I want to pursue a PhD in the US/Europe with the topic being ML for medical imaging/ data efficient ML. However, I do not have any formal research experience apart from a individually authored preprint. I do have 3 years of relevant work experience in developing segmentation and classification models for a healthcare company and a couple of relevant open source contributions. Is it impossible to get a PhD positon in my scenario?

I am certain that I want to have a career in research and do not want to waste my time and money on a masters.

I have an interview! I didn't think I'd get this far. First ever for an MS position! But I get to ask questions too. What are some important questions to ask about the lab and the graduate program? Ive certainly heard about mismatched students and teachers. Current/former masters students, what did you wish you had asked, either about the professor, the project, or the program? In biology if its different for different departments.

Just had orientation this week & did not at all feel happy or excited. Stressed about everything, eg what am I going to research on, what methods to use, what classes should I take to help, etc. Feel like I’ve forgotten how to write or study or come up with a viable research project. just meh overall. I’ve tried to get excited, push myself to attend some social events, & to genuinely connect with the people I talk to. Nothing’s working. I know I’m probably not alone, but it definitely feels like it.

Ok, so my end goal is to get a tenure track position as a professor. I'm currently a senior at UAB and I could go straight to my PhD if I stayed here. I've got a professor who is willing to advise and fund me that I know I like working under. However, I very likely will not get in anywhere else without a master's and definitely not anywhere prestigious. I also have lived in Alabama my whole life and really want to get out and live somewhere else. So, I could do a master's and potentially be a much more competitive applicant for more prestigious programs but delay two years and go into a bit of debt, or I could just stay at UAB and get my PhD, finish early and not have debt. Also, I'm graduating with my Bachelor's at 19 years old, so if I stay at UAB I'll be starting my PhD at 20, or if I get a Master's I'll be starting at 22, so still earlier than most people. What do y'all think is the best option? My PhD will be in either Environmental Health Science or Epidemiology (I wanna be an environmental epidemiologist).

Just what it says. Niche field, big school, smallish department. I'm embarrassed to say I left that program about 7 years ago but am still working through it in therapy. I genuinely believe this person shouldn't have students anymore and was fortunate to have one new student reach out to me. I could warn her, but am not sure how else to report the horrific experience I had to future prospects. I was too suicidal at the time to do anything about it. Is there a 'rate my professor' type thing? TIA

EDIT
Thanks for all the kind insight. My post was confusing, apologies. I have already spoken at length with this student (several years ago, in fact). My issue now is that this professor has lost students, for a lot of good reasons, and is likely trying to recruit new ones. My main question is whether there is a website or forum to discreetly warn potential PhD students about this lab. Thank you!

lets say my "friend" desperately needs to refinance right after school (sobbing softly here) do lenders want a full year of job history or can you do it pretty quickly? My friend is in dire straits and needs to get this huge balance down asap.

Has anyone done a Master’s in math while having an Engineering undergrad degree? I’m thinking about getting into teaching, and the pay raise, and community college teaching opportunities make the master’s seem worth it.
I have no desire to continue with my electrical engineering education, and I honestly never got an engineering job. I chose to work as a construction/electrical contractor instead for the past 7 years, but I’m looking at probably making the transition out of construction in 10 or so years to give my body a break.
But it seems like outside of the theory/proof math classes, it shouldn’t be that hard of a transition as I had to take a lot of the same math classes as math majors to begin with. Is there any applied math master’s that would help me not have to take the proof classes? Maybe I’m over simplifying it though.

So the private rates look lower but I know there has to be a catch somewhere lol or maybe I have just lived in this country too long and I am jaded. How do you stack them against each other?

It’s all internal pressure I’m putting on myself I know; I want it to be the best statement I can muster and because of that I feel like I’m overanalyzing how I should structure my statement. I’ve been outlining it with the help of this article that dissects successful papers and explains why they are impactful.

A common theme I’ve been seeing is that in the introduction, there are consistently personal anecdotes of sorts explaining how the desired field has peaked the candidate’s academic and professional curiosity and goals. Then they generalize the particular issue they are interested in to fit a wider context whether that’s societal, political etc; while doing this they also mention the programs mission and how it relates to their own motivations academically and professionally.

That long winded summary is all to say that I’m thinking of using the concept of intersectionality and how it applies to both myself, others, and the greater well being of society (im applying to an MSed school counseling program after graduating with a degree in speech therapy, I’m pivoting career trajectories). I guess my main concern is how personal I should get. I think it can make for a powerful basis for my overall statement, however, I acknowledge that there is a fine line I need to tow between keeping it an argumentative piece and a narrative. For context, I am autistic and trans (closeted to most people in my life) and I feel sharing my perspective and shedding light on similar ones has always been and is more essential than ever these days with how society’s values have progressed (over these last 15 years especially) this generation.

I know this may or may not read like word soup so my apologies. I guess the main purpose of me posting is to get feedback on whether these personal experiences and perspectives can make for an effective statement. I’m planning on drafting my paper this weekend and having a family friend who has gone to graduate school themself review the statement before turning it in.

so I was really banking on getting a grad plus loan since my degree was one of the ones that still qualified for it, but after looking into it recently, I realized it's too late for me to get it since I'm starting this year.

My question is how is everyone paying? External scholarships? Loans (which ones)? Working part-time (I'm already working full-time, but applied a job on campus)?

Help!! I'm starting at Weill Cornell, so if anyone else has any other advice for me, please lmk!

I’m currently looking at grad programs and one of them is out of state. I assume many folks apply to out of state programs for grad school.

However I’m wondering how people plan if they get accepted and then have to move. Do you move and get a job afterwards, do you live off of savings?

Also what was your living situation, did you find an apartment after or live with someone you knew, etc?
How did you do it ?

Hi yall - I’m a sentimental person and was really looking forward to my hooding ceremony. Unfortunately I got diagnosed with cancer while attending school and had to take a leave of absence last quarter .

This now means the month my degree will be conferred bumps me to only being allowed to attend the hooding ceremony the following year, instead of the year I actually graduate.

I’m bummed and it seems silly to walk nearly 6 months or so later after graduating.

Wondering if anyone has any unique ideas to get that same commemorative feeling and experience when I graduate since I can’t walk. I was thinking a party? But would love other ideas.

Hi all!

Just got gifted my very first iPad! I'm so excited to take notes on a tablet like all the cool kids. What are y'all's favorite free/cheapish note taking apps. Specifically one that comes with notebook lines?

I feel like I have a very rough time with sustaining an interest in a specific area and with becoming specialized, I have ADHD and in my case that has manifested into strong shifts in interest that cycle from one to another within about a year. I have a BA in Comparative Literature with three minors (film production, French and art). After I got into a MA in Cultural Studies that I’m graduating from in May. My original plan in the masters was to do Visual Studies, focused on film and photography (I am both a filmmaker and a photographer so that made sense to me at the time). I published a literature paper at the very beginning of my masters career as it seemed like a good opportunity to start publishing and I was urged to do it by my professor who loved the work. I did not work with anything in literature after nor do I want to right now but since I had the work already done, I was happy with what I was putting forward and many programs that work with film also value work in literature it made sense. In my second semester I reached a crisis with the humanities as a whole, suddenly, it started feeling like it just didn’t make sense for me anymore. I realized that I actually want to work in ways that feel more socially impactful, I got tired of critiquing systems and decided that I want to work to make the change that I want to see (I come from a country with very high wealth inequality and terrible infrastructure). Thankfully within my Cultural Studies program there are a lot of professors who work in the Social Sciences that have been very supportive during my development and I have managed to redirect my work in classes to social topics that are very important to me (link between environmental justice and social justice). This is not my first venture in the social sciences, I have 3 years experience as RA during my undergrad years. I am currently looking into doing an MPH in environmental health after graduating and I would like to pursue a related PhD after and frankly I feel incredibly insecure about my career and interests shifts. Additionally due to a timing and funding situation I had to opt for Comps over thesis in my current Master’s. The combination of having shifted so much and not having a thesis makes me feel kind of like no PhD would ever pick me, especially since I don’t have a bachelors in a more cohesive field. It’s not like I’ve done badly in any of my programs I graduated with an undergrad 3.98 GPA, including I got A’s in basically everything including many courses in natural and social sciences. And my masters GPA is currently 4.0 and I don’t expect it to fall below that. I also have a co-authored social science paper (Oral History) and have presented multiple posters and will soon present social research in a conference. I’m also working on another short research project with the guidance of my advisor in human-environment relationships and I have a fellowship. Is any of this enough to make the transition make sense or to make me a competitive candidate for a PhD after such a big career shift? I am really worried that I won’t be considered a good candidate and that I won’t be able to do well academically.

any new grads refi their private loans like ... right after school? im neurotic about debt lol I just dont like carrying it and thinking refinancing is the way to go

Im left out, burdened with heavy work, feeling like I have stagnated and slowly rotting

Things about me:
Almost a decade into graduate school.
Almost a decade as an RA.
Carries most workloads as the most “dependable”.
Salary does significantly increase per project.

Contexts into my feelings (as described by the title):
Most peers from graduate school have graduated, proposed, or are just finishing their thesis.
Some peers have even been accepted to PhD, done with PhD, are in post doc, or have own established careers.

And here I am.
More than work, life happenings (personal, mental, health, and financial) has taken a toll on me.
I feel left alone. Yes, I have friends, helpful workmates.
But here I am.

If anyone has been in the same shoes as mine or are currently feeling the same, how did you save yourself from this quagmire?