The online MSHROD program I have started is group work heavy, so much so it’s half of our grade in every required class. We are only on week 3 and everyone in the cohort is expressing frustration and downright anger over this. I attended many information sessions and advising meetings to go over the program, courses and expectations. Nowhere was it mentioned or listed the expectation was to be this dependent on group work.

The program is advertised as being for working adults, 100% online with everyone in our current cohort being a full time employee and taking classes part time. I understand there is likely naivety on my part and misunderstanding. It’s graduate school and it’s going to require some commitment and time management. But I was not expecting any of this to be dependent on group work. I’m honestly kicking myself a bit and am seriously questioning the longevity of this program on my mental health after the two weeks I’ve had.

Why is group work so seemingly common in these online programs?

I'm in my second year of a master's program that requires a lot of group projects. This semester we have an especially difficult class in which we work in groups of four. Our professor assigned the group members. One of the people in mine -- we'll call him Bob -- almost never speaks in class; I might have heard him speak once or twice in our entire first year. In our group, he doesn't contribute anything at all.

Yesterday we had to complete an in-class assignment together that took 45 minutes. He stayed silent for the first half hour and just let the rest of us hash it out. We weren't sure about one of our answers, so I finally said, "Hey, Bob, what do you think?" He actually replied, "About what?" I just gave up at that point, and he didn't speak again for the next 15 minutes. The other three of us did all the work without him.

This is a competitive program, and at this point, I'm wondering how he even got in. Have any of you dealt with this? Most of our classes are discussion-based and involve a participation grade.

i don't really get this. and let me know if it's a reasonable ask and i'm just being annoying about it. but in my grad school program, one of the very first assignments we have is to interview someone in our field, which in this case is school counseling. this makes no sense to me because, even though i'm lucky to know and work with school counselors with my job, i know that for the first couple weeks of school, they are insanely busy

not only is this assignment due in the second week of the semester, but it's also an HOUR long interview. that just seems like an unreasonable thing to ask of your students, and seems pretty difficult to pull off unless you know a very, very nice school counselor

it's an hour long interview and a couple page paper with it. and i don't mind the work load at all. i would gladly do a paper doubled in length for a prerecorded video/interview. i hate the idea of inconveniencing someone who's already swamped with work for a free hour of their time. and i get the idea thats being conveyed here, that it gives you a better understanding and maybe a closer connection to the job, but why have it due the second week of school? that just seems unfair to me

is there anything that i can do here? i've talked to the professor about it and was pretty much entirely deflected

Hello! I am working on my graduate applications, and I am wondering how my admissions essay should be formatted? Other than a word count and suggested font, there are no specific requirements for a format.

Do I need a full heading? Page numbers?

I am applying for a MSEd in Literacy Education if that helps!

Hi community,

I recently received some feedback from my supervisor that was less positive than I'd hoped for. I'm immensely grateful for their honesty, detail, and efficiency in reviewing what I sent over.

They are an incredibly supportive mentor and I have nothing but appreciation for the time they spent getting back to me. As a student, I know that incorporating their feedback will allow me to excel and position my work as accurate, informative, and valuable to the field.

However, I can't help but feel a bit of a sting

For those who have been in my shoes, how do you get over feelings of shame and disappointment that come from less-than-stellar critiques?

Thank you~

this is my second week in my mfa program for creative writing and i just wanted to say i feel so rejuvenated. it’s been four years since i received my undergrad degree and ive written a memoir since then but the whole time i was severely missing the sort of thing academia fosters. and tonight during my research, theory, and pedagogy class i was so completely enamored by the lecture and being in a space where everyone is dedicated to the analysis and craft of something so beautiful that i almost started crying. i missed taking notes, i missed writing papers, i missed deadlines, i missed being confused and interested and discussion and disagreements and everything that pushed my brain to the limits of what i thought it could hold just to prove that it can hold so much more. this space is so beautiful. i understand why people want to stay in school forever. you could take the same class a million times and learn something new each time. i have such a renewed respect for teachers and professors for taking the time, care, and energy to impart their knowledge on others and to continue to learn from their students. last week, one of my fellow classmates asked me a slew of questions after class, and after i answered them she told me i must be a great teacher. i’ve never taught anything in my life. but now maybe i will. i hope this semester is going as swimmingly for all of you as it is for me!

My M.S. program in psychology assigns 1-2 research articles to be read then I have to submit an assignment answering questions about the article (summary, methods, limitations, strengths, dependent, independent variable, etc.). I am really struggling with trying to think critically figure out whether to be brief or be in depth on each answer and am worried this will be my undoing.

Note: I majored in education for my bachelor's which was much more hands-on so I am struggling with this transition to grad school and everyone else in my courses has a psych. background.

Hi guys!

I am a 2nd year PhD student applying for NDSEG and Soros this semester. As you can tell by the title, I am looking for advice on applying for both these fellowships. While there is a decent amount of info available for Soros (as well as sample applications), I was having some trouble for NDSEG (though I found a helpful YouTube video!). For those of you that applied and/or were successful, where were you able to find examples and what advice do you have that helped you get the fellowship? Looking forward to hearing back for you all!

Hello, I have a Bachelors Degree in Business Management and currently im being pushed by my father to get a Masters Degree, but due to financial instability and no budget whatsoever, he wants me and my brother to move to India for 2 years to go to a university for our Masters. Now we are completely against that because of our nationality having a masters doesn't do anything for us in the country we are currently, but I am open to online classes, so I was wondering is it even worth it to go for a online masters degree from a university? If it is what university which is flexible in fees would you recommend that would be suitable for someone who is in the UAE and have enough credibility that it can be accepted. This can help me a lot with a very difficult decision because I really dont want to go to India ( not for any reason just dont want to move from here for now )

Bonjour à tous,
Je suis actuellement en train de faire des études de chimie en France et j’aimerais beaucoup faire mon master à l’étranger idéalement en Australie. Je commence donc à réfléchir dès maintenant à la meilleure façon de construire mon parcours. Pour ceux qui ont fait ou font des études de chimie à l’étranger : Quels sont selon vous les meilleurs pays et universités pour faire un master en chimie ? Quels domaines de la chimie offrent le plus de débouchés professionnels (chimie analytique, organique, matériaux, chimie médicinale, biotechnologies, etc) Est-ce qu’il vaut mieux faire un master général en chimie ou se spécialiser dès le master? Pour l’Australie, quelles universités ou villes seraient intéressantes pour un master en chimie notamment si je souhaite ensuite travailler en laboratoire ou dans l’industrie ? Est-ce qu’il existe des passerelles entre chimie et la pharmacie ? Par exemple pour se spécialiser ensuite en chimie pharmaceutique, drug discovery, formulation, contrôle qualité, etc. ?
Est-ce qu’un diplôme de chimie obtenu en France permet facilement d’accéder à ces masters à l’étranger, notamment en Australie ? Mon objectif serait idéalement de faire un master qui me donne de bonnes opportunités de travailler à l’école après le diplôme donc je cherche surtout des conseils sur les domaines les plus intéressants et les parcours possibles.
Si vous avez fait ce type de parcours, je serais vraiment intéressée par vos retours notamment sur les condition d’admission, les coûts, les débouchés et votre expérience personnelle.
Merci d’avance !

I am a PhD student in ECE (VLSI / semiconductor field) and recently presented at a particular conference. One of the professors in the audience came to me and offered an invited paper for another reputable conference where he is chairing in. My professor suggested just reusing all the contents in our original conference paper for this new 'invited paper', but I didn't want to rehash my old work. I wanted the paper to be worth reading for people who already read my original work, so I did a lot of additional work to add in a lot of extra contents to expand upon it. But later on, another professor told me that most people (when assessing my CV and publication list) will ignore the 'invited paper', because invited papers are usually gifted based on the advisor's reputation, not the main author's actual work. Is this true? Invited papers do not mean anything in your overall bibliography? Maybe that's why my professor had originally told me to just reuse the old contents... He wanted to save my time 😢

Advice appreciated!

I'm possibly starting a new full-time job which will require me to work until 6:30. I have grad classes which run from 6:30 - 8:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Monday one is flexible (if I'm late / can't come, since I'm advanced and technically don't have to attend--but I plan to), and I'm not sure yet about the Wednesday one. I'm in a tough spot with life, so even though the job isn't ideal, I'm working with what I can get.

I carpool with some other people to work. The trip home is about 30 min.

I've been assured that this time crunch is manageable. Does anyone have experience with this kind of conflict? Leaving work right when class starts, etc.? My dad suggested joining from the car and using a hotspot till I get home, though I've never done that before. Anything I'm overlooking or ought to prioritize?

Thanks.

I’m currently majoring in Government & International Politics with a minor in Peace Engineering and a concentration in Philosophy, Law & Governance. I’m hoping to go into foreign policy analysis after grad school.

I’ve been considering cybersecurity because I know foreign policy analysts need to understand data, technology, and security issues, but I’m not sure if a cybersecurity degree would actually be the best fit for my career goals.

Would a master’s in cybersecurity make sense, or would something like international security, intelligence, data analytics, or technology policy be more useful?

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone working in foreign policy, national security, intelligence, or a related field!

has anyone here actually used these for a while?/I keep seeing caffeine + l theanine mentioned together and Neuro mints came up a few times when I was looking around,I already drink coffee so im not really looking to replace that more wondering if the mint format is something people stick with during long reading/writing days or if its just nice in theory ig. dont know anyone irl who uses them so figured id ask here.

I really, really want to start a graduate program as soon as I graduate from undergrad next spring. However, I am stuck in a really unfortunate situation. Right before departing for my freshman year at my second-choice school (University of Oregon) to study marine biology, I was sexually assaulted by someone I had deeply trusted. At that point, I was still living in an abusive household, so I had no one to turn to for guidance. I left for school without telling anyone what had happened. My first semester went horribly as I struggled with worsening symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. By the end of the term, I was forced to withdraw and return home (Illinois) to seek therapeutic intervention.

My parents thought I just couldn't cope with the academic pressure of college, although I had been a straight-A student for over two years before the assault, so they refused to send me back to Oregon. I ended up at a local community college for two years, where I built a strong relationship with my core biology professor. He's written me two letters of recommendation in the past, but now he's totally ghosting me! :( I'm so sad because he is the only professor I've had two classes with, and he genuinely seemed to enjoy bonding with me. I excelled in both courses despite continuing to reel from the effects of PTSD, and we'd often chat for hours outside of class. I think I may have forgotten to write him a thank-you email for the last letter, and I'm worried that he doesn't want to support me anymore because of that.

During my time in community college, I also joined a shorebird conservation group. I asked the leader of the program to write me a letter of recommendation for grad school this year, and despite writing one for me in the past for an REU, she now feels like she doesn't know me well enough to write a strong enough letter of rec for grad school. I understand why she feels that way and completely respect her decision, but now I have no idea what to do.

Today, I attend an R1 school in Wisconsin. I have one letter of recommendation secured from a professor who is currently overseeing my undergraduate research project on treefrog bioacoustics. Other than that, the only people I can still turn to are mentors from an internship I did at a public aquarium, an English professor, and a teaching assistant from a genetics course I took.

I have worked so incredibly hard to come back from the monumental setback of being assaulted. I have a reasonably strong CV, have stood out in nearly all my classes as a top participant and performer, and the people I thought would want to support me have no interest anymore. Any advice would be appreciated. This is one of the most devastating things I have ever had to endure.

This last week, I (32M American) took a huge plunge and began a two year Masters program in Europe, funded by a scholarship and some newly inherited money. On paper, this seemed like a GREAT decision: a competitive program with a ton of industry connections and the opportunity to enter into the European job market. I know this is a very special opportunity. I did the visa stuff, found boarding, learned the basics of this country’s language (the program is in English) and prepared academically. The thing is, since the moment I’ve arrive I’ve been overwhelmed and terrified. These feelings are rooted in not belonging. Not only am I only one of a handful of Americans, I’m learning that I’m significantly older than my entire cohort. And I’m living in student housing with people a decade younger than myself. I’m not sure which parts of these concerns are valid yet, but in the meantime how I talk myself off the (figurative) ledge and keep with this everyday? Because I’m really freaking out.

Hey yall!

I am starting a one year master's program this October, and I'm super excited! This means that I'm also applying to my PhD this cycle. However, due to the length of my master's program I'm finding myself in a bit of a timing pickle.

My first application deadline is October 14th due to funding. My next in due in November. From there, the rest are due in December. This obviously does not give me much time to establish faculty connections and actually produce research in my master's before my PhD applications are due.

I know that the reasonable advice here is to just wait until the next application cycle, but I don't want to lose my shot in this cycle. Has anyone here ever been in the same boat? If so, how did you navigate this situation?

I'm also getting some advice from my undergrad thesis advisor, but I'd love to hear a student perspective.

I went to my undergrad classes in hoodies and sweatpants. I’m assuming I should be more put together for grad school? Especially for my orientation which is a small cohort master’s program.

Would dress pants and sneakers work?

Hi all! I'm a grad student getting a masters in library science, and I wanted input or advice regarding a "gap year" between when I graduate and trying to find work in the libraries.

For context, I'm studying to take the Japanese proficiency test this winter and I'm hoping to spend a year over in Japan after I graduate working as an International Relations coordinator through JET. I just worry that taking that year may look bad to prospective employers, but at the same time it's definitely a goal of mine. I've worked in libraries in undergrad, and I am planning to get more experience in them in grad school with experimental learning and hourly positions through the university.

Any and all advice is welcome even if you're not a mslis person!!!

Looking for some advice. So I’m thinking of wanting to get a PhD in psych eventually (probably in developmental as I’m really interested in autism and other disabilities), but personally didn’t discover my passion really late into my undergraduate career, like my final quarter, so I didn’t get much experience in getting into research around what I would like to specialize in. I know research experience is really important and I would want to gain more, but honesty don’t know exactly where to start? I heard via a Master’s degree you’d be able to gain more research experience there, but personally I can’t really afford to pay a Master’s so I’m curious if there’s other ways to gain the experience outside of a Masters program? Like should I start checking with my local universities, looking up and asking professors working around my field of interest if they need research aides? I know everyone had different ways they got into research, but I am curious to hear from anyone, what would you recommend to someone who wants to get into research after they have already completed their bachelor’s degree? (Thanks for reading btw if you made it all the way here! :))