Questions tagged [graduate-school]
On schools that award advanced academic degrees, such as masters and doctoral degrees. This tag is mainly for questions about the structure and organization of a graduate school or the fundamental experience of being a graduate student. Do not use this tag for questions about research in graduate school (use [research] instead), coursework in graduate school (use [coursework] instead), gaining admissions to graduate school (use [graduate-admissions]), etc.
0
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2answers
204 views
Are USA math graduate students ready for graduate school in math? [on hold]
I have seen some answers on this site which say that a bachelor of science in mathematics in USA is a general degree and a student needs to study other subjects as well. It also seems to me that many ...
16
votes
7answers
4k views
What can I do with like-new, recent-edition textbooks that I'm not allowed to sell?
My employer is sponsoring most of the tuition and fees for my master's degree (in aerospace engineering), including required textbooks. Thus, it is unethical and against policy for me to sell those ...
-1
votes
1answer
268 views
Should I report someone that acted against the university policy about diplomas and transcripts?
Background: The graduate school in our university, which is a public university in the US, has a policy about international students and their original diplomas and transcripts, which may be written ...
1
vote
3answers
130 views
Is it weird to contact a professor in foreign university for research internship opportunity if I am not a student?
I got a Bachelor degree few years ago and I have worked (non-research job) for few years since then. Recently, I would like to pursue a master degree in a foreign university but I cannot obtain ...
2
votes
1answer
89 views
If a grad student is working as a TA, can they also be asked to work as their adviser's lab manager for free?
I have been my adviser's chemistry lab manager for the past 2 years, mostly working as a TA to pay the bills while I try to get research done. My adviser has no funding so I've been running the lab ...
2
votes
1answer
276 views
U.S. Government Shutdown — potential effects for the upcoming Spring 2019 semester
The U.S. government shutdown has continued through three weeks now; what would the effects be for the upcoming Spring 2019 college semester for graduate students who depend on federal student loans to ...
1
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0answers
59 views
Missed entry to foreign grad school; what are my options?
I want to specify that this is actually for a friend, I personally am not an academic but he is and is in this situation and asked me to write here to ask for suggestions as he is abstaining from the ...
9
votes
6answers
2k views
How should I deal with feeling dumb? [duplicate]
I am a graduate student in mathematics at a top school. Most of other students achieved gold medal in International mathematics olympiad for high school and/or other similar competitions. Most did ...
6
votes
5answers
373 views
When should people ask naive questions?
I'm a graduate student in math and I usually have lots of questions about papers I read. Sometimes my questions are about technical things but a lot of questions I have are about "well-known" facts ...
3
votes
1answer
116 views
How and when do departments decide who is teaching which course?
How and when do departments decide who is teaching which course?
I am a graduate student at a state school in the U.S. The process has never seemed clear to me, as it seems that when none of the ...
-1
votes
0answers
44 views
BS in CS with CS/Math double major or BS/MS in math for CS PhD programs in machine learning? [closed]
I have a tough decision to make this semester. I am currently earning a BS in Computer Science with a double major in computer science and applied mathematics. I have the option of earning a BS in ...
1
vote
2answers
66 views
Do minors and/or non-major courses affect grad school admissions?
Basically what it says in the heading, lengthy explanation below
At my university, just completing your major and general ed courses won't get you enough credits to graduate. This means that we have ...
0
votes
1answer
56 views
Asking the professor to advocate my application in admission committee?
What should I write in an email to a professor who encouraged me to apply after applying for the Ph.D. program? I want to ask him to advocate my application in the admission committee. But, I am not ...
0
votes
1answer
104 views
Drop out of PhD to do MSc
So, a bit of background: I went straight from my bachelor's to a PhD with the supervisor I had for my BSc. However, I have decided I'd like to instead do an MSc at a different university.
My ...
101
votes
7answers
16k views
Will my cancer ruin my chances of going to graduate school in math?
I commenced my bachelor of math 8 years ago and at the same time I was diagnosed to have cancer. Because of the treatment process and the emotional state that I was in, I only completed 3 subjects in ...
1
vote
0answers
90 views
University awards degree, but asks for additional (not previously disclosed) requirements in order to recommend for certification
In my state, one way to earn a certification as an administrator for elementary and secondary education is to attend an educational administration program through a university in the state, earn a ...
5
votes
1answer
323 views
How do the admission committees look at an applicant's profile if he has not yet figured out his area of research?
I want to go for masters admissions (and a PhD at some point too). The problem is I am not sure where exactly my research interests lie. As of now, I have almost equal research experience and ...
1
vote
0answers
191 views
To what extent do doctoral advisors “pick” their grad students?
I am just starting a graduate program in physics. I have read a few posts describing what a PhD student should think about when looking for an advisor, but I have a question regarding the advisor's ...
0
votes
2answers
354 views
Why would a European-style professor want a Ph.D student instead of a research staff? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Related to my questions:
How much knowledge is expected of a PhD applicant as compared to a postdoc or a research assistant?
For the average pure math US PhD program, what are essential topics after ...
1
vote
1answer
66 views
Fall grade reporting [closed]
Some programs require fall grades (which I'm happy about, mine are good).
However, some neither require it, nor do they have the ability to upload them through the online app.
Should I email someone ...
2
votes
2answers
180 views
Accepting 2 postgraduate university offers
I have received a conditional offer from the University of Birmingham and an unconditional offer from the University of Leeds for a masters degree in marketing, both programs are great but I have a ...
2
votes
3answers
212 views
Mediocre/Poor letter of rec from well-known professor vs great letter from not as well-known professor?
I'm planning to apply to graduate school next year after working a year in industry (software engineering) but have received advice to get my letters of recommendation and other application parts ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views
Failing out of graduate school [closed]
So, I applied for a graduate program (non-thesis) which is an advanced standing program and the only way to get a masters at the university for my program. During the summer session I completed my ...
1
vote
1answer
138 views
Forth year PhD student having trouble with his supervisor [closed]
I am 24 years old, studying electrical engineering. The major is communication systems, which mostly working on wireless problems. I came to grad school in 2015 directly from bachelor. I had an ...
1
vote
3answers
267 views
Unintentional Plagiarism in my Masters Thesis
About four months ago I graduated from a reputable university and received great feedback from the committee who judged my masters defense as well as my thesis. Prior to my defense, I was asked to ...
3
votes
1answer
114 views
Studying in the UK for a Master's degree, still worth it?
I am an Italian student who is about to get his undergrad degree in Computer Science. As I look to further my education, I'm also looking at universities outside of my own country, also in the UK. In ...
1
vote
0answers
23 views
How to Make up for Mediocre STEM GPA? Will Postbac Help? [duplicate]
I am a senior in college majoring in cognitive science and considering grad programs in neuroscience/cognitive science. Long story short, I didn't do super well in a lot of the STEM classes I took. ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
How much emphasis should be put on GitHub reputation in a computer science MSc application?
My undergraduate major was not computer science, but civil engineering, and I took five computer science courses in college. I worked as a software engineer for five years after I graduated, but not ...
-2
votes
2answers
412 views
For the average pure math US PhD program, what are essential topics after basics topics of complex analysis, abstract algebra and topology? [closed]
In short: Why don't we have the answer as "just the topics in the GRE" simply because the GRE is meant for applicants to average pure math PhD programs in the US, or is it not? if more than half of ...
6
votes
5answers
354 views
Complaint against supervisors
Is there any point to making a complaint against my PhD supervisors?
I was never going to ask my supervisors for references but was wondering about other repercussions.
I was planning to complain ...
3
votes
2answers
125 views
A professional reference letter for pure math graduate school
I'm applying for master's degree in mathematics (pure math) at Canadian universities.
I already found two professors to write academic letters for me, but it's hard to find the third one who can ...
3
votes
1answer
81 views
Can you send a university a protected PDF of undergraduate transcripts for graduate applications?
I am applying to graduate school using an online application service. There is a field to upload an electronic transcript, so I ordered transcripts from my university and saved it as a PDF. ...
2
votes
1answer
144 views
How should I organize my life towards a PhD in the next year?
After graduating and working for a few months I decided that I will quit my job to pursue a master's and then a PhD.
Before doing any applications I want to spend time reading the literature in ...
2
votes
2answers
139 views
Graduate or Undergraduate?
Is someone who is currently pursuing his Integrated Master's course/ Dual Degree course (or any other 5-year degree course) considered to be a graduate student or an undergraduate student?
0
votes
1answer
78 views
Professor wrote to me saying he supports my fellowship application to the committee
A professor I want to work with (at the university I applied to) informed that he is awaiting some funding news (for a project I had expressed interest in working with him on) and he also stated that ...
0
votes
1answer
95 views
Is it reasonable to write the major part of my statement of purpose on machine learning for masters in data science?
I am an aspirant for masters in data science and I have mentioned in major chunk of my Statement of purpose about machine learning and my past experience with it. Is it okay or not ?
1
vote
1answer
78 views
how to ask supervisor for a recommendation letter for scholarship?
I've just started my master in Canada and I just passed one course so far and it was with my supervisor.
could I ask my supervisor to fill out a strong reference letter for me for a scholarship? or ...
2
votes
1answer
295 views
Should students who copy homework answers from somewhere else state how they obtained the answer? [duplicate]
I'm an 3rd year undergraduate student, and this semester, I'm taking graduate course in one of my departments.
We have homeworks each week, and while doing the problems on those, I sometimes get ...
1
vote
1answer
136 views
Does it look bad to get recommendation letters all from the outside of undergrad school?
I'm applying for Mathematics MS degree and I have an issue with getting an recommendation letter from undergrad professors. I didn't plan to apply for grad school unitil recently and I was never a ...
3
votes
2answers
838 views
What are some useful tips that allows PhD students to produce many publications of good quality throughout the duration of the PhD? [closed]
I am starting my PhD in Statistics soon and while I will try not to burn myself out, I still want to publish as much as possible while I am in my PhD program.
What are some useful tips that allows ...
-1
votes
1answer
84 views
When does the grad school classes begin [closed]
I want to know that when does the classes for grad school begin in US universities. Is it divided into two like summer and fall as i have seen in the websites of universities or does it have a ...
5
votes
2answers
282 views
What are academic honors and prizes?
I am applying for a scholarship (women in graduate studies). It asks whether I have received any academic honors and prizes. I received a couple of master's awards from my supervisor's grant and a ...
1
vote
2answers
298 views
To what extent my discriminating PhD supervisor can influence the future of my academic career? [closed]
I'm almost at the end of my Ph.D., writing down the thesis and having the disputation.
Well, my Ph.D. took me about 5 years. My main background is Engineering, but I changed my research domain to ...
1
vote
1answer
87 views
Is dropping one of my major considered “bad” if I were to study related to that field?
I'm a third year Physics & Mathematics student, and through the years, I have done lots of self-study in semesters/winter breaks/summer breaks.
Now the thing has come to a point that I can learn ...
2
votes
1answer
398 views
Is it okay to mention family background in SOP?
I'm applying for MS in Mathematics. My grandfather was Math professor and my uncle is also Math professor. Such family background was one of my reasons to study Mathematics and I was wondering if I ...
4
votes
4answers
362 views
I haven't received the support promised in my funding letter. What should I do?
It has been 4 months that I have started my master's degree in North America. I got my funding letter from my supervisor when I was in my home country, in my letter it was written that I will be a ...
51
votes
8answers
18k views
How to deal with an abusively condescending professor?
I am a beginning graduate student in Mathematics. I have a professor who always brings up the fact that my GPA is not great in my undergraduate degree even though my performance is above the norm in ...
0
votes
1answer
95 views
Dyslexia and the GRE
I am applying to math graduate schools this year. Hence, I had to take the General GRE and Math Subject GRE. Only recently has it come to my attention that I could have applied for 1.5 or 2 times more ...
2
votes
2answers
181 views
Mention a specific potential adviser and project in the PhD statement of purpose
I am writing my statement of purpose for my Ph.D. and I want to work in a specific field with a specific professor in the department that I am going to apply for and I have a very good experience in ...
0
votes
2answers
86 views
Getting a recommendation letter when applying for a job before finishing graduate program
I am midway through the third year of a five year graduate program. Grad school has been fine and I am not struggling academically but there is a full-time job offering in my city (in a field related ...
