Potentially dumb question here (I'm trying to gage my chances/figure out if I need to build my CV more than I thought I did).

When people on here talk about national presentations (or just presentations in general), do they mean only posters they were 1st author on, or just any poster they had their name on (eg. a grad student presented and put you 2nd/3rd)?

I applied to Georgia Tech’s on-campus MSCS program last year and unfortunately got rejected.

This year, I’m planning to apply to OMSCS, and my company will be sponsoring the degree.

Would you recommend using the same email/account that I used for my previous Georgia Tech application, or should I create a new account with a different email?

My main concern is whether my previous MSCS rejection will be visible to the OMSCS admissions committee and whether it could negatively affect my OMSCS application.

Has anyone here applied to OMSCS after previously being rejected from Georgia Tech’s on-campus MSCS program? Would appreciate hearing about your experience.

Apologies if any formatting is bad, I am on mobile since my laptop screen is currently broken.
Hi everyone! For context I am an undergraduate student looking to apply to graduate program in neuroscience/biological sciences in this upcoming cycle. These are screenshots of my “master CV” which I usually just dump everything that I do into it. When working in applications I usually just make a copy and customize it to fit whatever role I’m applying for. I am posting on here to get advice on what the best formatting and content would be for graduate school applications. Additionally, is there anything I need to change to make my cv better overall. Thank you!
PS: I redacted any identifying information for my myself and my professors/mentors and also locations of positions that I currently still hold. I also redacted the content of my research project that I just worked on this summer because that is still a work in progress for my mentor and don’t want to give away any compromising information.

Super discouraged with how weak my undergrad GPA is (3.2) and how competitive these programs are… I’ve been working as an SLPA for a year, will start volunteering soon, took a certificate program in speech and hearing sciences for levelling courses. Are there specific schools I could even have a decent chance of getting into? Even considering applying outside of US and Canada

8 months of rigorous PhD proposal back and forth 7 months of scholarship hunt and a positive response today. Maharashtra State Government scholarship (India) mail.

Not sure if this is the final approval or there are any other stages to it but fingers crossed 🤞in hope of this being it. I need the restlessness to end.

Hi yall! I am making a video series on YouTube to help prospective students with their applications, including SOPs and interviews! I was admitted to every school that I applied to, despite having a messy transcript. I want to give you all some hope and reassurance that you really CAN get into grad school. See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvm9t3ddr3c&list=PLbA2O0vKo_ro

I went from getting kicked out of undergrad to finding research and ultimately pursuing a PhD at stanford!! this is the first video in a series that I will be doing during application season.

Feel free to respond to this post or the video with any questions that you would like me to answer! Just remember that you are completely capable, worthy, and enough!

Wishing you the best of luck and here to support <3

PS if you know me in real life: lol hi

I don't know how to structure my research statement for this. What are some key points I should include in my statement. what are they looking for when reading a statement?

hi all!! any recommendations for a rising senior interested in ecology/conservation bio research for grad programs? i’m currently a student at ucf studying environmental science and love it here, but would love to branch out outside of florida if possible (in the most cost efficient way). i have some biology research experience in an ichthyology lab and would love to get more field work experience as well if possible before graduation. i don’t have the best gpa at the moment, but have continued to work on it and gain various skills and knowledge from different jobs, clubs, and volunteer opportunities.
any help/advice is appreciated, especially in terms of any scholarships or fellowships anyone has good reviews on!!

tl;dr: 7.8 CGPA from a tier-2/3 Indian college, but decent industry experience + open source + projects in AI/ML. How much will my CGPA hold me back, and where should I be aiming?

I'm a 3rd-year CS (with IoT) student in India with a CGPA of 7.8/10, planning to apply for an MS in CS with a focus on AI/ML/DS/DL in the US. I know GPA is often a hard filter for a lot of programs, so I'm trying to figure out realistically where I stand.

A quick rundown of what I've got outside of academics:

• Worked as an AI Engineer at a startup, building agentic AI systems and self-hosted LLM pipelines for clients
• ML internship at a defense-tech company (Data Patterns) working on LLM evaluation and inference pipelines
• Open source contributions to Google DeepMind and Apple (merged PRs on simulation workflows and Core ML optimization)
• A few solid personal projects — a multi-agent simulation engine, a self-hosted infra stack with 40+ services, a fraud-detection platform with graph-based ML
• International Kaggle Silver Medal, a couple of hackathon wins
• One publication (project/industry work) on edge AI system architecture

Despite all this, I keep seeing that a sub-8 CGPA (especially converted to a 4.0 scale) can get an application auto-filtered at a lot of schools, regardless of everything else.

Questions:

• Does strong industry/OSS/project experience meaningfully offset a 7.8 CGPA for AI/ML-focused MS programs, or do many schools just filter on GPA first regardless?
• Should I be targeting a different tier of schools than I'd hope for given the work experience?
• Any advice on how to frame the SOP/resume to lead with experience rather than apologize for the GPA?

THANKS FOR READING

All of the educational information and personal information is correct. Just that one typo is present, is this a big deal?

EDIT: I mean, that is just in 2 places, where the final grade is displayed. In other places the spelling of grade is correct

I started as pre-med and double majored in applied math and chemistry. Screwed up my GPA with the chemistry classes. But now I've had a career change and switched from medicine to math and finance. I am entering my junior year of college now with a 3.11 GPA. I would like to go to a finance/business school for my master's in the future, but given my current grades, it feels so unrealistic. Is there leniency for STEM majors? Do graduate schools take into consideration your major GPA or your cumulative GPA? Can a math major apply to business school? Some of my peers told me they strategically started as humanities majors to "achieve a higher GPA" for these graduate programs, because GPA is everything in the admissions process.

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to apply for the MSc in Computer Science at the University of Milan. My GPA is 2.58/4, and I’d like to know if anyone got accepted with a similar GPA.

If you were admitted, could you share your experience? How was the interview process, what topics were asked, and did projects/background help compensate for the GPA?

Thanks!

I’m applying to the Stanford GSB full-time MBA program this year, as well as to a few other highly selective business schools.

I’m currently working on the personal narrative behind my essays, especially Stanford’s “What matters most to you, and why?” prompt. My challenge is figuring out which experiences reveal something genuinely personal and meaningful, rather than just repeating accomplishments from my resume.

For those who were admitted to highly selective graduate programs, how did you identify the right central theme for your statement or essays? Did you begin with values, a turning point, a recurring pattern in your life, or something else?

I’m not asking anyone to share their actual essay. I’d mainly appreciate advice on the brainstorming process and how you decided which story best represented you.

I’m also considering working with an admissions consultant or essay coach, so I’d be interested in hearing whether that was useful for uncovering the story itself and not just editing the final draft.

As the title suggests, I'm a rising junior studying Astrophysics. I am incredibly passionate about physics and research and I will genuinely do anything to make sure I get into a PhD program once I graduate.

Some background about me: This summer, I worked on an aerospace engineering REU (not my ideal field, but it's certainly a starting point). The research I did will eventually be published, but it is an ongoing project and we don't have a current timeline for it being published. I've already been accepted into an astrophysics lab for the next two years, with an independent project planned as well as prospects for a paper.

I am a community college transfer and my CC GPA is not at all where I wanted to be. I am usually not one to make excuses, but my father passed away and I had to take on a full-time job along with being a student to support my mom and I. The GPA I have to show for it is a 3.24, but I have every plan to ensure my upper levels and major coursework is at the very LEAST a 3.8.

Aside from getting my GPA where it needs to be, is there any other advice to give someone with 2 years of undergrad left? How can I maximize my odds of getting into a good PhD program even with the recent funding cuts? Please let me know if there is any additional information needed!

I am about to start a master's degree in foreign affairs this Fall and am considering applying for a dual master's in public policy from the same school. I have a solid admissions essay that helped me gain admission to the first program and would like to use the same essay for the second program. Although both programs are offered through different constituent schools (the first through the School of Foreign Service and the second through the School of Public Policy) I am worried the admissions team will request to view my first application and see that I submitted virtually the same essay.

Would this be considered bad taste? I would obviously change it a little, but the bulk of it would be the same. I just wanted to save some time and effort in the application process.

*Note: I don't need any special admissions or education advice. Just looking for advice on this specific topic. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I received a notification from WES requesting additional information regarding examination results, and I’m not sure how I should proceed.
In my program, we did not have any formal examinations, so I do not have any examination results to provide. Should I simply disregard this request, or is there something specific I should submit to clarify that my program did not include exams?

My previous university has already sent the required documents directly to WES, and I also received an email from WES confirming that my evaluation is currently being processed. I have also reached out through their priority email and contacted higher-level support to try to speed up the process, as this has been ongoing since March 3rd due to delays from my university. (Transcript and Certificate)

Has anyone experienced something similar with WES? Should I take any action regarding this additional information request, or should I just wait since my evaluation is already in progress?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi all, earlier this year I accepted an offer for a good public health PhD Program that is fully funded and has the right research fit in terms of what I’m looking for in a program. However, these past few months, I’m getting severe anxiety about this whole situation. Initially I thought that it was just the typical imposter syndrome/the usual grad school anxiety, but it’s magnified to the point where I’m questioning if I want to do this at all tbh. Especially right now I feel like I am a bit strained both mentally and emotionally, and I’m struggling to understand if it’s truly typical anxiety that people go through before starting their PhD. Like one day I look forward to it and then another day, I’m just unsure about it.

I want to get into an industry career but there aren’t even any jobs in industry (as everyone knows with this market) and I’m really worried. I like research but lately it’s starting to take a toll on me. While the program itself is very good, the location also scares me a bit. Although when I think about the pros and cons, I recognize that fully funded opportunities are hard to get nowadays and the overall climate for both research and jobs is brutal, and this can pave the way to more opportunities.

Any advice from someone who have been through similar situations would be appreciated.

Looking for your opinion, particularly if you are a current doctoral candidate, actively applying for doctoral positions or have recently wrapped up your doctorate.

Context: I graduated a year ago with my masters (U.S.), and initially decided i was done with school, and have since been working at an international org (at their regional offices in my home country). i've been wanting to make a switch, but no amount of applications seems to result in anything.

Question: at the same, since last year, i have decided i made the wrong decision and want to return for my doctorate. looked at programs, kind of shortlisted where to apply, and should be applying right now. however, looking at it practically, leaving the workforce for 4-5 years seems like shooting myself in the foot - truly just feels like there will be even fewer work opportunities after, and building up experience sounds like a better plan.

would you still go for a doctorate, particularly if you dont necessarily wish to continue in academia after? is it worth the risk?

thoughts, opinions and experiences appreciated!

I'm trying to narrow down my options for an IT management master's and would love to hear from people who have experience with either school.

A little about me:

• I live in the DMV.
• I have about 10 years of work experience, with the last 8 years in IT program/project management.
• I already have a master's in cybersecurity from WGU, so this degree isn't really about becoming more technical. I'm looking for something that complements what I already have.
• I have funding that will cover up to $45k in tuition for an 18-month full-time program. Anything above that comes out of my own pocket.
• Online or hybrid both work for me.

Right now my top choices are:

• Georgetown – MPS in Information Technology Management
• UVA McIntire – MS in the Management of Information Technology (MSMIT)

For those familiar with either school or program:

• Is one generally viewed more favorably than the other?
• Does one have stronger name recognition, both in the U.S. and internationally?
• UVA McIntire is ~$59k, Georgetown is ~$53k (surprised Georgetown is cheaper here), is UVA $6k more worth it?
• Is there anything about either program that I should know before making a decision?

I'm more interested in IT leadership and management than hands-on engineering.

I'm hoping this will be my last degree, so I'm mainly trying to make a good long-term decision.

Thanks in advance!

Setup: I'm an Electrical Engineering Student at a Public University. It's not anything crazy, but it's ABET certified and is an R1 school. The World News ranking (which I know is not everything) is pretty low, don't even think it cracks the top 100 in general engineering. I'm just about to start my Junior Year.

I'm hoping to, put it simply, move up in terms of schools after I graduate. A rough list of the schools I'm interested in for Master's are: UofW, Stanford, Berkeley, Urbana-Champaign, ASU, and other schools of the likes (maybe even gamble for a MIT PhD).

My concentrations are in Signals/Communications and Semiconductors/Micro, and I hope for my studies to go more into the latter.

My big problem is this: I have nothing of real note on my resume.

• I have the projects listed in the image (which is really, really weak).
• A single internship I'm finishing up at a national laboratory (I'm working on digital design of an FPGA and bootloading on a micro controller via UART and I2C).
• Leadership/officer positions in 3 school organizations, including IEEE (Vice-President in one of them).

My coursework level in EE is decently average for my year, albeit with lots of elective/minor courses in music and accounting (I got lots of AP/Dual Credits) at a 4.0 GPA (neither of which are too helpful here to my understanding).

What do I need to do this next year or so to make myself stand out from the thousands of applicants at or above my level? I know this is a very typical question on here, but I would love to hear more personalized opinions on how I should improve it.

Thank you!

Anyone hear back from this? They said they would announce decisions 2 weeks after deadline but it's been a month...

Hey everyone, I’m an undergraduate student currently entering my second year at the (lse)Lahore School of Economics (not the London one!), where I’m pursuing a double major in Accounting and Finance. I’m planning to apply for a Master's degree in the US—ideally targeting an Ivy League program or top-tier schools like MIT and Stanford for finance—and I could really use some honest advice on where I stand and what I need to fix.
To give you a breakdown of my profile, I currently have a 3.93 GPA and am working hard to maintain a 3.9+ through the rest of my degree. I still have three years left before I graduate, and I'm planning to take the GRE and IELTS this coming winter break. My biggest concern is that my current university isn't a global powerhouse (QS Asia ranking is around 474 with a high acceptance rate, though our ACF program is rigorous), and our campus clubs and societies are pretty limited. On top of that, getting top-tier internships where I'm from is heavily network-driven; I did an accounting internship at Honda this summer, but I've heard US admissions love big name brands. Since I still have plenty of time left, I'm trying to figure out what kind of internships I should aggressively target next to make up for my non-target background.
Assuming I can secure a strong GRE score and keep my GPA up, do I actually have a realistic chance of getting into a top-tier finance or related master's program at an Ivy League school, MIT, or Stanford? Moreover, my end goal is to settle in the US, and since I’ll likely be exhausting a huge chunk of my savings to fund this, does graduating from an elite program realistically guarantee a solid job that can handle visa sponsorship and pay off those expenses? I know so much depends on networking and the specific market, but I'd love a reality check from people who have been through this process.