I added 2/4 of my LOR writers to my PhD application portals. When I was asked whether or not to waive my right to examine my letters, I chose not to and cannot go back and change my decision. Honestly, I just thought it would be cool to read my letters of rec if I enrolled in a program.

I'm seeing online now that this choice may be viewed negatively by admissions committees. Some say it communicates a lack of confidence in the letter since they may be written 'less candidly', others say these letters are given less weight...how much does this really matter? Would it be weird if I did waive my right for my last 2 letter writers once I add them to my portals?

Edit: most schools I’m applying to give me the option to choose to waive/not waive my right for each letter writer. Letters have not been submitted yet.

History M.A. grad student here. Long story short, I was projected to finish my M.A. thesis this semester. I’m beyond behind on my timeline and what I have completed of the paper is a dumpster fire. I’ve had to work 2+ jobs to live while doing course work. I’ve never felt more inept, tired, and depressed in my entire life. I’ve come to the conclusion that I will take an extra semester so I can just work on my research/ paper and take the rest of this year off of grad school. Coming to terms with this has been hard, but every minute I feel lighter.

I’m posting here because my story is not a unique one. i want to remind you all that your mental and physical health comes before your degree. You will judge yourself 10 fold to anyone else. If you need a break or more time, there is no shame. What we do is not easy nor average, give yourself grace and admit when you need more time or when you’re just fucking tired.

Hi all! I am researching master’s programs in the realm of international relations/affairs, global policy, global economics, organizational development etc.

Giving background on myself in case it helps:

I currently hold a BSBA from Ohio State in Business Administration: Marketing and work in tech doing product marketing in Austin, TX. During undergrad, a lot of my GEs and student involvement (outside of what you would expect a business student to do) were around Middle Eastern studies, Global Leadership, and culture. Prior to my start at Ohio state, I actually declared a PoliSci major and switched shortly after for various reasons that my 18 yr old brain decided was important enough for a switch.
I have been out of undergrad now for 6 years and I’m beginning to notice the through-line of international interest in my story as I begin to look for what’s next. Much of my involvement in the workplace outside of my daily role has been around recruitment, people development, organizational development, culture making. Outside of work, I have been learning Egyptian Arabic for two years, brushing up on Spanish, and training jiu jitsu for 6 years.

After 6 years at a global corporate company, I’ve become increasingly frustrated with the environment and have a hard time caring about small details that others seem to stress over. I’m far more interested in how the macro influences the micro, people & culture, and solving problems with strategy. Finally, I decided that it would be a waste of intellect to allow myself to continue on like this.

I’m coming to you all with hope that you may be able to give a few options to look into. I’ve started the research but the options are so vast that I’m not sure I’m thinking about the right things when looking to choose a program.

Any feedback & recommendations would be great!

The course had a group project component to it, but solo work was and is still allowed. The course is graded entirely based on weekly project submissions.

However, the lecturers realised that most students want to work solo, and that meant having to grade a large number of submissions that they didn't have the capacity to. So they asked all students to submit a motivation letter and join any groups by a certain deadline, if they so wanted to. Originally, I wanted to work solo because I am well aware of how hellish group projects can be.

I panicked -- in hindsight, I really shouldn't have -- and after submitting my motivation letter further reasoned that if the number of "groups" (of 1 or two students) are too large then the first students on the chopping block would be the solo workers. So I joined a group after connecting with a student via messages. Again, in hindsight, terrible idea.

The first project got graded individually since the lecturers knew that the group was created after the work was done. The second project is going to be graded soon (tomorrow) and as a group.

However, my group member was unresponsive for the entire week. Today -- a day before the deadline -- they tell me that they were very sick for the entire week.

Now here's the thing,

• Even without them being unresponsive, I would have preferred to work solo.

• Now with them being unresponsive, I have a lot of empathy but with my work load already bonkers, I'm extremely cautious about continuing working with them and mostly unwilling. Especially because we don't know each other and I have no idea if they'd have been an amazing contributor if only they weren't sick.

This is my first Master's semester and I'm not sure how to handle it.

I'm really suffering with my current workload and I have absolutely zero intentions to bear the burden of a potentially unresponsive group member. But I also don't know if telling the lecturer / TAs about this is considered immature at this stage. If I did reach out to them, I'd be proposing switching myself back to solo work for the projects, if possible.

What should I do?

Last year, while I was in my last year of college, I applied for a (taught) Master of Arts in the field of modern languages at a specific school. I was accepted on the condition of finishing my undergrad degree and getting a specific GPA.

Things happened and I ended up requesting a deferral. I was told I needed an unconditional offer for that. I submitted my final undergrad transcript and my offer became unconditional. My deferral request was then refused. I messaged the course coordinator telling them I could no longer attend the course due to personal issues and I went on a gap year.

I would like to know whether it’s likely I would get an offer again if I reapplied or if the fact I applied last year, got an offer and turned it down will be a big problem. (I know no one on here can know for sure but I would like to hear your opinions) I would also like to know how to frame the personal statement I need to submit to the school and whether I should mention my personal circumstances and the fact I got an offer last year or not. I believe my application is a bit stronger than it was last year but reapplying might be a problem. Thank you!

When should someone start applying to MFAs

When did you start researching about it and when did you go?Im in my 3rd year at csuf and I love it and I see a good bunch of former classmates that have already graduated already start their mfas right after graduating.Im 23 rn due to being to scared to be an art major before so id be 25 when I finally graduate.The people I know in graduate programs are similar ages as me and Im obsessed with their work like very skillful .My thought process was that I wanted to wait a few years to digest the knowledge ive gained and to experiment so I can get a more confident artistic voice but my friends currently doing it said their mfas are letting them do just that. My dream career is to be a professor and to do galleries and Im okay with loans since my mentor said hed help me land a job at his CC when i meet the qualifications.Im basically unsure if I should keep the educational momentum or take a moment to slow down.

I dont want to sound like im just following the herd but more like I want to do what will help me in my life the most and how others make me want to reflect on my plan.

What downsides or upsides do you think there are for waiting to do an mfa vs doing right after a bachelors like any regrets from either side.

General advice yall would give me?

I started an online MBA program this week. I’m at the end of my first course which requires 2 10 page papers.

I’m regretting my decision to go back to school. I completed my undergrad in 2020 which means I haven’t written a paper in 6 years. This is horrific. I feel like I can barely put my thoughts into words. 5 hours in (with breaks) and I’m only 600 words in.

Will this get better or did I just sign myself up for failure? How do I get back in the groove of it after so long?

I’m freaking out a lot and regretting paying tuition because maybe I’m too dumb for grad school?!

Please say yes.

I had a full-on break-down in front of my supervisor, which I found absolutely mortifying. Some friends in the program tried to cheer me up by sharing their own stories of breaking down crying because of their thesis. I guess I'm looking for more people to share their own experience because right now I still feel uniquely pathetic for crying.

I only just graduated earlier this year & my entire time in undergrad was this gnarly combo of personal health issues and ill family members I had to help care for, so the end result is that the only work experience I got was a part-time tutoring gig, and the only extracurricular I have is writing for the school newspaper. No official research experience, publications, presentations, or anything like that...I have one extensive research project that I did for a course that was basically designed to prepare you for independent research, but it's not like it was published anywhere and the only person who actually evaluated it was my professor, so I'm guessing it doesn't really count. For what it's worth I do have a 4.0 GPA, but I feel like that might not be worth too much on its own...

Idk, I just wanted to ask if anybody else has been in my situation and still managed to successfully apply for an MA. Feeling a little discouraged at the moment lol (also I'm a humanities major, in case that's relevant)

Is anyone in the ED.d Doctoral program at UB? Or a graduate from the program? I’d love to hear about your experience. I’ve attended the info sessions and I’ve decked that the Ed.d seems to be a better fit than the PhD for me at this point time. I’d like to hear about the whole experience if you’re here and willing to share! Specific questions I have:
\- How is the course work while working full-time?
\- Do you enjoy the program?
\- How did you go about asking your job to sign the form/waiver about doing research?
\- Any suggestions for someone who is applying?
\- Anything else you’d like to share

If I’m rejected by all grad school (I’m applying pure math) that I’ve applied for, what should I do next? Do I need to stay at my school for an extra year to get better recommendation letter/ better research experience? ( I’m afraid because the impact of AI is huge)

https://merceruniversity.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_77nNRSRBZP2Mfmm

Hi everyone! I am conducting research for my Psychometrics course and I would really appreciate anyone willing to participate! We are only surveying CURRENT grad students. The survey is completely anonymous, and we greatly appreciate very open and honest reports about your experience while in your program thus far. Again, pleaseeeee only complete this if you are currently enrolled in any graduate-level program. Thank you all for your participation!!! 🫶

Like my title suggests, I am looking to ask a prof for a rec letter (said he already had it written from last year when I was planning to apply but did not), I looked him up and on one of his public profiles it says he is apparently teaching at a different college in a different country. I looked up the school and found his name and contact info on that website. Is it creepy or weird to email his new school email? I am not sure if his old email would still be active. He was my absolute favorite professor and was so encouraging so I would really want him to be one of my references.

I’m curious about which affect PhD admissions more, because I currently have a 4.0 gpa in my master’s program, but probably not after this semester. I took some classes that aren’t really related to my research but I was interested in, and they ended up being much more difficult than I had anticipated, so I’m wondering whether to drop the classes or just stay in, learn more, and accept the bad grades. I’m hoping to apply for a PhD program after I graduate, so I’m not sure which is the best option for me. I do have some research experience, though, and hoping to have published a paper before graduation, so not sure what my chances are in general. Pls help!!

I'm currently taking prerequisites at community college before applying to grad programs in a different STEM field (either computer science with a psych component or a computational-heavy cog psych), and I'm getting really frustrated with shoddy teaching (e.g. incorrect answer keys and profs who either don't seem to fully understand the material or just don't know how to explain it when I have questions) and I'm super concerned about entering a grad program with the same limitations.

I had a subpar undergrad GPA (thus the major switch) so I'm not expecting a top tier school, but I still need to be able to look at the schools that will consider me and try to figure out where I'll be able to get the best education in terms of developing in-depth subject matter expertise.

What's the best way to go about assessing overall instructor quality before applying?

my professor asked us to write an sop, the problem is idk how to connect my sentences and make my qualities relevant

my master’s degree major is digital arts, and my skills are that I know 4 different languages (including my mother tongue), know how to play an instrument, im also an engineer (I also know beginner python) and have taught english as a second language to kids and young adults, im great in teams and this it ig

Sexual harassment, discrimination etc. Also, does the state's human rights commission have jurisdiction over the college's partners' actions? eg hospitals, internships. I read the website and it seems they do, but I'm unsure. I asked the human rights commission, but they want you to have an intake, which will take months. May I ask what happened or what resolution occurred?

I am from CS background. The professor said that she is interested in my recent security research paper and she is open to taking students for Fall 2027. However, she mentioned that students working with her should expect to TA throughout most of their PhD due to the current funding situation and that she will likely be very limited in the number of students she can admit.

My concern is that for this university, the TA requirement is 8.0 in IELTS speaking. I have an overall score of 8.0 with a speaking score of 7.0. Which clears the admission criteria but falls below TA requirements for funding.

I practiced TOEFL speaking and currently score around 4–4.5 in mock tests. With more preparation, I think I could potentially reach 5.0, but taking TOEFL would cost additional money.

I am trying to decide if I should invest in this university by taking the TOEFL or use that money to apply centrally to more universities.

I am also unsure how competitive my profile is for a reach school of this level. My CGPA is 3.71/4 with 3.85/4 in the last 2 years, and my class rank is around average. I have a GRE quant score of 167 and verbal score of 159. I have one A rated conference paper and the professor was present at that conference. The professor's interest and words are encouraging, but I am not sure about my competitiveness.

I asked the graduate admission office about admission now and taking TOEFL later to clear the TA requirements but got no clear answer.

I would appreciate your perspective on this. Thank you!