Narwhallaby

Writing my SoP right now and a simple question came up: if you have worked with different species (in evo or evo/devo), do you mention Latin species names (or even English names) or not? Curious what others think/do!

I think I would only address it if it had a big effect on your overall GPA. I had something similar and I didn't address it because my grades did show a nice upward trend (apart from spring 2020 when life was a mess for me because of studying abroad and Covid, but they could deduce that from my transcript/CV) and my overall GPA was still pretty good. If you are worried, you can mention the upward trend of your grades, and/or turn it into a narrative about how that time played a role in how you got to where you are now

Hi! I am a European MSc student trying to get more relevant research experience in preparation of my PhD apps next year, and I now find myself writing a cover letter for a US internship postition. I need to answer the following question, and I am not sure how to go about it: How do you hope to use your upbringing, background and/or life experiences to enhance your internship experience. Should I focus on how my background helped me develop the academic/informal skills to succeed in an internship? Is this more of a specific diversity/overcoming challenges-focused question? Should I be talking about personal difficulties? Should I focus on my extracurriculars/outreach activities? In the European applications I have encountered so far the focus was very strongly on purely academic qualifications, so I am worried I might be blind to some cultural clue about how to answer this question. Any tips about what I might be expected to focus on in my answer to this question would be very much appreciated!

I don't think I'm qualified to comment on your profile, except to say you might want to slightly rephrase that for your SoP ?

Hey everyone! I think I will decline the scholarship if I get it. It would be an extremely tough decision, but I have another opportunity in a different country that I've come to realise feels like a much better fit for me, despite the possible financial advantage of pursuing my studies in Germany. Maybe this is an unusual question, but has anyone read anything about how to decline the scholarship? Or seen where on the portal I could do that? Best of luck to everyone!

No news here either. The Dutch grant office just let me know that they're reaching out to DAAD to check if there is any progress though.

Congratulations!!! From what I've heard, you can wait with the next steps as you'll receive an email with directions within a few days. Application to unis is a separate process, so you can already get going with that. Good luck!

I've reached out to a few current students on LinkedIn and already one is willing to have a video call to answer my questions, so that seems to work in case others have the same issue . I feel like it's very uncommon to reach out to professors for advice on this in my university/country, but maybe I'll try that as well. Thank you for the advice!

I don't have an answer but the answer to your second question probably depends on the deadline awarded candidates have for accepting/declining the scholarship. Maybe someone who has received an award letter can tell you the deadline they've been given. I hope you get it!

Hi! Today it's 5 months since I handed in my application ? Good luck to those who are still waiting like me! Has anyone from the Netherlands (or nearby) heard anything yet?

I'm European and have been admitted to three master programs at good/great universities in other continental european countries. I have to make my decision soon and I feel like I have a good picture of the fit of the programmes and their faculty to my research interests,of student life in these places, and of the overall reputation of the university. However, as a foreign student and someone with no substantial network within my field yet, I have a very hard time assessing how these universities are known in my field and what their strengths and weaknesses are in it. Sorry if this is a basic question, but how did/do you assess this when you can't ask people with more experience? This feels like the missing piece in my decision puzzle, but is also of general interest to me. Any advice/experiences would be appreciated.

I contacted my local office (NL) and they expect to receive results within two weeks (Master studies all disciplines)

No news for me yet (All Disciplines from the Netherlands)

Paper copies received means (as far as I know) that they have received all the necessary documentation from you (online or by mail). The changed funding end date apparently is a good sign, implying that you will receive funding (not necessarily only for the first year but funding is confirmed yearly). I only know the second part from what others here have said so take it with several grains of salt.

Hi Lilolello! I'm quite sure applicants from the Netherlands for the all disciplines master scholarship don't have to do an interview as I did not receive an invitation for an interview either. This thread can get a bit confusing because it concerns scholarships for masters and PhD in various disciplines and DAAD regions, which all have different procedures. No need to worry yet, and best of luck!