/r/GradSchool
Discussion forum for current, past, and future students of any discipline completing post-graduate studies - taught or research.
Welcome to /r/GradSchool!
Discussion forum for current, past, and future students of any discipline completing post-graduate studies - taught or research.
Users may add their own flair to indicate their educational status, e.g. PhD*, Philosophy.
The format should take the general form of Degree, Specialisation. An asterisk (*) after the degree denotes active candidacy or study.
Users who do not follow the general form may have their flair privileges removed.
/r/GradSchool
As the title states, I’m in a 2 person group project and my partner is useless. I tried to work with him all semester but all they do it ask ChatGPT what to do. Fast forward to this thanksgiving. Our professor graded our 1st project (of 3) and we got a 90% on the extra credit. They got a 0% and I got a 45% but the extra credit pretty much gave us both A’s. (Extra credit was worth 100%).
Well my partner wasn’t happy with his 0 (again the 90 makes up for it). So he complained to our professor. Then our grade dropped significantly on the EC and I have a B, they now have a D.
I got hella mad, partner tried to take credit for MY work. I wasn’t ccd on any communications with professor and only know because of a screenshot. (I had called out partner about lying). So I send out an email to our professor basically saying wth, that’s all a lie and I no longer want to be associated with his person.
So my grades the same, a B. My 90 is gone and I’m in my own group now. It’s awful this happened and I’m low key worried this is now going to be a BIG deal but also not my fault? Someone legit tried to take credit for MY work, wtf?
I was just accepted into the MSIM program and was wondering if anyone had any perspectives on it or some insights. I'm really excited to get started!
I'm struggling to find references for my manuscript. A lot of time is wasted in just finding relevant references. Are there anything websites which can save my time?
I know this is a really dumb question, but how do I know what pre-reqs I need for admission to a program? Is this standardized by program (MS of xyz at University A will have the same pre-reqs as MS of xyz at University B) or does it tend to vary not only by program but by institution? (or something else I never considered?) if it's the former of the two, can anyone point me in the right direction of finding that information? again, sorry for the dumb question lol, I'm trying to figure this out all on my own and Uni admissions pages are nothing if not impossible for me to navigate.
Thanks to all in advance!
sincerely this incredibly frustrated and sleep deprived undergrad
Hey everyone, I am applying to graduate school for physics this fall and wanted some inputs on who I should be asking for my letters. I have 2 professors from research I have done with them writing me a letter. The 3rd is a decision between 2 people. The first is another research professor but I worked with him in 2nd year, so it was about 1.5 years ago. The other option I have is to get it from an ML internship I did over the summer. I know that my internship manager had a good impression of me and will be supportive, given how recent it was. So I am not sure if all the recommendation needs to be from academic people or if they can be from a professional reference as well. Thank you for the input. Good luck to everyone else applying this year!
Hi! I’m a graduating undergraduate senior in the US. I double major in history and poli sci and I’m currently debating my grad school career. I go to one of the top public schools and have a 3.8 gpa. I am involved with two independent research projects advised by my professors, which I aim to finish by graduation. I enjoy research a lot and all my professors seem to think I’m suitable for the academia and have nothing to worry about. I too lean towards going into the academia, although I’m hesitant to commit because (1) I’m not sure what discipline I want to go into since I’ve had two majors. I’m more interested in the humanities and interdisciplinary researches, though I tend to have a political lens, specifically political theory/philosophy (2) I’m no sure if I could get into a top PhD program directly without completing a masters first, though I do not want to get in debt for a masters. I know for certain that I’m taking a gap after I graduate next spring to try some internships before making the commitment. I guess my question is, should I get a masters degree first? I’ve heard from people that students that go directly into PhD programs in the humanities rarely succeed. But I’ve also heard that if you’re committed to being in academia you should just do a PhD directly. Could anyone give any advice? I’ve been stressing myself out looking at all the information online, and honestly I’ve been starting to doubt my professors’ judgement that I should have no problem whatsoever.
So I defended my thesis months ago and was passed with major revisions. I submitted the revisions, got one pass, and the rest of the committee gave additional feedback. I did not meet the deadline for graduation in time so I had to pay for an additional semester. I took weeks off as I was very angry.
I submitted again, got a pass while the other member took time to read it, and got back to me a week away from the deadline wanting some more changes. I’m a week away AGAIN from the deadline. The part that angers me is that these revisions are not major, but the member insists on reviewing the whole document and Hand holding to pass me.
Going through a 100 page document to look at tenses and grammar, change sentences for better flow, and adding some more fluff to the discussion can do your head in, so I did not have it done by today. Hoping I get God’s strength to finish it Monday afternoon. But the committee member said they do not promise to have time to review it this week.
I’m broke as broke can be. I don’t want to do another semester. And while I have no control, I’m wondering if this is getting personal now. My supervisors are very angry and think this is unprecedented but will not advocate for me.
So, what do I do? I tried to appeal a revision request previously and the answer was you have to fulfill their every wish no matter what. But what about the committee’s responsibilities?
Hey everyone,
I'm a fourth year Ph.D student in Experimental Psychology who is basically one of the "unicorns" who got in with a questionable academic record (3.3 BS, 3.48 MA GPA and 3.25 years of research experience and one graduate conference poster prior to my Ph.D). Suffice it to say, I didn't exactly have a good graduate career and who I've consulted (career services and even my own advisor) has not helped me in the slightest. Currently, I'm a visiting full time instructor at a SLAC and have a fellowship where I need to teach full time for a year in exchange for funding. I thought this position would give me some spark to get back into the game but it's done the opposite and made me more jaded. I also have a conference coming up that my advisor wants me to go to despite having a public panic attack at the exact same conference last academic year.
I had a similar post months ago about explaining CV gaps and the most upvoted answer was that I had a lack of productivity. I'm confident that's correct since I was not working this past summer on even so much as research projects (I had severe brain fog and couldn't drive due to autistic burnout the likes I've never had before in my life).
Notable "mishaps:" -Waiting on my MA advisor to say something before I did anything (he never even read my program progress reports). I wound up racking up a multitude of "red flags" that I had no idea were a thing by the time I applied to Ph.D programs (low Master's GPA, C+ grade in a core course that I did not remediate, no additional 10 hours of research or teaching related work in the second year of my program that I could've applied for my first Spring semester).
-Despite this, I got an interview at an R1 (got rejected cause I bombed the interview) and accepted at an R2. I feel like I hit my stride my first year of my Ph.D program by getting all As and A-s in my program. However, I was told to work on nothing but my quals project my second year of my Ph.D and didn't do any additional projects or conferences. My advisor eventually dumps me due to a misunderstanding and I was fortunately picked up as an advisee by the department chair. Although the department chair wanted me to work on additional research projects, this never happened because I couldn't focus at all. I now know this was due to borderline cognitive functioning assessed via the RBANS. That and the severe autistic burnout I had this past summer meant no additional research projects whatsoever.
I'm in a bind now since I got a competitive fellowship that awarded me $11k and I need to complete a year's worth of full time teaching as well as graduate with my Ph.D or I have to return the money. Thankfully, I will fulfill those requirements via a visiting instructor position at a SLAC this academic year (which I'm not doing well at all). What could I do post Ph.D that fits within the limits of what I can reasonably do? My CV is only 3 pages and I don't have much going for me. I'm not eligible to go on disability either but I can get a Schedule A hiring letter at least.
I ideally want to be a Research Assistant since that is the "grunt work" of research jobs but I've been told I'd be overqualified for it. Is there any way around this at all?
Edit: I'm open to other suggestions for jobs as well.
Edit 2: Since a comment asked about what I'm good at, I have an answer. I can do some correlations and regressions, but that's about the extent of my data analysis skills. I took basic grad level stats in case I had to take Multivariate statistics but my first advisor didn't want me to take another class my second year, which is when I would've taken it. I can write a fair amount for sure, but that's an ability of mine that's been nerfed due to my borderline cognitive functioning. I also know how to make experiments in Psychology software (Experiment Builder, E-Prime 3.0) too and can export data accordingly. Hopefully, this is helpful info! I don't have much that stands out about my background sadly.
Edit 3: I'm looking through the publication records of other graduates from my program and many of them didn't have any publications either. Most I saw from someone was 10, but like 6-7 of them are literature reviews in this case.
Hello, greetings, and good evening.
In sum, I am a first generation college student who recently finished my undergraduate studies and I am looking to find and apply for a PhD program for fall 2024. However, my goal is to focus on theoretical astrophysics in the fields of statistical mechanics, relativity, cosmology, quantum mechanics, etc etc.
I have few people to ask, and my undergraduate school was a school with a lot more applied physics professors. I am thus struggling to find an easy way to search for schools that have programs relevant to these fields.
Thus I want to ask if there is a resource or website or some way to more easily find PhD programs relevant to what I want to study so I can more easily know who I should be looking at applying to. Any and all advice however is yet welcomed as this undertaking has been a lot less straight forward than I might have hoped.
Cheers and thank you!
Does someone know where I can find this version of the play without paying? I would love to save some bucks. Maybe you already have the ebook? Thanks!
I graduate with my BA in exactly three weeks from today. After I graduate I will apply to grad school and I plan to start in September 2024.
In the meantime, I plan to live with my mom work full time. The thing is I’m not sure what kind of path to go down. A part of me wants to get a job within my major but I barely had any experience in the work force in college except one required internship and I am nervous that most professional jobs will not want to hire me if they know I will be starting grad school in 10 months.
I was thinking of getting a job in the hospitality industry (I.e. server or bartender) or customer service and getting an internship in the summer.
I’m just throwing ideas out there but truth be told I have no idea what I want to do after graduation and it’s weeks away lol. Any advice or share what you did?
Edit- my majors are journalism and political science and I want my masters in international relations
Hi All 👋🏼 I’m back in grad school and I’m in desperate need of a new laptop. I’ve been in the corporate world for the last 10+ years and didn’t need to think about it.
Can anyone recommend any good deals this weekend/monday? I’m really at a loss right now.
I mainly need a stable environment to do research(many tabs), use major office programs, and reliably stream audio/video. I’m working on my masters in counseling to eventual become a licensed therapist.
All suggestions welcome!
Just came across a conference that is perfectly suited to my research and in a country I've always wanted to visit, but it's scheduled for two months after I'm supposed to graduate. Just wondering if there's a precedent for situations like this? I'm pretty certain if the conference was scheduled for a time when I was still enrolled my supervisor would send me without thinking twice since its so specific to our research.
Do schools ever have funding for something like this? Or am I SOL as soon as I'm not enrolled?
I’m currently a freshmen in college doing my undergrad in biochemistry. I’m interested in doing research but I don’t have any official experience and my resume mostly consists of non related experience from high school. I haven’t done any stem related things outside of school and the only research related thing I’ve done is worked with some equipment in a high school bio lab. I’m worried I won’t be able to get involved with anything because of little experience. Any advice or tips is appreciated.
I think I made a pretty major social faux pas against my supervisor. I was walking home after attending a course that my supervisor taught. I had my eyes angled towards the ground, and wasn't really looking at the faces of the people I was walking by. At one point, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye from someone I passed, and I looked behind me to see the back of my supervisor who was walking away and dropped their arm like they had been waving to me as they passed me.
I think I ended up accidentally ignoring their wave (because I wasn't paying attention to the people I passed), but it must have seemed incredibly rude from their perspective, like I was intentionally ignoring them.
I sent them an email later that same day following up about a project we were working on together, but I haven't gotten a reply from them in 4 days; before this incident they always replied back to me within 24 hours after an email. It seems like I really upset them.
I think I may have burned a bridge with my supervisor because of a stupid accident... Any advice?
Edit: I'm in Canada, so it isn't Thanksgiving here unlike the US
Hello,
I am applying to the CGS-M NSERC scholarship in Ontario , and one of my references wants me to write the written assessments for him. This is basically answering three prompts about academic excellence, research potential, and person characteristics.
However, there is a 2400 character limit for each section, which I feel like is a lot. Does anyone have advice on whether it’s ok to only put down 1000 characters or so? I put a lot in the research potential section, but for something like Academic excellence, there’s not much to say considering they can just look at my transcript.
Does anyone have any advice?
I started applying to PhD programs this week, and I'm worried I made a mistake. One of the schools I applied to has been my dream school for years, and when I was submitting my writing sample and statement of academic purpose, I was surprised to see an optional "Personal Statement" was part of the application. The department handbook I read in the months leading up to this never mentioned a personal statement, so I didn't have one prepared.
I made the spur of the moment decision to type up a quick paragraph and submit it. I felt such a sense of emotional catharsis to finally be applying to the school I had fantasized about attending for so long, and what I wrote was... a bit cringe. Nothing outrageously terrible, but casual in tone and self-mythologizing in a way that could come off badly.
My statement of purpose and writing sample are very considered and polished, and went through multiple drafts, so this less professional element could throw the whole thing off. Should I send an email asking them to remove it from my application, since it was optional anyway? Or will that just call more attention to it?
I've been looking into a PhD in psychology for a while. I'm currently more interested in research than clinical work but would be fine with getting an MSW or MS in Clinical Counseling if I decided to pursue it down the road. Does having a PhD vs a MS in psychology significantly improve career options in the field of research? Just trying to get an idea of whether or not to pursue this academic avenue.
I am having my degree in Public Administration from an University outside USA and I had no option to take natural science or math courses throughout my college. I wanted to become an engineer but couldn’t pursue engineering because of family. But now I want to become an engineer. Is it possible for me to complete those courses elsewhere and become an eligible applicant for masters in engineering? Say Can I complete those courses at a community college or a night college? Then I will have a bachelor outside usa but I will have completed my required science courses from another Institute, will universities accept that?
My family keeps asking what I want for Christmas. I am an impulse buyer, so if I see something (small and ~$20) I want I just buy it.
What are some things you you have found to be essential to survive grad school? Particilarly if you're in Biology/Ecology field of study!
Thanks for the ideas!
I am a doctoral student and was recently hired as a research assistant. My professor wants me to write a multi-year grant proposal from scratch on his behalf. Is this a normal request in your opinion?
I will be compensated for the hours I work under the research assistant rate at my university.
I’m looking for a masters program to solidify a career trajectory. My gpa isn’t fantastic but is above a 3, I want to hear what others would do, what exciting programs are great for a pivot?
Thanks in advance, but I’ll be sure to thank you again and probably inquire more. :P
I just finished my bachelor’s degree and I plan on starting a master’s program in the spring. I’m trying to find a school with the program I want.
Since most of the grad schools are online anyway, do you have to live nearby? Or could I go to a grad school online that’s in a different state?
Class I'm TAing is making us write the final lab exams for each section we are teaching. Just curious if that is normal, as other courses I have TA'd did not have this expectation.
Hello!
I'm posting for a friend. She is currently an Honours psychology student at the University of Calgary studying cognition and linguistics. She has told me it will 2-5 years for her to get her PR and until then, she's unable to apply to any of the tri-councils to get funding for her Masters. She has applied to Experimental Psych programs but knows it's almost impossible to be accepted without funding.
If anyone aware of alternative funding sources, agencies or community partnerships that she could look into? Also, are there any suggestions for international students? For example, could she apply to SSHRC if someone else is listed as the principal investigator?
Like I said, I'm only posting for a friend and am unfamiliar with this area, so I apologize if I've worded anything incorrectly or if there are obvious answers.
I’m halfway through an entirely online master’s program for industrial and organizational psych ...getting burned out. Is it normal for online program profs to just read the ppt and call it a seminar? No real-world anecdotes, not much discussion, I just feel like I listen to someone read once a week, then do a lot of busy work. Is that normal? Is it just this school?
Hey all. Been watching this subreddit for a long time and need some advice from those who have gone through the admission process for grad school apps.
I’m currently a junior graduating next Winter with a BS in computer science. GPA of 3.7 in the Honors College from a small state school. Planning on going into my PhD immediately after in Informatics (a field that’s relatively new, heavily focused on interdisciplinary impacts/methods in technology. Think stuff like HCI, or preservation of information with tech).
I’m struggling because while I have a lot of extracurricular leadership positions, I find myself falling short of my peers as I haven’t had a President position in any organizations. I’m the treasurer of one club, the Vice president for two clubs, and the founder of a local on-campus market. Additionally, I’ve done research in climate change, tech artifact preservation, and preserving posters using tech. Also working on a side project in programming to boost myself that way. TLDR, very much of a “Jack of all trades” mentality.
I’m concerned about applying to graduate school and the reviewers dismissing me because of my lack of head leadership positions. My school doesn’t offer TA opportunities either, so I’m worried im lacking in that area. Anyone have any advice on this/what I should be focusing on in preparation?
Hello, this will be my first time on being a panelist on a business plan defense. Any tips or recos on how to prepare?
The B+MM program gets a lot of bad rap, but given my academic interests and future aspirations, do you think it could be a good fit?
Next fall, I will be entering my second year of undergrad at UBC majoring in Media Studies. My degree has flexibility in the electives I take and I’m unsure whether I want to work towards a comp sci minor or business minor.
Since high school, I’ve found it impossible to narrow my interest to just one subject. I took plenty of business courses but also really enjoyed media arts and making things digitally. computer programming was another interest area, but I only started taking courses in my fifth year of high school, so I felt it was too late to make that my one and only subject of interest.
I decided to major in media studies because ultimately, I want a creative degree that has more projects than exams. However, I also want to learn more about computers and web development which I hope to complete through my undergrad comp sci courses.
My interest in business is there too, but not enough to make it a key player in my undergrad education (my other undergrad choice was BTM). My main interests in business are project management, organizational behaviour, marketing, and branding. I’m good at math but don’t want to do much finance or accounting.
That’s why I think the B+MM could be a good option. By taking a few courses throughout undergrad and then completing my master’s within 8 months, I would be able to combine all of my interests into two degrees, even if one is only a glorified BComm.
For what it’s worth, it’s really important to me that I get a master’s degree, but I’m already in my early 20s and no where close to completing undergrad (33%). Feeling a lot of societal pressure to “get it over with”, despite my love for being a student.
What do you think: should I give the program a chance?
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TLDR: In second year of media studies at UBC and want to combine business into my education. having a master’s degree is important to me and I am considering the B+MM program.