r/GradSchool

For those who have an MHA, has attending a non-CAHME accredited program limited your job opportunities? If anyone has graduated from CBU's MHA program, I would appreciate hearing about your experience and what you did atter graduation.

For some context, I currently work in the sonography field. I'm pursuing an MHA because I eventually want to move into leadership positions and have more opportunities for career advancement.

I have been a PhD student for about two years now. When I first joined my program, I felt that I was an excellent fit, but over time, my research has drifted quite far from where I initially started. My PI was initially very supportive, but as she became busier writing her book, she became increasingly absent and, at times, difficult to work with. She rarely reads anything I send her, and I have also seen her speak negatively about other advisees. At this point, I feel that I receive very little support or guidance.

I have thought about switching advisors, but I have no idea who I could switch to or whether doing so this far into the program would be feasible. I am also very afraid that if this situation continues, I will never be able to establish myself in my field. I feel quite lost and would really appreciate some advice on how to navigate this.

This will be my second year in a clinical mental health counseling MA program. I'm taking three courses full time. I am working 32 hours a week, plus I have to be on call on specific weekend days. It's a lot.

I should be in a practicum, then an internship next Summer to get my hours for my license. I don't want to have to balance both my job that I have to be on call for, and an internship. I know that some internships pay, and some don't. I'm only making $19 an hour, so I'm not concerned about the amount of compensation, but this work/school balance is tough-- those weekend shifts kill me. Do you think it's worth trying to find a paying internship so I can quit my job?

Is there anyone here who did one master's and couldn't get the job they wanted, but then did a second master's and maxed out on internships and finally got the job they wanted? Desperately wondering if there are any success stories in this scenario. I am 36.

Hi all. What is the general consensus on the value of a DBA or perhaps others akin, such as DEL, executive PhD, etc? I am 41, have an accredited MBA, healthcare director, good salary, should be moving to executive level next. The practice is my joy so do not plan on an academic/research PhD. While I plan to stay in my [broadly] operations lane, I do specifically love the philosophies and practice of leadership (vs plain management) and organizational behavior. Has the return already diminished at this age and career level? While I do like education, I do not care to pursue more just for the resume bullet nor self-back-pat. Thanks for the dialogue!

I recently started a graduate program in a different state and am feeling pretty lonely. I don’t know anyone here as all of my friends are back home and I have no family here. I’m very shy, and I have a hard time started random conversations with people I don’t really know.

Do you have recommendations for a physical planner that you have found helpful for organizing your graduate studies?

I have tried so many options over the years—from digitally scheduling tasks in Notion to custom-created undated planners I've printed and assembled to a bullet journaling approach—but I am hoping to find a good planner to simplify the organization now that I am dissertating.

Bonus points for any recommendations that have a full-page daily spread not entirely designed around an hourly schedule!

I screwed up big time. Pls delete if not appropriate for this sub.

Supposed to move away in less than two weeks for a one year masters program. After watching my older sister secure a student line of credit without even needing a cosigner, and from my very naive understanding of how school and banks work, I thought getting funding for my program would be easy, so I put off applying for a student LOC to about 3 weeks ago.

Well! I got my student loan assessment and that will only cover around half of what I need, which I expected. I applied for a student LOC at two different banks with two different cosigners and was rejected due to the cosigner debt ratio being too high once my LOC was considered.

Now I'm at a loss. I have a couple other cosigner options, but they all also have debt, only one has a decent income but she may not be able to help because of other circumstances.

I wrongly assumed that the bank would give me money because they would see that my program will lead me to a high paying job that will make repaying easy. Turns out the only reason my sister had that success is because her degree was seen as a healthcare program, and mine isn't.

Any advice other than dropping out?

I may get absolutely flamed for this, but I want to do better and be better in this next stage of my education. So please go easy on me.

A few months ago I finished my undergraduate degree. I graduated with honours but I have to admit after first year I never did the readings or I would use AI (usually Chat GPT) to give me summaries and notes. I’m huge undergraduate lectures, I could usually get away fine and do pretty well academically. I never missed a day of lectures/classes so I was comfortable enough with being lazy with the assigned readings.

When I had to do academic research I would look for articles or book chapters and then narrow down one part and only read that section required for my argument/evidence.

Yet in a few weeks, I will be starting a course-based masters program in Political Science. The classes sizes are quite small , like 3-15 people. I’m assuming also the classes will be more seminar based rather than lectures. Meaning I cannot fly under the radar anymore.

I struggle to read everything assigned from front to back and take notes. How do you go about the readings? I do manage my time when I’m taking 3-4 classes a semester and do other things. Some classes can assign up to 100 pages.

The good thing is my classes are once a week for about 3 hours. This gives me some decent time to prep between classes.

Hey everyone, wanted to put up a post as a bit of a public forum for this year's NASA NSTGRO fellowship. I have not found many posts discussing it and think a thread would be nice for those searching for info.

I know of people who have been made "selectable" others who have straight up been rejected, but have not heard of any acceptances yet. I'm wondering how things are going for others who threw their hat in the ring. Any discussion is appreciated

(if this is not the proper place for this kind of post, sorry, and please lmk where is!)

I am a senior in biomedical engineering and I'm looking into 4 programs for a PhD in either biomedical engineering or neuroscience. Is 4 a good number? My gpa is 3.1 btw

Currently in the military and while active duty I’m afforded a $250 a credit for online courses towards a masters. It is not my GI bill. My undergraduate is in environmental science and psychology. My long term goal is to get out of the military and work in some way to improve social systems or policy. Whether that will be working as a social worker or therapist, working for the government with social programs or improving policy, working as an urban planner, or even getting into politics. I plan to get an MSW to achieve this with my GI bill when I get out. However, by the time my contract is up, I’ll be in my 30s, i may have a different outlook on life and just want to continue working in logistics/transportation management or technology based types of roles like I’m doing now.

The options that I’m considering as of now are an MBA online through a big 10 school, an MPA through a midwestern regional school, and a systems engineering or supply chain degree from a regional southern school.
All are generally decent programs (for the price and for being online) but I want something that will be able to pair with an MSW and give me a broad range of opportunities, especially with the earring potential of an MSW, having opportunities to broaden my career prospects would be ideal.

I (30F) always wanted to study abroad, but due to changing my major and packing my schedule during undergrad, it just didn’t happen. I’m currently located in the United States, my dream before college was to become a therapist. I managed to get pressured by family to study nursing, hated it, switched to psychology, which was what I originally wanted to do, and loved it. I interned at an outpatient mental health clinic, and worked at a behavioral health research lab at my university. I was interested in the research aspect, but I always thought the prospect of being a student and being completely responsible for your research and your time was terrifying. I got two jobs working in social services and realized quickly that I would not have the comforts I could have in a corporate role, and it would take YEARS to get to where I wanted.

Now, I’m in a corporate job managing clinical trials. I love it some days, but other days I really feel overwhelmed by pointless bureaucratic corporate tasks and pressures, and the pay was good, but now it barely covers my cost of living. So I can’t shake the urge to leave this career behind, leave my daily life behind, go back to school, study abroad, and put myself on a new path. I’ve always considered it, but would think, that’s such a waste of time…. But I’m just not content anymore. I don’t feel fulfilled like I did before. I want a career that contributes to society, and I want to experience something outside of the east coast of the United States. I love my family, but they’re not the most healthy (hence the obsession with therapy and wanting to fix everyone’s problems) so distance from them would actually be good for me.

Anyone else been in this predicament? Is it too late for me?

Hello everyone! I have a personal question about my decision to retake the GRE or not. I know that this is a case by case issue, and reddit is prone to being annoyed by that, but I have no one to talk to about it off of reddit as both of my parents are high school graduates and none of my professors got their PhDs less than 15 years ago.

I am committing to a second (and final) cycle of American Politics PhD admissions this fall. I took the GRE last year without studying at all, which I know was an awful decision, but I had some stuff going on. I finished with a 161v/151q/4.5aw. I ended the 2026 cycle with 5 masters offers with anywhere from 0%-75% funding and 2 PhD waitlists that didn't budge.
Now I am contemplating retaking the GRE for this cycle. Here are my thoughts:

Out of the schools I intend to apply to, only 2 require GRE scores (one of which I was waitlisted for last year with my current score). I am genuinely wondering, based on my other info, if it is worth it to take it again to have great scores to send out, or if I should save the hundreds of dollars I'd spend retaking it and sending out scores. I understand that fit and interest and blah blah blah matter much more, but I am looking for real advice about if I should put in the time, effort, and money to raise my quant score to a 160.

Reasons I think it might be good to have a better score to send out:

- I went to a small school in South Carolina for undergrad (I am not wealthy and went fully on scholarship).

- I know that having a good score can make me stand out in a crowded field in what will likely be another tough year even at schools who don't require scores.

- Obviously at the schools that do require the scores, I am not looking too hot in the quantitative reasoning department.

Reasons I think it might not matter and I don't want to take it:

- I simply won't send any scores at all to schools that don't require it if I don't retake it.

- I have a 4.0 gpa in my poli sci classes and a 4.0 institutional.

- I have experience in both qualitative and quantitative research with professors.

- I won awards for my (history) undergrad thesis, a political science discipline award, and my department's "Dean's Award." (new developments after last years cycle)

- I believe my LORs and SOPs are strong, my professors agree. I even checked with my most brutally honest professor to make sure my nicer ones weren't doing me harm.

- Same as above for my writing sample.

- I am broke and the $250 price tag of the test plus the $40 every time I send the scores is absolutely brutal on top of application fees (some of which I can get waived for financial need, but not all.)

- I am not 100% sure I can raise my q score up to a 160, which is the lowest I would want it to be for it to be worth it to me to send it anywhere that doesn't require it.

How important do y'all think it is that I have better scores to send out, and how important are GRE scores anyway these days? What about based on my specific circumstances?

Thanks for reading all of my ramblings. I am exhausted and burnt out from working full time and studying so please excuse any repetition or nonsense. I'd appreciate any advice anyone is willing to give.

Hi everyone,

I am currently a 3rd year undergrad at uni, and I really want to enter a PhD program directly after graduating. I am first gen, and am relatively new to this, so I would really appreciate any advice you may have for me!

What advice would you give to someone like me, given your experience and expertise, in preparing for admissions? What do you suggest I part take in while at uni, and outside of it, to prepare myself for to stand out and be a successful applicant?

As for me, my gpa is between 3.5-4 and I've published one paper as a small contribution coauthor. Other than that, I did a research internship, and made 2 research posters. That's pretty much it from me.

Any and all advice is highly appreciated!

Hi there. This is my first time posting here, so I apologize if I am doing this wrong.

I just started my first year in my PhD program, studying journalism and mass communication in the USA. I have been assigned to two faculty members who do research I am very interested in, but their methods are foreign to me.

I am a qualitative researcher, and I am quite skilled in this space. However, I am not good at quantitative research at all. I do not want to make excuses for myself, but I am severely dyslexic (dysgraphia and dyscalcia as well) and anything quantitative genuinely makes no sense to me. I have tried endlessly but it has never clicked.

Both of my professors are skilled in quantitative methods, and I will be assisting them in experiments, content analysis, and others. I try my best at everything I am tasked with, but this is already quite a struggle, and it is only my first week.

I was wondering if anyone here has had any similar situations, and if you have tips for success. I know I will probably never be a skill quantitative researcher, but I do want to be a competent assistant to the amazing researchers I will be working with.

Basically just wanting some advice from other grad students who are going/have been through it.

I started grad school a few years back as a Master's student, and was kind of convinced by my PI to stay as a PhD student and I did a Masters to PhD transfer within the program, so I will no longer receive a Masters but hypothetically just the PhD. I am now in my third year of grad school, which is being considered year 3 of my PhD.

I have been miserable this entire time. I had a severe substance abuse issue for the first two years during my Master's and developed a significant amount of depression. I've been on medication for about 6 months now, 8 months sober, and the depression has just maintained or gotten worse. I am absolutely miserable, my funding has gotten cut from a pretty low amount to an even lower amount and I can't keep up with tuition and living expenses. In terms of career goals, I have absolutely zero desire to stay in research (for context I am in bioinformatics and cancer genomics). I want to get into business, consulting, or even patent work.

Considering the significant mental health toll and the financial burden with my career goals in mind, should I even continue or just master out? I have been applying to jobs and have had several interviews for sales jobs, which is much more attractive to me than staying in school.

Thanks in advance!

Currently my goal is to get a Psy.D.
I am working on my application for an MA program for Psychology to start in the spring. My undergraduate degree is not in psychology. I decided to change my career path after I graduated with my BA in Art and could not find work. I ended up working heavily with children with disabilities and mental health diagnoses, and found a deep love for the mental health/human services field.
I’ve seen that a Psy.D. degree costs a lot so I just wanted some advice in order to make the best decision to save time and money. I am applying to a very affordable MA program and plan to apply for as many scholarships as I can in order to cut down costs. As a non-traditional applicant on the east coast, is doing an affordable master's first the best route, what financial pitfalls should I watch out for when moving from an MA to a Psy.D., and are there specific local programs or strategies I should keep in mind? Any advice would be hugely appreciated honestly!

One of my friends got a news from my supervisor favourite student. Mentioned that my contract as PhD student won’t be renewed as they are not satisfied with my performance. Maybe it is hard for me to catch up with everything on the lab and that student said I have no progress. This October is my second year. I am lost direction. I don’t even know what I feel now, I want to give up or I want to continue. It’s so blurry for me.

Dream career is neuropsychology. My fascination and passion in life is pain and addiction. I also have a soft spot for children, as I was an adolescent when pain and addiction infiltrated my life.

What I’ve learned about pain science, neuroscience, and psychology has turned my life upside down. I never thought I’d be able to work a full time job because of my pain. And that I’d always be in active addiction.

After attending a pain rehab, I finished my bachelors in web design and landed a full time job before I finished my degree. And I got sober. That being said I am not passionate about web design and feel no urge to progress my career in it aside from financial need.

I want to teach others about pain. I want to research effective modalities for teaching children, adolescents, and their families about pain. I want to help enlighten others the way I was enlightened. And perhaps learn some new things for the world while I’m at it.

With this info in mind, what route (if any of these) would you recommend? Masters to PhD in psychology? Masters to PhD in neuroscience? Masters of social work? Masters of counseling?

My concerns are future financial stability and ability to use my education and job experience and eventually move out of the country (from US to EU). I have chronic health conditions causing pain and disability so nursing and medicine are out of the picture for me unfortunately (due to the physical strain).

Lastly, if I want to move to the EU someday, do I try to go to school somewhere in the EU? My family and support system is in the US, but I would definitely consider it.

TLDR; Individual with a bachelors in web design looking to give back to the world by educating others on pain and addiction. BSN/MSN and MD are out of the picture because of chronic health condition limitations. Which paths should I consider?