🔺 r/gradadmissionsuExpensive-Dust8464·47 days ago
tiny unknown college friends, DON'T GIVE UP!
About this time last year, I spent every day stressing over my PhD program applications. I was at a small (<1000 students) private liberal arts college, and we weren't particularly prestigious. I was worried that where I went to school would impact potential PIs' and schools' impressions of me. This week, I started my PhD at an R1 university. During my orientation here, I was shocked by the amount of resources students have dedicated to helping them with things like applying to graduate school. Entire offices dedicated to grant writing, undergraduate research opportunities, and career skills. Don't get me wrong, I loved my undergraduate experience, and I truly wouldn't do anything different if I could go back. But it did make me slightly jealous. When I applied last year, I had my advisor, a hope, and a dream. I felt like I would be at a disadvantage coming from a college most people had never heard of, and that I wouldn't be able to break through to potential advisors. My advisor at the time told me not to compare myself to applicants from bigger universities. Not because I was a worse applicant, but instead to highlight the uniqueness of my tiny private liberal arts education.…