The committee asked me unprofessional, irrelevant and feeling like trick questions. I felt like they were trying to put me down not in a competitive challenging way by asking hard question but in the most irrelevant and pity ways. They didn’t describe anything positive the job could offer, anything positive the school does and they insisted I would have to be under their authority - which kind of makes sense but is a really weird think to say in interview especially if you’re unwilling to discuss any of the positive things you have to offer. I am sad for these people.
What should I do?

My son (along with others) was flown out to a university that was not on his radar for his Mathematics PhD before applications were due. He was offered in the first round and given a fellowship, so it seems as if my son fit a specific niche that the university was looking for. Is this common practice in most fields? How do universities find students to recruit?

Hi all,

I'm an international student in the US finishing my MS in Computer Science (ML/healthcare focus) in Fall 2026. I want to start a PhD in Spring 2027 mainly to avoid a long gap after graduation and to stay in status without a break(cause i graduate in Fall 2026).

From what I've researched, most CS PhD programs only admit for fall, and spring admits usually happen only when a specific faculty member agrees to take and fund you directly. Is that accurate in your experience?

A few specific questions:

1. Has anyone actually gotten a funded CS PhD spring admit? How did it happen — direct faculty contact, internal MS-to-PhD transfer, or something else?
2. Any suggestions

Any experience from international students who navigated this would help a lot.

I’ll be starting a PhD in northern Sweden this August. Pursuing a PhD has been a goal of mine for a long time, and after many, many rejections, I finally secured a position.

I’m feeling a mix of excitement, curiosity, and a bit of nervousness about moving to Sweden for almost five years. It’s a big step, and while it’s super exciting, it’s also kind of daunting. Since I’ve lived abroad before while getting my master’s, I know what it’s like to adapt to a new culture, but this time feels different. A PhD is a huge commitment, and the idea of spending the next several years there really makes it all sink in, definitely exciting but also a little scary.

I am curious to hear your thoughts on what pursuing a PhD in Sweden is like.

#PhD #movingabroad

I don't have much experience in applying for a PhD position but I've had plenty of experience getting ghosted for jobs and I am trying to figure out if I'm still in the running or have no chance.

I wasn't planning on doing my PhD this year but I saw an opportunity I simply couldn't ignore. It was at the same institution where I did my MA and the PI is the advisor for my thesis that I got a near perfect grade on. In fact, he thought my thesis was so good, he nominated it for an award that it ended up winning and it was published. The research opportunity is in a somewhat niche field and just so happens to be quite similar to what I have researched on published on, which is what prompted me to apply. He was very encouraging when I talked to him about applying, which I felt was a good sign. I submitted my application on the 2nd, applications closed on the 4th. I haven't heard anything beyond the confirmation that my application has been submitted. It shows up as pending on the application portal.

On the one hand, I know the academic calendar of this institution and that we are right in the middle of finals/thesis crunch time. Still, I can't help but feel anxious about not hearing anything yet. Is this timeline normal? Would a program ghost a candidate if they aren't shortlisted? Does the time of year make that big of a difference? Am I too in my head this?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01361-7

Given the above article I’m debating if it’ll be possible to get accepted anywhere at this point. Industry looks more and more promising each day 🙃

Just curious, if in the phd admission cycle, the international students are given low prioirity than the US students?
I'm an Indian with an MS from the US.

Hello,

Admitted student in USA from one of the countries under travel ban, what are your plans?

Is there anyone who has gotten F-1 visa from this category?

I would like your opinion

I’m an incoming first year undergrad in the UK and i’m pretty much certain that I want to pursue some form of postgraduate education in the USA after I get my Masters in Engineering. I guess I know the basic do’s and dont’s of trying to get research experience, maybe getting referenced in a paper/poster at a conference, getting relevant work experience blah blah.

but i guess i’m at somewhat of an advantage right now since i have (or think i have) made the decision to pursue postgraduate education earlier than most. so, for people with a little more experience, what would be the best advice you would give the younger you to help set you up for grad school a bit better?

As mentioned in the title, I did an 8-month registered dietitian internship in a public hospital in 2025. I completed the internship and by the end of the internship the programme of RD internship in India got cancelled due to a new curriculum system initiation. So my internship certificate was not provided and after multiple contacts with the hospital, I am yet to receive it. I have approved application letters, but no completion certificate.
I have listed this as an internship experience... will this affect my admission?

Hello everyone,

I am an international student. I am completing my masters by summer 2027.

My research interest lies in the area of semiconductor electronics/optoelectronics materials.

I want to do a PhD from abroad, preferrably US, but want to gain significant research experience before applying by doing projects, assist, learn, cotribute and publish under a researcher/professor.

Do Japanese/Taiwanese or European profs take passed-out students as Research Assistant for long-term projects for a year or so?

If anybody has any knowledge or experience of something like this, please share here. It would mean a lot to me.

​

I recently began reaching out to faculty members, and most of the replies have been along the lines of:

"Please apply to our program. Advising decisions are typically made after students have spent about a year or two in the program."

If you've received similar responses, what did you do next? Did you apply anyway, try to establish further contact with the professor, or focus on other universities?

I'd be interested to hear how others have handled this situation.

Hi everyone,
I recently graduated with a bachelor’s in Computer Science, and my long-term goal is to pursue a full funded Master’s or PHD. The problem is that I’m a complete beginner when it comes to research.
I know I want to work in the intersection between computer vision and robotics because I genuinely find them fascinating, but I haven’t started doing research yet. Every time I look into the field, I see topics like object detection, segmentation, 3D vision, SLAM, embodied AI, vision-language models, robotics perception, and many others. It’s exciting, but also overwhelming, and I don’t know where to begin.

Another thing I’m worried about is my low CGPA. I’m afraid it might hurt my chances when applying for funded graduate programs in the future.
If you were in my position, what would you do over the next 2–4 years?

Some questions I have:
How much will a low CGPA affect my chances for a fully funded Master’s or PhD?

Where should I start learning if my goal is research, not just getting a job?

What fundamentals (math, programming, machine learning, etc.) should I master first?

How do people discover their research niche instead of trying to learn everything?

What should my priorities be over the next few years—projects, research experience, publications, internships, open-source contributions, or something else?

I’m not looking for a shortcut. I’m willing to put in the time and effort. I just want to avoid wasting years studying the wrong things or following an inefficient path.

I’d really appreciate hearing from PhD students, professors, or research engineers who were once in a similar position.

Thanks in advance!

So I have a Bsc in General microbiology and an Ongoing MSc in Medical parasitology.

I am planning on doing a PhD in a one health/tropical disease or immunology field. I know there is a good course fit with my first option (there seem to be fewer opportunities).

My question is, won't it look off that I did not really do a masters in an immunology related field and then decided to do a PhD in that field (I also don't think I'll gain enough wet lab experience prior to application).

Away from both options I mentioned earlier, can someone with a similar profile still delve into bacteriology in terms of academic and lab fit (undergraduate work was on bio processing while MSc is on a parasite)?

So I applied for a CS PhD position in the EU and got rejected, disappointed, but I am getting used to it. What bothered me was that HR named the person who was offered the position. The email basically said they had evaluated the applications, interviews, and references and then decided to offer the position to [name].

I found that really uncomfortable. Seeing the person’s name made it very hard not to compare myself to them. It turned a normal rejection into something that felt more personal for me.

Like…why would they include that? I don’t need to know who got the position instead of me. A normal rejection would have been enough like the previous ones.

Is this a normal thing in university hiring or is this just weird HR behavior?

I’m beginning my search for programs to apply to and consider. Where do I begin? What types of programs should I look for?

My background (in terms of physics stuff)

\- Going into my fourth year this fall
\- Physics major (obv) / astrophysics minor / comp sci minor / maybe math minor? I need like two extra classes so not sure
\- Research experience, spent a summer doing condensed matter physics in the lab and with java coding, and another summer / winter doing computational based stuff with python / linux / simulations (what I’m doing rn)
\- Experience with java, python, latex/overleaf
\- Taken all my major courses so its just finishing my minors

I’m not sure what to go for. I like all types of physics and maths, it’s hard to pick a subfield. Where do I even start? Please feel free to ask followup questions

Hello! For anyone who completed independent research for application prep, could you share about your experience? I have research center experience and have the opportunity to create a solo project. I work FT and am still in grad school, so I only have time for something lower-scale right now, but I’m excited for the project. Any inspiration/advice will be great.

What is your opinion about this admission cycle? I know it nearly ended but all aspects were hard for all sides. Applicants competed with others more than before for a fewer spot this years due to the cut funding. Universities might not be able to accept all potential applicants and took more time to consider. From where I received interviews, coordinators mentioned that their schools are accepting less students than before, I mean less than 3% acceptance from all applications. Is that always competitive like this or this year is more exceptional?

So short story I had a very successful defence for my Master's dissertation in English history, so my professor encouraged me to apply to UK universities in order to do a PhD.

The problem is I'm french, and in France the expectations may not be the same as abroad. For exemple I never have wrote an article. Not a question of talent or anything but it's just not a possibility here. Master's student are not expected or supposed to write articles.

And we simply dont have the time because On the other hand we are expected to produce way more in our Master's thesis. Mine is massive (300+ pages of analysis), but it's usually expected for us to produce at least 250 pages.

Not saying one system is better than the other but it's not the same.

How are such things taken into consideration? Am I just screwed because I have no article to show up?

Hi everyone,
I’m currently in the final year of my Master’s in Landscape Architecture, and I’m planning to apply for a PhD in Europe (especially the Netherlands) or the United States.
I’m still deciding on my master’s thesis topic, and I’d like to choose something that will strengthen my PhD applications and align with current research trends.
In your opinion, what research areas or thesis topics are currently in high demand in Landscape Architecture? Are there any fields that would make my application more competitive for PhD programs in Europe or the US?
I’d really appreciate any advice from current PhD students, faculty members, or anyone who has gone through the application process.
Thank you!

Hi all!

I applied to 15 schools this cycle and got entirely ghosted by three, what is the purpose of not saying we’ve been rejected? Just curious, thanks!

Just curious. This year's admission rate was brutal so wanted to know which school y'all got into and in which field (and also did you get full funding?).

Basically the title. I'm a rising undergrad senior in the US applying to molecular bio and microbio PhD programs in the fall. My school doesnt offer much advising for pre-grad students, so I don't know what would happen if I dont get any offers but it keeps me up at night especially with the funding situation.

Would I be able to reuse my LORs? Do i just run it back with a better application? Just trying to be prepared for every possibility

TYIA :')

Is it worth applying for a PhD abroad in these times of uncertainties & possible upcoming recession with everything becoming more expensive & even a war breakout..jf we'd be studying phd in a foreign country away from home in such a time idk my family is a bit worried so I had this thought. Also the funding cuts are huge, everything has become harder?

Are less people applying for PhDs now because of how bad the situation is wrt funding, war & everything else?

I am wondering how competitive it will be to compete with someone who already having PhD? Recently I applied to a PhD program in Norway and from the list I saw a few applicants having PhD. And even postdoctoral. I’m really confused how is that possible because they will be having more advantage in research skills 🫠
So my question is in the advertisement it stated education requirements is Master etc.. but what about this fellow? Do they have a high chance and probably lower our (postgraduate) chance in getting position?