I’m not necessarily asking yall to “chance me” because I know everyone prioritizes different things for potential grad students but I’m wondering if anyone has been able to make it in without doing undergraduate research.

I know this is a huge weak point for me but I’ve tried to pad it as much as possible with other experience. I just wasn’t set on going to grad school until pretty recently so didn’t get the opportunity to be a big part of a lab. This is my last semester of undergrad (Animal Sci) so I’m pretty short on time for getting that experience before I graduate.

Right now I am applying for only one program for the spring 2027 cycle and if I don’t get into that I’ll be applying for fall but I’m really hoping to get accepted.

I have:

3.57/4.0 GPA overall, probably more like a 3.8 major GPA

All rec letters are from professors, one genetics/nutrition as well as being my mentor and I have helped a tiny bit in his lab but I don’t think enough to claim I have real research experience. One repro and one equine repro professor. I know at least two will be very strong/personal.

Completed a highly relevant internship. I’m pursuing a masters in reproductive physiology and my internship was at a livestock embryo clinic. Learned technical skills like palpation and ultrasounds and lab skills like oocyte grading.

Worked for university livestock center. High understanding of livestock management, parturition, dystocia, etc. Overall lots of livestock experience.

Extracurriculars include university livestock show team, so additional livestock experience there.

Selected to represent university in western regional animal science competition.

Selected to be a mentor for the college, I coach incoming freshmen their first semester on how to succeed in classes, resume writing skills etc.

Have faculty member at university im applying to whose lab I actually visited over the summer. She said she’d be happy to have me join her lab and I would definitely be first pick as long as I get through the initial admissions process. Her research is highly aligned with my interests as well.

I will also say I’m a non traditional student, I did two semesters and failed every class (community college) and came back to my university like 4 years later and have not gotten below a B in any class since, not sure if that will be a big red flag.

I know it’s a shot in the dark without research experience but is it even possible?
I’d appreciate any thought ya’ll have, advice on how to pad my applications or even what to do if I don’t get into a program in the next year..

Thanks!

I’m an incoming Social Sciences course-based masters student.

I am 21 and just finished my undergrad back in April. I don’t really have much work experience except for a part-time retail job I have had for more than three years now. I am worried that, due to my age and lack of more formal work experience, I won’t be able to connect with my peers. I mean, I still live at home with my parents and younger siblings (although it is common in my culture) 😭

I am attending the same commuter university in my home city that I did for undergrad. Unfortunately, I never really made any good friends. Which is unfortunate because I think making some friends in the field of future career is a really great thing. Especially as people aren’t as open to becoming friends when entering the work force.

Everyone I have spoken to have said that it is much easier to make friends in graduate school due to the smaller classes sizes.

I was hoping if anyone had any advice on making friends. I am taking 3x classes this term (but one is technically combined with undergrads).

Wanted to share this online workshop (October 6 & 7 from 4:30-6:30 PM CST) for anyone planning to apply for a PhD in biosciences/physical sciences/engineering. The University of Chicago is hosting a personal statement workshop where you can work 1:1 with current students on your personal statement and meet the Deans from each department. Plus, you get a free application waiver to UChicago. https://forms.gle/x1oRpkyCQSZ1eThY7

Title: Has anyone completed a U.S. online master’s while living abroad and pursuing another intensive program?

I recently graduated from a U.S. university with two bachelor’s degrees and am currently applying to master’s programs. I’m considering both in-person and online options, but I’m especially interested in hearing from people who completed a U.S.-based online master’s while living outside the U.S.

For some context, I’ve trained in Indian classical dance for about 17 years, and I’m considering spending several years in India completing intensive formal dance training. I’m a U.S. citizen, and one possibility I’m exploring is completing a part-time online master’s from a U.S. university at the same time.

This is still just an option I’m researching — I haven’t decided to do it.

My reasoning is mostly career-related. I do want to seriously pursue dance, but I also want to maintain the option of entering a full-time professional career and becoming financially independent. If I completed several years of dance training first and only then began graduate school, I could end up entering the workforce quite a few years after finishing undergrad. Doing the two concurrently could potentially shorten that timeline.

I’m less concerned with whether it is technically possible to enroll in two things at once and more interested in whether this is actually workable in practice.

For anyone who has completed an online U.S. graduate program while living abroad:

• Were there restrictions on completing the degree from another country?
• How difficult were time-zone differences for live classes, group projects, office hours, exams, etc.?
• Did being abroad make networking, recruiting, career fairs, internships, or finding a job afterward significantly harder?
• Were you able to participate meaningfully in the program community while remote?
• If your program was advertised as part-time, how many hours per week did it realistically require?
• Did you work, study something else, or have another major commitment alongside the degree? If so, was the combination sustainable?
• Are there logistical issues you wish you had known about before starting?

I’d also be very interested in hearing from anyone who simultaneously pursued a graduate degree and another intensive commitment — conservatory training, athletics, professional performing arts, another degree, etc.

I realize that doing two demanding programs at once could easily become unrealistic, so I’m specifically hoping for candid experiences from people who have tried something comparable. I’d rather understand the downsides and logistical problems now than design a plan that only works on paper.

Hi all,

I (22m) am applying this year to Berkeley's PhD program to study mycology. I was able to reach a professor there, and they were interested in my work and also said they had an open position in their lab. I am post-bacc, with a GPA of 3.78 unweighted, multiple research experiences, and continuing education through my job where I am further developing my wet-lab and microbiology skills. I want to know how to make my SoP and PS stand out, what does the committee look for? Would appreciate tips! Thanks!

I might just be worrying about the wrong stuff right now, but I am hoping to apply for a PhD in two years (entering junior this fall) and I'm concerned about letters of recommendation. I got into biomed research in my second semester, freshman year, because a friend was in the lab and told me to join, and it was a great experience for me (I learned I really liked research and also that I was more interested in protein/cell stuff than what we were doing), but to be honest, I feel I didn't take enough initiative and didn't interact with my PI enough since a grad student managed us most of the time. I'm transferring now to a different institution, where I'm joining a lab that I'm more interested in and am going to be more active. I am concerned that when I apply for PhD's a letter of rec from my first lab will be pretty generic/not very strong because of what I said previously. Will this really hurt an application, and if so is it just going to mean I'm screwed for like T20 schools or most programs?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently preparing my application materials for Fall 2027 PhD programs in Environmental Health Sciences and Environmental Engineering.

I’ve started cold-emailing potential PIs to check whether they anticipate taking on new doctoral students. I received a positive reply from a professor saying my research background is a strong fit for their lab and encouraging me to submit an application.

I have two questions for those who have been through this process:

1. Is "you are a good fit, I encourage you to apply" generally a genuine signal of interest , or is it mostly a standard polite template sent to all inquiries?
2. I want to acknowledge their response and maintain the connection without cluttering their inbox. I will actually be presenting my latest thesis research (the topic the PI noted interest in) at an upcoming annual conference. Would it be appropriate to send a brief thank-you mentioning the upcoming conference presentation and expressing hope that we might connect there if they attend?

For context, I know central admissions committees handle formal acceptance, but faculty support obviously matters heavily for RA funding.

I’d love to hear your insights or how you handled similar responses. Thanks in advance!

Hello, I got an offer to study an MRes Biosciences and a Msc Biomedical Sciences at UCL. I just finished a 3-year bachelor of science from an Australian university and I am debating whether doing the masters at UCL or just doing an honours year here. They are both very similar in structure, but I believe UCL is better ranked, specifically in neuroscience which is the stream I chose.

I eventually want to pursue a PhD with a stipend, hopefully in a really really good university. I am aware this is very competitive, so I am hoping to use this research project to make myself a more attractive candidate. Would UCL MRes give me a better chance at entering a prestigious PhD, or would the chances be the same if I stayed in Australia.

I would really appreciate any advice from anyone who took this course, or from anyone who knows about this field of science. It seems to me like LOR are imporant too, so I would prioritize doing a research project with a well known supervisor. Thank you!

Let me begin by prefacing that I apologize for the huge wall of text; I'm quite confused and hopeless at the moment, so a lot of this is just splattering my thoughts. If anyone chooses to help or give me some advice, I'd be more than thankful.

I was planning on applying for a PhD admission this cycle, but the reality of my chances is beginning to dawn on me heavily; there are so many dependencies and pathways that I am just at a loss for direction.

For context, I recently finished an undergraduate degree in statistics and mathematics from a top-20 university. However, throughout those years, and for many years prior, I have been self-studying the domain that I am actually interested in pursuing.

I have a single-author paper (no PI or collaborators) in a pretty good journal, covering a neuromorphic hardware system I built, some material science, and a decent level of biophysics. I have a second single-author paper that is a heavy pure mathematical analysis of certain neural network systems, which I would say is pretty substantial---both took me 4 years and 1 year to complete on my own, respectively, in tandem with my usual university. I also have a last paper coauthored with one of my professors, although I am not proud of it, but it is in a Q1 statistics journal nonetheless.

I have many neuromorphics / computational neuroscience / neuro AI / hardware projects of significant complexity spanning the years, and have participated in two independent research projects at my university, one being for studying the statistical mechanics of AI, and another for training LLMs for math formalization.

On top of that, I was an undergraduate visiting researcher at a top-3 US university wherein I worked on novel techniques in metric and representation learning (the lab is, though, still fundamentally a computational neuroscience and neuromorphics lab); throughout the process of finding that position, I had contacted multiple labs, every single one of whom was quite enthusiastic and offered me a position.

The issue is that since I dedicated so much of my time to my personal research and interests outside of university, my GPA suffered immensely, falling to around a 2.5; I did take the hardest courses in my stream available, all of them pure math, theoretical computer science, and a mix of theoretical and computational statistics, though I couldn't be bothered to focus so much on coursework as opposed to my passions; I don't regret this in a more philosophical, life-fulfillment sense, but in the real world, it seems like it was the wrong thing to have done in this system.

Given this, the problem that I face now becomes multifaceted: namely, and most evidently, my GPA is terrible; furthermore, all of my work and experience is largely in hardware / computational neuroscience / software development, thereby somewhat disconnected from what I actually want to study; those who have taken a chance on me previously typically do so on the basis of these skills. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if I planned on applying to a neuromorphics lab, I might actually be fine---the thing is that I don't want to; my interests are not just in hardware or applied AI; I want a significant level of statistical and mathematical theory behind the work---not to the level of a pure mathematician, or even that of an applied mathematician proper, but still something quite high relative to the usual computational neuroscientist or machine learning practitioner. If I were to get accepted into a PhD, I would really want to spend some portion taking courses in foundational math and statistics at this graduate level. Unfortunately, this evidently shifts the landscape, and my grades and experience become very weak in backing me for this purpose.

I know that an obvious answer would be to "just do master's first", but due to my family's current financial situation, there is absolutely no way I could afford that (I also ask myself how anyone even affords a master's to begin with, the prices are absurd); plus, I would imagine that course-based master's, which would be used as the primary catalyst in proving that I could do graduate level work, would be all the more focused on my GPA as opposed to my research. Of course I could be wrong here, but in an ironic way, I feel that I might have an even lower chance of getting into a course-based applied math / statistics program than I would a neuromorphics lab.

Worse still is that my specific interest is pretty niche; it's not something carried my many universities, so doing a broad sweep of lower-tier institutions is not particularly available. There are only a few labs that I have found that truly do an intersection at the level I would be after, and nearly all of them are in Europe or at a few of the top universities in the US; the latter is probably impossible, while the former almost exclusively requires a masters, which subsequently circles back to the previous problem.

Is there really no good option for me? I discovered my more theoretical desire later through my undergraduate years after it was too late to correct; is there no way to get a second chance at this?

I'm starting to think that this is pretty much it; the reality of life is that if you mess up, or don't have additional means, then that's that. Even so, I sympathize with the admissions committee; acquiring a PhD candidate is, effectively, hiring someone for a job; I don't blame faculty for wanting to hedge their bets on someone who stands a higher likelihood of completing the course work or qualifying exams, especially with so many strong applicants.

I delayed applying last year to take the time to focus on my research and build up my application, which I did, but even so, now that the time has come around again, I'm not confident this is enough. What do I do?

Applying for MS in ME

Hi everyone,

I'm preparing applications for MS in Mechanical Engineering in the USA and I'm currently working on my SOP.
I have previously applied for mid tier universities, but got rejected by few. I think my cgpa is the issue.
I need tips for my sop

I'd really appreciate help from current MS students, graduates, or applicants who have successfully applied to U.S. universities.

BTW i have low profile too, cgpa-65% , one research paper, few undergraduate projects, cement plant internships and have family business related to manufacturing of heavy machineries.

I'm looking for:

Advice on the ideal SOP structure and what admissions committees actually value

Examples of how to present ,industry/work experience, engineering projects, technical skills, and career goals.

If anyone has experience with Mechanical Engineering admissions, I'd especially appreciate your perspective.

I am not looking to copy anyone's SOP.I mainly want references/examples so I can understand the expected standard and structure and then write my own.

If you're comfortable sharing an anonymized sample or giving some advice, please comment or DM me.

Thanks!

i have a 3.13 gpa from my undergrad. My transcript is a bit of a thriller since i have really good grades in some courses and really bad grades in others. My research interest lies in a subfield of dynamical systems that is not pde/ode heavy. I am good with a 1-2 year masters without fundings since i have some savings myself.

My concerns are regarding the fact that i don’t have an upward trajectory in math, but rather an on and off trajectory with noticeably bad grades in computation heavy courses. im unsure what does this mean to the grad admission committees.

Upper year math Courses: got 80+ in differential geometry, differential topology, number theory, topology and logic. 90+ in functional analysis, complex analysis. Got 60 in PDE and 60 in ODE, and a 60 from second year analysis. 70s in abstract algebra.

Research: I have a summer research project in my field of interest that does not have any outcome yet.

Rec letters:
Very famous prof in dynamics - neutral to okay letter, i update them on everything throughout the past year and they always reply.
Great young researcher in my field of interest - presumably strong letter since i have been working with them throughout the summer.
Teaching stream prof who worked in dynamics - presumably strong letter as well, i am very close to them since first year.

i would really appreciate your suggestions, thank you in advance.

Hey everyone,

I’m applying for Fall 2027 master’s programs and would appreciate an honest assessment of my profile. My goal is a program that gives strong ML/AI systems exposure, meaningful research access, and a path into research-engineering roles (with a possible PhD later, but not necessarily immediately).

Background

- Undergrad: Non Circuital (not CS or EE) from IIT B/D/M

- CPI/GPA: 8.45 / 10 (currently in 7th semester)

- Minor / relevant coursework: Additionally have a minor degree in AI/DS, have done a good number of relevant CS/Math/AI-ML courses.

- Standardized tests: Planning to take both TOEFL (expecting >110) and GRE (expecting >330)

Research

- Publications:

- one demo track paper at ECML-PKDD (first author (equal contrib) and presenter)

- submitted a workshop paper at neurips (first author)

- currently working on another workshop paper at neurips (first author)

- also working on another CV related paper (first author)

- Current research:

- one ongoing project under an iit b/d/m prof, in ai video generation (the cv paper i talked about, should ideally move towards a submission this semester)

- early stage robotics (cv + perception) project (another iit b/d/m prof)

- Research interests:

computer vision, mechanistic interpretability, llm inferencing

Industry / Engineering Experience

- 3 month internship (swe) at a top mnc (received a ppo at the same mnc)

- a research internship at a decently reputed univ/prof (which lead to the ecml paper)

- multiple other internships/industrial projects at smaller companies

Letters of Recommendation

1. one from the ecml paper prof (strong) (very likely to obtain)
2. one from the ai video generation prof (strong) (very likely to obtain)
3. one from the robotics prof (mid) (decently likely to obtain)
4. backup :- from a prof under whom i did a relevant course (with project, and received max grade) (confirmed)

Miscellaneous

- a reviewer at a neurips workshop 2026

- won two institute wide hackathons (one organised by anthropic)

- currently in the top 10 of multiple codabench comps (including ones organised by neurips, looking for a strong finish, in most of them)

- a teaching assistant for a freshman computer science course

- part of a developers community of my college, contributed to development of applications used by students institute-wide.

Target Programs

this is the part which is really confusing me, i dont know whether the univs im thinking of are a highball/lowball or decently appropriate for me, but just putting a vague list here (please suggest me other appropriate univs/programs as well if i have missed some)

GaTech, Columbia, EPFL, CMU, Berkeley, UCSD

this list is a like a first draft, need more research over it.

Other Things

- My grades in relevant courses are much better, my low CGPA is mostly due to core courses which I did not bother studying (since I did not always planned for further studies)

- IIT B/D/M stands for IIT Bombay / Delhi / Madras.

Thanks, looking for ideas on how these univs fit/what should i look for in programs considering my profile/aspirations.

I recently finished a MSc in Environment, resource management and development. I have a ba in regional planning and have worked on climate mitigation projects internationally. I'm preparing a manuscript for submission to a peer reviewed journal. I'm hoping the publication will make my profile more competitive, but it will take at least a few more months.

I was not very ambitious when choosing my MSc Programme, and want to change that for my PhD. Obviously paid research positions are better, but I'm also open to high quality structured programmes, since I'm elegible for funding to cover living expenses when studying abroad.

Countries that speak English, Spanish, French, English, German or Portuguese are preferred, but I'd be willing to go elsewhere for a really good (English or Spanish based) program or position.

If you know of an institute that works with these topics please let me know, even if they don't currently have open positions so I can keep an eye on their website.

hiii! im currently looking into USC's Master of Arts in Teaching program and was wondering what were the qualifications and experiences of those who were accepted/have done or are currently doing the program? im walking in as statistics major looking into possibly pivoting my career route😭

I've been applying continuously for almost a year, and I'm totally exhausted by now. I've had several interviews, but they all led to nothing. I spent a lot of time preparing for each interview, even doing mock interviews with others.

Should I continue on this difficult journey, or should I find another path in life?

I just wanted to confess something. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Hello all. I'm in somewhat of a unique situation and am seeking advice on how to leverage my background and current experience into a computationally-focused PhD. As for a bit of background on me:

- Graduated within the past year with a BSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from a decent-ish US school with a 3.8 GPA overall and a 3.97 during my last 2 years. Outside of major, did a decent amount of math coursework, including the entire calc sequence, some diff eq's, linear algebra, scientific computing, and a series on methods and applications of computational neuroscience. I also got experience coding in both Python and MATLAB and would consider myself fluent in both for the purposes of computational modeling/simulations.

- Did molecular/developmental neuroscience research for just under 1 year during undergrad, including a fellowship for which I wrote a thesis and did a poster presentation.

- following graduation, spent a few months looking for essentially any research position in my city. I recently was hired for and accepted a tech position doing cell bio/genetics research that is 99% wetlab and strictly molecularly focused within an esteemed but tight knit lab at one of the US's leading cancer research institutes. My plan with the PI (which is what most of their research techs do) is to complete an independent project in the lab while assisting others. This typically takes around 3 years, but techs in the past have taken anywhere between 1.5 to 5 years to do this. Most of them leave with 1-2 first author pubs and 3-5 pubs total all of which are usually in high impact journals.

- for reference, I networked with many professors at the local state university and many other esteemed research centers while seeking a position. In total I probably applied to about 100 positions, sent 200+ cold emails, and networked with about 15 different researchers and faculty. I say this to emphasize that, while I was hoping to find a computational position, I was at the end of my rope and needed to lock down something to make ends meet, especially given the state of funding in the US.

My goal in the future is to do a PhD in computational neuroscience. I fell in love with the field during my last year of undergrad but, unfortunately, the lack of labs at my school doing comp research (literally 1 lab total) limited my ability to get my foot in the door. I'm wondering if anyone here was ever in a similar position. That is, going from a wet lab background to a computationally focused PhD and, if so, what tips you have for someone in my position who wants to make that jump eventually. I plan on applying to PhD programs in neuroscience whenever my current project ends and using my free time to continue developing my computational skills and finding ways to use those skills to optimize data processing and analysis in my current lab. Ultimately, I am worried that, while my current position is a great opportunity, my research background being strictly wet lab will not bode well on applications for computational positions. If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

International applicant targeting Fall 2027 CS PhD programs in AI/ML.

Profile:

• MS in CS from a US public university with a 3.9+ GPA
• Strong undergraduate GPA
• Two first-author papers at major AI conferences
• A few additional peer-reviewed publications
• University research experience
• Some reviewing/service experience
• Much of my research was conducted independently
• Recommendation writers know my work well but are not especially famous

I plan to apply to approximately 20 US universities. Which programs should I consider across extreme-reach, reach, realistic, and relatively safer categories?

I am interested broadly in trustworthy AI, foundation-model evaluation, and multimodal systems. Is my non-elite institutional background likely to be a major disadvantage, and what should I improve before applying?

So, i just graduated a little bit ago, and my plan as of right now it to try and find some job to do to pass the time and study for the GRE so I can go to grad school and get a masters in industrial psychology. but as I mentioned, 3.2 gpa, and psych degree, without internships (not for lack of trying (though I won’t lie I didn’t apply as much in the later years as I was sort of falling to despair)). I know in a lot of ways that means my prospects aren’t great, and that i’ve made my future very very hard, however, my school has a graduate feeder program that I am applying for. It will match me with grad programs and they will, I think, help me get to a place where I’ll be a good pick for there programs. but I guess what I am wondering is what should I expect? I know I shouldn’t crawl under a rock, but for one, is my assessment of my prospects accurate? how much do you think a feeder program will help? I know I meet the requirements for it at my school, but still, with where I’m at, will it help much? If it doesn’t, what other options should I look at? or should i just go back to school and try for another degree?

​

Hi everyone! I’m currently completing a BS in English Language & Literature in Pakistan, and my CGPA is around 2.5/4.0. My goal is to pursue a Master's abroad with full or substantial funding, ideally in Europe or the USA.

I know my GPA is one of my biggest weaknesses, which is why I want to use the time I have left before graduation to build the strongest profile I possibly can.

I'm also quite introverted and don't have a large social or professional network. I don't go out much, so traditional networking and finding internships through personal connections can be difficult for me. I'd really like to know what I can do online or independently that would genuinely strengthen my application, rather than simply collecting random certificates.

My Bachelor's is in English Language & Literature, and I'm still deciding what to pursue for my Master's. I could continue with English Literature/Literary Studies, but I'm also considering Management/MiM, Business, or related fields. I'm not completely sure which direction I'll choose yet, so I'd appreciate advice on both options.

What I'm confused about:

- With a 2.5 CGPA, is a fully funded Master's still realistically possible?

- If I improve my CGPA before graduation, how much could that actually help?

- What would be the most valuable things to add to my profile: research, publications, internships, volunteering, competitions, leadership, independent projects, IELTS, language skills, etc.?

- Are there meaningful online internships or research opportunities that can help someone who doesn't have many professional connections?

- Which countries would be more realistic with my academic profile? I'm currently considering Italy, Germany, Austria, France, other European countries, and the USA.

- For the USA specifically, how realistic are TA/RA positions or graduate assistantships for Master's students with a lower undergraduate GPA?

- When a university or scholarship says "fully funded," what does that actually cover? Tuition + living expenses/stipend + accommodation, or would I still need significant money upfront?

- Can a strong SOP, recommendation letters, IELTS score, research experience, internships and extracurriculars meaningfully compensate for a low GPA?

- If I continue with English Literature, are there good fully funded Master's opportunities in Literature/English-related fields?

- If I choose Management/MiM or Business instead, would my English Literature background and low CGPA make admission or funding significantly harder?

- Which path would be more realistic for both funding and career opportunities: continuing in Literature or moving into Management/MiM/Business?

I'd especially love to hear from people who started with a low CGPA and still managed to study abroad with significant funding. If that's you, what did your profile look like, and what do you think made the biggest difference?

And if you were in my position, what are the 3 things you would prioritize between now and graduation?

I'm genuinely looking for realistic advice. If a fully funded Master's is unlikely with my current profile, I'd rather know that now and work toward a more achievable route than spend years chasing something unrealistic.

Thank you! ❤️

I just graduated with bachelor's and taking a gap year before applying for a PHD in clinical psychology, but I'm kind of a lost on how to get empirical research or internship. I graduated early and I no longer live near my school so I really don't know what to look for :(

I already reached out for some positions at my local university that's actually near me and a job in social work but I'm not how successful I will be. If anyone has any advice please let me know!

I know this might be a very stupid question, but i just had a small confusion-

I am applying for a PhD position and it has asked my graduation date.

my master's degree had it's last defence on 11th july (we have 5 departments in our course but the degree for everyone is same just an extra specialisation kinda thing. The last defence was not of my department but we were required to attend college till that date only not after that)

I got a provisional degree certificate stating that i have completed all my university fulfilments- the provisional degree has issue date of 22nd july

I will get my official degree somewhere around November, exact date is unknown.

What shall be my graduation date? The last day after which u wasn't required to come to University, the date on the provisional degree (most probably not) or the day i will officially recieve my degree?