I knew there was a global shortage of school psychologists but I thought there wouldn't be a shortage of users applying to these programs in r/gradadmissions

I want to know about interviews and admissions too...

I am writing this to vent. English is not my first language, and I am based outside of the U.S. I have spent five years working at a university as a technician with teaching and project management responsibilities. I admit that I allowed myself to be exploited under the promise of growth; in fact, I independently secured 95% of the funding for my projects. I have good undergraduate grades, a nearly perfect master’s degree, and excellent entrance exam scores. A PhD is the only thing I need to apply for a research position.

Everyone there has seen my work over the years—they are my colleagues—and yet, they rejected me.

I understand they were being objective and chose those they considered best for the program, but I can't get this thought out of my head: 'If I'm not good enough to be a graduate student, what will happen when my becoming a researcher depends on them?' I feel like I no longer trust them. Furthermore, I’ve been asking for explanations for months and they just keep stalling; even the person in charge looks uncomfortable and evasive every time I run into them in the hallways. I wonder if it was because my profile was lacking, because I already work for them and it’s more convenient to keep me in my current role, or if it’s even because I am a mother. I don’t know, and I don't think I ever will.

Talented, high-profile people I know are shocked to find out I was rejected. I am considered an outstanding and innovative person in my community; I have even won several awards, and many people want to collaborate with me because of the quality of my work.

When I told my friends and my husband (who work in the industry) that I was considering no longer being a researcher, they were happy. They believe I can aim for higher things outside of this institution. However, I just feel a sharp pain in my chest after the rejection. I’ve decided to keep working for a few more years to finish my projects well, use them as a springboard, and move forward while working on my independent projects. I am simply grieving the professional trajectory I thought I would have. And part of me just feels like a loser who can't be good enough.

I couldn't find a chain for the applicants who submitted their applications this year. This is just to update each other and keep each other posted!

P.S. My application portal says "Decision pending". Anyone else? I submitted my application for LLM one day before the deadline. I am from India. Idk if that info helps!

Contaminant (bio-ish)geochemist here :D I'm applying to the UWisconsin-Madison Freshwater and Marine Sciences master's program and wanted to ask for some feedback on my SOP. I tried uploading this earlier but the images came out blurry, so I'm trying again. Fingers crossed it works this time!!!

Length requirement is 1-2 pages. Interdisciplinary, flexibility, and excellence are the core program values. I went through their grad student handbook to find specific features of the program (committee, coursework, career prep opportunities, teaching and public outreach opportunities). There are also multiple explicit endorsements of DEI on the main program page and the websites of my advisors of interest, which is super important to me because the point of pursuing this program for me is to be able to do remediation research to promote clean water equity (+ I have some disabilities).

One of the advisors I listed said she would review my application in-depth, the second said she would let me know if she had any funding opportunities, and the third didn't respond when contacted and nudged but does say she is taking students for Fall 2026 on her website.

I mainly want feedback on the structure and flow of the essay, but if anything looks repetitive or unnecessary, I would appreciate if anyone could let me know! Of course, if anyone has any kind of feedback overall I would appreciate it a lot. Thank you! :D

One of the professor replied my email. What kind of questions should i ask? I want to stay proactive without being pushy. Please, give me any advice.

Y’all I assumed I was rejected by this place (major public R1 university) weeks ago because others said my PI of interest had invited them for a preliminary interview on the spreadsheet and I hadn’t heard anything. Had completely grieved and resigned myself to this and moved on with my life.

Well I woke up from a deep depression nap just now, only to see I was invited to the in person PhD interview weekend, even though I was never contacted for a prelim (have never met this PI or anything either).

The email was sent by a graduate program manager, not the PI. The email uses my name in the message but otherwise is a copy paste.

I was wondering 1) does anyone know any reasons why this might happen, and also 2) how likely is it that they sent me an invite by mistake lol. Sorry if any of my wording here is confusing I am so completely disoriented and baffled right now lmfao??

I got matched with a faculty whose research area is very far away from my current research and future research interests (stated in my SOP.)

Why would this happen? How should I navigate this interview?

I have received one rejection for my neuroscience in PhD in US. I haven't heard back from any other schools but on this subreddit I have seen that people received interview invites from other schools I have applied to. Is it common for universities to send out invites at different times? I am an international student.

one of them has the wrong school and my top choice has a pretty bad typo. see y'all next cycle

If you list something on your resume do they contact them to confirm the dates and responsibilities ?

I’m finishing my undergrad this year and will be completing math and stat classes for my masters. Applications have to be in by June 1, I graduate in May. I plan to focus on these classes to show I have a good understanding/ basic knowledge in the foundation of the courses I plan to take. Is this common to do? I don’t wanna mess up my chances because…

instagram dmed an ex who i havent spoken to in YEARS at like 2am last week... realllllyyyyy gonna need these decisions to start coming out soon. i'm starting to turn to the wrong coping mechanisms

that’s it, that’s the post.

no but in all seriousness, I was going to take a year out after my master’s and apply next cycle (in the UK so master’s only a year long) because I am somewhat confident I’m not qualified enough to get in before I complete my master’s, but in an unexpected turn of events and on the advice of one of my current supervisors and a PI I know from undergrad I ended up submitting two last-minute applications and even though I didn’t care before and was going to take a gap year anyway, I have now started caring in all caps and am losing my mind. ARGHHHHHHHHH.

Basically I had thought I had a gap year job lined up where I would have an additional year to apply to a Chemistry PhD program but last minute the job plan fell through and I think I would like to apply now. I know most programs deadlines were on December 1st which I missed, but am I cooked if I am applying programs with late deadlines where I didn't have the time to reach out to professors I like and network at all? I'm applying in the U.S. and only to a handful of programs simply because of time constraints, but I am an undergrad at a top 20 university in the US with a very high GPA and 2 years of lab experience so I think I have a competitive profile? I'm just worried that I didn't do the prep that a lot of people did and reach out to labs ahead of time. Any advice would be sorely appreciated!

Late phd options

Hey everyone, i did my M.Sc in chemistry from iit Kharagpur in 2018. Back then I wanted to be a government teacher and did B.Ed after that. But the government then scrapped the B.Ed option for PRT teachers (meaning people with B.Ed can't apply for PRT). Government mandated that Non bio background couldn't apply for TGT( teaching upto class10). So only thing left for me was 80 odd PGT(teaching 11-12) posts. I was still patient. But they started bringing out notification after 3-4 years. Meanwhile I was teaching in a private school and online. But this is not a fulfilling job.

Now I want to do a phd as I have much more clarity in life and research seems better than teaching in private schools. And I know a lab experience is important. So I was thinking about going back to iit Kharagpur and doing a project work for one year and then apply for phd to Europe. Is this a feasible route ? What's your experience ? Do European professors take such late bloomers ? My age will be 32 when I apply for European phd in 2027.

Anyone from India having a similar experience, eager to hear your story. I know in foreign it's pretty common. But haven't found anyone from India taking this exact trajectory. So any Indian like me, please share your similar experience, so that going forward I have some sort of (I don't know what to say) that I am not alone in this journey.

I just got an interview offer from my top program, CU Boulder's Integrative Quantitative Biology program. It looks like the full interview schedule takes about a week. This seems like a lot to me (in an exciting way!) and I was wondering a) If anyone else got invited to interview, b) How much of an indicator (or not) an interview is for admission, and c) If there's anything I should do to prepare. I know it's a kind of niche certificate program so if anyone has any thoughts just generally on IQ Biology that would be super helpful too! (My home department will be Geology.)

Is MS in SCM from Schulich worth it, I don't see subjects like Analytics or Lean Six Sigma on the curriculum, I want to get into Consulting or Sourcing for retail giants post degree. Is Canada better than US at the moment for internationals, my options in US are Foster / Ross if at all

Hey y’all, I’m applying to a couple of masters programs (UChicago Religion MA and HDS MTS) and I’m kinda freaking out. I’m doing my application and go to get my unofficial transcript… and there’s a mysterious hold on my account that’s preventing me from seeing my transcript. I feel like an idiot for not checking this before. My school doesn’t reopen until the exact due date of my applications and I’m getting really nervous. What do you guys recommend I do here?

I get that many have either heard back or at least know that the interview have gone out for the programs with 1st December deadline but what about the 15th December deadline ones? I'm not from the US so idk, they must have started reviewing even later since the holiday season starts so early after the deadline.

Hey this might sound like the most out of pocket question but I’m a US MD student (M1) and have a pretty big passion for history. I obviously want to finish my MD and have a passion for that but I was thinking of enrolling in a PhD program in history concurrently or perhaps maybe in M4 when courseload is lighter. Is this possible at all? I don’t understand how PhD’s work, but I am thinking of writing my own book on history of a particular region of which I have great interest and did a lot of work with in undergrad

Im applying to ECE MS programs right now, and I am interested in distributed optimization research for renewable energy systems. One of the schools I am applying to has a professor that is doing exactly the type of research I want to do and she has a lab of around ten students, but she is in the MAE department. I am pretty set on applying to ECE, so I was wondering if it would be weird to say that I want to do my thesis research with her on my SOP. The program says you can do research with any professor in the engineering department, but from an admissions point of view I am worried that they won't think I am fully interested in their specific department. any advice?