r/GradSchoolAdvice

I started grad school this year and we are 2 months in. My cohort is ~15 people and we are pretty much all the same age, with the oldest being 6 years older than the youngest. Everything was fine at the beginning and I felt included (ish) but I still felt like I didn't fit in, especially with the people who I was trying to become friends with. We went to coffee shops a couple times and studied together, and then midterms happened and it all stopped.
Full disclosure, I feel like it might have been my fault because I have autism and ADHD so I might have missed social cues. Not fitting in has been a problem my entire life and I guess I am just disappointed because I was thinking "new program new me".
2 weekends ago, half of us were out to dinner and a bunch of them kept talking about memes they sent each other (they don't text me or send me anything) and even past and future plans that I wasn't invited to right in front in front of my face. On the computer of a girl who I wanted to be friends with (she sits in front of me), there was a group chat of some other people I wanted to be friends with, making up about half the cohort. I'm just lost because there is a discrepancy between how they acted towards me at the beginning before we started school and now. The only thing I have is one of them was nice enough to tell me that the others were talking behind my back about them being upset that I got distracted one day and was shopping on my computer when I should have been contributing to discussion (yes I know this is my fault).
The worst thing is besides that I don’t know what I did, and it just makes me think it wasn't one thing but I am generally not pleasant to be around. I also mask heavily, so maybe I started to unmask too much one day because I became cognitively tired but besides that I don't know. Besides those people, I don't really even have much in common (to my knowledge, but I am open to exploring) with other people. I feel like it's a bit late in the game to ask them about themselves because some other people also have little groups. On the bright side, there are 2 girls who I really connect with, so I think I am going to focus on that. However, I still feel like the other people have definitely talked bad about me in more ways than that. I wish I could just start over, and at the end of the day I probably wished I could be friends with everyone instead of just 2 for now. Is this normal and am I overreacting? Is there a way I can rectify my behavior or is it too late?

Hey all I need some guidance, I'm a bachelor student in software engineering and I want to bridge into social sciences and potentially digital humanities for my future studies and career alignment, I initially got into cs not because I wanted to but it felt like the most job secure field but overtime I've realized it's not something I wanna do so I'm thinking of bridging into social sciences as that's where I want to go, so I'm in a pickle currently, I'm in my final year and I want to develop my final year project in this domain, I need some general direction as to how I can combine the two fields to create or find direction of my project that could meaningfully fulfill my plans, I'm in a "3rd-world" country so it's a project that needs to be something that can genuinely enhance my portfolio so that I can maybe secure a scholarship for my study plans abroad.

If anyone can let me know what type of projects could be best suited to combine the two and what's actually worthwhile to do in the field.

Thanks for reading.

Hi, I am an international applicant planning for fall PhD 2027 in the US and UK. I have currently started emailing professors for Fall 2027 PhD, but I feel I am a little late. I did not get the time before as it took time for me to settle down at my new workplace and I also had to move to a new place. From what I have got to know from online, that October can be a correct time but I also feel that the professors are busy settling down with the new students as well. So I am not quite sure if I am doing the right thing or not or am I very very late?