i literally have like 14 hours until i have to submit. i've looked at other people's posts about this, but they always have at least over a week to complete it still so i fear that i'm cooked.

there's no excuse but this semester my mental health really caught up to me. i attempted suicide a few weeks ago but it feels like it happened yesterday with how chaotic everything is, the hospitalisation afterwards threw me off. i planned on not surviving this long and had been planning that attempt for months so i pretty much ignored dissertation. this obviously backfired. my topic is neuroscience (which i have discovered i am not passionate about whatsoever so that's cool) so it was very coding heavy, i've already done all the preprocessing/analysis but have only done 5k words of the actual write up (out of the 15-20k words needed).

the scary part is i feel nothing, i have no motivation and am genuinely just considering giving up. this is out of character for me as school is usually my #1 stressor and extremely important to me, but it's like i've become totally numb to it. i feel like it's genuinely not possible to finish it at this point and it's too late to ask for an extension i'm sure.

has anyone ever experienced leaving it last minute like this before? or has anyone fucked up their dissertation and have any advice on how to handle the blow? i feel like i'm drowning here

Hi, I (27F) got accepted to a PhD program (STEM) in US. I am from a South Asian country. We have been together for 5 years (not married). I am quite conflicted and worried about what the future holds for us. I am accepting it because I have already worked with a professor there and I know it's great for my career compared to doing it in my home country. But I am also very sad and as of now we have no idea how often we will get to meet and all. Any perspective on this matter or any experiences or any advice would be appreciated.

Hi

Was just wondering before I even apply for my PHD could I still lecture?

Heyooo Reddit gang! My final PhD defense is coming up Monday morning. I’ve shown my PI my slides, and my group has seen a full run-through of the talk, with just a few easy tweaks here and there.

Logically, I know I’m most likely going to pass, but I’ve never felt more like an idiot in my life. It’s like all the literature I’ve read for my dissertation has suddenly gone out the window, and I’m convinced I’m going to choke during the Q&A.

How does one get over this feeling? I know I’m the expert on my projects and how all the little pieces fit together, but my committee members are experts in their own fields and know so much more about some of the deeper-level concepts outside the scope of my projects. I feel like I’m going to get absolutely cooked. Do you just embrace the inevitable? What can I realistically do with less than 48 hours left before defense day?

Any and all advice is welcome!! 🤍 Also, I'm PMSing like a MFer, so I'm sure that's doing absolutely nothing to help my current mental state. Help a sista out please 🙇🏽‍♀️

I am an international student just starting my PhD in the States. A friend of mine is also a first year international student. I was absolutely shocked to hear about the amount of hours he works a week. Seven days a week, he works at least 16 hours, if not more.

He attends classes, works 50% as a TA and does research in his research group (not as a GSR). His advisor expects him to work the amount that he does. I have been told by older students that nothing can be done about this, because his advisor will just kick him out if he doesn’t work (without GSR) as much as he does now.

Is the older student right? Can anything be done?

EDIT: It’s fine if you don’t believe it, treat it like a story if you prefer. I would still like to know what my friend could best do in this situation.

Hi everyone,

I’m an international applicant from Iran planning to apply for PhD programs in Canada. My CV is attached, and I would really appreciate candid feedback on my chances and where I should apply.

My interests sit at the intersection of economics, analytics, and decision-making. In particular, I’m interested in industrial organization, behavioral and applied microeconomics, game theory, econometrics, pricing and revenue management, digital/platform economics, and data-driven business decisions. I am also open to Industrial Engineering, Operations Research, Management Science, Business Analytics, and related interdisciplinary programs.

I would especially like to work on research involving digital markets, e-commerce/platform data, pricing and competition, consumer or firm behavior, forecasting, optimization, and applied empirical work. My professional experience has made me particularly interested in using real-world data to study these questions.

Could you please advise on:

1. Which type of PhD program would be the best fit for my background: Economics, Industrial Engineering/OR, Management Science, Business Analytics, or another field?

2. Which Canadian universities/programs would be realistic reach, target, and safer options?

3. Are there professors in Canada working in these areas who might be a good fit and potentially looking for PhD students?

4. What parts of my CV or academic preparation should I improve before applying? For example, would more economics/econometrics coursework, research experience, a paper or preprint, stronger recommendations, or something else make the biggest difference?

Thanks in advance—I would be very grateful for program suggestions, professor recommendations, and honest feedback.

I’m currently a part-time postgraduate student at Oxford, and honestly, one of my biggest struggles is speaking English confidently.

I can read, write, and understand English really well, but speaking is a completely different story. I make some grammatical mistakes and constantly second-guess myself.

what bothers me the most is that I’m always worried people will think, “How the fuck did she even get accepted into this programme?”

Because of that, I rarely keep conversations going. I usually stick to small talk, avoid asking questions back, and sometimes stay quiet even when I have something to say.

I know I need to work on my confidence, but I’m curious if anyone else has experienced something similar? Did your speaking eventually improve? And how did you stop overthinking every sentence?.

I've posted about this before but I'm coming at this from a different angle.

My advisor is moving schools and I have no alternatives at my original school to match my work and interests.

I've got a strong suspicion now that my PI is lying to me about not being able to bring me along.

While I'm not a top performer. All my past reviews have been adequate.

Obviously this has completely ruined my program cause I'm ABD and can now master out and find a new school or find a lab doing work I am not interested in.

I'm curious if there is any recourse to garner should he be lying about bringing me. Especially in regards to my spouse and I having a child recently and the negative performance impacts on that.

Edit: Apparently ABD varies by field and program. I received ABD status after defending my proposal and finishing all classes. You are supposed to get by end of your third year and then do research and then thesis.

Hello,

I am a second year "astrophysics" PhD student at a university with a dying astronomy side of the department. In order to complete the course requirements, I need to take two courses, the first of which will not be offered until the spring of 2028 at the earliest, if I can get enough grad students interested in taking the courses with me. This will put me finishing required courses in my fourth year. The department does allow "equivalent courses" to replace them, but the majority of courses in my department are QFT related or Condensed Matter. My undergraduate department chair/astro prof is telling me to leave my institution. I know that leaving/transferring is nearly impossible without restarting, but is it worth it to bite the bullet now and try to get into another department or do what I can and stay where I am?

I don't know what to do, everything feels like it's falling apart.

Note 1: I say "Astrophysics" because my school just eliminated the Astrophysics PhD, and it has not been made clear to the department or my advisor/PI(DOGE) if I and current students will graduate with a Physics or Astrophysics PhD.

Note 2: The department did not inform me that the only prof who taught my required courses was going to retire until he told me in class a few weeks before his final day.

Note 3: I do have a PI, I have started doing light research; very light as I have not passed quals, am not being paid or getting credit.

Edit: I have a TA, and have been told that will most likely be my only funding. Tuition is also covered by department; I just don't have an RA. Research I do is on top of my class load and teaching so my time doing actually research is much lower than someone who is getting credit or has an RA. I am not deep into a topic.

Please describe the distinctive perspectives or life experiences, such as successfully overcoming obstacles or hardships, that you would bring to your graduate program. Describe how these perspectives or life experiences could contribute to the education and enhanced perspective of fellow students at the University.

I'm struggling to get started on this, and I don't know where to go with it I have ideas that I want to talk about such as growing up in a rural and small town. And being neurodivergent, but I don't know where to go or what to do. Would love some help with this, as my mind is completely blank. Or tips to get started

Hello everyone!

I wanted to hear what everyone had to say about this. I’m currently applying to grad school, most likely master’s programs in California, and a main concern I am having is housing.

As far as I have heard, most universities do not have on-campus housing for grad students and so it becomes looking off-campus. I do not mind living with roommates, but it’s finding a spot that concerns me and how expensive it is living in California too. Then it’s about transportation as well that becomes another concern too with living off campus if I have to choose that.

A little more about my situation. In undergrad, I was an RA on campus so I had housing and meals paid for, and I got financial support through grants for tuition. I don’t own my own car, I use my sister’s car to go to work while back at home.

I wonder if any of these ideas I have about grad school are accurate or not? I know loans are an option, but they can stack up. Would staying home and going to local university, CSUB, and then moving out after a job be wiser or powering through with a better education elsewhere and trying to figure out a way through the expenses?

Thank u for any answers!

My background:
IIT Bombay - Electrical Engineering Dual Degree (Bachelors + Masters) will graduate in 2027
GPA: 2.95/4.00 (can push it till 3.05/4.00 while graduating)

4 on-site research internships; each for 2 months; all abroad (East Asian (2x but diff countries)+ Europe + US); all in AIML; all internships lead to completion of a research paper each (IEEE ICC, IEEE DNS, NeurIPS Workshop 2026).
2 in-semester research collaboration with reputed profs in IITB in Digital Systems and Signal Processing.

No corporate experience yet (Open and actively looking for ML internship roles).

Total papers published till now: 7 published and 5 unpublished (fund issues), with 4 papers publishes ones being the 1st author and with overall 800 citations on Google Scholar.

I don't have interest to pursue PhD in the universities where I interned, as I feel that I should wait and gain more experience and then apply to better institutes.

I have around 5 strong LORs with 2 from a very strong background.

I am looking forward to apply for PhD in CS in European and US universities, but my background in GPA is really very weak to be a competitive profile. Not sure how I will even lead my life from now.

My target universities,

EPFL, ETH Zurich, Columbia University, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Yale, Princeton. [Way out of my league, so nothing in this]

NUS Singapore, RIT, TAMU, Stony Brook, UT Austin, UC Berkley, UIUC, CMU, Georgia Tech, Cornell, Upenn, NTU Singapore, UCLA, TUM Munich, University of Washington, Delft University Tech, Umass Amherst, North Carolina State University. [Some are mostly under my reach, while some aren't like NUS, TUM, UCB, CMU]

I have no confidence at all, and I have hit the rock bottom (hopefully), can someone please give me some insights on how I could improvise mt overall portfolio? I would greatly appreciate each and every feedback, help, comment anything. I will take all in a positive manner. All the internship supervisor professor's don't have any reliable good/close connections in these universities for helping in my PhD application.)

Extra: Candidate Master in CodeForces, 78% in 12th grade and 88% in 10th grade.

Funds are also my priority right now for my own sake and now atleast, as my parents have retired very recently and I got to help them financially.

I am currently pursing a master degree in engineering in the states, and I've obtained my bachelor in Pure Math. I am getting more and more interested in further education in applied math or statistics, but I am not sure if this is right path for me. I have a few questions that I hope someone who had been through this help me out a little.

1. I don't know if I am capable of PhD, when I say this, I meant that some of the undergrad math classes such as Abstract Algebra and Real Analysis were giving me an extreamly hard time, and I never understood some of the concepts. I never finished a textbook (I just simply follow the lecture notes), but I believe you are required to read a lot as a PhD student?

2. I don't know what my research topics is going to be.

3. I've never published papers or involved in research.

4. My GPA for my master program will likely to be low given how challenging those courses are, but my undergrad GPA is around 3.8. Should this be a concern?

Thanks for reading thus far, and this is all questions I have.

ATAS Certificate sept/oct 2026

Hello! I am very anxious about the timeline of my admissions and was wondering if everyone waiting for their ATAS right now can share their timelines so we can have a support system :)

I applied on Oct 11, it’s been 20 working days. Not received yet.

Anyone else?

EDIT: I have started a reddit support groupchat for those who applied in Oct and are still waiting. Please DM me if you would like to join. There are currently around 7 users on here waiting

Hey folks, I'll be defending this quarter, and wanted to ask around if there are any things that folks might recommend for me to do before I graduate. Some of the things that have come to mind so far are:

1. Educational discounts, mainly a professional membership renewal and a NYT subscription for as long as they'll let me keep it

2. Migrating email to alumni email address, and making copies of notes/notebooks where permitted

3. I'm adding a slack account with my personal email to my lab slack, so that I can stay in touch with labmates in a few general channels

4. I've already made copies of all of my notes that I have in digital OneDrive/Box accounts from the university

Are there other things that I should take advantage of before I graduate?

Hi. I just started my MS Civil Engineering this quarter at a very good school. I came straight from undergrad where I majored in a social science and minored in CS.

I was very successful in the application process and got into almost every T10 program I applied to. And I even received two fellowships at two different schools that funded me (tuition, fees, living stipend). So I don’t pay anything to go to school including paying rent and generally everything that keeps me alive.

The majority of my classes are along the lines of:

Homework - 30%
Attendance - 10%
Midterm - 25%
Final - 35%

Which is way less forgiving the undergrad (ik grad school is supposed to be challenging but this plus quarter system has been such a shock)

And I am on a quarter system so we have been moving fast. I had two midterms on Monday (week 7 of 10) and failed both. One I can recover from with a B and the other, the highest I can get is a C. I studied a lot for both, but the one I can only get a C in was a review class of classes I took in undergrad (linear algebra and differential equations) and I felt more comfortable in it so I prioritized the one I can get a B in. But after taking the first exam I was so frazzled I all but froze up on the second one. I really do know the information, but I stayed up all night studying for the other after studying for the last week for both and I just really think I came crashing down.

What can I do? I don’t know that I want to work in academia but I’d been thinking about it up until this point and with a C, that’s next to impossible. I’m too embarrassed to tell anyone.

Ive been thinking about emailing the professor. I ask him at the end of every class what chapters in the textbook and extra materials we should review in addition to the hw and have a 100% in that section. I just want him to know that I really do know the material, especially because this is my second time seeing it and maybe he’ll let me have a B if I get an A.

I feel so terribly embarrassed and don’t know what to do :( I’m on the opposite coast and the university decided to fund me a MASTERS student in a year where funding is abysmally low and I’ve already blown it.

What should I do?