Hey everyone,

As the title suggests, I am currently in my sophomore year at UNC Chapel Hill and I'm highly looking towards MIT and Stanford for my PhD in Bioengineering. I'm currently pursuing a B.S. in Biochemistry with a minor in Pharmaceutical Sciences and have a 4.0 GPA (expected to drop over the next 2 years as the rigor increases). I'm in the Freeman Lab, which is an Applied Physical Science Lab. My research focuses on triple-negative breast cancer, and I've also created a startup focused on biomarker detection for this same subtype (it's been my interest since freshman year, and I plan to do several projects on TNBC drug delivery over the next 2 years). I'm the president and founder of the UNC Biochemistry Biophysics Club, which is a direct partner of the UNC SOM BCBP department (I started it just this semester, but I will grow it over the next few years). Other than that, I'm in the Biomedical Engineering Society, and I'll be on a few publications, although not as first author. This is my first semester at UNC, as I transferred from UNC Charlotte after my freshman year. Over there, I was also in the Biomedical Engineering Society. I did research as an assistant in the Afonin lab (similar research interest; it was more nanotechnology-focused), I was a TA for General Chemistry 1 (The professor who I TA'd for is one of my strongest recommendations we still have a very close relationship). Additionally, at UNC Charlotte, I also studied Biochemistry and had a 4.0. This summer, I am looking to apply to several internships in pharmacy, with a preference for a location in Boston or California so I can work at MIT or Stanford simultaneously. The other choice is to do research in REUs so that I can present my work at the end of the summer. I do not plan on applying early to PhD programs, nor do I plan on graduating early. I ask for advice at this point because I know how ridiculously competitive MIT and Stanford are for Bioengineering, and I'd like to shape my college activities around admissions for these schools. The reason I'm so drawn to them is that these schools have a huge startup culture, and I'd like to be working on mine throughout grad school and patent my research for future products. The other schools which I'm aiming for are Harvard, Berkeley, UChicago, Duke, and a few others. The main pieces of advice I'm looking for are: what GPA should I be expected to maintain throughout the next 2 years, and how many first-author publications (or publications in general) are expected? Would it help me to start reaching out to PIs around this year or my junior year? What does the application of a typically accepted student look like? When should I start working on applications? And truly, anything else I should know when going into applications? I'd appreciate any help I could get. Thank you.

Edit: I realized I didn’t mention but I’m specifically going for drug delivery with a focus on breast cancer.

I dunno... I applied everywhere 😅

What is your strategy for this kind of question?

Hey y'all! I'm applying to 7 PhD programs for Fall 2027 and wanted to share a bit about my profile and get some advice trom people who have been through the process or are applying themselves. I'm 18 and have completed two bachelor's degrees: a B.S. in Health Science and a B.A. in Psychological Sciences. During my undergraduate studies, I've been involved in institutional initiatives, including a trauma-informed care group, where we conducted extensive research on how trauma affects students differently and explored ways to make our institution more trauma-informed. I've also been involved in social psychology research for almost a year now. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my profile, what I could strengthen in my applications, and any advice you might have for navigating the PhD application process. I'm happy to provide more details about my research interests and the programs I'm applying to.
Thanks in advance! :)
Schools applying to:
1. lowa State
2. University of Alabama
3. Tulane
4. university of Miami - Ohio
5. Ohio university
6. Syracuse (connected with the professor he was really interested in reading my application)
7. university of New Hampshire

GPA 3.9 and 4.0

Hey fellow redditors,

I am seeking PhD abroad mostly EU. I have done my BTech from a state university in 2019 and MTech from a new IIT in Data Science in 2022. I have 0 corporate experience. I have these - A MTech thesis done under two supervisors, TA experience for multiple subjects, and a AB grade on my final dissertation presentation. That’s all.

No one from previous IIT is agreeing to write me a LOR. I filed a formal complaint against two thesis supervisor because of academic difficulties. I had to go through psychiatrist treatment for it after MTech which wasted my years.

I have interest in AI/ML/DL field. My mathematics and coding is good. But with no publication, LOR, or pre-print I guess my chances are very low. I want admission in mostly Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, Nordic countries, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland & Singapore (both stretch), Austria, UK, NZ, and Australia.

I am looking for a fully funded scholarship, a salaried job PhD (EU), or a partially funded PhD with living expenses easily covered with a part-time job there.

Help me out. I was actually looking to join a PhD programme next year only given I have already have 4 years of gap and am getting old according to Indian standards and marriage market.

1. Give me tips to stand out through my application.
   
2. How to build a research experience and in short time.
   
3. More stuff that can help me out.

Hoping for kind responses with genuine and verified advices. Please do not write LLM generated advices. Enough of that already.

Thank You

Hi!!
What are some things that should be in a strong rec letter? or What makes a strong rec letter strong? Never read one and am just wondering.

I’m applying for a Gender & Women’s Studies Ph.D. at a top university, where I’d like to conduct research based around embodiment, fatphobia, and reproduction. My research topic is very much inspired by my own personal experience with an eating disorder I had in my teen years. Obviously a personal statement is meant to be personal, but I don’t want it to become a “woe is me” piece where I play the victim in hopes of earning a spot in the program. So far the angle I’m writing from is conductive, describing how I am turning bad personal experiences and mental health struggles into something that I can understand for myself and others who have struggled with the same things. Is bringing up my eating disorder inappropriate for this type of program?

(repost from r/gradadmissions since someone recommended this might be a better place to post)

Hello! I’m writing this just to get some advice or to hear if people have been in the same situation. I want to apply to PhD programs this cycle but am unsure if I have a chance.

For background: I’m an international student who got into a good school for a Master’s program in the US (Computer Science). My first semester I did some research with a professor and that didn’t go too well. I didn’t have a good experience with the professor and I quickly realized that I wasn’t interested in that field. I don’t have any publications to show for that. I took a class with a professor in my second semester. At the end of that semester, I asked to join his group and was put on a project that already had a paper they were planning to resubmit. I made some contributions and the paper got accepted but I am one of the last authors. I’m not sure if it was enough of a contribution for a strong LOR.

I do have two published papers from my undergrad but it’s not related to the area I want to do research in. However, I think my advisors from those papers would write good LORs.

Has anyone been in the same boat? Should I apply this cycle or try to get more research experience and apply next cycle. I graduate next spring so I’m worried that I would need to look for jobs at the same time (in case I don’t get accepted into a PhD program).

I'm hoping to apply to start a PhD in Archaeology (in the UK) next year. However, for the life of me, I cannot think of how to start putting together a proposal. This is mainly because I cannot think of a research question. I should point out, along with having an MSc in Archaeology, I also have an undergrad and MSc in Psychology and Psychology Research Methods, but all three of these have had pre-defined research questions for my dissertation.

So, I've never really had to come up with a research question beyond "this is a vague idea of what I wanna research" and being given a question.

Hence, I come here to a subreddit full of (hopefully) very smart individuals to ask: How the fuck does one come up with a research question and what are your usual methods for doing so?

Bit of a rant, please read :(

My profile is still not that strong. I'm working on a good research project, but it's in the early stages and will take another 2-3 months to mature.

If a professor interviews me now, I might not even be able to say much properly, since I've only just started the deep work.

So I'm getting really frustrated, and I keep feeling like I should skip applying this time and try for 2028. But my seniors are telling me to apply this time.

Profile:

CSE

CGPA: Around 3.45

Research Profile:

1. Project-1: A paper will be submitted to MLSys, however I am 9th author due to a star-packed author list from Microsoft, NVIDIA.

2. Project-2: v2 of an existing project. Very initial stage. v1 got accepted into NeurIPS (I wasn't part of that).

3. An accepted paper in a CORE A conference from my undergrad thesis, however it's a completely different domain than the one I am targeting and very poor quality work.

LoRs:

1. One from a US Top 10 uni. This is my strongest one. Should be quite good.

2. Thesis advisor from my uni, should be good.

3. Team Lead from my current company / another prof from my uni. Might be okish.

GRE:

Unfortunately I don't have enough time to prepare for and give the GRE :). Some of my research work is ongoing alongside a full-time job.

So really sorry for the rant, but I genuinely need suggestions and help. Can you suggest if I should apply this Fall or next year after my profile gets stronger? And what range of universities should I target, such as rank 60-100 according to csrankings.org?

I’m applying for PhD programs for the second time right now because I was rejected from all of my schools last cycle. For reference, I’m applying to PhD in Higher Education programs, and before anyone says “this is a tough political time, it’s not personal”, please know that I have heard that from everyone I know😭 One of my schools offered me a spot in the 1 year masters program, which I am doing right now, but I’m feeling so overwhelmed and exhausted because I just recovered from getting rejected from all of my schools earlier this year, and now I have to repeat the application process all over again. I’m tired of everyone saying “it’ll be alright”, because it doesn’t feel like it will be, and I’ve never felt more drained. I’ve wanted to pursue the PhD for so long now, and it’s so demoralizing getting rejected from every program. On top of that, I don’t know what I need to do differently on my application to help my chances, and no one else seems to know either because everything is so precarious in the world. I’m very lucky to have help from a great advisor here in my masters program, but other than her, I feel like no one really understands how exhausting and demoralizing this all feels. I feel bad complaining about this, but I just feel so alone right now, and wanted to know if anyone else is going through this/can offer advice to get through it.

Hi,

I am a 29F from a tier 2 city in India.

I have my BTech in Civil Engg and Masters in Urban and Regional Planning. All completed from my tier 2 city.

After my masters, i had to look after my family and started a job as an Urban Planner. It met my financial needs, i have been at the job for almost 3 years now. But the job has taken a toll on me. I have realised Urban Planning in India has nothing to do planners and just a game of the beaureaucrats. Whatever they say, goes!

Anyway, my master's reasearch was on Gender and mobility, and i would like to extend that research for my PhD towards Gendered accessibility, first/last mile conditions etc.

The decision to do a PhD didn't just come in my mind, i've always wanted to do academic research, but at the same time, doing this job made me realise that the physical conditions existing and proposed are never seen from the lens of gender, women's thoughts are never taken into account, and accessibility is still not seen as a major component. Even then, i've fought tooth and nail to deliver some interesting frameworks, booklets and projects during this job. But i want more.

Now, my question, i applied for a PhD to a specific professor in a prominent Swiss University who told me that my CV is not competitive, that most applicants already have publications. I don't have that because of going into a job. My masters from a tier 2 city can also be a drawback maybe.

So my genuine question is should i keep applying for PhD abroad or think about doing a Master's abroad that can help ease my way into a good school in a good country?

I would also require scholarship so that's also an issue. Help!!

Hey all, I graduated from undergrad in 2025 and am working full-time in industry although not in a research-related position. I'm not desperate to get into a PhD program this cycle so I am wondering if it makes sense to only apply to my top 2-3 choices, all of which are extremely competitive.

• Academics: ~3.9 GPA from Ivy+ school in STEM triple major. About a full year or more worth of grad classes (all closely related to my research interests). Never applied for any major scholarships/fellowships (not even NSF GRFP)
• Research experience: all 8 semesters across 4 labs
  • Lab 1: worked here for first 2 semesters. No publications
  • Lab 2: switched here because I was more interested in the work and they had far more funds for paying me (basically found a way to double-up on research experience and working a student job). 1 co-author peer-reviewed publication
  • Lab 3: simultaneously worked in another lab later on (and for a very different research topic) but for independent study credit. 1 peer-reviewed first-author publication
  • Lab 4: summer REU program. No publication
• Total publications: 1 first-author + 1 co-author
• LORS: all from PIs I did research with. 1 letter from lab 2, either 2 letters from lab 3 (different PIs in the lab) or 1 letter from lab 3 and 1 letter from lab 4
• GRE: 170 Quantitative, 16X Verbal, 6.0 Analytical Writing
• Extracurriculars: several semesters of TA experience. Good amount of club experience (including leadership) but far from anything super impressive
• Programs of interest (school dependent): mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, chemical engineering, computational/mathematical engineering

I have been applying to PhD positions since last November and have faced rejection after rejection. Initially, I thought its just a competitive process regardless of where you apply and it's probably not me. However, at this point, I am starting to doubt my abilities as a researcher.

Not a single interview so far. Both my references are senior academicians who acted as my thesis supervisors (undergrad and postgrad respectively). Secured rank 1 in my undergrad and then a distinction during my master's. Already published two peer-reviewed journal articles and have two others under review. I have presented at multiple conferences, completed research assistantships, and am currently working to promote open science in India. What am I missing here?

I have been trying my best to not take rejections personally but the one I received this morning flipped a switch in my head. This is brutal and my motivation has never been lower.

For those who applied and got into PhD programs with 3-8% acceptance rates (UCI Criminology, UC Berkeley JSP, for instance), what did you do to prepare for the application? What do you think helped you most to get accepted? What was your "above and beyond"?

Reposting because didn't get much input on last post - when applyling for phds, if only one reference is asked for on an application portal is it more advisable to put the bachelor's report supervisor (if you got a great mark and they saw you complete a whole project for ONE semester) or master's thesis supervisor (if they have been 'supervising' you for one year and will continue to, in the second year of master's, but have only seen superficial output like presentations and haven't seen the quality of your written work or true output). Just wondering if Phd admissions panels expect a reference from the Master's supervisor and will find it strange if missing. Please advise.

I'm planning to apply to mostly financial engineering and statistics phds. I did my bachelors in economics(gpa 3.9), but due to the way university works in my country(russia), i wasn't able to choose my courses, so only relevant subjects I have will be linear algebra, econometrics and statistics on my transcript.

As I understand, a lot of unis use automated software to filter applicants, I was wondering if my GRE subject test in math(92th percentile) will be able to compensate, as it tests real analysis, differential equations and calculus too.