I was reading a book and the author said "I have always said that if I ever hit the lottery, I will spend the rest of my life getting master's degrees."
This got me curious: if you were actually given the option of having tuition covered and a livable monthly stipend, would you keep doing grad school / getting grad degrees?
Such as the O-1 visa in the US or Global Talent visa in Australia, New Zealand (UK starting tomorrow, July 1, 2026).
I’m curious to know the type of people that judge your portfolio and experience (and if they’re even designers or not), and what metrics they use to determine who has ‘exceptional’ talent in ID.
I’m sure this is normal but I have this immense feeling that a great part of me has left, the student life and comforting environment of academia has past. Everyone is on their own ‘in the real world’.
There is no clear path now which induces freedom and anxiety.
Where is life taking you now?
Every time someone posts about grad school funding, most comments seem to reflect the view that grad school is only worth doing if it's fully funded through scholarships and TA/RA positions. While admirable, this seems like a high bar to set, especially in the US and Commonwealth countries, where tuition and cost of living are high. You need roughly $100k (~$150k in some US schools) in funding to meet this goal for a two-year thesis-based master's and associated living costs.
From a Canadian's perspective, half of that is mostly guaranteed through TAships and entrance scholarships, but that leaves $50k to find yourself. RAships are dependent on your supervisor / greater faculty funding, and that's typically $15k a year. The other options are competitive government scholarships. I find it hard to fathom that so many people have all of these and are pursuing grad school, paying nothing out of pocket.
Both seem to rely on presenting your research to the selection committee in a few paragraphs, but how does one stand out from the sea of well-thought-out research proposals? I have received OGS, but it seems significantly less competitive as there are reserved amounts for each department at each Ontario university, compared to CRGS, where you compete nationwide for a few hundred of the $30k scholarhsips. How can one maximize their chances of getting this?
The allure of most EMJMs are the inter-country mobility, but looking beyond that and focusing on the academics and career opportunities that can come from this, is it better than a traditional masters?
I’m seeing more drawbacks than benefits of changing institutions every 6-8 months, meaning the level of depth one will have with faculty members and university resources will be limited. How does one develop a thought out research thesis without the consistent feedback from their research supervisor that would be provided from a more traditional masters.
EMJMs where the output is an art / design project, I see the benefit, but for something more research focused, I’m not so sure.
This is coming from someone who did a project-based design undergrad and now wants to do a research-oriented masters. I’m on the crossroads of selecting either EMJM or a traditional masters over the next few days.
It seems quite possible to have enough freelance or part time work that could be done all online, so curious to hear if there’s anyone working professionally that made digital nomading work out, even if it’s for a few months.
I’ve seen many comments on this sub telling people to not accept an offer if it’s self funded. I’m curious to know those that ended up still doing it as a self-funded student, what was the main reason?
I’m also assuming that there is a correlation with country of origin and self-funded students as logically, students from countries with higher purchasing power parity may be more inclined to take on tuition fees. If you feel comfortable, please list your country of origin.