Country: United States
Originally posted on The Grad Cafe: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/160750-those-who-decided-to-apply-to-phd-late-in-undergrad-how-to-boost-your-application/
Hi! I am a rising senior (undergrad) at a top 5 Statistics PhD program (and top 20 school for undergrad Statistics). My major is Statistics with Mathematical Sciences concentration. I've taken the canonical undergraduate math courses plus a few other "more difficult" math courses.
I got A's in all statistics department courses. However, I've only gotten B's in these "more difficult" classes and a C in Real Analysis I (my school is notorious for not inflating grades :') and my professor for Real I was a postdoc from Germany so the class was quite a bit more difficult that the same course taught by the old professor who doesn't care about grades....yes, I failed to play the course selection game that semester).
The major problem for me (besides the lackluster grades, although my GPA is still 3.8) is that I decided to be serious about PhD in Statistics later in my undergrad than what would have been ideal. Basically, I only decided the spring of my junior year that I want to apply to PhD programs. All my experiences from freshman through summer going into my junior year was not geared towards boosting my PhD application (i.e. I don't have any big, Statistics research projects or published any papers).
Since I decided that I will be applying to PhD programs, I've been pretty much doing anything I can to "make-up" for the lost time. This summer I will be doing 6 weeks of biostatistics research and training at a top 5 public university, and doing undergraduate research in the Statistics department at my school, TA-ing a upperclassman Statistics course (Modern Regression), and taking a PhD level MathStats course this fall.
My main concern: The admissions committee will think that I lack solid Statistics research experience and my grades don't demonstrate superior mathematical ability (even though my school is really hard and don't inflate grades but they probably don't care given the competitiveness of Stats PhD applicants). Of course, I'll also apply to a good number of safety schools but for someone who did their undergrad at my school,, it would almost be a shame if I went to a program ranked much lower (please forgive me, it's just how I feel after paying the magnificent 50K/year tuition for undergrad).
My question: How do those who decided to apply to PhD programs later in their undergrad "boost" their application if they don't have a lot of research experience, any publications, and < 4.0 GPA? Any advice on making your case about why you are qualified and committed to Stats PhD when writing Personal Statements and soliciting strong LOR?
Reading most of the posts in this forum make me think that I am just a hopeless case so I really appreciate any insight.
Thanks so much!

Check if you're one of 310,975 people pwned in the TheGradCafe data breach.
Compromised data: Email addresses, Genders, Geographic locations, IP addresses, Names, Passwords, Phone numbers, Physical addresses, Usernames
Source: https://haveibeenpwned.com

Fucking bastards.
Breach: TheGradCafe
Date of breach: 26 Feb 2023
Number of accounts: 310,975
Compromised data: Email addresses, Genders, Geographic locations, IP addresses, Names, Passwords, Phone numbers, Physical addresses, Usernames
Description: In February 2023, the grad school admissions search website TheGradCafe suffered a data breach that disclosed the personal records of 310k users. The data included email addresses, names and usernames, genders, geographic locations and passwords stored as bcrypt hashes. Some records also included physical address, phone number and date of birth. TheGradCafe did not respond to multiple attempts to disclose the breach.

Any updates? One accepted is on thegradcafe

There are two records on the gradcafe. No idea if they are misinformation though… I haven’t heard anything from them yet.

I saw some results in thegradcafe but I haven't recieved any decisions yet. Has anyone received admissions from UIUC, Cornell, or UT Austin MS mechanical engineering program? The silence is getting me stressed out so much.

Anyone else anxiously waiting for a decision from Bren? I've heard back from my other schools and am just waiting on UCSB before I can break out the yellow legal pad for a pros/cons list.
I've been looking at Grad Cafe and it looks like last year it was ~ 3/2 when decision came out, but this has definitely fluctuated over the years😬

Hi everyone,
February is slowly coming to an end, and I've not heard back from UBC yet (the deadline was in December). Was wondering if anyone has heard anything from them, as thegradcafe is also nearly empty this year. Also, a question from previous years admits: when do they usually give out outcomes of our applications?

Saw on Gradcafe two acceptances today - can anyone confirm?

Last year decisions came for Yale 12/1 (gradcafe) and Harvard 12/2 (gradcafe). That would mean this week. Anyone get interviewed or unofficial acceptances?

I haven't seen anything about CMU's Cog. Neuro anywhere and I'm wondering... what's up? I haven't seen much of CMU at all - what's up with that?
I haven't seen much info on gradcafe - Carnegie Mellon (other than the one reject) or gradcafe - CMU or the unofficial tracker

Most social work programs have a whole subreddit, so I thought I’d at least make a post for Lakehead’s HBSW program — Orillia specifically. I’m glad I did the program (especially because it’s one year accelerated), but there were major challenges that I wish I’d known about ahead of time.

Pros:

• You can get everything done in a year.
• The small class sizes mean you get close with classmates and professors.
• Because everyone in the program already has a degree and field experience, you learn a lot from each other about different areas of the sector (eg. what it’s like working in shelters, hospitals, research, non-profits, etc.)
• During the fall semester, you get to work with a community organization on a project, which is solid experience (even for groups whose project went south because the non-profit they were working with was super disorganized).
• The six-month placement means you get a lot of experience and build connections with one agency. Some people are hired on after.

Challenges:

Placements

• The HBSW placement coordinator is not personable, reliable, responsive, or consistent.
• She’ll try to push you into a placement you aren’t remotely interested in.
• A lot of people had to find their own placements (which is not how it’s supposed to work).
• She dropped the ball for several students, didn’t send the necessary materials, and some of them lost their potential placements.
• The school doesn’t seem to have many connections with organizations outside of Simcoe County.
• You don’t get any sick days over the course of the six months.

Accessibility Services
Students with disabilities are not well-supported and some staff attitudes are pretty ableist.

• If all you need is extra time on tests, you’ll be fine. But if you have any more “complicated” accommodations, good luck. Accessibility Services will not advocate for you. One of the profs said to a student they would give them an extension, but that the prof would mark them harder for each extra day. Needless to say, that is not how extensions or accommodations work.
• The writing centre and academic supports are not available in the summer months. What is available September onwards is pretty limited in terms of offerings and availability.

Insensitive staff

• Some of the profs were excellent at containment and exploring traumatic topics in a way that was safe. Others (especially the recent MSW grads who taught courses in the summer) were downright harmful. One put people on the spot and asked them to share intimate details of their childhood in front of 30 other students. It was so unsafe. This isn’t a group counselling session. This is a classroom.
• From what I’ve heard, this seems to be a common problem with social work programs. You’re expected to be vulnerable on traumatic topics in front of strangers while also being assessed — all while being super stressed because you’re in class 40 hours a week in the summer. (Nowhere else in real life is this expected. It would be so inappropriate in a workplace, so why is this ok in education?) And then the profs suck at doing containment. On a number of occasions, classmates opened up about personal traumatic experiences (which were 100% relevant to the discussion) and the prof just stared at them blankly and moved on. It was disturbing. It wasn’t like the shares came out of nowhere. It was right on topic and could have really enriched the conversation. Imagine being prompted to be vulnerable and then being let down like that by the person assessing you who is meant to be a mentor.

Cafeteria:

• In the summer months, the cafeteria was only open for three hours a day and closed on the weekends. Even though there was a kitchen in residence, students weren’t allowed to use it. This left students stranded and with very limited access to food for two months (unless, of course, the school was hosting the OPP, in which case the cafeteria was suddenly open for normal hours).
• Caf staff do not understand allergies or dietary restrictions. A couple of my classmates were repeatedly poisoned after they explicitly asked if something had x allergen in it. I felt so bad for them.

Other issues:

Group work

• There are a lot of group assignments. It felt like too much of our grades depended on other people: In one class, 65% of group work constituted our grade. 50% in another.

Lack of diversity among faculty

• There is a painful absence of diversity among the faculty, though there was some international diversity. This was made worse by the fact that some faculty didn’t seem to understand how to be intersectional and even seemed prejudiced.

Electives

• Limited elective options and the ones that were available were very micro-oriented. Those of us who are interested in macro work got little practical education.

Unclear expectations

• Most of the professors flat-out refuse to give you a rubric for assignments. This caused a lot of stress because you waste time just trying to understand what they want, instead of just working on the assignment. One of the recent MSW grads who taught a summer course actually lied about what would be on a test, said she would make it up to us, and never did. I am not exaggerating.

Outdated content

• The content in some of the classes is outdated and rudimentary. In two classes, the profs took us through the 2SLGBTQIA+ acronym (eg. L is for Lesbian). At least a third of our class was queer. You have to be living under a rock to want to go into social work and have no idea what the acronym stands for.

If you’re looking for more general tips on the program, check out GradCafe:
https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/118706-lakehead-hbsw-orillia/
https://forum.thegradcafe.com/search/?&q=Hbsw&search_and_or=or
I might add more info in future. I'd love to know what other people's experiences were like.

Thinking it would be a good idea to get a group chat going for people applying to biology related PhD programs this year so everyone can vent and stay in the loop of everything without having to anxiously scrolling through thegradcafe. Comment below if you are interested!

General thread for questions/comments/complaints about the 2022/2023 graduate admissions cycle. Please refrain from posting specifics re:acceptances/rejections/interviews. Gradcafe already exists for that.

This is part two of four of my guide on how to apply to MS programs in CS & affiliated fields in the US. This post will cover how you can shortlist what programs you want to apply to.
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Remind yourself of what it is you want to achieve after your degree
Don't restrict yourself to just "MSCS" programs. You might find that various universities have all sorts of degrees under various schools that offer similar but slightly different curriculums. You may want the ability to do a thesis, a capstone project, or the flexibility to choose (or avoid!) certain courses. Various degrees will have different end objectives, different classes, different timelines, and different entry requirements.
Take the time to browse universities and see what they have to offer and how it fits your interests. As an example - the most common question I've gotten is "do I apply for Data Science or CS?". The answer is that it will vary based on each university, but a general rule of thumb would be - do you want to study how to apply stats, ML, and various other methodologies, or do you want to study the actual methodology itself? If it is the former, you're likely leaning towards DS. If it is the latter, it might be CS, a dedicated ML program, or even applied math/stats.
Don't let the name of the degree restrict your choices!
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"Ok that's well and good, but how the hell do I even find programs in the first place?"
Ranking systems are a very messy topic and it gets way too much time and attention (If you're interested, check out this brilliant expose by a prof. from Brown on rankings and how Columbia manipulates them - no disrespect/comments on the university btw, just a great read). Use sites like US News, CSRankings (if you're looking at research), and QS rankings to obtain broad buckets where you can place universities. Simply put, each of these ranking systems has major flaws, but they allow you to guesstimate how each university fares in terms of factors important to you.
Remember that these rankings tend to look at departments and not individual programs. You might see that Caltech ranks surprisingly low on the CSrankings listing, but this is because it has a very small and elite CS department - the research output is extremely influential, but is smaller compared to very large universities. Not to mention, they don't even offer an MS program!
CSRankings will let you estimate how much activity goes on at a university for topics that interest you. Don't read into it much more than that. There is barely any difference when it comes to the quality of education you'd receive,
Once you find universities that seem interesting, just browse through their graduate website to see what they offer, how much the program costs, and how it stacks up to the requirements you laid out in the starting (see part 1 for more details on this). Along with curriculum, finances, funding, and job opportunities, keep in mind things like location, weather, and crime rate to pick cities that would make for fun experiences that you'd enjoy!
If you're looking to do research, another excellent way of shortlisting is by seeing where the folks you cited in your research currently teach. It is an excellent organic way to highlight why you're applying to a specific university.If your LoR writers studied abroad, take a look at where they studied - universities love recommendations from their alumni! If they know faculty at other universities, it can also help a lot.
Do keep in mind that there are programs designed for people who aren't from a CS background, programs that lean heavily towards joining the industry, and those that are entirely research-driven Ph.D. feeders. Don't blindly join a program just because it's offered by a very famous university.
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Safe - Moderate - Ambitious
This is by far the question I get the most often. People are often recommended to select around 10 universities in a 1:3:1 / 2:2:1 split of "safe, moderate, ambitious". Honestly speaking, it is extremely difficult to evaluate your chances unless you're an extreme outlier.
The best way to gauge your chances is to use a combination of LinkedIn and GradCafe. Gradcafe will let you know how your GPA and GRE (we'll come to that in the next post - you'll see why) stack up.I think LinkedIn is a seriously underappreciated tool - it helps you gauge how well-known your undergrad university is. As a general rule of thumb, any university where none of your undergrad alumni are studying is automatically very ambitious. This does not mean that you should ignore a university without your undergrad alumni, it is just that you should treat them as a bit of a moonshot.
Don't bother converting your GPA in your application unless it's specifically requested, but use something like Scholero to convert your GPA to see how it fairs when you compare it to gradcafe or the university portal.Some other data aggregation sites to check out include Yocket, admits.fyi, and even Reddit. Often you can also find acceptance rate information on the program/university website as well.
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Spring or Fall?
As with every other question I've answered - it depends. Spring admissions are easier, but tend to be more hectic, with fewer options to pick from. Its super helpful to ask existing students how their experience has been and if they've felt a significant disadvantage. I almost always recommend fall because of the sheer number of choices you have.
The usual timeline I'd recommend -

• July - Early September: Shortlist Universities
• In parallel July - September: Prep for exams as much as you need to. Try to give TOEFL in September - this will ensure it is valid for two years. Your TOEFL score needs to be valid on the first day of term, so writing in September allows you to reuse your TOEFL scores if you choose to not apply this yeareapply next year.
• Mid-September - Early November: Finetune your shortlist, start your SoP and PHS
• November onwards - submit applications (early if rolling, otherwise it doesn't matter)

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Should I get work experience first?Again - its up to you! I found that just a few months of quality work experience can add a lot of substance to your resume and SoP, even if its not directly related to your field of study. Its all about how you present your learnings and motivation. It always helps to save up a bit more money.Some industry-oriented programs (eg, the PMP MS CS at UW Madison) have specific sections to talk about your work experience, so it can be extremely helpful to have some when you apply.
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Getting started with the applications
I recommend picking out ~10-20 universities that seem good to you. Try and ensure a majority of these have accepted GPAs similar to yours and have some kind of insight into your UG background. You should also pick the universities that you like the most from each of your "categories". Pick out 4 universities that you really like across acceptance rates that require the GRE. You can send your score to 4 places for free, so you don't want to waste that :)
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"I don't think my profile is good enough"
First of all, this is a very common feeling. Try and distance yourself from the emotional aspect and look at it objectively -

• What is it that you lack?
• What can you do in the next year or two to clear those deficiencies?

Some things like your GPA can't really be changed, but you can always get research or work experience to help bolster your application process. If you can't find programs that you like that seem like you have a reasonable shot of getting into, it is perfectly fine to say "no - not this year" and just work on those deficiencies.
Oftentimes, the biggest demons in life are the ones we drum up in our own heads - have some faith in yourself and your abilities.
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That pretty much wraps up everything I have to say about shortlisting, now on to the meat of the process - the applications.

(This was deleted once, one of the moderators asked to repost with a more precise title)
This post is originally from 2020. I was a PhD student in Brandeis University's Mathematics department in the Boston area, which is not a very well known university overall (thankfully). It used to host prestigious science departments a few decades back. They were the first university in the US, which as a part of its business model, claims to fight caste discrimination within its tiny little campus. Brandeis is known to brand itself as an extremely woke institution, which any quick google search would reveal.
While caste might be a serious issue within the small Indian community at Brandeis University, there are overwhelming and more blatant issues with racial discrimination within the campus which the administration perpetuates themselves, so its a bit rich to build a brand based on hypocritically claiming to fight caste discrimination within its campus.
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/155185/how-to-proceed-after-being-threatened-and-treated-poorly-by-university-faculty-a
Later this gives some account of academic bullying, much of which I had no doubt whatsoever, was also racially motivated. Some of it was really messed up and craven behavior, especially from a jewish Russian academic who himself faced rampant anti-semitism in his time in the Soviet Union.
https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/131194-racism-harassment-bullying-threats-and-intimidation-at-brandeis-university/
There was a much bigger post elaborating on these incidents, I made on Reddit in 2020, when I was being harassed by lawyers on behalf of the university, as elaborated in the 2nd post, trying to coerce written statements from me saying that I had "threatened, harassed and bullied" them, when I asked for specific details, they didn't give any; presumably relying on some sarcastic and mocking emails I made to university administration earlier calling them a garbage university, and mocking their phony hypocritical calls for diversity (as happened everywhere in Summer 2020) after the murder of George Floyd, by the same people who had begun to harass me like sociopaths.
The first post on StackExchange mentions a faculty member at Brandeis who wrote these offensive emails (he was upset to begin with, as relayed to me by another faculty member, that I didn't attend one of his classes but instead chose to attend lectures on a similar subject by someone else in the department, something that should have been entirely my prerogative ).
Is there any way some sort of publicity could still be made on his emails and his behavior? I'm guessing it would be pretty hard.
I was getting harassed in 2020 even when I was extremely productive, despite the harassment and mental stress that puts you through. In fact, the fact that I was solving a few problems fairly quickly was the start of the problems with my advisors then, as the second Gradcafe post explains, and something I talked about with other mathematicians elsewhere. I remember a comment in 2020 stating that it must be that there is something very wrong in the way I come across to certain people. Now because of this harassment and getting hounded out, I changed universities (something that was extremely uncertain but I was fortunate to be able to do it) and getting a PhD somewhat quickly from my new department (having to spend an eternity for a PhD in the process), fortunately working with a couple of very accomplished people for a change, and there has not been a hint of trouble working with them. This new department is well aware of what transpired in Brandeis with me.
I was startled then at the reactions of many white Americans who couldn't concede that this was racially motivated. Of course, to varying degrees, such racism is rampant in the US, but in most good universities, such an environment really is unthinkable, as I myself had experienced prior to coming to this place.
Another serious question is, and this might be actionable, that if any delegation or representative of Brandeis University ever decides to come to India, could one file an FIR against such a person?
The faculty member mentioned in the Stackexchange post, who sent those emails, is a Frenchman named Olivier Bernardi. There ought to be something that could be done about this individual and his emails?

Hi everybody,
I am conducting a research that focuses on the admission process of universities, for example, phd students or faculty candidates. I am looking for a dataset that has 3 kinds of information: sensitive (gender, race), non-sensitive (GPA, GRE), and most importantly the admission result (if the candidate is interviewed and if that person accepts the offer). I tried to find on some popular sources like thegradcafe or kaggle but the data usually misses either one of the 3 attributes mentioned. I would really appreciate if someone can refer a dataset like the one described above.
Thank you!!

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/131194-racism-harassment-bullying-threats-and-intimidation-at-brandeis-university/
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/155185/how-to-proceed-after-being-threatened-and-treated-poorly-by-university-faculty-a

This is about racism, racial bullying, harassment, threats, and academic bullying at Brandeis University.
​
https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/131194-racism-harassment-bullying-threats-and-intimidation-at-brandeis-university/ : this also contains references to the behavior of certain faculty members in a couple of other universities (among the lesser ones barring the big two) in the Boston area, but primarily these antics are concentrated in Brandeis' Mathematics department and its Graduate school.
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/155185/how-to-proceed-after-being-threatened-and-treated-poorly-by-university-faculty-a: this gives a direct link to a compilation of what was heard and said, some absolutely appalling, and in a borderline violent tone for years on end, often in front of a lot of people inside the Mathematics department of Brandeis. Several international students in that department felt harassed and bullied in the name of teaching duties, and getting harangued over very trivial matters, and when genuine help was sought for regarding teaching, it never came about.
What can this possibly do to the reputation of Brandeis among international students?