Hey y’all I am a 3rd year in an MA/PhD program (just started the PhD portion after getting MA) and I am struggling completely. Struggling mentally and physically. Feel like I am completely drowning in work with no time to get it all done.

Mentally, I am constantly going through waves of stress. People tell me I seem very laid back and unconcerned but the truth is, I am somehow able to remain apathetic towards my responsibilities until a crunch period comes and I become so stressed to the point of depression and dysfunction. I mean even when I am not stressed, I struggle completely to be a functional human being. My apartment is filthy because cleaning it feels like it takes too long and any time not spent on work makes me feel guilty. I constantly go days without eating until I can’t make it and then binge eat a ton on one day. Outside of family and my girlfriend my only social life is video games with friends from home.

Physically, I am distraught at how out of shape I have become. I am not incredibly overweight or anything but I used to be a 6 days a week at the gym guy. I used to coach at an MMA gym. Now, I rarely go, maybe I can manage once or twice a month. The gym takes time, and the gym makes laundry, the more laundry I have to do, the more time I lose that could be spent on other things. I hate how I feel. I hate how I look.

Work-wise I am completely overloaded. We have to teach 2 sections, and follow a strict program and grading schedule. I am so behind because I have been to two conferences recently and have another in a week. On top of that I have 2 classes that I am constantly missing deadlines for because I can’t justify spending time to work on those things because I have more pressing matters. I need to work on two presentations for an upcoming conference, I need to finish an IRB for data collection, I start a manuscript (based on previous projects I have done) which needs to be submitted for publication to satisfy program requirements, I have to grade a metric **** ton of exams and problem sets, and the best thing is that I am probably forgetting stuff on top of that.

I can’t take this. I feel completely out of my depth and feel like I have been drained of my energy and life. I don’t want to do this anymore. I hate feeling guilty for relaxing for even a second. I hate feeling like there is no end in sight.

I like my field generally and I have been told that I have a good head on my shoulders when it comes to this sort of work but it just doesn’t feel worth it at all. I don’t feel rewarded or fulfilled by any of this I just feel relieved that I don’t have to do it when it’s done.

I have thought of leaving my program so many times, and at one point had even told my professors I think I was done, but decided against it because I don’t know what else I would do, and thought I would regret quitting. Not to mention there are rare moments when I do genuinely enjoy reading and thinking about my niche topic. But i don’t know if it’s worth how horribly i feel it is affecting my life.

TL;DR: Grad school is ruining my life

EDIT: I feel doubly guilty for feeling this way because when I talk to professors about projects and ideas they genuinely are so kind and interested in what I have to say. I feel like they have so much more faith in me than I have in myself. One professor even told me recently that she likes me because I have a brain (lol) and told me she has faith that i can be motivated because I genuinely am passionate about what I do. But I don’t know. I am passionate about some stuff but the sheer quantity of work I have to do is seriously impacting my quality of life. I feel like a shadow of my former self.

Sorry, I know this probably just looks like venting and yea it probably is so I guess to avoid that can I just ask what other people do to avoid just… crumbling?

I'm in an MSW program and working 40 hours on top of that. Weekends come and I get chores done and spend a little time with friends. I have a few hours on the weekends to get extra work done but I am having the hardest time getting myself to do it. My brain is just tired. I eat and sleep pretty good, not getting a ton of exercise or sunshine though.

I have one research methods paper in particular that is seriously like pulling teeth. Idk what to do. I've tried going to the library or a coffee shop. I've tried the pomodoro timer. I just can't get myself to do stuff until it's like the day of the due date or late.

I'm two months into my second and final year, and I'm having such a hard time. My program has genuinely given me so much, and my teachers are fantastic and top in their field and I'm lucky to have the chance to work with them. But the favoritism and subjectivity of grades is slowly getting to me.

It doesn't truly affect me or my professional outcome. I will have no problems graduating. But I'm watching the students who get preferential treatment continue to get more and more special attention from the teachers, because they get more experience from having more opportunities.

It's just really hard. I'm working to stay detached and just focus on learning and improving myself. But it sucks.

Any kind words or advice for how to deal with these feelings welcome.

I came home from a two and a half hour in-person class tonight and didn't realize I had a paper due this Sunday for another class when I could have worked on it last month because school has been overwhelming (taking three classes, this is my first semester) and I was in tears a little bit ago because it has been affecting my physical and mental health and vice versa. This semester hasn't been perfect and has been all over the place and it is really hard to balance your own well-being with that of school and I keep forgetting that grad school is not like undergrad and how professors do not remind you to submit assignments on time as you have to check Canvas yourself. Like I dont know if I am going to make it out with six weeks left as have two D's and an A.

I (24f) graduated from university last year when I was 23, but the last year of my bachelors was too hard on me for several reasons and I couldn’t apply to the masters degree for 25/26 educational year back then. I took a gap year worked on my psychology, did some field work (nothing too impressive), spent time with my family and friends. This year I applied 6 masters degrees for 26/27 educational year and except 1 of them got rejected. 1 of them wanted extra documents and I sent them immediately but the masters office tells me that the process can take until the end of November and it is not even certain that I will be accepted. The semester started 2 weeks ago and I am already missing lessons. If I cannot make it this year, I feel like a total failure and think I will be losing one more year of my life. This gap year was not a total wreck but I feel like my life is on pause until I achieve the master study I yearn for. And I feel like I am losing so much time on nothing…

I'm a final year postgraduate student of IR but my thesis is based on Free Trade Agreements in Asia. I'm unable to form a system to decide countries to pursue my PhD in

Is getting PhD fundings in Europe as competitive as it is in Australia and say, Singapore?

Im considering taking this MS program online but I can not seem to find anyone who has been enrolled and is able to give me their two cents. Any advice would be appreciated.

STEM background student here.

Okay, first I would like to clarify my question. I have read up a lot of posts online everywhere to not do a PhD and how big of a slog the work is. I am in my senior/final year of my engineering degree in India. Quite lost in what to do. I wanted to write something so that I understand things myself and maybe get to talk to some people too.

I've always wanted to work in academia. I'm currently taking some graduate level courses this semester and working under a prof. And after spending quite some time on research and high level courses, I have a feeling that everything seems so gloomy? Don't get me wrong on this, I love the work, however it seems like everyone is extremely burnt out.

On top of that, I wanted to go for fields that are more applied math oriented. It seems that the clankers are doing so much that I might not even produce good work alone. However, I still have hope? I feel there will be some wall that clankers will have their own hurdles and human creativity will still thrive. Idk how the human spirit works. Idk enough. Of course you can go ahead and correct me for being gloomy. I think I should still be realistic before I commit my 20s and early 30s to a PhD/Postdoc life.

Honestly, I feel like I do not want to deal with the stress and uncertainty in academia at all. Which is a shame I feel because I'm doing extremely well in my courses, considering my cohort consists of PhD and Masters students who know way more than me. I have a few friends who want to go to academia who do get "less marks" than me, but I know that's not a good enough indicator for success in research. I told them that I do not want to go for research anymore, and they get disappointed. It's because they think I am wasting something.

I'm really not sure anymore. I had a fire to learn more things and discover something new in a niche research field before. But now I feel like it's all but gone away. I think I should just start preparing for a stable industry/defence sector jobs with what I want out of my life. I feel that I want to stop pigeonholing myself to just academics and explore more. But I still honestly really doubt if I want that or is it just some other people's idea of success.

PhDs take a lot of commitment and grit. I don't think I have what it takes for that.

I just wanted to have inputs from actual graduate students about this. Any insights would be appreciated.

Hi everyone!

I'm applying to Chemistry PhD programs in the US for Fall 2027 as an international applicant.

One university I contacted told me to convert my GPA to the 4.0 scale, but I'm unsure how to do this correctly. I now WES is an option but I don’t have the money.

Would a simple proportional conversion be acceptable, or is there a specific conversion method I should use?

I'm also unsure how to present the conversion. Should I edit my transcript to include the converted GPA, or should I leave the official document unchanged and submit a separate page explaining the conversion and the method used? If a separate page is appropriate, should it be an informal statement prepared by me?

I'd appreciate advice from anyone who has dealt with this, especially international applicants

Thanks in advance!

I’m a current masters student in mechanical engineering from canada looking to apply for PhD programs in the US. I have a letter of recommendation from my current masters supervisor and one of our academic collaborators who I worked with directly in the past.

I asked my undergraduate thesis supervisor, who said that he would probably not be the best letter writer. I really struggled in his lab that year and he does not think he can write an outstanding letter for me which is why he recommended I find someone else.

Would this raise red flags for an admissions committee that I don’t have a letter from my undergrad thesis supervisor.

Also for a third letter writer who of the two options would be best:

1. another prof who I haven’t done research with or taken a class but she is a personal mentor of mine and I did a summer research skills program with

. We’ve also been on the same faculty committees in the past

2. professor from one of my classes probably would be from undergrad since I haven’t gotten to know any of my grad profs very closely.

Background: I have been working at a top IB in NYC for 3 years now (I was working in regulatory capital and now I am a Trader). I already hold a Master’s in Econ degree from a relatively top school for my program.

My work even though it’s paid alright, it is not intellectually challenging enough for me (though I am up for a promotion as a VP next year). I also want to pursue a career which is close to political strategy and economic advisory in the long run.

I am the sort of person who really likes to learn but I am worried about incurring severe debt (I am currently debt free but professional schools aint cheap). I am also 27 and if I start the program in 2028, I will graduate by 33 or so. The worry about age discrimination for jobs is also present.

I could really do with some advice! Appreciate in advance!

Hi guys I’m about to go to grad school soon. My path will be getting a master’s degree at a CSU school and hopefully getting into a PhD program at a UC school. I will be studying mathematics.

My reasoning is that I enjoy abstract algebra, although in undergrad it’s very introductory and probably not representative of the actual field. But my most important reasoning is that I want to push the boundaries of knowledge and work with other mathematicians to tackle interesting problems. Im not absolutely obsessed with mathematics in the sense that I do it in my free time outside of school, but it is the most satisfying academic field to work on.

Yes I know that IA is rising within mathematics, but I have a fairly optimistic view about it. Only thing I’m pessimistic about is really just funding issues. Last year my school’s math department’s funding got cut and we didnt have TA’s for a whole year.

My ultimate goal is to do some sort of IA or cryptography research in the industry. I don’t really have plans to stay in academia. And yes I am aware of how insanely competitive those industries are.

Im just wondering if my reasoning to get a PhD is somewhat solid. Money is not really an issue for me, but obviously time is. Dont wanna waste it. Let me know

I recently contacted the graduate chair of University of Nebraska-Lincoln to ask if I could submit a cold application prior to a supervisor approval here's what he said.

1.  You can submit your application but must have an advisor prior to being admitted. 
2.  Yes you can apply to our program without an advisor. I aggregate each applicant's information and send it to all faculty for review. Those interested in an applicant will then set up an interview with the applicant.

Should I consider applying anyways or is it still better to contact the faculty first.

Hi all, I'm a master's student in HCI doing user research (mods OK'd this post). I'm studying how researchers verify a claim in a paper against the source it cites: finding the relevant passage in the original paper, and getting back to where you were reading.

I'm looking for grad students and researchers for a 20 min online chat (Zoom/Meet, camera optional) about how you do this today. It's just me asking questions. No survey, no product, nothing to sell.

To be upfront: it's unpaid. I don't have a budget or anything to offer in return, so I'd really appreciate it as a favor to a fellow student. Totally fine if it's not for you!

If you're up for it, you can pick a slot here: https://calendly.com/erikgelcich/interview-1on1 or comment/DM me. Thanks!

Hi all,

I am working on applying to MFA programs this fall mostly in digital design programs. I was not an art major in undergrad (i got an art minor) and also took half of the art classes for my minor abroad at a "study abroad" university.

When it comes to rec letters, I feel kind of lost. I can think of only one professor who can speak to my work in the art field that I was actually close with. There weren't really any other art professors at my home university who wouldve seen my work in this capacity. I have been out of college now for two years working as well so I'm not exactly still well connected in that community.

What should I do? I reached out to a professor I had while abroad but thats not really my ideal letter either.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been really lost lately about what physics field I wanna pursue in my masters.

When I first started with my physics degree, I had the same ideas we all have about it. Like, we love space and physics and this stuff... and I thought I loved theoretical physics. Now, in my first year of fundamental physics masters, I’ve completely changed my mind. I am looking for masters abroad, and I want to choose an applied physics field that will help me do some work not really related to theoretical physics. I don’t want everything to be math and that stuff, also programming is something i dont really like or even good at...

But I always wanted to do a PhD, not to stop at a masters.

So it will take me around 5 or 6 more years, which is okay, but I am thinking if I could study medicine, that would take the same time, but maybe with better rewards for me, especially that the job is something i would love to do.

I am asking here because I wanna hear different points of view. I asked med students, but I am not sure if it’s a big risk. Are there fields in applied physics that have better opportunities? Better jobs?

Thanks for any advice.