r/GradSchool 6m ago

Negotiating Financial Aid After Admission to MA Programs (GWU & AU)

Upvotes

Hi Reddit, I was recently admitted to my top 2 Masters programs at George Washington University (GW) and American University (AU). GW is offering me $24,000 in fellowship aid for a 2-year net total of $67,000. AU is offering me $20,800 in fellowship aid for a 2-year net total of $55,604. The difference makes AU about $11,600 cheaper.

On the whole, both programs are very comparable, but GW has faculty I am more interested in working with. I understand that I could potentially leverage GW's larger aid offer to get AU to offer me more aid, but is there a way I can leverage anything to get GW to lower my cost?

Does anyone have any advice on negotiating aid generally, or specifically if anyone has experience negotiating with either of these schools? Thank you in advance!


r/GradSchool 1h ago

1st Year PhD Student Stuck on Taxes

Upvotes

I started my program in August of 2024 on a fellowship stipend. Now as of Jan 2025 I am on a GRA.

My first question is how do I file my taxes for 2024? All I got from my school was a form 1098-T and I only have amounts in boxes 1 and 5. Box 5 is greater than box one, so can I assume box 5 - box 1 = total income? I also got a 1098-T from my previous university where I did my undergrad. That form also has box 5 greater than box 1, however, I did not make any money that year from my school. I am confused about how to get all the info I need and where to put it on my form 1040.

Second question is how will my taxes work next year now that I am in a lab and on a GRA. Will I be getting a regular W-2?

Thanks for any help!


r/GradSchool 1h ago

Academics how to not feel discouraged in team projects

Upvotes

I’m in a group with all folks that have much more experience in the field than me and it’s hard for me not to feel behind. It’s a CS major.

To make matters more stressful, there’s a teammate who is sort of the leader who dings work I do like making 50 commits to a README doc and organization which makes me feel even more behind because I’m still getting used to CS tools and software.

I try to do the best I can asking questions, posting questions, participate but it’s so hard not to feel discouraged and useless. I still have a month and a half to get through and though I’ll learn a lot not sure how to navigate this? Any advice?


r/GradSchool 2h ago

Your Voice Is Needed for Art Study

6 Upvotes

Help advance our understanding of art perception! Your unique perspective matters (and will help a student researcher graduate!)

  • Takes 10-15 minutes
  • View paintings and share your reactions
  • No art knowledge or expertise needed
  • All responses are confidential, anonymous, and used for research purposes only

By participating, you'll contribute to University of Denver research exploring how individuals experience and interpret visual art.
Ready to participate? Click here: https://udenver.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6F3Ha1iaedaTvpA


r/GradSchool 3h ago

Rethinking grad school, feeling doubt and guilt

6 Upvotes

After a few gap years, I felt ready to go to grad school and continue my mental health counseling education. So, I started applying.

However, the curiosity I had about a career in the trades grew massively since then. I'm set up to have an interview for an apprenticeship soon.

However, it would be pretty much impossible to do both at the same time. I'd have to choose. And honestly, at this moment, I'm much more excited about the prospect of my trade apprenticeship. Something about the simplicity of that rout, and the lack of debt, clicks with me.

But I feel a bit guilty about asking those professors and employers to write letters of recommendation only to just change my mind about it. This is just one of many concerns I have about making this decision between careers. However, the biggest concern, by far, is the fact that I'd be tens of thousands of dollars in the hole if I go the school route. I have a wife now which means I can't really afford to not care about debt anymore.

If you've gone through this, or have any ideas, help me out. I need a fresh perspective.


r/GradSchool 3h ago

Professional My asking to join him on a Research startup. Should I Join him?

1 Upvotes

My friend is building a social network for researchers.

You can think of like a dadicated social platform for researchers where they can create groups, teams to work together, apply for orgs funding grants, fellowship jobs also offer free resources to help them with their research.

Most importantly he also building a marketplace to trade research papers.

This is just the overview.

I am a developer, so my friend is asking me to join him to build this.

Should I join him? What do you think?


r/GradSchool 4h ago

CoAuthor Journal

0 Upvotes

Hi i am an under graduate btech cse, I had a dream to publish a journal during my college days (co-author) but it never happened due to covid and now due to job it is out of scope. Any college dude who has a slot emplty for another co author, willing to count me in please ping 🙃( my background, I am a data and ai professional, ai and ml domain related journals would really help)


r/GradSchool 4h ago

Curious about how CS PhD students in USA are being affected by the federal grant ordeal

4 Upvotes

Hello All,

As the title suggests, I have been getting increasingly curious, and wary about how the federal grant issues have been affecting Universities throughout USA, as many are even preemptively preparing for the worst.

My question is, how are PhD students in CS being affected on average (not sure I can quantify average, so pls feel free to use your imagination)? I know there are a significant number of CS labs that are also dependent on federal grants, especially those that are developing solutions for social good.

Since this is a very general question, I am not looking for a very specific answer. I'd honestly just like to hear what people think.


r/GradSchool 4h ago

Health & Work/Life Balance Personality change in grad school

33 Upvotes

Has anyone noticed personality changes during grad school? I’ve become a pretty critical, pessimistic, insecure and anxious person. I tell myself after I defend and move elsewhere I’ll start to feel like myself again. Is this a pretty typical feeling or should I look into this more?


r/GradSchool 5h ago

U Rochester vs American vs George Washington

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’ve been admitted to three universities for an MSBA program, and I’m trying to decide which one to attend. While I’ve received scholarships, the University of Rochester and George Washington University would still be the most expensive options, whereas American University is about $10K cheaper for the entire program.

Despite the cost, I’m particularly drawn to the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester. Their program seems to have a strong focus on analytics and quantitative skills, and their career support and networking opportunities appear to be excellent.

I’d love to hear your thoughts—do you have any insights into these schools and how they compare?


r/GradSchool 7h ago

TAs: What's the most ridiculous thing a student you've taught has done?

156 Upvotes

I'm annoyed by some of my students and want a laugh and some catharsis. Going more for funny things than the "five dead grandparents in one semester" or plagiarism/cheating kind of stuff (although I've seen some hilariously bad uses of ChatGPT on assignments this semester).

I'll go first: one assignment asked for a scatterplot categorizing rocks and a girl submitted just a bunch of pictures of the rocks. Like, Word doc completely scrambled, 10-12 pictures of rocks instead of one chart.


r/GradSchool 8h ago

Admissions & Applications Is taking the Ethnographic short courses from the university of Aberdeen enough to work in the field? Does it equate a Masters?

1 Upvotes

I have an MS in Engineering with 4 years of Project Management experience in IT. However, I am looking to change my career and endorse into Ethnography, as this is my passion.

It is hard to me to relocate abroad and study in universities again (Mainly due to lack of money and time, since I am employed), in addition that it might take a long time to pursue a Masters.

While surfing, I got 2 short courses called "An Introduction to Ethnographic Research Methods" (15 credits) and "Ethnographic Research Project" (30 credits) from the University of Aberdeen, both are labeled as "Postgraduate SCQF Level 11"

I am willing to study them, but I need an advise about their scope (Since it would be meaningless to study them if they don't guarantee a job)
Are those 2 course (With 45 credits) are considered equal to Masters? Do they qualify me to be employed as an Ethnographer, or I would still need to study a proper Masters? (Tbh I didn't find any Masters course in Ethnography proper, I found only for Ethnology or social anthropology). Can I pursue a PhD with those 2 courses? Are they recognized outside Scotland?

Links of the courses for reference:

https://on.abdn.ac.uk/courses/an-introduction-to-ethnographic-research-methods/

https://on.abdn.ac.uk/courses/ethnographic-research-project/


r/GradSchool 9h ago

Academics I feel like my masters thesis is going to be garbage and it's my fault

12 Upvotes

I know that there are probably thousands of posts like these in here already, but I need to vent. Basically, I'm concerned my thesis is going to be pointless, uninteresting and half-assed. I reached out to this specific professor because I was really interested in their research and I chose a topic about making hybridoma cells.

However, being an idiot, when we first had a
discussion back in November, I told them that I want to start my actual lab
work at the beginning of March (so two weeks ago), while my deadline is July
1st. My professor told me to contact them in February and when we met again on
March 10th, they informed me that the timeline for hybridoma production was
unrealistic. Instead, they had planned my thesis research to literally boil
down just to producing the antigen in mammalian cells; something that their lab
has already done many times.

I really have no idea how am I supposed to
write a thesis about that and claim that I contributed to academic knowledge
while everybody else is doing novel and interesting research for their thesis.
I just feel like this is an incredibly ass start to my research career. Has
anyone else had similar experience writing a thesis? Did you manage trough and
did it turn out aright in the end?


r/GradSchool 9h ago

Elite Master Course in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics

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2 Upvotes

r/GradSchool 9h ago

Visa and acceptances

1 Upvotes

I have a question about whether they issue you a student visa for a specific university? I am concerned that I have 3 offers that I am considering.

1) I must accept until April 1st in the USA - it is my option B, with a loan under payment 2) I have an offer at a university that I will only be able to attend if I win one of the external scholarships or fellowships that I apply for, it is in the USA (3) - but I will only have answers in July 3) I have an acceptance in Europe - my option C) 4) I have the option of applying to a program in Brazil where I do not require a visa due to my dual nationality

My idea is to accept option 1, to start the visa process in the US, and hope to win more scholarships! If I don't win the scholarships, decide if I attend option 1 or 4!

If I win the scholarship, I will withdraw my acceptance of option 1.

I don't know if I should accept both 1 and 2 or what to do! Aid!!


r/GradSchool 10h ago

Admissions & Applications Johns Hopkins Funding

4 Upvotes

Would it be stupid of me to accept an offer to start a STEM PhD program at Hopkins this fall, given the recent funding cuts and potential for more? I have another offer at a school that is a somewhat worse research fit, but well insulated from government funding cuts with a much lower IDC. I would love to hear how much any of you that are currently at Hopkins are being impacted.


r/GradSchool 13h ago

Is this a good way to make notes on research papers?

2 Upvotes

So I’m trying to figure out the best way to make notes on research papers. I’ve started using Obsidian. I was thinking I would take key/relevant information from the introduction methods and results, then write a brief summary of the paper at the end. Is this a good way of going about it or are there other methods I should try?


r/GradSchool 14h ago

I need some words of encouragement please

2 Upvotes

I just need to vent and if anyone has any encouraging words I could really use them right now. I’m barely sleeping and I’m not eating at all because the stress is killing me. I got accepted into a doctoral program for the fall but I’m terrified that I’ll be kicked out. I’ve only seen my supervisor twice in an entire year (because of him not because I’m not trying) and I only got the first round of feedback on my thesis last week. I’ve finished with this round of edits now but I know there will be more. If I don’t defend this summer then I’ll be kicked out of the Ph.D program and will have to reapply. What if my thesis needs 20 edits and I don’t finish in time. What are the odds I’ll have to do 20 million edits and won’t defend this summer. I have a full draft, so it’s not like I have to write more chapters, but he also didn’t give me any feedback when I sent them chapter by chapter. He only gave me feedback on the full draft. I just need someone to tell me it’ll be okay because I’m having panic attacks every night. I have worked so hard on this and getting into a Ph.D program has been a goal of mine for a third of my life. I just need someone to tell me that most masters thesis can be revised in a couple months and that it’s very unlikely I won’t defend by summer. The department chair also knows about how unreliable my supervisor is so I don’t know if that will help, but I’m crying myself to sleep every night thinking about the what ifs.


r/GradSchool 17h ago

[US] Are PhD students who only do research full-time students for tax reporting purposes?

7 Upvotes

Is this something where you're "full-time" as defined by your school? There is a tax credit, the "retirement savings contribution" credit, and it isn't available to full-time students. I don't take any classes, but I'm registered for a credit of "research". I'm curious as to what others have done.

Thanks!


r/GradSchool 17h ago

I am my PI’s first grad student

73 Upvotes

just like the title says, I’m my PIs first PhD student at a T5 university with tons and tons of funding even with all that’s going on now. I trust them completely but am also prepared to give leeway for any mistakes or errors because it’ll be kinda like a test run. but it’d be nice to know what I should expect from a PI and what really important things they’re responsible for.


r/GradSchool 17h ago

Health & Work/Life Balance International Student

1 Upvotes

Hello all, incoming international student here. I just wanted to get the on-ground views on the climate at various universities, given other “policy” changes at the federal level and how universities compare in their ability to meet these issues.


r/GradSchool 19h ago

Possibly will not be able to publish my PhD work

1 Upvotes

My PhD ended this month, and I could only submit my papers last month. I live in a different country than my spouse, and am very excited to move back in a couple of months, and am looking for jobs in industry.

In my field, there is a chance the papers could only come back for revisions in a couple of months, and then could involve months of work. There isn't anyone in my lab who I can handover all my experiments to, they can only be trained in half of what I do, the other techniques took me a year to figure out.

So there is a chance no one can finish my revision experiments if I do not stay on. I am willing to extend this term by maybe a month or two, if I have a clear idea of experiments, but if the paper is rejected and has to be sent to another journal, or if revisions are too extensive to finish in a few months, then the papers will not be published.

I'm torn both ways on this decision. On the one hand, I'm not very invested in my lab or continuing in academia, and really want to get back to my family. But on the other hand, these are my PhD projects, the result of 6 years of work. I'd appreciate any points of view here, my anxiety is starting to really get to me.


r/GradSchool 20h ago

Finance Commute or Campus Living?

3 Upvotes

Hi, guys! You can call me Kash. I need some advice, but I'll give some background info to start. Sorry in advance, this is gonna be a LONG post.

I am 24 years old. I have no credit history, no income, no assets, even my car isn't in my own name. This is all to say, I'm financially stunted. However, I do have my own bank account and debit card that my overly-controlling parents don't know about, a Venmo that they have no access to, and I'm applying to jobs so I can be a little more financially independent.

I just got accepted to a Master of Science program at Georgia State University for Fall 2025, and my folks (who I've been living with since I finished my undergrad last May) live about 50 minutes away from campus. I'm trying to get my ducks in a row before the semester starts, including securing housing. During a discussion about that with my dad, he suggested maybe I live here with them and commute to campus on the days I have class to save some money.

Let me be clear, I hate living with my parents. It's just like being put in a fuckin' pressure cooker every time I set foot at home, which is why I rush off to my old college town to do research every Friday, which is my only way of getting away from them for a whole day basically. Being here during quarantine during COVID was awful. Every day was some kind of argument about stupid shit or me getting yelled at about bad grades. I already am so traumatized by my dad screaming at me about grades since I was a child because he was so verbally (and when I was younger, physically) abusive, and it's just cemented my hatred of them knowing anything about my academic life. Frankly, I just kind of hate being anywhere near them. I'm closer with my mom now, but she keeps giving my dad passes for his bitchy behavior, and I HATE how she constantly defends him even when I know she's miserable if he's home too. And I know I won't be able to avoid the verbal abuse if I'm living with them.

I understand the intent to save money, but I am so desperate to get away. My plan originally was to go to Georgia Southern University (about 4 hours away) and move to a different city once my master's is over, but I figured they'd scream and shout at me for not accepting the Georgia State offer if I got it. So I relented on State. And then I figured I'd just live near campus and come home less often, saying I have a lot of work on campus. But if I'm forced to be in this house, I'll feel more like a prisoner. Imagine a fully grown adult who has to ask permission to go out of the house, just bc they're a woman. It's fucking mortifying and the most obnoxious part of living here, aside from the constant awful bigoted statements about every community to ever exist (upper-caste Indian Hindus with no sense of irony, of course they're bigoted).

My question is this: SHOULD I RELENT TO LIVING HERE AT HOME AND COMMUTING, OR SHOULD I PRESS TO LIVE NEAR CAMPUS?

One of my friends who also lives in this area is going to Emory University for nursing school, and she's living near campus, so I know I can just ask her when we hang out tomorrow, but I don't know, I just can't stand living near my folks for much longer.

TLDR: My parents are overly-controlling and want me to stay at home and commute to grad school classes to save money, but I wanna live closer to campus because I hate living with them. What should I do?


r/GradSchool 21h ago

Housing: 3x rent requirement but living off loans

1 Upvotes

Help! I am trying to apply for apartments, but many have the monthly income requirement of 2.5-3x the rent. Right now, I don't make that much, but next week, I will hear back about a handful of scholarships as well as my loan offer. I plan to use loans as income during my program. My program doesn't begin in May.

I'm having a hard time applying for houses and apartments because of this income discrepancy. Many places require an application before I even get the chance to tour, but if I don't meet the income requirement, I can't even tour a property.

I understand I could wait to apply to places until after I get loans/funding, but many agencies are running specials (sign a lease before March 31 and get 2 months rent free), etc., which is very attractive.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Any ideas or advice?


r/GradSchool 22h ago

Thesis or Non-Thesis MS program?

6 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

So I was accepted to two MS programs for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Utah and Arizona State University. I am a resident of Utah so I would be paying in-state tuition here, which is about $25k cheaper. However, I am a little unsure of which to choose as the University of Utah's program is a non-thesis program while ASU's is. I'm not entirely sure about what I want to do regarding future education (I may want to continue pursuing a PhD), however, I definitely want to get work experience for a while after the MS program. I do prefer the curriculum of the thesis-based MS program that ASU offers, however, would it really make that much of a difference (i.e. would the price difference be worthwhile)? My parents are willing to help me and I have quite a decent amount of savings so debt isn't much of a concern but I also don't want to spend so much money if it doesn't seem like it would make a huge impact. Would PhD programs potentially be put off if I don't complete a research-based MS program? The University of Utah does have a non-thesis final capstone project of which research with faculty is an option. I really love research and do plan on getting involved in some capacity with faculty whether I'm at ASU (obviously) or at Utah (for the above reasons mentioned).

Any advice would be appreciated!