I’m so nervous. I’m trying to relax, but I’m extra nervous since my advisor said he is going to call me with my decision. 🙂‍↕️

Recently had a pre-application meeting with a potential PI for a PhD in Biochemistry and I'm a bit confused on how to read it.

So I had requested an application fee waiver from the grad program and got rejected twice. The program coordinator told me that a PI can cover the fee from their lab if they want to.

I had cold emailed this PI back in May and she gave positive feedback on my profile and said it was a good fit. So I recently asked if she could cover the fee waiver through her lab. She replied that she usually only does interviews after the deadline (in January), but in this case she would need a formal meeting before I apply.

The meeting actually went really well. She was happy to know about the work I've done, and she mentioned that she only interviews serious applicants. She said she gets so many cold emails and many people don't even read her work properly, so she filters them out and only interviews the ones she finds serious.

At the end she agreed to pay my application fee and yesterday I received the waiver code from the program. After the meeting she emailed:

"It was nice meeting you earlier, I enjoyed our discussion. To follow up on the application fee waiver- we have generated this code that will waive the fee: ######## When you submit your application there should be some place for you to enter that. Let me know if you have any issues. I look forward to reviewing your application."

My question is - is this a good sign? She didn't explicitly say she will accept me into her lab. Does paying the fee mean she is seriously considering me, or is this pretty normal and I am overthinking it?

Would love to hear if anyone has had a similar experience.

Thanks!

First year Master’s student here, from the US, attended undergrad and my current program both in the US.

There’s a professor based at a university in Quebec (Canada) that aligns with my research goals perfectly. They also offer a course in the subject area I focus on in my research, that no university in America offers. I found this professor’s papers online published in English, but a majority of his research is published in French.

But that all being said, this university says it does teach mostly in French. English proficiency helps (thank god!) but French is required for learning.

I’d like to set an ambitious goal for myself and try to become fluent in French in two years but I don’t know if that would be feasible. My advisor also thinks it would be very beneficial to my studies to learn Russian (she’s absolutely right), but I don’t know if or how to commit to learning a language, let alone two extremely different ones at the same time.

So if anyone has advice on this, I guess my questions are:

Should I get rolling on trying to learn French to apply to this university’s PhD program?

Is two years too short of a time frame (as in, should I try to take an internship or research gap year while still trying to learn French, or something similar)?

Is it going to be impossible to learn two languages at the same time?

I’m a pretty fast learner, I know the bare bones of Russian but I do not know anything about French. So any advice would be helpful. It would be silly for me to ask “will it be useful?” when I know it will be, but starting the process of learning is where I’m trying to figure things out.

Thanks!

Hi guys I’m a sophomore in a NJ college, and in 2 years I know PhD apps will be starting.

I’m a EE major and I want to do a PhD in the field of autonomous robots/systems.

Rn I have a 3.697 GPA (4.0 first sem, 3.5 second sem).

My 3rd sem is about pretty mid so far I have a lot of regrets in terms of how I handled coursework rn, I took too many club involvement and its cost my grades. But assuming I lock in now and for the remaining 3 sems before apps, I’d end up between 3.8 - 3.85.

My research is good, and I hopefully have good LORs.

GPA wise I really regret it, the B+ would be in Diff Eq & Engineering Ethics. (I’m being 100% serious, I feel like my GPA is not good enough)

In the next 2 ish years what should I do to maximize my chances?

Okay so I’m looking for programs and here are things about me. I will finish my media & communication degree this fall with pre law minor this fall with 2.79 GPA. I know it’s bad and really discoursing I had a really bad time in college with personal stuff so I wasn’t focused on school and never thought it would matter because I didn’t plan on doing grad school but here I am. I am competing leveling courses right now as the same time and have all A so far. So I maintain a full time student schedule, part time serving, and I work full time as an elementary special needs paraprofessional and speech service facilitator. I have volunteer experience, leadership position at my serving job, NSLS member, NSSLHA member, experience with childcare, voluntary tutoring services, and I got an internship but could not do it with my work schedule but plan to get observation experience in the coming semester (spring). I feel like I have a really strong gpa explanation, why I want to be an SLP, and personal statement. I am probably teaching at the school I work in now next year but haven’t 100% committed (I was approved for alternative pathway) so ideally I would need to do an online program.
With that being said, I would really love to get accepted to part time distance program at UofSC especially because I live in SC, a lot of teachers do it with the CREATE program so it is funded. However they require 3.0 and I’m just intimidated because I’ve heard it’s hard to get into. What are your recommendations?

How does Cambridge and Oxfrod assess the first-class honours requirement for a law masters degree? Are people who get the foreign equivalent of a 7.0 GPA (minimum first-class honours requirement) still competative or would it not be considered against individuals who get higher first-class GPAs i.e. 8.0+?

The stipend is as important to me as the fit of the program right now, and as such, I’m considering mainly private schools. Is it foolish to apply to Yale, Brown, Duke, etc with the same writing sample and tailored SoPs? I’ve never applied before and I’m not sure if an application one Ivy rejects means that it’s not up to the quality of the others. I know each school is their own school; I’m just uncertain if their admission standards are similar enough that it would be a waste of time and money to apply for mostly Ivies and then one state school.

I know “safety schools” are kind of contentious (I’m not super up to date with the discourse) but should I be applying to more state schools as a strategic move nonetheless? Or are the Ivies’ admission standards diverse enough within themselves that it would be redundant?

Hi everyone! This may be a long shot, but I had severe writer's block when writing my essays for the PDS Soros Fellowship and just got them done. I have sent them to my undergrad department of scholarships and alumni affairs, but with the deadline being so close (October 29), I was wondering if I could get more sets of eyes on them from now until then. I would really appreciate someone who is familiar with this fellowship or has some experience with admissions in general! Thank you guys!!

Hi guys, I am about to apply to CS PhD program in US this fall cycle 2027.

I am a master student, not in the US.

I got 1 ICLR (co-first) and 2 under submission now.

I want to focus on graphics so Utah is my dream school.

Extremely Reach: UW

Target: Utah, UC Davis

What do you guys think about my chances?

Hi all,

I have spent the last ~4 years as a backend software engineer. My degree is in CompE, but almost all my work has been software. Worked on some interesting things like designing large-scale systems, Query optimization, etc

I realized I don't like SWE work and want to do research in Operations Research/optimization. I've talked with other friends who have done research extensively to make sure this is what I want.

However, I have zero research experience (Other than research-ish projects at work). I'm also currently brushing up on undergrad Math and thinking of taking a class or two at a nearby college related to OR/optimization.

My questions:

1. With no research background, what are my realistic options for a masters? Does industry experience count for much in admissions?
2. Are there funded or low-cost thesis-based master's programs worth looking at (in-state public schools, Canada, Europe, etc.)? Chances of getting a TA/RA position?
3. What can I do while still working to build research experience before I apply? (Emailing professors, reproducing papers, open source, etc.)

I'd appreciate advice or stories from anyone who made a similar jump. Thanks!

Hiii, I'm very new to the Graduate process and am currently experiencing a lot of anxiety about applying. I've never really cared about school until I got into college and found my passion in sociology and writing. Throughout my time in college, I really excelled and completed an extremely successful individual research study that's gotten me a lot of awards in the department -- even earning me a service to the department award, and I pioneered a student-led research lab. I've also been the president of a club on campus and presented my writing at other conferences as well. I've written an article already which is pending publication and have lots of ideas and soooo many things I cannot wait to do with this research and expand upon. I'm applying to a lot of schools (some are Ivy League), and I'm just extremely worried I'm not going to get into any school at all. I have a mediocre GPA from college due to a class that I struggled with greatly that truly doesn't represent my capabilities nor my drive for education and I've just never been great at standardized testing so I'm afraid my score from the GRE (which I'm scheduled to take in a couple of weeks) may not accurately represent myself nor my hard work either. I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance that there's hope for me getting in LOL.

hi everyone. i'm applying to grad school and would love some tips on my SoI. Is there anything I can improve? Is there anything that's confusing or doesn’t make sense ? thank u!

Hello, everyone!

I’m Makia Alghamdi, associate director of recruitment and admissions at WashU’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. I’m here to answer your questions related to our graduate programs in art, architecture, and design, and life at the Sam Fox School.

We offer these graduate programs:

• Master of Architecture
• Master of Landscape Architecture 
• Master of Urban Design 
• MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture 
• MFA in Visual Art 
• Master of Design for HCI and Emerging Technology 

If you're thinking about applying to one of our graduate programs, feel free to ask about:

• Application requirements and timeline
• Program and curriculum information
• Crafting a compelling statement of purpose or artist's statement
• Building a strong portfolio
• Admissions review and selection processes
• Research, studios, and interdisciplinary learning experiences
• Funding, scholarships, and assistantship opportunities
• Anything related to graduate admissions!

I’ll be answering questions live on Tuesday, October 27 from 10am – 11am CT. I’m excited to connect with you and hopefully can make applying to graduate school a little less daunting.

Guys I will get a lot of smirks and eye rolls for this. I want to do PhD in quantum computing field in MIT, I want to know what is realistically close to get into research in MIT. I know that qualifications should be outstanding, I currently have around 72.5% in my bachelors and I worked for 1.9 years and resigned due to toxicity and bias. I am planning for masters and I can do it in my home country. but for doctoral studies I want to atleast give a try for MIT. It is overwhelming and kind of a hard to reach goal, I want to know how if it is ever possible.
oh and also I have an IEEE publication related to ML. I already feel stupid posting this but anyways here it goes

Could anyone who's applying or was successfuly admitted share his CV with me!

I submitted my applicaiton on October 7th 2026. The deadline for the program for international students is November 1. I am still awaiting a response and I just wanted to know if there is any specific timeline that is followed? I am eager to get my decision so I know if I got accepted or not so I can move forward to applying my study permit.

Any advices on how longer should I wait?

For context, I'm a senior at my current college studying civil engineering (transportation engineering track), and I was admitted to the direct master's program at my undergrad university, although without assistantship. I'm looking to apply to other colleges to see if I can get an assistantship.

I do have a good rapport with other professors in my university who could write me a rec letter, but I feel like I should ask professors who teach my major and are in my desired discipline, who I also have a very good rapport with. However, the same transportation professors who I have in mind also were the same ones who admitted me to the master's program.

Would it be a bad look if I ask them for a rec letter? I don't want them to think I'm "ditching" the program at my own college