Interested in doing a PhD but not really sure where to get started with your PhD application? I’m here to help figure out how to apply for a PhD!
This post goes through the whole process of applying for a PhD. We’ll start with some top tips from successful PhD applicants then go from finding a project through to everything you need to include in your PhD application. I hope you find it useful!
Advice From Successful PhD Applicants
Want to hear from people who’ve gone through the experience, including top tips for applying? I’ve started a PhD profiles series, you can read the first three of them here. Here are some excerpts:
What advice do you have for people applying for a PhD?
Many people tell me that they aren’t applying because they aren’t sure they can be that passionate about a subject for that long. The truth is that you don’t have to be. The PhD journey is a very long one, and the research focus evolves constantly.
Depending on how much freedom your supervisor gives you, it could even evolve based on how your own interests are evolving.
Vivienne, a materials engineer at McGill
What do you think made your application stand out?
I tried my best to communicate both my passion for scientific inquiry and character of resilience in my application, which I believe are key attributes of great researchers. I think an ability to share a genuine story beyond a transcript can make your application stand out, providing the reader with a sense of what motivates your decision and whether you possess the attributes to commit to a PhD for 3-5 years.
Sara, environmental engineer at Columbia
What advice do you have for people applying?
Firstly: apply! If you’re interested in the topic don’t be put off applying, even if you don’t think you’ll get it. You don’t need to be a genius, just prove that you’re hardworking and interested in the field. Also don’t feel under pressure to apply while you’re finishing off your degree. You may even find any experiences you gain in the meantime can add an interesting perspective to your application.
Jeff (me!), a medical engineer at Imperial
Preparing Your Application Documents
What you need to include in your application may vary a bit by university but as a minimum you’ll have to upload:
Academic CV: How to write an academic CV guide here.
Cover letter: your motivation to study that research area including:
- Your background and research experience
- The research topics you are interested in
- Your motivation for applying for a PhD
- Why you want to study in that research group and at that university
Sometimes also a research proposal which would include:
- Proposed PhD title
- Main aims of your research project
- How the work builds on previous studies
- Details of required resource access – such as equipment
- Proposed research methods and a plan for the work
Which of these documents you need should become clear once you start the applications process at universities, which we’ll come on to shortly.
References
For your online application, you’ll need to include details of referees who can provided references to the university. For my PhD at Imperial I think it was three references I had to provide. The amount you need may vary but it’s good to have at least three contacts who are willing to help.
When you pick your referees you want to choose people who have worked closely with you, ideally in an academic research setting. It is essentially a research position you’re applying for so you want to choose referees who can comment on your research skills.
Your referee will need to be someone who supervised your work, rather than a peer who you might be best friends with! This ideally includes someone who knows that you can work well in teams and independently. An obvious choice would be a research project supervisor from a previous degree.
My Experience: When I applied for my PhD I’d worked for three years (in a university) since finishing my undergraduate degree. I therefore had colleagues for two of my referees (who were also handily academics). My third referee was my final year project supervisor from my undergraduate degree.
It’s good practice to reach out to your referees in advance of your application. Firstly to check that they’re willing to provide a reference, but just as importantly to check that they will be available over the coming days to input the reference online. This is why having a spare contact is useful to avoid your application being unnecessarily delayed.
Find a Topic You’d Be Interested in Doing a PhD in
Firstly, think about why you’d like to do a PhD. The more flexible you can be with the topic, the easier it is to cast a wide net and find a suitable PhD project with funding.
Remember that you do have to be willing to stick with a topic for 3-4 years. Having said that, PhDs are generally more broad than a lot of people realise. Your final thesis will be composed of three or more results chapters which are often quite separate projects all tied to a central theme.
Once you’ve thought about potential topics for your PhD, you can move on to finding a PhD project.
Look For Suitable Projects (with funding)
There are several ways to find a project and supervisor, and they’re covered in this post here:
I also suggest reading this post which talks about PhD funding, and how it relates to the different PhD programmes available such as CDTs.
Example search – astrophysics PhDs
Let’s imagine you’re a prospective PhD student with an interest in astrophysics. If this were me I’d start my search on FindAPhD.com, which is a great directory of available projects. You can tailor your search to certain geographical regions and exclude projects without funding.
In addition to FindAPhD, I suggest using your favourite search engine (try Ecosia!) to find prominent academics in your area of interest who may have PhDs positions available which are not yet advertised. It’s always worth getting in contact with academics because:
- Academics are constantly writing grants and being on their radar could make for an easier funding route
- They may have colleagues working in your field who do have projects available
When I searched for astrophysics on FindAPhd.com I found 42 advertised projects.
Have a browse of the projects and see which ones sound interesting to you, whilst noting any funding restrictions:
If you’re worried about living on a PhD stipend check out my personal finances report and comparison of PhD stipends and graduate salaries here in the UK.
Once you find one that you like the look of, you should get in touch with whomever is listed as the point of contact. Usually this will be the academic supervising the PhD, but sometimes it will be administrative staff.
For the purpose of this astrophysics PhD search we’re doing today, I like the sound of this bad-ass project at Royal Holloway:
You could either use the “Email Institution” feature on FindAPhD or reach out directly to the academic, who in this case is a Prof J Monroe. It’s best to reach out straight away for a few reasons:
- Check that the project is still available
- Open the conversation with your potential supervisor
- Discuss your suitability for the position
- Find out the protocol for applying
You don’t need to be shy about contacting potential supervisors. PhDs are the lifeblood of their research group and they are usually very enthusiastic about speaking to potential students. Do ensure you speak to a potential supervisor before progressing to submit your application. Even with CDTs I think it’s a good idea to chat to potential supervisors.
When I click on the “institution website” button on the advert it takes you directly to this very helpful page which details the process at Royal Holloway.
Starting Your Online Application
The applications process will vary depending on the department and project, but will invariably be through an online applications portal. I started an application for our dark matter PhD project to show you all the necessary steps submitting a PhD application:
Personal Details
This page is easy, just enter all of your basic details such as name, email and date of birth.
Residency
Again simply input details of your nationality and residency. This is mostly for the sake of checking whether or not you will require a Tier 4 student visa to study in the UK.
You need a Tier 4 visa is you’re a student from outside the UK or EU:
If you click yes to needing a Tier 4 visa you’ll need to also add your passport details.
Course Details
This is another simple page where just have to select the degree type (postgraduate research), whether you want to undertake it full-time or part-time and the course name which is usually the department and level: a PhD in Physics in this instance. If you have any doubts about what to select just speak to your potential supervisor.
Qualification(s)
Enter qualifications you’ve gained after high school: undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
You’ll need to add all the details as shown in the screenshot below, such as:
- Course details
- Dates of when you studied the course
- Which university awarded it
- The grade you attained
Additionally, if English isn’t your first language you sometimes have to undergo further checks to ensure you’d be comfortable undertaking the PhD in English:
Employment History
If you have some relevant work experience, here is where to add the details:
- Job title
- Dates for when you worked there
- The organisation you worked for
- A brief overview of your job
It may help your application to have extra research experience, even just a a week or two unpaid over the summer.
On the same page you are asked if you are a member of any professional bodies. All of the UK bodies are listed here. Examples include the Institution of Chemical Engineers and Royal Society of Biology.
Should you join a professional body?
It can make you look like a more serious candidate if there is an obvious organisation to join up to for your field. If you have the option of joining for a low price as a student (if you are currently one) it may be worth doing, especially if you can get other benefits to membership but I don’t imagine it’s a dealbreaker.
My experience: I wasn’t an active member of any when applying for my PhD and I’m not a member of any since leaving!
Supporting Statements
Until now the PhD application has been a very simple process and shouldn’t have taken much more than 15 minutes to fill in. The supporting statements page is the part where you actually have to do a bit of thinking if you don’t already have documents prepared!
For Royal Holloway you’d need to upload:
- Personal Statement
- A Research Proposal (for certain departments)
- Academic CV
Personal Statement
Besides your CV, this is the most important mandatory document for you to upload. In your personal statement you should explain your motivation to study your chosen PhD.
Research Proposal (optional)
Some departments require a research proposal to be included with your application. Check with your supervisor whether or not this is necessary for you.
It’s not a bad idea to include a research proposal even if it’s not required because:
- It strengthens your application: you look like a serious applicant
- It ensures you and your supervisor are clear on your intended project
Again this very useful webpage for the university lists what to include at Royal Holloway, it may change a bit for other universities.
Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be perfect at this stage. Simply showing that you have put some thought into your project can really help your application.
My experience: I was personally very lucky when applying. My supervisor sent across my project proposal from a grant application which I was practically able to input directly. Speak to your supervisor, if they aren’t helping at this stage it’s perhaps a sign that they wouldn’t make a great PhD supervisor!
Supervisor Details
You must add details of two potential supervisors. Speak to your main potential supervisor for ideas about the second supervisor. It’s common for universities to insist on PhD students having multiple supervisors to reduce the risk of problems: I had three. It’s usually good if the second supervisor has complimentary skills in another aspect of your project.
Academic CV
Make sure to highlight any research experience you already have. Read my CV tips here.
Fees
At the bottom of this page is a really important question about fees:
Your supervisor can advise on what to input depending on what funding is attached to the project.
References
An important part of your application are your references. This is a way for your past working performance to be assessed. In addition to your referees’ details you must include the capacity in which you know each other:
Additional information
You have the opportunity to include any other documents to assist with your application. Additionally there is an option to include sensitive documents such as medical records or mitigating circumstances of academic performance.
Review and submit!
That’s your application done! Now you can check it over and click submit. Well done!
What to do after you send your application
Once you’ve sent your application, let your referees know to expect a request for your reference. Make sure that your referees send their references ahead of any deadlines. Now you have to wait!
Awaiting a Decision
For some PhDs the first you’ll hear will be a decision via email without an interview. For others you’ll have to have a more formal interview before a decision is made.
Interviews?
If you get offered an interview, here is a page I put together with my experiences and common potential interview questions.
What Happens if You Don’t Get Offered a PhD?
Don’t be disheartened, competition for PhDs (and in particular funding) can be tough. If you apply and don’t get an offer you can always apply again in the future. Ideally you can use the time between your applications to gain useful experience to improve your chances next time.
If you’re determined to apply for PhDs over the course of several years (which is good!) I suggest that you:
- Keep in contact with potential supervisors
- Reapply whilst getting more experience
- Broaden your search
My experience: I applied for three years before I got offered the PhD I eventually went with. While applying I was working in a research job, including getting my name on some papers, which can hugely strengthen your application. Don’t give up hope!
Steps for How to Apply For a PhD
- Consider research areas you are interested in
- Search for (funded) PhD topics in these areas – FindAPhD is a good starting point.
- Discuss projects with potential supervisors, and ideally meet with them
- Perfect your CV and cover letter
- Ask for references
- Fill in the online application
- Prepare for interview
Best of luck!
If you’d like personalised help with your PhD application I am now starting to offer a small number of one-to-one sessions. Please click here to find out more.
If you’re applying for a PhD I hope that this post has been useful for you. If you still have any questions which you feel should be addressed please let me know!
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