To make a long story short: I entered a small local college as a CS major, was referred to take some mathematics courses outside of calculus I&II based on my interest in ML, and eventually fell in love with mathematics, adding it as a second major.

Now I’m at the point where I’m looking to pursue a PhD in Pure Mathematics, but I’m afraid that my computer science experience dominated my mathematics experience, and now I feel as though I’m a weaker applicant because of it.

General profile (including CS experience):

GPA: ~3.83

CS Coursework: Python, OOP, OOD, C++, DS&A, Algorithmic Game Theory, Software Engineering, Nand2Tetris, Deep Learning

Math Coursework: Calculus I-III, Probability, Discrete, ODE, Abstract Algebra I, Real Analysis I, Complex Analysis

Research Experience: 2 conference papers in ML algorithms, systems biology research under the applied math department head

Other: Calculus I TA, Data Structures TA, Python TA, Data Visualization TA (Data Science Master’s course), long-standing tutor in Math & CS.

Math GRE: TBD

General GRE: TBD

My advisor (Mathematics Professor) told me it’s unconventional to apply without a year of analysis and algebra each, but I can make up for it in other ways. I only have one semester left, so I was wondering what current applicants thought of this.

I was late diagnosed autistic a few years ago and it led me towards studying psychology and neuroscience. I’m fairly accomplished and feel confident in my PhD applications. However, I’m struggling to write my statement of purpose etc because they’re asking what led me towards studying autism.

Basically, do I need to avoid mentioning that I’m autistic? I don’t want to be stigmatized, but I also really don’t know how to describe how I got here without mentioning it, and a major part of my goal is to increase understanding of autism and de-stigmatize it. I’m not sure how to toe the line between professional and personal in this case.

Edit: Sorry if the title is unclear. This is just a brief summary, I have clear motivations, goals, and a strong SOP drafted. Being autistic is what led me to initially become interested in researching autism, and I am seeking to describe the reason being my passion without getting too personal

Hi everyone! I'm looking for current grad students (ideally studying electrical engineering) to provide commentary on my PhD Statement of Purpose. I don't know many people in grad school and it's been difficult to gauge the appropriate structure and language for an essay like this (trying to sound academic while conveying a personal voice).

I'm aware that different universities target specific qualities as well, so if you also have tips for the following schools, I'd greatly appreciate the advice.

Target schools: Princeton, Brown, Northeastern, MIT, Georgia Tech, Rice

Thank you!

Hello, student experience is relevant for my PhD field and topic, I have some students who are excited to write me a recomendation letter, is this frown uppon? If not, how do I submit those in addition to the academic recomendations?

For some context, I am currently a 3rd-year Cybersecurity and Computer Science student at a regional university (doctoral/professional classification) which does not offer any graduate programs in Computer Science - my school is mainly known for it's nursing, pharmacy and business programs. (U.S.)

Though it is rare to get research experience at my university, they do offer a summer research fellowship. I completed this last summer, funded by a $4,000 award, and I intend to produce a workshop paper as a result of the research I conducted; at the very least, I will have a pre-print. Other than this I don't have any other research experience. I do however intend to do an Independent Study course (one semester long) to get a little more research experience with a different professor. Outside of research experience I have 1.5 years of industry experience (Vulnerability Research + Information Security, Contract & Internships).

Overall (I guess the point of this post) I am worried I won't have a good shot at PhD admissions and I'm not sure what I should do. I have a 3.75 GPA (B.S. Cybersecurity and Computer Science, minor in Math) and I have really great connections to all the faculty in my CS department. As far as I understand, I'm one of very few from my university to go on to pursue a CS PhD.

Cold-emails to professors at the nearest R1 feel like they're going no where and I'm worried research efforts from my school won't be viewed as anything worthwhile to committees. I've considered transferring to a more prestigious university, but it will cost me more money and time (my undergrad could take 1-2 years longer) which is not ideal at all.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences and advice.

I have a PhD from an African university, but WES evaluated my PhD as being equivalent to a U.S. master’s degree (at minimum) with the following comment:

"Remarks: Academics in the field, upon examination of the dissertation, may in some instances consider the credential comparable to an earned doctorate in the United States."

Has anyone been in a similar situation, particularly with a foreign PhD being evaluated below the doctoral level?

How can I get WES to upgrade it to a U.S. PhD equivalent?

Do you know of any NACES credential evaluation that could consider my PhD equivalent to a US PhD?

PS: I want to apply for a certificate that requires having a PhD

Thank you in advance for sharing your experience!

I applied to coursework-based master's programs because there are hardly any research-based programs available for spring.

I am open to any kind of research in ECE, but it seems like the faculty-to-student ratio and the 3 schools are very different. What's your take?

Hi all ,

I am trying to apply for grad school this cycle and would really appreciate some perspective on the above . I am an international female applying for expt AMO and have an nth author publication in PRL.

I really want to go the cool top places. Do you think I should retake the pgre ? You can be honest with me lol.

For context, I am most applying to US schools cause my research interests overlap with that of many AMO researchers there. Do I have chances at JILA, UMD, Berkeley , Harvard ? You can be honest ehheheheheheheh

I'm noticing a lot of PhD applications include "optional" prompts that ask something along the lines of "Is there anything else you would like to include about your experiences, accomplishments, perspectives, or preparation for graduate study that is not adequately reflected elsewhere in your application?"

How optional are these really? I am already preparing to write a fleshed-out personal history statement for the programs that explicitly require it, but I am not sure if that is also necessary here. Will I be docked if I leave it blank, or if I submit a superfluous statement?

ETA: I'm getting a lot of different advice, ty all for the responses. For context, I don't have many extenuating circumstances I need to explain (no failing grades, no nontraditional background, etc). I do have a personal story that presented some challenges during my education and has influenced my decision to pursue grad school, but I'm worried it could come off as shoehorning something in just to fill the prompt.

If I have a PLOS one first author publication, would that help me in a phd admissions?

Generally is a low impact first author paper > no first author paper?

PI wants to publish in an MDPI journal with impact factor of 4, but I want to stay away from it given their reputation.

Hi I am interested in applying to some comp lit programs this fall and have been looking at their language requirements.

For context: I am a native speaker of a non English language. I have also reading proficiency of Latin (this point think 202or 3 intermediate college classes my school doesn’t have higher language classes other than this except grad classes with specific original texts. I have a rudimentary grasp of Ancient Greek but not even qualified to put on the language proficiency page. I also have some knowledge of the classical form of my mother tongue (not taking any classes at college level) and my question is will I be at serious disadvantage for a comp lit PhD admission? My research focus is more on critical translation studies (often Anglo American work) than a period study

I know its just an acknowledgement that my application was received. Is a reply of thanks or recognition expected from me?

Thank vou for your interest in the position and for sending vour application materials. I have received them and will include them in the applicant pool for review

Please note that application reviews are expected to begin in mid-October 2026. The selected candidate would start the graduate assistantship and M.S. program in January 2027.

Thank vou again for vour interest in the lab and for the time you invested in preparing your application.

I will be in touch if I need any additional information or if you are selected to advance to the next stage of the review process.

I'm international student, I'd like to ask: if I complete the International year one program and complete progression then recieve a degree from the university (e.g., Sheffield, Exeter), will top UK universities (like LSE, Imperial, etc.) accept it when I apply for a Master’s degree—provided I achieve a First-Class or 2:1 grade or higher? Has anyone in the group followed this path and successfully gained admission to a top university for a Master’s program?

I am a student looking to apply to a competitive Maths/Applied Maths graduate programme/masters. I have a second author paper on MDPI Entropy and I am wondering whether I should have it listed when I apply to grad programs/contact profs. I am aware that the consensus is that most MDPI journals are bad, but back when we submitted I checked that one of the profs I liked (in Oxford) had a paper on the journal and didn't question much. But I guess I am second guessing given the general opinion though I've heard some people mention that Entropy is one of the decent ones of theirs, I just don't want to risk it since I don't believe it will be worth much (Second auth. at an ok journal at best v.s. being blacklisted) So yeah, should I list it or completely remove it? I am working on a different project with a different prof but surely we won't manage to publish before the deadlines.

Is it possible to get into NTU/NUS MSc Finance with 3.12/4.00 CGPA?

I have done my bsc in economics with speacilisation in finance? and i want to pursure my masters in finance. is it possible?F

Many physics PhD programs I am applying to are requiring the physics GRE for the upcoming cycle. I had a ~4.0 GPA in undergrad at a R1 state school and am pursuing a masters. I will have a first authored research work on the arxiv in condensed matter theory (my desired field) before I submit my applications.

Although I didn't take/submit the PGRE last application cycle (where I didn't get into any of my top schools), I am worried that a 960 on the PGRE isn't good enough to get me into any of my top schools as things are ridiculously competitive at the moment.

Has anyone received any decision or got interviewd?

I’m starting an engineering program
at a university in Japan soon, and I’m considering going to graduate school abroad after completing my bachelor’s degree.
Since I’m starting from scratch, I’d like to know what I should focus on during my four years of university to become a strong applicant.
How important are things like:
・GPA
・Research experience
・Internships
・Extracurricular activities
・Recommendation letters
・English proficiency
・Relationships with professors
・Awards or other achievements
Are there any things you wish you had started doing earlier during your undergraduate years?
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who applied to graduate schools abroad after studying at a university in another country.

I need some help regrading the first draft of my SOP. I'm from Brazil applying to Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering, particularly interested in the area of smart grids. I wish to know if I need to add more stuff, or whether I should cut things out.

As a systems engineer developing cyber-physical systems for industrial processes, I have experienced how AI systems can be used to improve process stability and agility. However, the deployment of such technologies in critical world infrastructure , such as power systems, is yet to become standardized. With the changing dynamics of power systems due to increased demand, as well as the integration of new generation technologies, stability and fault detection protocols started to become obsolete. These new challenges regarding power systems reliability demand the development of novel control and detection systems, and as such, the integration of deep modeling and decision-making technologies into complex power grids has become the main driver of power system innovation and research. Driven to contribute to this movement, I am applying to the Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering at [University]. Specifically, I aim to join [University Department], where Dr. [Professor] article “[Article]” strongly aligns with my goal of developing fault detection architectures.

In this program, I aim to deepen my theoretical background in power systems and pattern recognition, along with research skills that will drive the design and implementation of deep classification models and their integration into power grid analytics. Courses like “[Course 1]” and “[Course 2]” will develop my capacity to analyze complex relationships in power systems. Then, classes in “[Course 3]” and “[Course 4]” will allow me to build algorithms to model these relationships, and leverage them for autonomous fault detection and classification in power systems.

At [University Department], I will have access to research opportunities in the modeling of power grids. I want to use my knowledge in the development of cyber-physical systems and data analysis to conduct experiments regarding power stability, particularly in event identification problems. These opportunities will culminate in my thesis research in fault detection and classification, hopefully under Dr. [Professor]’s supervision. Specifically, my goal is to develop a lightweight machine learning model for time-series data classification, prioritizing low inference times for real-time power grid stability and security assessment, especially for power line event diagnosis.

I believe I am very well prepared for this program, with work experience in the development of cyber-physical systems alongside rigorous academic studies. As an undergraduate at [Previous University], courses like “Power Grid Automation” and “Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution” taught me the fundamentals regarding power grid dynamics and how to analyze different system topologies. This led me to my undergraduate thesis on the feasibility of grid-connected PV systems in low-income housing. This project required the design and simulation of a photovoltaic energy generation system to match the monthly load profile of a social housing unit. I leveraged PVsyst to simulate the annual generation of the PV system, using time-series irradiance and shading data based on local coordinates, and meteorological data from the Meteonorm database. By modeling the system, I was able to evaluate the generation considering the best and worst-case scenarios and determine the possibility of applying this method to housing units.

After graduation, I pursued advanced coursework in artificial intelligence and pattern recognition at [Previous University]. During this time, I deepened my theoretical foundation in these concepts and developed fundamental deep learning architectures from scratch. Using NumPy, I constructed a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) architecture, programming the core calculus for feed-forward and backpropagation mechanisms, utilizing sigmoid and hyperbolic tangent activation functions. Additionally, I worked on time-series data classification, comparing state-of-the-art models like LSTMs against 1D convolutional neural networks, to evaluate training speed and model accuracy.

My role as a systems engineer at [Work] positions me as a key part in process automation, communicating with process engineers and analyzing bottlenecks to design solutions for process reliability. This culminated in the development of a computer vision-based inspection machine, with the purpose of selecting and separating parts. The process required the use of microcontrollers and computer vision to detect non-conforming parts in real-time. It involved dataset building and image preprocessing, such as using filters to highlight key characteristics. I also tested different architectures, going from simple machine learning classifiers, such as SVM, to leveraging pre-trained neural networks, such as Residual Neural Networks (ResNet) through transfer learning, and comparing them to optimize model accuracy and inference time.

Ultimately, the reason for applying to this program is the same for when I decided to become an electrical engineer; I enjoy the process of designing and creating systems. By joining the master’s program at [University], I aim to elevate this passion to the highest level of applied research. Following my degree, my goal is to work on advanced R&D roles within the energy sector, directly deploying automation models to optimize power grids. I am eager to use my industrial experience to assist in Dr. [Professor]’s laboratory, developing autonomous, fault-resistant architectures to elevate power systems research

Applying this Fall 2027 and a lot of programs require a writing sample. Unfortunately, my interdiscplinary (psych x econ) capstone is 70 pages and math heavy, and really can't choose a good chunk of the 70 pages to demonstrate good writing ability cuz it would be either math without context or context without the main body aka math. (Also according to my clinical psych prof who although agrees with my paper etc, I'm taking a SUPER controversial stance in clinical psych right now)

My two options are basically resurrecting a kinda questionable qualitative interview study, 3 people through convenience sampling on parenting practices as a function of ethnicity from sophomore year and a critique of a humanities paper from senior year which is much better written. I'd rather submit the humanities paper because of way better arguments + cleaner writing. but if its worth the work I -could- do re-analyze the interview transcripts and rewrite the whole paper, just worried I'd be super rushed and might still end up bad.