My PhD Journey So Far

The course curriculum is difficult especially because in the first year you need to take coursework, do laboratory rotations, prepare presentations for the rotations as well as it would be your first year of teaching assistantship so it might feel very overwhelming initially.

The course curriculum is theoretical but we have 3 laboratory rotations in different biology labs.
 

I applied to 4 colleges and was accepted in 3.
• Some of the colleges that I received confirmed admission from includes Texas A&M University and University of Adelaide.
• The colleges I received a rejection from includes University of Pennsylvania.
• One of the things I believe is that there is a cap of international students in a lot of degree programs and one needs to have a very strong profile including one or two publications to make it to that very competitive 30% niche (2-3 students) of probably 8-10 total intake.

 I chose this particular college over the others primarily because the department had faculties spanning a range of topics and there were faculties with overlapping interests. Another factor that influenced my decision was the fact that the stipend we were getting was decent compared to the low cost of living in College Station which is budget friendly and also relatively safe.

I applied for the Fall 2024 intake and like I mentioned before some factors that influenced my decision were matching research interest with the department faculties, placement records, location and cost of living.

The admission process runs for a year starting the previous fall and the timeline is similar to the MSc applications. It starts with you preparing for your required exams such as IELTS or TOEFL, writing SOP and CV after university shortlisting is done, recommendation letters meanwhile would send in recommendation letters and if selected one is called for interview rounds (can be more than 1).
 

There are about 2 classes that are typically scheduled in a day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

The average number of students is 18 and in my course, there are 3 Indian students including me.

There are many campuses for Texas A&M University. I am currently at the main campus in College Station but there are other campuses in Galveston, Qatar, McAllen, School of Law, Washington DC, Texas A&M Heath, etc.

All kinds of facilities starting from the library to a dedicated sports facility called Rec Sports Center and many medical services such as AP Beutel Centre are available for students.

Some of the major campus festivals, clubs or popular events include Texas A&M Aggies Football matches, Aggie Park events, etc.
 

TA is secured by all accepted PhD students who can either continue to be on TAship or can also switch to RAship depending on the funding situation.

The pay scale is around 30,000 USD.

The maximum hours of work allowed per week for international students is 20.

It can be comparatively difficult to secure on-campus part-time jobs because a lot of students apply for the positions long back and try talking to hiring managers to make the process smoother.

I am not very sure about the part-time jobs concept here since I have not done one yet however from what I have heard the minimum pay needs to be fulfilled at all conditions. If one wants to apply they should talk to their department and start applying for positions on different trusted websites.

One can search for job openings, sometimes they may need reference letters and then write to the HR to skip the line especially when they get a lot of CVs for a particular position.
 

According to a few circumstances that I have heard of, it can vary a lot between personal situations and department-wise however the Aggie network is very strong so securing employment in different sectors is doable.

Students should either apply to the company website directly or go to the job search platform for Texas A&M University.

I am currently a student at the University so my batchmates have not been placed yet but they do occasionally participate in career fairs and events to boost their profile.
 

I found my accommodation through a Google search. The monthly rent is around 660 USD plus utilities which make it up to 742 USD on average.

The facilities are for a 2B2 where I have my own room and bathroom but the kitchen and drawing room are shared with another individual.

I would suggest asking previous tenants about how their experience has been in an apartment instead of just going for it since a lot of times the Google reviews are not right.

My accommodation is about 20 minutes from my college campus by bus. Most Indian students stay near the campus for about 30 minutes.