IntoGrad

At IntoGrad, we pride ourselves on our commitment to diversity. The IntoGrad community stands in solidarity with all those affected by the escalating conflict in Ukraine, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or nationality. We will continue to show our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine and their fight to defend Ukrainian sovereignty. We also urge those of us in the academic community to do whatever we can to help those in need as the crisis continues to unfold — an effective way to do so is to support one of the many ongoing Ukrainian relief and humanitarian efforts, for example, the UN crisis relief (https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/ukraine)!

Over the last month-or-so, academic staff across the UK’s universities have been taking strike action against their employers. Organised by the University and College Union (UCU), this action is intended to combat what the union’s members deem to be continually low rates of pay for academic staff and a pension valuation that seeks to deprive academics of 35% of their retirement income.

Having been reignited after a series of strikes in 2018, this most recent round of action has impacted universities across the UK, with staff members ‘downing tools’ to form picket lines around their places of work. Over the course of three weeks, the levels of striking increased in its severity as part of a calculated move to ramp-up the pressure on universities across the UK and yield the results the union members demand. Though this official strike action ended on 2/3/22, staff members across the nation continue to stand vigil outside their places of employment to express their discontent with low pay and far too much work.

An aspect of this strike action that many are quick to point out is the way in which it might negatively impact the education of paying students at the university. Missing three weeks (or more) of teaching can be catastrophic to a student’s progress in their degree, and many are worried that the students themselves could bear unfair negative consequences if action continues.

What do you think of the strike action? Is the cause just, or is the potential damage to education too much to risk?

ARTICLE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59415694

With the first month of 2022 coming to an end, now is the perfect time to reflect on why our staff and mentors work to offer a free, bespoke mentoring service to postgraduate applicants across the world. At our core, we do what we do altruistically, because we believe that all people should be granted a fair shot at achieving the educational privileges we have all been lucky enough to receive.

As well as being a registered charity, IntoGrad is staffed on an entirely pro bono basis, wherein our staff, mentors, and even executives donate their time and energy simply because ours is a cause that they truly believe in. By giving up our time for IntoGrad, we all hope that it can be used to tip the scales of accessibility back in favour of those from circumstances that might normally see them being excluded from postgrad education, and we are always seeking to expand our team with people who are similarly inclined.

If you share our altruistic drive to lend your expertise to those who are seeking out the educational best opportunities, you can look into become an IntoGrad mentor at the following link: https://www.intograd.org/be-a-mentor

Alternatively, if you would like to explore the possibilities offered by our free mentoring service, and contribute to the growth improvement of our services through your feedback, feel free to explore our mentorship scheme at:
https://www.intograd.org/find-a-mentor

The Max-Planck Institutes are a group of 86 research institutions organised by The Max-Planck Society that make up one of the most well-known and influential research networks for science, technology and engineering in the world. Boasting over 22 Nobel laureates in the course of their rich history, and being responsible for the publication of 15,000 high-impact research papers a year, these institutions are synonymous with academic prestige and would make a great target for any scientist’s postgraduate studies or beyond.

As the birth rates of European nations decline, and the population continues to age, the Max-Planck Institutes make it their business to nurture young talent in order that the fields of STEM research do not run out of steam in the years to come. In recent decades, the Max-Planck Society has made it their business to ensure that a balanced number of these talented students are women, ensuring that future generations of scientists will not have to suffer the same inequality of representation in their fields as many do today. With links to institutions in every corner of the world, the Max-Planck’s reach, and therefore their ability to achieve these goals, is great, meaning that no other network of institutions can ‘put their money where their mouth is’ quite like these 86 star-studded universities.

If you would like to find out more about the Max-Planck Institutes yourself, feel free to visit: https://www.mpg.de

If you are interested in working within the Max Planck institute, and would like to seek guidance from mentors with first-hand experience of applying to or studying at its constituent universities, explore our mentoring service at: https://www.intograd.org/find-a-mentor

With university students having returned from their Christmas vacations last week, government officials and experts in the statistics of disease have warned of major outbreaks of the Omicron variant on university campuses in the near future.

If you have ever interacted with university students, you will likely have heard of a phenomenon known as ‘Fresher’s Flu’, a large spike in cases of infectious disease that occurs after students return to their university city from all over the world, bringing a host of pathogens with them. This same phenomenon, it is expected, may well happen at the end of January, if the cross-exposure of individual students to SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as the present Omicron and Delta variants, leads to a spike in COVID cases among university age students after the virus’ incubation period.

Furthermore, this spike in cases will likely be exacerbated by the fact that thousands of UK university students are not yet eligible for their booster vaccine given how recently most 18-21 year-olds received their second dose. This means that the relative immunity of the average undergraduate student will likely be lower than those between the ages of 22-30, leading to a more vulnerable student population.

To read more about the predicted spike in Omicron cases in UK universities and the impacts it is expected to have on teaching, please visit: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/major-outbreaks-omicron-likely-uk-campuses-warn-experts.

“New Year, New Me!” cry the hashtags of the virtual world as the Sun rises on 1/1/22, but any adult knows that resolutions don’t always stick and, as the calendar turns to the second week of January, what was once a refreshing chance for a clean slate turns into a stressful horizon of work-related possibilities.

Whether you’re currently a student or you are working to become one, this time of year often brings great stress, but there are some common ways to tackle the mounting pressure of a Brand New Year:

Diaries: The world of productive procrastination is a great and powerful tool for an up-and-coming postgraduate student, and no procrastination from your daily tasks is quite as productive as organising your future weeks in a diary or personal planner. By laying out the upcoming weeks and months, and filling their diary spaces with important dates, you can help yourself to immediately feel more on top of your upcoming events and deadlines.

Don’t take on too much!: At the beginning of a new year, when people have recently been liberated from their end-of-year deadlines, many leap far too quickly into new projects. This, however, tends to land people in a spot of bother in the first quarter of the year, leading to them having to let down colleagues or employers when they are inevitably forced to give up some of the projects they were so sure they had time to complete. Do yourself a favour and take it easy at the beginning of a year to maximise your chances of keeping your head above the water!

Resolutions: Rather than giving yourself a specific New Year’s Resolution that might relate to your career or academic aspirations, instead try to give your year a one-word theme such as ‘Completion’ or ‘Balance’. By avoiding specific, hard-to-achieve resolutions that you might fail within the first few weeks of January, you allow yourself to grow across a New Year without bullying yourself or feeling guilty for failing at a self-imposed task.

If you want to access free, bespoke tutoring for postgraduate application season, feel free to explore out mentor service at: https://www.intograd.org/find-a-mentor

Through our free, bespoke mentoring scheme, we want to give postgrad applicants the inside knowledge necessary to succeed in a highly competitive environment.

Alongside, and often due to, the social and financial inequalities rife in modern societies, in an inequality of l access to the information and resources that might enable that someone to make the most of their postgraduate applications. At IntoGrad, we make it our mission to redress this access inequality at no cost to the applicant, and thereby help to ensure that the postgraduate world is filled with students who deserve to be there due to academic ability, not circumstances of their birth or social status.

If you would like to find an IntoGrad mentor today, feel free to find out about our free, bespoke application scheme at: https://www.intograd.org/find-a-mentor

With more and more mentee reviews coming through from our first round of mentor pairings, we wanted to share with you the feedback we received from people who have used our mentoring service:

‘I got more insight into the specific lab that I am interested in…which was a great and informative experience! Thank you so much for your time…!’

At IntoGrad, we pride ourselves on providing free, bespoke mentoring to students who want access to the world’s best institutions. We are constantly looking into ways to improve our service, and getting direct feedback from mentees who have taken part in our program is invaluable to us.

If you would like to explore the possibilities offered by our free mentoring service, and contribute to the growth improvement of our services through your feedback, feel free to explore our mentorship scheme at: https://www.intograd.org/find-a-mentor!

To all our mentors, mentees and followers:

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! We hope 2022 will bring you amazing opportunities, great happiness and success in all your academic and personal endeavours!

‘Tis the season to be jolly - falalalalala... As the nights draw in, wine is mulled, and snow falls on those parts of the world yet to be ravaged by the effects of climate change, thoughts turn to spending time with family and friends, overeating, and generally trying to make the best of whatever COVID has thrown at us this year. These times of love and joy, however, also bring with them a sting of guilt for many who are involved in postgraduate education.

For the workaholics among us, time off is little more than an opportunity to worry about the fact that they should be doing work. What cannot be stressed enough, however, is exactly how important it is to take time to rest between heavy bouts of work. At the end of the year, those of us who work to deadlines have likely just leapt over a major hurdle in our work, making it vital to take whatever chances the world gives you to rest and recuperate.

This holiday season, we at IntoGrad highly recommend you take time to pause, rest and reflect on your successes over the last year, rather than continuing to force yourself to work when you may well be close to burnout. Have a drink, grab some food and put your feet up for a few days, and feel free to re-commence stressing out in the New Year with some genuine rest backing you up!

If you want to access free, bespoke tutoring for postgraduate application season, feel free to explore out mentor service at: https://www.intograd.org/find-a-mentor

Here's wishing everyone a very merry christmas and happy holidays!!

IntoGrad is a postgraduate mentoring initiative for undergraduates students looking to find the right postgraduate course for themselves.

Whether you’re thinking of applying to law, economics, biosciences or engineering, one thing is for certain: postgraduate applications are fraught with difficulties. The large variety of specialised postgraduate programmes which top universities offer can make it difficult for a university student to shortlist the courses best suited for them and their career. And to add on to that, concepts of funding and research work can confuse even the most well-informed applicant.

By joining as a mentee, you will receive one-on-one support and mentoring from an IntoGrad mentor who has gone through the application experience of the particular university (or programme) that you are interested in, and can offer their knowledge on how to apply successfully to that course / university.

More than that, you’ll be part of a postgraduate network that provides you with resources that you can use for your postgraduate applications, and in preparation for postgraduate life!

Sign up today at https://www.intograd.org/find-a-mentor!