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US universities curtail PhD admissions amid Trump science funding cuts

Nature talks to prospective students left in limbo as some institutes withdraw offers and put applications on hold.
By
  1. Dan Garisto
A person studies with books in a near empty Fisher Fine Arts Library at the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.

The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (library shown here) has rescinded informal admissions offers to new PhD students owing to uncertainty around federal funding. Credit: Jim Feng/Getty

Some universities across the United States are reducing or halting their PhD admissions because of federal-funding uncertainties stemming from actions taken by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Few universities have released public statements about their strategies, so prospective graduate students have remained mostly in the dark about which institutions are cutting back. Nature spoke to several young scientists caught up in the confusion. Some have received e-mails from universities indicating that they would have been accepted if not for funding uncertainties; others have been told that programmes are completely paused.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00608-z

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