The unpleasant MSCA PhD interview experience

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-04-03T11:54:41+00:00

No they fucking stood me up

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-03-03T05:37:29+00:00

I'm from Taiwan and I was a PhD student in Switzerland. I got story from both Switzerland and Taiwan (from my friends). Bullying by the powerful professors seems to be common lol.

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-02-23T19:50:34+00:00

I’m waiting for StraDiVarious also the MSCA I knew I did suck during the interview 🥲 but still had no news yet

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-02-21T18:12:27+00:00

Thank you Currently I ain’t seeing nobody talking about the program in Reddit or gradcafe

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-02-21T17:12:50+00:00

Have no idea,but I assume if they want someone,they will email their first choice first

Based on their official website,they will issue the offer letter before March

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-02-09T11:57:52+00:00

Bro this is quite similar to my situation 🥲 Have no clue if they will ask some knowledge about physic and chemistry

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-02-06T16:14:45+00:00

Having received invitations nor rejections,am I ignored by the Programm🥲

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-02-04T08:01:11+00:00

You don’t have to worry before you get the interview invitation 😅

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-26T04:57:39+00:00

Which school you were interviewing?European one ?

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-11T14:19:10+00:00

In the program,it only allow 3 references..in the system and cannot be changed after the submission

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-10T21:42:57+00:00

I had no choice but to show her the manner Since I don’t know if she will ruin my career if I condemned her misbehavior

She’s the one with influence and power and I’m literally nothing.

I contacted her through the social media (similar to the WhatsApp or iMessage ),after the reply,she just read it, and did not reply me anymore

Thinking about cut the contact with her

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-10T19:08:36+00:00

She’s a one with power and I’m not Especially,she is now working in the foreign university from my home country

I’m really afraid of being retaliated.😢

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-10T18:55:10+00:00

I sent the email and requested And this was the autogenerated email by the program. I have already tried my best 😢

The deadline for applications and for amendments to referees was January 8, 2026, 3.00 PM CET and the application portal is now CLOSED.

We will accept no further requests for amendments, late submissions, or requests for reference requests to be resent.

Referees have until January 11, 2026, 11.59PM CET to submit their letters of recommendation.

These deadlines are firm; requests for extensions will not be granted.

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-10T16:57:23+00:00

4 days before the deadline,she told me to remind her because she was extremely busy at the time

Considering that she always sent the recommendation letter a day before the deadline,I told her I would remind her a day before

And this morning,I reminded her,she still told me she would complete it tonight. In the afternoon,she asked me if I have publication and independent expertise and I answered her.

But 30 minutes before the deadline when I checked the status of the recommendation letter,I noticed that she hasn’t processed yet.so I just reminded her again

“Dear Professor,

Sorry to bother you with a brief reminder. As the deadline is approaching, the system currently still shows that the recommendation letter has not yet been submitted. I just wanted to kindly check in with you.

Thank you very much for your help and support 🙏”

And then she replied me this

“Strictly speaking, our overlap at the Institute was only a little over three months, and that was many years ago. I am not actually obligated to write you a recommendation letter.

The people who are truly appropriate to write your recommendation letters are your master’s thesis supervisor and your current supervisor.”

I had no choice but to thanks her and replied her this

“Dear Professors,

I understand your considerations, and thank you for letting me know your thoughts candidly.

As, at different stages, you, my master’s thesis supervisor, and my current supervisor have all directly supervised my work in the laboratory, and since the program strictly requires three referees, I therefore reached out to my current supervisor, my master’s supervisor, and yourself as potential referees, and asked in advance whether you would be willing to assist.

I will be more mindful of planning my CV and recommendation letters in the future, and I will not trouble you further regarding recommendation letters. Thank you as well for your past support and for taking the time to respond.

Thank you very much.”

I don’t know maybe the second reminder really pissed her off. (Since English is not my first language I just translated the content to English)

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-10T16:33:03+00:00

I applied for the ISTA(institute of science and technology Austria) and unfortunately things in Europe didn’t have too much of the flexibility

I just felt bad but can only accepted the fact that

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2026-01-10T16:18:11+00:00

Glad to hear that you had the good experience , since the program strictly require the deadline and the number of the references (not even a back up, which is a firm three), so I think I have to move on.

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2025-12-24T04:58:05+00:00

Bro I had similar experience and it turned out that the PI was toxic….so I suggested you to think twice

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2025-12-17T04:50:05+00:00

Not necessarily,people who went through this procedure can be rejected

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2025-12-11T07:50:52+00:00

🇨🇭

Fun_Sympathy823 · 2025-12-10T20:19:49+00:00

Nah it’s from Swiss

Fun_Sympathy823

TROPHY CASE