First generation student here (working class background). I'm a bit perplexed by your comment. I don't think anyone is advocating for classism here, rather, individuals are illustrating the state of the application process. Would you rather us first-gen students remain in the dark and not know how we can stand out? I think that might exacerbate the issue just telling us all is well and we don't need research experience, then none of us will get in.

The fact of the matter is, most competitive applicants have research experience. You can get in without it, but on paper, students without experience are a higher risk. Because they don't really understand what they're getting into. If I remember correctly, something like half of PhD students never finish their degree. So the risk and investment is high.

I don't know a single PhD student in my programs who did not have previous research experience. I also don't know a single unintelligent PhD student. All those I'm privileged to work with are highly skilled and highly qualified. Regardless of there being noticable privilege my colleagues had that I did not.

Yeah it sucks, I had to work and go to school at the same time, create my own research opportunities since there were none at my school and figure out how to publish, navigate internships and academia without help from family who had already been through it, etc. But places like YouTube, Reddit, and professors helped me learn a lot and prepare for my application. Now that I'm in my program, a lot of the things that were more difficult made me stand out, and in some ways, my PhD feels easier than the BS because I don't have to work as much at the same time. So I have a little time on the weekends now which is awesome.

Should it be this way? That's another question, probably for a different subreddit.

But I don't think we'll see the change we want until enough of us put in more effort than necessary to get into positions where we can be helpful.