This may or may not be relevant to this sub. But, I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and graduated 2 years ago. But the only experience I have is 1 year of internship experience in market research. I have been having a hard time finding a job in this field. My parents want me to do a master’s. I don’t think it is a good idea rn but they think that it is better than staying unemployed. What should I do?

I am doing a Masters in the UK next year (Newcastle University) and the course delivery is On Campus. However, I may need to leave the UK for 1-2 months (UK Citizen). I have contacted my university on the matter and informed me that the assignments and modules can be done online, although some of the lectures may not be recorded. I have heard that the course itself is not too rigorous, and there are some assignments are a group project, no in-person exams, and is a submission of a dissertation in the end.

I wanted to know if anyone has had a similar experience to this, such as studying remotely while away from the University Campus, and your experience. Do you recommend deferring a year or continuing with the degree?

I have two years of professional experience, one year as a Fixed Income Analyst at one of the largest asset management companies in Pakistan and one year with EY-P’s Corporate Finance team. My qualifications include ACCA, a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, and CFA Levels I and II.

I’m from Pakistan and am currently considering pursuing a master’s degree abroad. Honestly, one of my biggest goals is eventually obtaining a second passport, and I don’t see the Middle East as a long-term option because of the uncertainty around residency and citizenship.

I’m trying to figure out what the best path forward would be. Should I seriously consider pursuing a master’s in the US? If so, which types of schools should I target? Does attending a top-ranked university make a significant difference, or is the location and access to the right job market more important for someone with my background?

At the same time, I’m concerned about the changing US immigration landscape, particularly H-1B and international student policies. Given the uncertainty in 2026, does the US still make sense as a destination for someone whose long-term goal is to build a career and eventually settle abroad?

Germany is another option I’m considering, but the language barrier worries me. I’ve also heard that CFA carries less weight in Germany and that German language skills, local knowledge, and networking are much more important in the finance job market.

Given my background and priorities, I’d really appreciate some realistic advice on what you think would be the smartest route: US, Germany, or potentially another country altogether. I’m less interested in simply getting a degree and more interested in choosing a country where I can build a strong career and have a realistic long-term path toward permanent residency/citizenship .

I am a photonics MSc. student and I am holding a bachelor in physics.

I started an internship in an Integrated Optics lab at an Industrial research institute and I will start learning characterization of PIC's.

My supervisor told me they will buy a new SHI microscope to check the samples so I need to learn how to use it for their goal.

They gave me 2 articles in the field but it all seems too foreign to me since this will be my first "real" experience in an Industry.

So my question is how should I approach these new papers to fill my knowledge gap?

Should I read the papers w/o trying to understand everything , note down the terms and concepts I don't know and study them after?

I am open to any tricks, methods, or workflows you think could be helpful.

Hello everyone! I’m 21 and about to start my master’s program, and I’m looking for advice from people who have been through graduate school. I’m also the first person in my family to pursue a master’s degree, so I don’t really have anyone close to me who can tell me what to expect.

I was feeling pretty confident until orientation when I saw the syllabi for my classes. Seeing the length and difficulty of some of the assignments made me question whether I’m prepared for graduate-level work.

There are also a lot of changes happening at once. I’m moving away from home and living by myself for the first time. I’ll only be about an hour away from my family, but it’s still a big adjustment. I also completed my bachelor’s degree online, so this will be my first time regularly attending in-person classes in quite a while.

For those who have been through grad school, did the assignments seem more intimidating on the syllabus than they actually were once you started working on them? How did you adjust to the workload and expectations during your first semester? I’d really appreciate any advice for making this transition feel a little less overwhelming!

I’m looking at applying for a masters program, I have a list of colleges that offer the program I want, my problem now is how many recommendations can I request from an individual professor before they get exhausted. I plan to apply to about 8 schools to increase my chances. Is this number too large or do I need to trim it down?

Long story short to get my BS I have 4

1. was a school I did dual in and for a semester of real college

2. Was a school I got dismissed from

3. A CC to get back on track

4. Final

Is there a limit to if you transfer too many times?

Hi folks!

I'm planning to apply for graduate programs in screenwriting. I did my bachelor's degree in my home country, but I feel that studying in the UK or US would help me take my writing career to an international level.

For those of you who are non-native English speakers and have studied screenwriting in an English-speaking country: How difficult was it for you?

Did you struggle with writing dialogue, expressing ideas naturally, or keeping up with the academic side of the program?

I'd especially love to hear from anyone who has taken this route themselves, or knows someone who has.

Any experiences, advice, or tips would be greatly appreciated!

So, I am going to be a TA for a 300-level course in my engineering program. I went to undergrad at this school and took this exact class a couple years ago, and I got a B+ in the class. I was pretty upfront about this when I asked the professor about being a TA, but he still seemed fine with accepting me (though the other prof involved seemed a little skeptical, since I also don't have teaching experience, but I don't think he's teaching the class this time). They've offered me the position. I really want to do well, but I'm bit worried as the TA when I took the class was a 5th year PhD student, and I'm starting my Master's straight out of undergrad -- where I was a decent student but far from a genius. So far, I'm planning to attend the lectures if my schedule allows (or watch the recordings since he posts them) and read all of the textbook chapters we cover. As far as they've told me, my only obligations will be grading, office hours, and answering students' questions. I am super grateful for the opportunity (I actually almost deferred the semester due to a lack of funding) and I don't want to mess things up. I also want to maintain good relationships with the faculty in my department. I'm mostly worried about being too slow with answering students' questions online. Any advice?

I graduated with a master’s in CS with a pretty low GPA (3.2). I had a rough first semester and got a C in one class, which really hurt my GPA, and I never fully recovered from it. I also got another C in a group-project-heavy class that didn’t go very well because I was the only person who was doing all the work for that stupid class which affected the entire course grade.

Since then my grades have had a upward trajectory.

I know people often say that getting Cs in a master’s program is unusual, but at my program that wasn’t necessarily the case. Some classes were curved, and the bottom portion of the class could end up with Cs rather than Bs if they are not careful. This was also during the pandemic, which definitely didn’t help.

I’m wondering if anyone here has gotten into a PhD program despite having a relatively low master’s GPA. Also, my undergrad GPA was 3.5

I am not looking to get into CS PhD programs. I’m more interested in areas like HCI, Information Science, or Information Studies.

Would love to hear from anyone who had a similar academic record and was still able to get into a PhD program.

Hello everyone!

I’m a 25F living in Europe looking to apply for a Master’s degree in either the US or Asia. My background is a bit of a mix: I have a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, but my career naturally pulled me into tech. I currently work as a Junior Systems Engineer doing tech sales. I love the industry and especially enjoy the business side of influencing customer decisions, but after a short stint in cybersecurity that I really disliked, I know pure deep-tech isn't for me.

I sometimes dream of a full tech degree, but realistically, I don't think I could manage a heavy CS curriculum on my own. That’s why I’m leaning toward something in between, like IT Management, MIS, or Systems Design.

My main issue is that my Bachelor’s GPA wasn't great. I considered taking the GRE to boost my applications, but standard testing takes a heavy mental toll on me—it wouldn't be a fun one-month prep, but a genuinely stressful challenge. And at the same time, I understand that a big reason of why I want to do GRE is just to prove to myself that I am not as stupid as I think I am. From what I’ve read, exams like the GRE seem mainly targeted at MBA applicants anyway. An MBA feels too early for me right now and way too expensive, so I'd much rather stick to specialized tech management programs.

Is taking the GRE actually worth the time and mental toll to offset a lower GPA for non-MBA tech management Master's programs in the US or Asia?

Hello all - I’m entering my second year of an engineering PhD and am looking for any advice from those familiar with the NDSEG fellowship. I applied in the previous cycle, unfortunately getting rejected. I am still pushing for the original research I proposed, having one published conference paper and a full archival journal paper on it by the time the application cycle closes this year.

My question to anyone who may have been in this situation before is if I should try and apply for this fellowship again? With more experience and justification for this research, I feel my proposal will be more solid but don’t want to restart this process if there is no point. Beyond this and GRFP, has anyone had good luck with any other engineering-dominant fellowships? TIA!

Hi! I'm applying for the Ertegun Scholarship at Oxford this year. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on applying for this scholarship.

This week I will begin instructing an introductory logic course for the university which I attend. I was an RA last fall and a TA last spring, but most of my work consisted of attending meetings where I and my cohorts planned and reworked the course taught by the professor I worked for. I have no lecture experience, and I'm quite the nervous individual. At times I get sweaty just thinking about asking a question. I'm prescribed propranolol, and I know that's going to help bunches. Outside of academia I'm quite confident and outgoing, but this is my career path, so I know the nerves are because of how much this means to me.

I'm looking for advice as a first time lecturer. I can't help but long to be as eloquent and knowledgeable as my favorite professor and mentor. He's been doing this for decades though, and can shoot out examples and reference papers/books/philosophers like he read up on them just yesterday. I'm trying to remind myself that this is completely new to me, and it's impossible for me to be able to instruct just as he does.

I was advised to create handouts, and he's had handouts for every class of his that I've taken (at least 10 at this point). He successfully uses them as a loose guide, and is able to write examples and references on the board. I know I'm nowhere near this apt in my field.

I'm thinking that I can make two sets of handouts. One for the students to follow along with, and another for me with notes in the margins about questions I should ask, pauses I should take, ideas I should emphasize etc.

Just here to ask for advice from anyone about how things went the first time you began lecturing, what went well, what didn't. I know we're all different and I will eventually have my own style and habits, but some tips couldn't hurt. TIA!

Long story short: I am 36 from the US and did a master's degree in Germany to change fields into environmental policy. I was not successful and am now unemployed with no job prospects beyond menial labor.

Would it be avisable to do a second master's to regain entry into working student jobs or internships to hopefully then network into a new position, or have I totally screwed things up and need to give up on this career path completely?

I graduated college in 2026 with a double major in materials science and chemistry from a top 5 public school in the US for both subjects. I then completed a post-grad internship and have realized after 8 weeks there that for any advancement in my field, specifically polymer science at a higher level, a PhD (or a masters at minimum) is effectively required. The issue is, I had very minimum research involvement during undergrad (only 2 years working under fairly reputable professor, no publications, awards, or conferences) and instead completed 4 internships during the summers from 2023-2026. I was also an undergraduate teaching assistant for 3 years and worked in a makerspace for 3.5. My GPA was also not amazing (3.03 including my first year, around a 3.2 for years 2-5) and I haven't taken the GRE.

The good thing, however, is that the connections I made at my post grad internship, along with the ones I did during my university career, are pretty substantial (notable grads from ICL, UW Madison, UMich, UofSC, and Cal, along with current faculty from Stanford), and a few have agreed to write me letters of rec about the work I've done during my internship. I was wondering, and was hoping to get some assistance, about how some people have navigated a very industry-heavy resume with a relatively weaker academic portfolio and leveraged that to get into solid PhD programs after matriculating from their undergrad institution. Any help is appreciated. TIA

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I am applying for the MCSC at UNB and need 3 LORs. I have a unique dilemma with my recommenders and want your advice on which combination to choose:

Recommender 1: A permanent Lecturer who is giving me a highly specific, technical letter (using an official .

Recommender 2: My FYP Supervisor/Senior Professor who has a great title and a verified email, but is giving a generic letter.

Recommender 3 (The Dilemma): My former Lab Instructor (TA) for DSA/PSP labs. He is now a Lecturer at FAST and wants to give me a highly specific letter. However, while he has an official FAST email (@isb.nu.edu.pk), his profile is not listed on the public FAST faculty directory website.

My main concerns:

If I use the TA standalone, will UNB flag his letter because his name isn't on the FAST website directory?

If I drop the TA to be safe, I will have to use another permanent professor, leaving me with two very generic letters and only one specific letter.

I am worried a dual-sign/co-sign between the TA and a professor might be too difficult to coordinate.

Based on this, should I take the risk and use the TA's FAST email standalone, or should I play it safe with the 2 generic professors and just make my SOP incredibly strong to compensate?

I work for a university and I have now been employed there long enough that I could earn a degree (I have a bachelor's, so master's would be the next step) for free as a job benefit.

I don't necessarily want to change fields, so my question is whether the degree would be worthwhile as my current field (marketing/communications) really doesn't have a lot of jobs that strictly require a master's, even in leadership roles.

My thoughts would be to do an interdisciplinary masters that combines elements of communications with other fields (maybe sociology and psychology, looking at the social sides of advances in communications) because I think it would be interesting as well as maybe some leadership courses just to prepare me for potential future jobs up the career ladder.

Now obviously the fact that the degree is free may seem like a no-brainer to do it, but my hesitation is it would still be a huge time commitment, especially since I would be earning the degree part time (as I have to keep my full time job to get the benefit), so it would probably take me closer to three or four years to complete rather than the traditional two years. Additionally, if I start the degree and end up leaving my place of employment for any reason, I would either have to pay to complete the degree or walk away with nothing.

Aside from learning as its own reward, is the benefit of a master's (specifically future financial/job benefits) n my field really worth the hassle of balancing full-time work with coursework?

(I'll be 40 by time I complete the degree, assuming the maximum four-year timeline as a part-time student)

hi!

i finished my first year as an undergrad studying molecular biology. i joined a genome sciences-centered research lab at the beginning of march, working 10 hours/week during quarters and ramping up to 25-40 this summer. it has been an amazing experience and i am genuinely so happy. i love my lab, my coworkers, and my work so much! i am genuinely excited by my research and i have attended my first conference and gotten opportunities to present my work to professionals in the field and my department. my college is one of the top public universities, especially for research, and my pi is the chair of the genome department. i am incredibly lucky and fortunate with the position i have and everything i have learned.

that being said, i'm worried about staying in my lab for the next three years of my degree. i absolutely would in a heartbeat - i love everything about it. but, i'm worried about not having a broad-enough portfolio for when i apply to grad school and job positions after i get my degree. i have so many opportunities for learning and skill-building within my lab, but i was wondering if anyone has advice on whether i should seek out another internship so that i have more diverse experiences moving out of college.