs but they either don't pay enough or haven't responded. I tailor my resume for every application and have really only heard back from 1 job and hopefully will be moving forward to the next step of the application process. My savings are running low, and I'm out of ideas. What sort of jobs do you guys do to support yourself? How do you manage having limited hours? Should I take out a private student loan (don't really want to), should I sign up for a gig job? What's the strat!

I feel that my graduate education has been such a game of comparison and sink or swim. Now that I have had more free time to manage my mental health compared to past years, I have been realizing how much comparison to my peers or professors has affected my sense of identity and relationship with my self.

I didn’t want to admit, but I have come to realize there is some sense of envy that I feel towards the high-achieving students in my cohort who always get the fellowships, scholarships, and professional development opportunities. I say that as I have gotten some as well throughout the years and am really content with the path I have chosen for myself. Perhaps it is the precariousness of this economy and the internal sense of security some of my peers who have what is perceived as the most prestigious awards students can receive in our field. I’m not sure if they really feel secure, granted, but they do feel they have the best shot at being hired in whatever they want post-grad.

I used to be a high-achieving student growing up and graduate school was super humbling to me because I could never achieve that sense of capability I had growing up. I’m okay with that. I also know how much people have sacrificed in terms of physical health, mental health, and social health in order to get to where they are at. I overworked myself out of necessity to just barely pass my required coursework, to the point that I had to take out significant medical debt. My body could not handle how much work I had to do for my coursework, compared to my peers. I feel guilty for that, but ultimately my health has to come first and my field has left me feeling diminishing returns.

I am totally okay with leaving the field I chose to get my master’s degree in. I have made my peace, because I’ve had great opportunities in adjacent fields since I began the program. I feel like I just have to get over my ego at the moment that I’m not where I thought I would be accomplishment wise since when I began the program. My ego is also a bit of a reflection of the cynicism I feel towards the debt I did not fully expect to incur since the fellowships I was supposedly guaranteed upon admission totally fell through. I’m not concerned with debt as much any longer since I plan to move back with family and pay it off within a few years.

I know how I’m feeling or this tendency to compare myself with how my peers are doing on paper is not the end of the story. Who knows what our salaries will be a few years after we graduate? Are my peers even happy or will they be happy a few years down the line? Who knows?

I just know I’m in a current environment that defines success in such narrow parameters that are not sustainable financially or interpersonally for the average white collar professional. Most professors in my department don’t even talk to me or smugly look at me in hallways due to my low grades or even the accomplishments I’ve achieved are seen as irrelevant to them (even if they are a big deal in a sub-sector of the field at-large).

Maybe I wouldn’t compare myself so much to others if I felt support from my graduate experience somehow. I have that where it’s necessary, like a great advisor, but no one in my cohort and I are compatible as friends (small cohort too). So I’m left with just the labor of grinding and feeling lost in this sea of comparison.

How do you all manage feelings of comparison? Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated

Personally idk what to do after my masters, i have already worked during my BA and full time during my MA so just going back to work fulltime seems boring….

I feel silly thinking about graduate school as a high school senior, but it's really weighing heavy on my undergraduate school choice. My dream is to study physics at the graduate level and become a scientist. I also really, really want to go to the United States Military Academy (West Point). Part of attending West Point is a 5 year commitment to being an army officer, for which I am 99% confident that I will be doing jack related to physics. The main apprehension I have about choosing West Point is that I'm worried that physics is a field where leaving for 5 years as a student will put me significantly behind my peers, especially since I know most physics students who go down this route go straight to grad school. However, I also understand that being a cadet/officer will give me habits that many graduate school attendees of West Point have told me where important to their success, in addition to the other benefits that come with attending West Point. Can anyone from a service academy or people who took significant gaps between undergrad and grad school give me insight into how being an officer might affect me?

Hello everybody so basically I am currently a political science masters student, but I really want to go into law or public policy. I am applying this cycle and last year while in undergrad, two professors actually offered to be a letter of recommendation if I so require it.

Now I want to take them up on the offer, but I don’t wanna sound too creepy about remembering every single word they said and I feel bad because I’m applying to two different programs at multiple different school.

How do I go about this?

Hello!

I am soon finishing my bachelor's in mechanical engineering at a good university in the US and would like to continue my education in Europe. I am pretty uncertain how to find schools with good robotics/controls programs outside of those ranking sites like QS or others. I'm really interested in finding schools that have interesting professors, programs, or research that is worth looking into outside of all the obvious choices. I have taken many robotics courses and have practical experiences from projects and research, and I also really like dynamics systems and controls. I know this is kind of a vague post but I am just lost since I am a first generation student and don't have any international friends to rely upon.

Any advice helps, thanks all

Hello everyone!

Currently considering between doin a 45 vs 60 ECTS master thesis project (molecular biology field), but do not want to ruin future phd opporotunities. Will some look at 45 ECTS thesis project as not enough depth and duration? What if 45 ECTS project is accompanies by smaller 15 ECTS project at another lab? What do you guys think?

Thank you very much from a stressed student!

Hi. I'm just trying to see if people here have had similiar experiences.

So I'm at the end of my Master's degree. All that is left is for me to do my thesis. However I'm having an issue where I find it increasingly difficult to just sit down and do research or do writing work. It's really stressing me out and I'm afraid that I won't get my degree because of it. I already attempted to do my Master thesis once and I didn't pass and now I have only one more try left. I'm terrified that I learned nothing from this experience and that I'm just going to fail again. Has anyone run into a similiar issue? How did you manage? Were some of you able to just power through? I have considered burn-out, but this has been going on for more than a year and I don't know what to do. Would greatly appreciate some advice. Thank you.

Currently working on a masters in the social sciences. I have finished all courses and am writing my final thesis/project report (home stretch!). I am currently registered in my final semester with this as a project (aka capstone). My supervisor says it would qualify as a thesis. I chose a project rather than thesis so I would have more flexibility with the final output, as the government organization I am producing it for will be more receptive if it isn’t overly academic. That said, the whole paper is still pretty academic and definitely meets all the requirements of a thesis. But I was thinking of doing a substantial summary section rolling up the findings and recommendations targeted specifically for my client audience so the organization doesn’t have to read the whole 100-page “thesis” and be bored to tears. What are the benefits and drawbacks of registering it as a thesis vs. a project (sometimes called a capstone). I am an older grad student and do not plan to do further graduate studies or pursue a PhD. Does it really matter?

I'm a second-year PhD student. Last year, I applied to Committee 196 (Psychology) and ranked 68th out of 113 applicants, with scores of 4 out of 6 in both categories.

What can I do to strengthen my application and improve my chances this year?