Which is a better choice in case of a PhD application and why:   Submitting a transcript which indicates an incomplete study (50/120 credits completed) and 5 dropped (not failed) courses.    vs.   Concealing an incomplete study.   ??  If #1 is a Hobson's choice, how can I explain that to satisfy the admission committe?
122707
I attended a 2y MSc mixed mode (Coursework+Thesis) program which is incomplete as of today. I have completed two semesters and still 2 more semesters to go.   I have dropped 3rd semester and never attended the 4th one. Coz,   I ran out of money. I didn't like the program as it contained too much coursework. A whole load of coursework unrelated to my area of research interest was hindering my effort towards getting into research. Suppose, I am interested in Machine Learning. But, I have to study Economics and so on.   Now, I found that I, actually, can apply to Ph.D. programs without completing an MSc program (there are a lot of universities which accept Ph.D. students without MSc). I have good GRE score, so the chance of getting into a Ph.D. program is very high. But, I am worried that my previous incomplete MSc program will discredit my CV and statement of purpose as the dropped semester would be considered as failed courses.  Would it be a crime to not to disclose the incomplete MSc program? What would be the possible consequence of concealing an incomplete degree?
56413
I am applying for a master's program in the US and am not sure how I should present my GPA ethically when discussing it. I have an undergrad total GPA of 3.394 and when asked to put in my undergrad GPA it only gives room for 2 digits and nothing more. EX: 3.0. Can I round up my GPA since it's so close to 3.4, or would this be unethical and I should round down to 3.3?  To make this as general as possible: How should one round their GPA when only 2 digits are accepted, and they're less than .05 away from the next digit?
94595
I would love to know the circumstances under which people opt for a second doctorate degree.   Could a professor working in a university write up a thesis and submit it to his department to earn a second doctorate? Do only those who want to remain in the university forever as students go for a second doctorate?   Are there any general merits/downsides to earning 2 PhDs, if you are perhaps assured of a research career after a good first one?
76429
I see places like Coursera, Udacity and EdX offer certificates upon successful completion of course work. Also most of the people doing recorded teaching at these places are famous and well known professors.  So if someone mentions those kind of course certificates in CV or application material for grad school, does it have a significant value for the applicant?   Do you consider these kind of certificates at the same level with a grade on an academic transcript?
15870
I was reading the following article by Mathew Might.  I saw the following the paragraph  What doesn't matter GPA? I don't care if it's 2.0 or 4.0. I won't even look at it. The school you went to? I'll judge you the same whether you went to Nowhere State U or a top-ten school. Transcripts? Never seen one. GREs? Irrelevant. Where you work/worked? Unless it's a research lab, it's not important. I don't think these items have much predictive capacity as to whether or not someone can complete a Ph.D.  Is Mathew Might telling the truth? For me it's very hard believe that GPA, GRE scores and undergraduate school don't matter. I used to think that they play an extremely important role in grad school admission.
118338
I am applying to graduate school, and I am having a problem with recommendation letters. I need three recommendation letters with two of them being academic reference letters. Honestly, last year, I had requested two recommendation letters from two of my former professors for my law school applications. However, in the end, I decided not to pursue law school for a number of reasons, despite being accepted to one. Currently, I am applying to a number of different schools' masters' programs in the field I plan to study.   As I mentioned earlier, I am having difficulty with the recommendation letter process. I wrote emails to those two professors about my situation, and one professor was willing to revise her former recommendation letter for my new masters' programs applications. However, I have yet to hear back from the other professor. I had written a senior thesis under that professor, and I was hoping to receive a letter from him. After I sent an email to that professor a few weeks ago, and received no response, I sent him a follow-up email yesterday. I received no response to that follow-up email either. If there is no response, does that mean a discreet "no"? Should I send another follow-up email a few days later? Or, should I find another academic recommender at this point? My first application deadline is in the middle of December.
61883
When I did my undergraduate thesis, my adviser was expected big on students expecting them working really hard, so it ended up as a reduced master's thesis (most of the reviewers said that it was an overkill for a B.E).  So because of this, I did my master's thesis pretty much in the same way I did my bachelor's thesis; the PhD dissertation was a different story.  What are the principal differences between these three pieces of research?
78215
I'm studying Computer Science with a double major in Math at a public university. I hope to attend a private school like Vanderbilt (Nashville, USA) to pursue an MS or PhD. My GPA is still above a 3.0, however:   I have received a U (unsatisfied, incorrectly submitted work) as a final grade in a single credit course that is part of an honors college program during my first semester in college. I also had one terrible score (D) in a 200 level maths course during the same semester.   Will these early blemishes on my transcript affect my chances of getting into graduate school?
71494
I have a PhD few admission offers from some universities. My first choice school didn't make its decision yet, or maybe didn't post it online yet.  Is it OK to send an email asking about application status and explaining that I have other standing offers which I have to make decisions about quickly?  Would this have any negative impact on my application?
50210
I plan on doing a PhD in computational linguistics, which I intend to start in about 3 years. I have one more year of undergraduate study, and 5/6 of the courses remaining are for my minor in Applied Linguistics.  I plan on taking 2/6 of those classes as credit/no-credit (CR/NC) because I'm also working two jobs, and worst-case scenario I'll fall behind in these classes, but not so far behind that I wouldn't pass with 75% (and still receive credit).   that:     Admissions committees do not place as much weight on courses outside the major as courses in the major. If you are a physics major, for instance, a C in a US History course is not going to be as problematic as a C in electricity and magnetism.   These CR/NC courses are not in my majors (Computer Science and French), so I don't think that they would raise flags to admissions committees, but I also don't want admissions to think "oh he seriously slacked off his last year of undergrad!"  Do admissions committees care about CR/NC courses in undergrad?
78412
How essential is having my advisor's letter for post doc application?   I had a pretty bad relationship with my advisor for more than 4 years since I joined his lab and sometimes the relationship feels like slow inflammation that can easily flare up. We had very different opinion on how I want to approach my thesis and we argue very often on the experimental approach and the angle of attack. After that, he turned passive aggressive and completely hands-off. I noticed that he started slow to response to my email and given me very small amount time for meeting in comparison to other people in the lab. However, I proved to him that my approach was right and wrote the full paper myself and got published.   Recently, I got contact by a post doc employer who interested in my own work and request letter of recommendation. I asked my advisor for letter and he told me that I should write my own from which he can modify. I feel this is quite strange as he had wrote for all the other people in the lab, including a departing post doc who is currently interviewing for job. He told me he had done the same for other people but obviously he lied to me.   I further asked if he can provide me a copy of a completed version of the recommendation but he refused.   My question is should I still trust him to write my letter and is it essential? This post doc position is a great opportunity for me and either way I do is a big gamble.  Update: I decided to let my advisor wrote a letter for me and I think I may have made a big mistake. Since he wrote my letter, I asked the post doc lab head if my letter is completed and I no longer be able to hear back from him. Before that, he was quick to response to my email and showed great enthusiasm. As an insurance, I use one opportunity I have less desire to as bait to test the water and I still have one more shot at another position I really want.  Now, I'm thinking requesting open letter from advisor from now on for any future position or use letter service to check the letter.   Any suggestion? Thanks.  update: Great news! Got interviewed and offered at top ones! Thanks everyone!
101255
Suppose multiple students have asked me for letters of recommendation to the same graduate department in the US. Am I expected to explicitly compare the students to one another? Am I supposed to do this in both letters (assuming they haven't been submitted yet)? Do I need to explicitly state a preference for one over the other, or can I just get away with listing relative strengths and weaknesses (for instance, "X is stronger academically, but Y has more research experience and is a stronger programmer")?
76772
I have been offered a PhD position with full funding from my backup university, however they gave me a deadline of April 5th to either accept or decline their offer. I am still waiting for replies from other more prestigious universities. What should I do?
99672
I recently saw this infogram circling around various social networks:    It appeared in  with the following claim:     Got a PhD? Your chance of becoming a Professor is 0.45%. Good luck.   Being a bit sceptical of the claim and of shiny info-grams in general, I traced the image back through  to  by the Royal Society (see page 14), featuring various reputable academics in the introduction. The report cites a number of other reports from UK organisations as its source (I did not dig deeper). The infogram seemingly pertains to graduates of PhDs in the UK in STEM fields.  I find the figures literally incredible. I cannot believe them. Fewer than 1-in-200 PhD graduates become professors? This would imply, for example, that STEM professors in the UK would need to graduate 200 PhD students just to "repopulate" themselves.  I would like to compare these estimates with figures sourced elsewhere. And so my question is:   Are any other studies or sources of data for estimating the number of PhD graduates who end up with professorships? (... preferably within the STEM areas and not restricted to the UK)    There is a related question specifically for the maths field and referring to tenure-track positions but none of the answers really address this question:   EDIT: Pointer to a follow-up question asked by @gerrit:
100939
I'm in the following situation: In 3 months, I'll finish my PhD in theoretical physics, and I'm certain that I want to pursue an academic career. However, I'm just as certain that my PhD research is a dead end. (My advisor doesn't think so, but I disagree with him.) Thus, I seek to change the direction of my research, but I need a few months to obtain the necessary skills. Anyway, I missed the main application period for post-doc positions (in the US).  Given the following options (feel free to expand this list), which do you think provides the best perspective of leading me to a interesting post-doc position?   Finish my PhD. Get any post-doc position. Do the work I'm required to do there. Work hard in my spare time to teach myself the stuff I want to. After 1-2 years, find a post-doc position I'm really interested in. Finish my PhD. Get a well-paying job in the software industry. Do the work I'm required to do there. Work hard in my spare time to teach myself the stuff I want to. Work harder to keep publishing papers. After one year, find a post-doc position I'm really interested in. Abort my current work. Find a new subject and a new PhD advisor. Live on unemployment money as long as possible. Work hard in my spare time to teach myself the stuff I want to. Work harder to keep publishing papers. After one year, find a post-doc position I'm really interested in.   Pros:   Get the PhD title sooner. Stay in the scientific community. Get the PhD title sooner. Earn lots of money (6 figure). In a 9-to-5 job, have more spare time for private research than on a post-doc position, where work is never finished. Go to a foreign country. It's what I should've done 2 years ago. I'll have the education I want when I finish my PhD, not later (but be older anyway). No immediate advantages over the other options.   Cons:   If a logical continuation of my PhD work, I'll suffer from demotivation. My next advisor will not want me to work on other topics that I'm not paid for. Might have to stay for 2 years. I'll move out of the scientific community for some time. I know it's hard to get back in. I'll be even older when I finally get my PhD. Not sure if I would find another advisor. Open fight with my current advisor. I don't want to live on unemployment money for long.   A particular question concerning the options above: Does being out of academia for a year kill your prospects of obtaining a postdoc position later?  I do have some collaborators who will help me to keep publishing, provided that I put enough work into my research. Also, I'm willing to familiarize myself with other topics on my own (a prerequisite for an academic career anyway).  The next application period will be from October to December 2013, which isn't far away. I'm sure I'll have most of the skills I want by then (and a paper published proving that), but still would have to work until summer 2014 wherever I am applying now.  Please give me honest answers, even if they hurt. I'll provide more information as soon as possible, if anyone has questions.
84726
Recently, someone analyzed  and found that over half of the professors at the top 51 universities graduated from a top 10 university.  have also brought this up. From my personal observations, most schools do hire graduates from better ranked schools.  Is this because of the competitive job market? We have so many good applicants, we have to narrow it down some how! Or is it simply that these schools produce the most PhDs? Has this always been the case? How rare are exceptions to this? I know of a few people who graduated from a top 75 school and got hired at a top 50 school. But what about bigger gaps? The top 10 schools seem to just swap graduates, do they ever hire from a 50+ ranked school?  Update 2018: I have accepted a tenure-track position at a top 75 department at an R1 university immediately after graduating from an unranked department at an R2 university. It does happen! This may or may not generalize to other fields and countries.
4679
There seems to be a consistent pattern on TSE, with scores of questions about what documentation best accompanies a visa application, posed not just by those reapplying after a refusal, but by first-time applicants prior to submission (and a few with post-submission anxiety).  What is being overlooked, lost in translation, missed? Why is this question even being asked here, when the UK government publishes its own straightforward information?