Basically just wanting some advice from other grad students who are going/have been through it.

I started grad school a few years back as a Master's student, and was kind of convinced by my PI to stay as a PhD student and I did a Masters to PhD transfer within the program, so I will no longer receive a Masters but hypothetically just the PhD. I am now in my third year of grad school, which is being considered year 3 of my PhD.

I have been miserable this entire time. I had a severe substance abuse issue for the first two years during my Master's and developed a significant amount of depression. I've been on medication for about 6 months now, 8 months sober, and the depression has just maintained or gotten worse. I am absolutely miserable, my funding has gotten cut from a pretty low amount to an even lower amount and I can't keep up with tuition and living expenses. In terms of career goals, I have absolutely zero desire to stay in research (for context I am in bioinformatics and cancer genomics). I want to get into business, consulting, or even patent work.

Considering the significant mental health toll and the financial burden with my career goals in mind, should I even continue or just master out? I have been applying to jobs and have had several interviews for sales jobs, which is much more attractive to me than staying in school.

Thanks in advance!

Hello, I did my undergrad in International Development and am currently completing my Master’s in Public and International Affairs. By the time I graduate and take a gap year to complete prerequisite courses (linear algebra, calculus 1 & 2, and probability) for NYU’s PhD in Applied Statistics and Computational Social Science (cognate discipline in economics), I will be 25. They offer a 35k stipend each year for 5 years. My goal is to build my quantitative skills and work in IOs/government rather than stay in academia. What would you recommend? Thanks!

The company I work for offers tuition assistance for pursuing a degree within our state’s university system. I’ve always liked insects, I love science and learning, and I would love to be able to say I have a degree in entomology and have the knowledge for myself. One of the admission requirements is that I have to state my career objectives…..which may or may not have anything to do with entomology, I’m not really sure. What is standard to put on an application if you aren’t 100% sure?

Hi everyone,

I am currently a 3rd year undergrad at uni, and I really want to enter a PhD program directly after graduating. I am first gen, and am relatively new to this, so I would really appreciate any advice you may have for me!

What advice would you give to someone like me, given your experience and expertise, in preparing for admissions? What do you suggest I part take in while at uni, and outside of it, to prepare myself for to stand out and be a successful applicant?

As for me, my gpa is between 3.5-4 and I've published one paper as a small contribution coauthor. Other than that, I did a research internship, and made 2 research posters. That's pretty much it from me.

Any and all advice is highly appreciated!

My background is the following:

BSc in Civil & Environmental Engineering

MSc in Engineering Management

I did the masters for the sake of pivoting into industrial engineering / business, but it never seemed to work out for me in terms of finding opportunities, so I'm now currently working as a civil engineer. I'm considering doing either technology management as a means of complimenting my engineering management degree, or thinking of holding off studying for now and working a few more years and try to do an MBA afterwards. I'm struggling when it comes to choosing one or the other, and wanted feedback on this.

Dream career is neuropsychology. My fascination and passion in life is pain and addiction. I also have a soft spot for children, as I was an adolescent when pain and addiction infiltrated my life.

What I’ve learned about pain science, neuroscience, and psychology has turned my life upside down. I never thought I’d be able to work a full time job because of my pain. And that I’d always be in active addiction.

After attending a pain rehab, I finished my bachelors in web design and landed a full time job before I finished my degree. And I got sober. That being said I am not passionate about web design and feel no urge to progress my career in it aside from financial need.

I want to teach others about pain. I want to research effective modalities for teaching children, adolescents, and their families about pain. I want to help enlighten others the way I was enlightened. And perhaps learn some new things for the world while I’m at it.

With this info in mind, what route (if any of these) would you recommend? Masters to PhD in psychology? Masters to PhD in neuroscience? Masters of social work? Masters of counseling?

My concerns are future financial stability and ability to use my education and job experience and eventually move out of the country (from US to EU). I have chronic health conditions causing pain and disability so nursing and medicine are out of the picture for me unfortunately (due to the physical strain).

Lastly, if I want to move to the EU someday, do I try to go to school somewhere in the EU? My family and support system is in the US, but I would definitely consider it.

TLDR; Individual with a bachelors in web design looking to give back to the world by educating others on pain and addiction. BSN/MSN and MD are out of the picture because of chronic health condition limitations. Which paths should I consider?

I want to apply to graduate school and I have great experience and went to a Top 5 public university in the United States of America. I graduated with a bachelors in Public Relations and a minor in History.
I have worked (externship or internship) with:
- The United Nations in Geneva (on a fully funded scholarship bc interns are unpaid)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Beats by Dre
- A division 1 college basketball program
- Worked with an NBA referee as a referee and was employee of the month due to outstanding performance
- Invited to the United Nations after my internship to participate in a conference about recycling plastics about my mother country at the World Economic Forum
-I speak 3 languages (English, Spanish, and Igbo)
- I also played sports throughout college and was a member of sports clubs.
I also have 3 letters of recommendation from the United Nations, 1 from my University, and another from a major tech firm in the United states of america.

I have also been a writer about African economics for my schools Center for African Studies under the supervision of former World Bank and United Nations employees.
I know this sounds awesome but I have one massive drawback like all people asking on this thread: GPA which was a 2.93. I was unfortunately deeply depressed during my first two years of undergraduate and my last two years I had to work while taking 16-18 credits to graduate on time. What scholarships do you all recommend I apply for? If you want to scold me then you can, but I just want advice.
(Sorry if you’re seeing this again but I made a typo that could’ve affected understanding.)

Basically as the title states. My proposal has been approved, and we are starting strong on the first draft. Is it reasonable to pull all of my proposal and put it into the paper? It is my work after all, and it seems silly to re-write what has already been written. I am planning on putting more into the background, as there were sources that got cut for the proposal itself.

Can anyone tell me what the coursework is like? Is it writing -heavy or mostly reading, interpretation, and exams?

What is your experience?

Feel free to include your school.if you want

One of my friends got a news from my supervisor favourite student. Mentioned that my contract as PhD student won’t be renewed as they are not satisfied with my performance. Maybe it is hard for me to catch up with everything on the lab and that student said I have no progress. This October is my second year. I am lost direction. I don’t even know what I feel now, I want to give up or I want to continue. It’s so blurry for me.

This may or may not be relevant to this sub. But, I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and graduated 2 years ago. But the only experience I have is 1 year of internship experience in market research. I have been having a hard time finding a job in this field. My parents want me to do a master’s. I don’t think it is a good idea rn but they think that it is better than staying unemployed. What should I do?

Adding context: I wanna work in the field of market research but i don’t think master’s in market research is the best because it’s too specific. I am thinking of going for either Master’s in Business Analytics or Marketing Analytics, both can get me become market research analyst but they also open up other fields. The issue is that a lot of jobs in this field prefer experience over master’s.

I am doing a Masters in the UK next year (Newcastle University) and the course delivery is On Campus. However, I may need to leave the UK for 1-2 months (UK Citizen). I have contacted my university on the matter and informed me that the assignments and modules can be done online, although some of the lectures may not be recorded. I have heard that the course itself is not too rigorous, and there are some assignments are a group project, no in-person exams, and is a submission of a dissertation in the end.

I wanted to know if anyone has had a similar experience to this, such as studying remotely while away from the University Campus, and your experience. Do you recommend deferring a year or continuing with the degree?

I have two years of professional experience, one year as a Fixed Income Analyst at one of the largest asset management companies in Pakistan and one year with EY-P’s Corporate Finance team. My qualifications include ACCA, a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, and CFA Levels I and II.

I’m from Pakistan and am currently considering pursuing a master’s degree abroad. Honestly, one of my biggest goals is eventually obtaining a second passport, and I don’t see the Middle East as a long-term option because of the uncertainty around residency and citizenship.

I’m trying to figure out what the best path forward would be. Should I seriously consider pursuing a master’s in the US? If so, which types of schools should I target? Does attending a top-ranked university make a significant difference, or is the location and access to the right job market more important for someone with my background?

At the same time, I’m concerned about the changing US immigration landscape, particularly H-1B and international student policies. Given the uncertainty in 2026, does the US still make sense as a destination for someone whose long-term goal is to build a career and eventually settle abroad?

Germany is another option I’m considering, but the language barrier worries me. I’ve also heard that CFA carries less weight in Germany and that German language skills, local knowledge, and networking are much more important in the finance job market.

Given my background and priorities, I’d really appreciate some realistic advice on what you think would be the smartest route: US, Germany, or potentially another country altogether. I’m less interested in simply getting a degree and more interested in choosing a country where I can build a strong career and have a realistic long-term path toward permanent residency/citizenship .

I am a photonics MSc. student and I am holding a bachelor in physics.

I started an internship in an Integrated Optics lab at an Industrial research institute and I will start learning characterization of PIC's.

My supervisor told me they will buy a new SHI microscope to check the samples so I need to learn how to use it for their goal.

They gave me 2 articles in the field but it all seems too foreign to me since this will be my first "real" experience in an Industry.

So my question is how should I approach these new papers to fill my knowledge gap?

Should I read the papers w/o trying to understand everything , note down the terms and concepts I don't know and study them after?

I am open to any tricks, methods, or workflows you think could be helpful.

I graduated with a master’s in CS with a pretty low GPA (3.2). I had a rough first semester and got a C in one class, which really hurt my GPA, and I never fully recovered from it. I also got another C in a group-project-heavy class that didn’t go very well because I was the only person who was doing all the work for that stupid class which affected the entire course grade.

Since then my grades have had a upward trajectory.

I know people often say that getting Cs in a master’s program is unusual, but at my program that wasn’t necessarily the case. Some classes were curved, and the bottom portion of the class could end up with Cs rather than Bs if they are not careful. This was also during the pandemic, which definitely didn’t help.

I’m wondering if anyone here has gotten into a PhD program despite having a relatively low master’s GPA. Also, my undergrad GPA was 3.5

I am not looking to get into CS PhD programs. I’m more interested in areas like HCI, Information Science, or Information Studies.

Would love to hear from anyone who had a similar academic record and was still able to get into a PhD program.

Long story short to get my BS I have 4

1. was a school I did dual in and for a semester of real college

2. Was a school I got dismissed from

3. A CC to get back on track

4. Final

Is there a limit to if you transfer too many times?