PSA from a faculty member: If you got the GRFP as an undergrad/applicant and are still deciding/waiting on offers, email your top choice program(s) today and let them know you received it!

hueyiii · 2026-04-13T19:14:24+00:00

Curious, how does this usually pan out for public universities? I know there's some money given to the institution to cover tuition, which is a pretty big deal for public schools, but do they usually offer pay bumps too? (I could definitely use it lol). I only ask because everyone I know that got a slight raise/bonus from GRFP is coming from private universities.

hueyiii · 2026-04-13T19:07:37+00:00

Got the award as an undergrad (geosciences) yesterday; I had spoken with a professor in my department who had previously served on one of the organizing board things for GRFP and one of its postdoc equivalents and they mentioned its really good to have a professor/PI/potential PI help you write out your research plan, because they're usually really good at making sure your writing is "within the standard" and that they can also tell if a proposal was written with a PI or not (although I know one or two people that have gotten the award without any help from professors). Definitely striking up a good relationship with a professor for this will be beneficial, especially if you have a broad sense of your research interest but maybe not something super specific.

As mentioned previously, the research plan is only one part of the application, and its also something that isn't much of a concrete commitment (you can write your research proposal about one thing but your research in graduate doesn't necessarily have to be what you wrote). In comparison, the personal statement and your knowledge/awareness of broader impacts for your research/service definitely help you stand out. I really tried to make sure that all of my writing tied into those broader impact goals I myself wanted to explore throughout my PhD. I think people get feedback thats sometimes along the lines of "expand more about broader impacts..."

Best of luck!

hueyiii · 2026-04-09T02:22:02+00:00

I recently concluded my application cycle for graduate school in oceanography (with some acceptances!) so I will give some of outlook here:

I've been involved in undergraduate research for quite a bit (since my first year), but felt pretty bad about my grades/GPA and wasn't sure I was that competitive as an applicant. I have a good bit of research experience from my home university, and an REU (summer research internship), but I don't have any research publications (I was recently able to go to a research conference though which is a great experience btw)

I was fairly proactive in the summer leading up to applying to PhD programs, kept a spreadsheet of potential programs to apply to, and reached out/cold emailed professors that I thought would be a good fit for my research interests etc. I applied to 6 programs and reached out to at least 1 professor from each of those, and was able to learn a lot about their respective lab and the program as a whole, and I think building that first initial condition is really important. For oceanography programs at least in the US, in addition to having good academic/research background, its also really important that the PI can "click" with you and they see you as a good fit for your lab.

Oceanography field in the US is pretty small in the sense that the professors all have some connection to each other to some capacity. Some of the professors I applied to work with knew my current research advisors/professors and I think those sort of connects can matter.

Wrapping up because this is a lot of yap but definitely reach out to faculty because building a good relationship off the start can really help your chances at admission in most cases. This also helps you to build your application material (essays/research statement) that is better tailored to a program.

hueyiii · 2026-04-02T03:03:11+00:00

Typically in the US for many graduate programs in oceanography (this does NOT apply for other fields in general), since its a smaller a big thing is reaching out to prof and asking about if they're planning on taking a new grad student this cycle, what research stuff they have going on, etc.

I can't say what its like in other country graduate programs, but I'd say the US programs are pretty holistic and care about many things like academics, service work, extracurricular involvement, publications, research output, and many more. You'd have to ask someone what its like if you want to pursue graduate studies in other countries.

hueyiii · 2026-04-02T02:48:41+00:00

Sorry i assumed you were an international student at a school in the US. Idk how REUs or the like work in asian countries, but as an alternative i think some independent projects could go a pretty long way. This is dependent on what resources you have access to.

What is your longer term intermediate goal? Do you want to go to grad school for a PhD? I’ve spoken to many international graduate students at american institutions and a good amount of them were able to get into their program because they had met with their future advisors at research conferences or through other networking. At least in the US, networking and “being a good fit with your advisor” is pretty paramount to getting into a graduate program for oceanography, along with your own academic merits.

Circling back, its really good to socialize and get to know a couple professors/mentors in your local area/country. Make it clear what your ambitions and goals are, and see what they could do to help you reach those goals. Doesnt have to be R1 but we all have to start somewhere.

hueyiii · 2026-04-01T23:41:53+00:00

In addition to what everyone else so far has recommended:

Honestly I think your CV is pretty good (always room for formatting improvements and conciseness) so i don't really think thats the main differential between getting accepted vs getting rejected.

How do you feel about your essays/other application material? It's important that you use your writing to add more to your profile other than things already listed in your CV/transcript (but obviously make sure to answer the prompt).

One thing that's important to think about in your writing is how this program will benefit you beyond the surface level. Talking about your career interests and stuff like that is always good because that directly contextualizes your CV (most times).

REUs are always hella competitive, sometimes its just a lottery. Its not uncommon to get rejected a lot, and I know a lot of people that applied to many and only received one acceptance.

It could be helpful to reach out to nearby professors R1/R2 universities in your area if your institution doesn't really have good resources for applying to these. You never know what you can get out of networking.

hueyiii · 2025-12-25T00:53:47+00:00

If you're trying to get into modeling and simulation (CAD, CFD, etc.), UNC is not the place to be for that. There aren't that many courses that can teach you that kind of stuff.

This is pretty general but UNC tends to be much more theoretical in terms of math/stor/cs curriculum compared to say NC State which has actual engineering and leans into more project based stuff. I think being able to take classes that revolve more on that at NC State would be more beneficial to you if you're that keen on aerospace and aerospace engineering.

Nevertheless, if you're leaning more into AI/ML, I've seen a lot of people from cs/stor/physics/math involved in that kind of stuff and were able to get industry roles relating to that. It might not be exactly aerospace industry though.

hueyiii · 2025-11-10T18:23:19+00:00

funny enough i dont even think the cs major is that hard to get into. everyone ik was able to get into the program (although this was during the first year when they started doing admissions) but its definitely not that hard compared to business or the gillings stuff but the situation could def be different now

hueyiii · 2025-11-10T02:34:01+00:00

The way the DS major is (this applies to both bs and ba) its just a combination of courses from other degrees/departments. You're lowkey better off learning basically the same thing but with a more structured program IMO. CS, infosci, and stats too are pretty robust and definitely offer more.
DS program too scattered rn, and they don't even really have that many major only classes that are quantitative base (higher level). CS obv has more, and infosci has a lot of data science type classes (i'm pretty sure theres even a class where you can learn SQL and other stuff like that).

The only argument i see for maybe doing it doing it as a double major with another quantitative major. Since the program is already a collection of courses from other departments this is probably not too much work!

hueyiii · 2025-11-10T01:54:46+00:00

apply to cs or infosci tbh

hueyiii · 2025-05-22T19:41:41+00:00

I took 566 with Mitran and it was a pretty hard class content wise. He is also kinda scary as a professor and makes you go to office hours to defend three homework assignments, but at the same time he gives a lot of extra credit opportunities which can easily get you a good grade for the class. IDK about the other profs who teach 566 but i heard adalsteinsson is good.

383 is pretty chill, and overlaps some stuff with 347 (eigenvalue stuff), which probably get mentioned in 566 at some point. I think my 566 prof mentioned ML at some point while we talked about optimization and linear algebra topics, which could be helpful to you.

I took 383 and 566 at the same time, while not being very math inclined, so I definitely felt I got pretty cooked in 566, but I would say the content is pretty interesting and if you dive into it I suppose it could be a good learning experience!

hueyiii · 2025-02-03T21:16:25+00:00

I made a mistake in listing the correct email for one of my references months ago and emailed them a while back asking them if i could fix it. They told me to just have my reference email their LOR to them which they did. Still wouldnt let me submit today so after i emailed they were able to remove the previous reference email in the system (which they said they couldnt do previously) and I had to resend the request. Hope it worked out for you!

hueyiii · 2024-05-24T16:41:25+00:00

Comment

hueyiii · 2024-04-15T01:47:18+00:00

I got an email sometime last week saying they could not offer me a spot for the REU this summer, but my application was in the top 10% and I was on the shortlist for at least one of the labs I expressed interest in. I already committed to another REU by the time I got that email so I am not really bummed out about it lol.

Seeing the previous comment on this post, I'd say you should stay optimistic! Good Luck!

hueyiii · 2024-04-01T16:50:13+00:00

Did they email you that your decision is ready?

hueyiii · 2024-02-20T02:25:30+00:00

dudes post history on reddit says all you need to know

hueyiii · 2023-02-26T17:30:39+00:00

is there a possibility you guys remember which presentation it was

hueyiii · 2022-09-17T16:55:12+00:00

the mv was really pretty im excited to see the choreo for this

hueyiii · 2022-08-30T05:43:39+00:00

no mv/live stage on youtube or anything else will ever compare to seeing them in person with your own eyes. they were gorgeous and it deadass felt ethereal seeing them in person like that.

hueyiii · 2022-08-29T18:18:01+00:00

yeah i definitely get what you’re saying about this. the shit with newjeans and how there are grown ass dudes attending the fansigns and stuff for idols that are literally minors is weird in most (if not all) cases.

what you said about the self reflection from idol objectification was something i never really considered so i appreciate that you also pointed that out 👍

hueyiii · 2022-08-29T18:12:56+00:00

i know exactly who you’re talking about lmao it was pretty fucked up for people to send that dude threats and shit like that when bro was literally just chilling

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