A Definitive Guide to PhD Admissions

A PhD project can be considered one of the ‘milestone’ decisions in life and starting the PhD admissions process can be a daunting task. It is largely similar to buying an apartment or selecting a job you can’t change for the following 3-8 years and you must deal with the same boss for the entirety. Your cooperation will include following their orders, even if sometimes they do not look appealing or well-substantiated.

While most people would pay sufficient attention if they encountered this kind of employment decision, they rarely do the same for their PhD admissions. They consider the process similar to looking for a job in a market with excessive supply. Where your skill set is not very attractive to prospective employers, you have to apply for many positions and accept the first offer you receive. However, this vision doesn’t consider the bilateral nature of PhD admissions and the significance of creating a win-win collaboration scenario.

In this article, we will provide a definitive guide on how you can find your dream programme and apply for it.

Finding the Balance in Your PhD Applications

Before you apply for a certain programme, you need to undergo extensive preparation. This is necessary to increase the chances of receiving a positive response from your university or supervisor of choice. However, many prospective PhD students make several mistakes in this sphere. Here is a list of the most common ones.

1. Applying to one or two universities only.
2. Sending too many applications.
3. Using the same CV and essays.

Every successful admission process starts with finding a balance between an insufficient number of applications and an excessive number of applications. In the first scenario, students think that they should focus on their ‘dream university’ and put all their efforts into getting a ‘yes’. This strategy could work in an ideal world, where they were the only person interested in this outcome.

However, real universities may run out of PhD positions before your application, lack supervisors interested in your thesis topic or simply discard your application for any reason whatsoever. The world is highly unpredictable, which means that even the best possible plans can go to waste.

Targeting too many programmes is another problematic aspect that frequently overlaps with a generic approach to them. Let’s be honest, you cannot possibly develop more than 5-6 high-quality applications and manage their progress simultaneously. The accompanying papers such as essays or CVs frequently ask you to explain why you consider a certain university and/or programme the best choice. You need to refer to your past career experiences, personal and professional interests, your qualifications and skills, as well as, the unique qualities of this particular institution making it a perfect fit for your academic goals.

A generic approach to applications involving ‘copy and pasting’ some elements without paying much attention to university and programme characteristics simply does not work here. Sending more low-quality papers does not result in a higher number of ‘leads’. It simply increases your chances of failing at all of these attempts. Here is what you should do instead.

Develop a Plan for Successful PhD Admissions

The following plan can greatly increase your chances of a successful PhD admission. Try to follow it as closely as possible, and make sure not to skip any steps.

1. Find 10-15 Initial Options

To find 5-6 ‘actionable’ leads, you need to start with a larger number. Try to locate at least 10-15 possible PhD programmes that are compatible with your topic, skills, and overall research vision.

2. Research Potential Pitfalls

Before contacting your universities of choice, explore potential pitfalls related to these options. Is affordable accommodation available in the area? Do you have sufficient funding? Is there any negative online word-of-mouth related to these programmes/universities? Eliminate all doubts on your part before exploring the opportunities through direct communication.

3. Make Initial Contact

Next, send simple requests to their official emails asking whether specific PhD programmes had open positions left. In some cases, you will receive a negative answer right away and will have to remove some options from your list.

4. Select 5-6 Optimal Programmes

As soon as you have the final list of possibilities, reduce it to 5-6 items. This may be difficult but this step is necessary to really focus on the most lucrative offerings. Keep in mind the earlier found background information and the quality of your initial communication.

5. Prepare the Papers for your PhD Admissions

Finally, you need to ask what documents are required on your part to start the consideration of your application. You may have to send essays, letters of recommendation, and other papers that vary from university to university. At this phase, create 5-6 folders on your computer and store all documentation and correspondence in them to reduce the possibility of errors.

Discussing Your Ideas with the University

If your university of choice expresses interest in your application, they will ask you to provide your research proposal. These elements can single-handedly determine your success or failure in the admission process. Make sure that your research proposal is extremely well-defined and that its unique focus and academic novelty can be recognised by any practitioner.

While some PhD students already know the supervisor they are willing to work with, others may not possess this knowledge yet. In this case, the clarity of your definitions will determine whether you win the attention of the most suitable supervisor for your project or not. Try to also ensure that your PhD proposal topic fully conveys your aim, focus, and research methodology. This may be extremely challenging and may require multiple revisions or consulting reputable academic writing experts for consultation. However, a self-explanatory topic can provide killer results for your progress, which is why investing resources in its refinement may be well worth it in the future.

Explaining Your Motivation for Applying to the PhD Program

Another crucial element defining your admission success is the PhD essay / PhD personal statement. Depending on a particular institution, the format of such documents may vary. At the same time, their purpose remains the same.

You must explain why you have chosen this particular university to help your academic dreams come true and why you expect them to choose you over other applicants. This phase is largely similar to a job interview and should be treated with the same degree of commitment. Here are some basic guidelines for producing a fine essay or personal statement:

1. Be Focused

Start by highlighting the key milestones of your previous academic and career journey. Next, describe the key problems you encountered in your personal and professional advancement. Finally, highlight the key characteristics of the programme you are interested in that make it the optimal solution to the past barriers you discovered earlier.

2. Be Laconic

Most essays and personal statements do not exceed 700 words or 1-2 pages in length. The best way to produce a highly concentrated piece of writing is to start with a bullet point list. Compress all facts from the previous paragraph and build full sentences around it.

3. Be Personal

Even if you apply for several programmes within the same university, you must never consider the idea of sending the same essay or personal statement. Always produce a genuine and unique piece of work highlighting a different set of your personal interests and PhD programme characteristics.

4. Proofread

Few things are more devastating for the success of your PhD application than sending an essay or personal statement with grammatical and spelling errors. If you fail to produce a high-quality piece of 500-700 words, how can they trust you to write a thesis of 60,000 words? This is the aspect where using external editor services or consulting a professional academic writing agency may be well worth it to refine your text.

Proving Your Achievements

In addition to your proposal, most universities will expect you to send them your curriculum vitae and letters of recommendation. One of the most widespread mistakes made by PhD students is treating these documents as something extraneous and formal. Since the number of words you can spend on your essay or personal statement is extremely limited, these elements must be used to further explain the reasons for your interest in a certain programme. They must essentially form the same ‘story’ with other submission items to make the overall message stronger. To achieve this result, use the following approach:

1. Start with writing your essay or personal statement.
2. Think of the past experiences characterising you as a skilled researcher and an experienced practitioner in your field of interest.
3. Consider your employment history and identify the facts and events reflecting your professionalism and competence.
4. Write your CV with a focus on these particular elements.
5. Ask the persons providing letters of recommendation to focus on the areas selected earlier (e.g. ask them to write about your contribution to a particular project).

These additional documents will further explain why your university of choice should select you over other applicants and how your qualities will ensure the success of your project.

Attending PhD Admissions Interviews

If you succeed in getting shortlisted for admission to a certain university, you will be invited to an interview. This will usually allow you to meet some prospective supervisors and present your project to your future faculty.

The logic here is similar to a job interview. You have to meet the job requirements but you can also ask questions about your future salary and career expectations. A practical approach to PhD admissions is also similar to the purchase of a winter jacket. It is clearly getting cold and you need to buy one soon. However, this does not mean that you should select the one with the wrong size or pay through the nose for it. You probably have to visit multiple stores, compare their offerings, try on multiple jackets, and select the one that fits you best and has a reasonable price.

Saying ‘yes’ to the very first offer may not be recognised as a sign of your dedication. An employee agreeing to any conditions or a person buying the very first jacket at a store looks desperate rather than determined. Politely answer all questions, ask your own questions, and thank everyone for the time spent. Explain the need to spend some time considering their offerings. Next, visit at least the other interviews (applying to 5-6 programmes should usually lead to at least 2-3 invitations). Evaluate every offering, talk to multiple supervisors, and make an informed decision instead of a hasty one.

Keep in mind that you are making a choice determining the following 3-8 years of your life. You would not want to make the wrong one, would you?

Maintaining the Politesse

Every university understands that you may be applying for multiple PhD programmes simultaneously. Most students do this. However, the basic rules of courtesy imply the need to conceal such practices from the university. Sending the same standardised application form to multiple institutions shows your generic attitude towards them and your lack of respect.

Unfortunately, some prospective PhD students go even further and forget to replace university names in some of the sent documents. Such a mistake is an instant ‘reg flag’, destroying hours of your hard work. Make sure that you strictly follow the aforementioned ‘one application – one folder’ rule. Preferably, create similar subdivisions in your email to eliminate the very possibility of such mistakes.

The same rules of courtesy apply to ending your communication. If you succeeded with your application to a different university, make sure to inform other institutions about that. This simple politeness and courtesy can go a long way. On a practical level, you provide information to these institutions allowing them to understand your interest in their offerings or the lack thereof. At the same time, you can demonstrate your respect for the time spent answering your questions and thank them for this support.

In addition to positive feelings emerging from such expressions of gratitude, this courteous communication ensures that you can easily contact the same persons in the future. Networking is the fulcrum of the academic community. Hence, your good reputation can help you secure future research collaboration or employment opportunities.

If you’re still unsure of how to start your PhD applications, contact PhD Centre today for help finding suitable PhD programs, and supervisors and for PhD proposal writing and application writing help.