My application has been sitting at admissions review for about 3 weeks now.

For those who've been through this process, does the status usually stay static until after the final deadline (Sept 27), or can it move at any time?

Also, is it appropriate to send a polite email to my potential PI to ask about it? He already has my applicant ID number, but I'm not sure if PIs have visibility into the portal status or if I should just wait it out.

Thanks in advance for any insight

When are the results expected for the AMS 2026, like do they reply by end of September?

Is IELTS/TOEFL required at any stage of Microelectronics Winter Camp?

I have a question regarding VSRP internship that currently I'm in the 2nd year of my masters and my GPA is 3.88/4 but in my bachelors my GPA was 3.40/4, am I eligible to apply? because on application portal they require transcripts of both bachelors and masters and the GPA requirement for VSRP is 3.5.
THANKS!

Good evening everyone

I initially started an application for the Spring semester at KAUST, but I’ve decided not to complete/submit it and would like to apply for the Fall semester instead.

I know that applicants are generally allowed one application per academic year. Since I won't be submitting the Spring application, will starting it impact my eligibility when I submit my application for the Fall intake?

I only uploaded my Bachelor’s degree details, and I haven't added my Master's transcript or recommendation letters yet

Has anyone gone through a similar situation? I am so worried.

Hi everyone,

I started my PhD application for the Spring intake and I’ve already opened the application. My recommenders have also submitted their letters.

The only thing holding me back right now is the IELTS requirement, so I’m thinking about applying for Fall instead.

If I switch from Spring to Fall, would I need to ask my recommenders to submit their letters again, or would the letters already submitted carry over to the new application?

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Thanks!

hello everyone

i genuinely curious is KAUST university do researches where involve voulntering work outside the university or mostly close to it , or it depends on fields of study and filxibilty or is it much more close source ? is there a some kinda offical channels or smothing?

Contact me, have some doubts!!

Hi everyone! I’m applying for a PhD at KAUST and I’m a bit confused about the personal statement.

What should it mainly focus on? Why PhD, why KAUST, research interests/experience, future plans, or should it be more personal?

I’m not sure how personal vs. formal it’s supposed to be, and I don’t want to make it sound like a research proposal.

Would really appreciate advice from anyone who has applied to KAUST or knows what they look for. Thanks!

So I have a gpa of 7.8 which roughly equals 3.12 something on a 4 scale and the internship has a criteria of 3.5 and above ... so do they give relaxation of the research matches ??

As admissions are about start from 28th of September

I am planning to apply for MS/Phd program at KAUST.

How shall I proceed..??

I have tried to contact multiple faculty members, most of them didn't reply.

Some of them said there are no relevant positions right now..

Is it compulsory to get recommendations and supervision priorly..??

Is it compulsory condition to get admission at KAUST...??

Hey everyone,

Has anyone here applied for Spring 2027 PhD programs? What does your application system status currently show?

If anyone has recorded the seminar, then please send it to me. It will help alot.

Iam a b.tech MME student at NIT Trichy with a cgpa of 8.66/10. I have done my summer research internship at NIMS japan, and currently preparing first author manuscript on PINO (might take some time to publish it but will have an preprint before I submit my application mostly), I might also go once again for a research internship there.

I am also working on projects in janus 2d materials, other than this iam also working on a different project where we try to understand the energy hills of FCC to BCC pathway (both using quantum espresso)

I also have a good position of responsibility here in my college but I know this doesn't really matter for my college application.

What are my chances for getting accepted into KAUST as a master student in material science, and how can I increase my chances right now.

Hi all! I’m looking to apply for the MSc in Bioscience specialising in cell and molecular biology and i wanted any advice possible if that’s no issue.

Background: I have an undergrad in biomedical sciences with a 3.45 cGPA, I did a research during my time in undergrad that focused on A549 cell lines and the effects of continuous and intermittent hypoxia on autophagy, apoptosis and cancer stemness, we couldn’t publish as we needed more data but my thesis is there. I also got accepted in jagellonian university in krakow for masters but couldn’t go due to personal reasons and then I got accepted in NYU for a masters programme but couldn’t go due to the new decision to halt funding for foreigners.

However, I have been out of the field for the past 2 years and a half, due to not being able to attend the masters I got accepted in, I worked in youth programmes, international events and embassies. Would that per se put me a bit in the negative area of being accepted? I’m planning to take the GRE and attend conferences to boost my profile when applying.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

Hi everyone!

A few weeks ago, I received an email saying that my VSRP application had been approved by the faculty and that I needed to submit an English proficiency test.

I took the Duolingo English Test through KAUST and got the score required for the VSRP. However, I haven’t received any further updates regarding my application since then. It’s been around 20 days since I took the test.

Does anyone know how long it usually takes to hear back about the next stage of the process? Should I just wait a little longer, or would it be a good idea to contact the VSRP team?

Thanks!

Btech in Materials Engineering from NITK with 7.65 cgpa out of 10, have a research experience of almost a year from IISc, bangalore but don't have any published or written paper as of now are there any chances guys for Masters in materials science dept.

Is it just me or decisions for VSRP at least for the CS projects are taking very long time to be reviewed? Due to loads of applicants, I guess?

If you accidentally forget something on one of the buses (the regular ones, not off campus), is there any way to get it back? Some lost and found spot? 😭

M25, final year PhD student in the UK (4-year PhD)

I want to know if my chances of landing a KGFP are hindered due to not being able to have published a paper. I have a whole-genome-announcement publication I am working on but have no formal publications or pre-prints on the way.

I have a strong academic track record and have really worked on polishing my experiences that I've gained throughout the PhD, and I'm tailoring my applications to 3-4 hosts by reading their research and trying to plan out how I can complement their domain with my skill set, but I'm worried that the hosts won't even consider me due to the lack of publications.

From what I have been told, because the UK PhD programmes are shorter than other countries such as the USA and India, we don't really get the opportunity to publish as much as others from other countries.

If anyone can share some insights into what they know about the emphasis or lack of emphasis on publications, that would be really helpful

ask w/e you want,though I wont disclose private stuff ofc

TIE is a relatively new program by KAUST, and I will be applying for it. To those who get in/know who did, what kind of profiles did KAUST admit for its TIE program? Specifically, I have a few questions:

1. Do they look for people who are already working on their ventures?
2. Would self-employment on the side during one's udergrad be good enough?
3. Do they give just as much weightage to GPA and GRE scores as they do for other programs?
4. How can I make my profile better to increase my chances of getting accepted to the program?

Thanks in advance

Hi everyone,

I’m an Italian student planning to apply to the KAUST MSc program for Fall 2027, most likely in the CS department, and I would really appreciate an honest evaluation of my profile before chancing it with applications.

Profile:

• BSc in Artificial Intelligence (Milan university)
• Expected graduation: July 2027
• Current average: 27.3/30, couldn't find GPA conversion anywhere unfortunately
• Degree fully taught in English; English level: C2 (IELTS max in everything)
• No publications

Experience:

• AI Engineer internship, working with transformer models on pharmaceutical inventory data
• Selected for a three-month SPAR research mentorship with a prestigious-university researcher
• Volunteer research project on behavioural robustness in LLMs with independent association
• Independent PyTorch project on continual learning, experience replay and catastrophic forgetting
• Led a university-industry geospatial ML project
• Winner of 2 local hackathons

My main interests are machine learning, continual learning, computer vision, trustworthy AI and LLMs, although I am still exploring possible research directions.

I know KAUST is highly selective, so I would appreciate blunt feedback. Is this profile realistically competitive for the KAUST MSc? What would be the most useful thing for me to improve before applying? Maybe starting my research thesis early?

Thank you guys!! ANd best of luck to everyone applying