Advice on PhD applications
A few weeks ago, I was asked to give a talk to a group of Taiwanese audience, about advice on how to apply for a PhD in Europe and the UK. Although I have neither started my PhD yet nor I have ever thought my PhD application journey was a successful one, I do have some thoughts to share on this topic.
Here I want to list out a few pieces of advice, some I would like to give to my past self who just started out applying for a PhD, and some are things I already know but realized that most are unaware of:
#0 Know what you like
It is important that even before searching for a PhD application you know what you want to spend your next few most productive years on. It could be about a specific field in biochemistry or quantum physics, but what’s more useful is to know what sort of work you want to do as a PhD student. Do you enjoy computational works more than wet-lab ones? Are you a more “method” person who enjoys “making” tools or do you want to do a PhD that involves “using” tools to make discoveries? Do you like hardcore math or are simple stats enough for you? Think about what you want to get out of your PhD. Maybe you want a PhD that involves time-series analysis, or parallel computing. You might want a project that gives you plenty of space to try out AI stuff. These are all some important things that you should figure out to some degree when you start your PhD application.
If you don’t know yet about what you want, read. Start by reading (popular) science books. There are plenty of them out there. Since there are many, you can pick up any one of them. If you don’t like it, put it aside. (It is a good sign if you discover that you are not interested in anything) Take notes of those that you read from cover to cover, you might start looking for more books with related topics. One book leads to another book, and you will find a specific pattern of your interest. Then reflect on your past experience, your skills, and how they overlap with the pattern you discovered. Once you find it, look for more technical books/ papers, read them, and see how you feel. Talk to people who work on those topics. If possible, shadow them. This is at least how I found my scientific interest.
P.S. Don’t do a PhD on a topic because it is convenient! (e.g., you did an undergrad or master in it)
#1 Apply for as many PhD programmes as possible
Once you know your motive to apply for a PhD, start searching for PhD programmes to apply for. If you know clearly what subject area you want to work on, other than checking PhD positions advertised on university websites, check Twitter. There are many informal advertisements up there that are, in my opinion, less competitive but most are quite specific.
If at this point you still don’t know exactly what you want to work on, I suggest you apply for PhD programmes that involve rotations. There are not many PhD programmes in Europe that have rotations — so apply to as many as you can find, if possible. But before applying, make sure you know a few groups that you want to do a rotation with, as they will ask you during the interviews, if you don’t know you are doomed.
Finally, while many programmes have their application deadlines around Christmas, you shouldn’t stop there; there are still plenty of programmes having their deadlines up till March. And you never know if you will get into the programmes you applied to before Christmas, so continue your applications, till there are none left you can and would like to apply to. Some PhD programmes have two entries per year — be aware of those.
#2 But, don’t apply to the one you won’t want to go
Though you should apply for as many PhD programmes/ positions as possible, don’t apply to the ones that you feel ‘ok’ with, in other words, the ones you might have some experience with, but are not so passionate about. When applying, ask yourself: if this is the only offer you’re gonna have in the end, would you still go? Or when in the end if you ‘accidentally’ got the offer, you will be in a difficult position — you put your effort into applying for it, but you are not passionate about it. At the same time, you got the scholarship — are you sure you want to put 3–4 years into it?
#3 On writing a personal statement
Or the statement of purpose. Or the motivation letter. Let’s call it an SOP for now. There are many ways this could be written. First, check the requirement. Different doctoral schools have slightly different formalities regarding this. My general advice is to make good use of this opportunity, not only show your scientific interest but write an honest story of yourself. SOP is the only chance for you to show the interviewers about you as a person. Explain why and how you made some past career decisions that lead you to your current position. If your scientific interest shifted over time, explain it in your own way. Be bloody honest about yourself. I think SOP can also be called the self-narrative, the story you tell yourself to give reasons for why you are doing it, and why it is not a waste of time.
Don’t include too much science in your SOP. The people reading your SOP might not be the experts in your field. And that would just be a waste of word count. But do explain why YOU think the research in this field is important. And made it clear that you have what it takes to contribute to this field.
P.S. If you have to contact a supervisor before application, do this early. Some might take time to reply. Make the cover letter short and concise, as they might give up reading once find out the letter is too long.
#4 Treat your application seriously
When you are called to interviews, prepare well. Do the best research you can, about the people who are going to interview you, and know some of the common questions they are going to ask you. They might ask you about a paper you read recently (IN your field and OUT of your field. I got both questions). Or a simple question about why you want to do a PhD. Make sure you know some basic knowledge of the field of your interest. And prepare an answer for that mighty question “If you have unlimited time and money, what do you want to research?”
Ask your friends to do mock interviews for you. What’s more helpful, talk to people who are already in the programme, and ask them about their interview experience.
If you find it difficult to be serious about your application, you should pause and think, does it really worth my time? Do I really want this PhD? It’s a good indicator that you might not be as interested in the topic if you find yourself lazy about it.
#5 Take your time
PhD application is a long process, and it can get tedious sometimes. But it will all be worth it, once you get into one that you want to be in. PhD is like a driver’s licence in science — pick your licence carefully.
Some interesting reading that I think would help your PhD application:
- You and Your Research by Richard Hamming (click here for the audible version). Interesting ideas for anyone, regardless of if you are going into academia or industry
- A Guide to Survival in Science by Peter Feibelman. And here is my summary of the book
- Dr Jonathan Taylor’s blog on Choosing and applying for a PhD, and how a science PhD work. This particularly applies if you are thinking to do a science PhD on the land of Brexit (i.e., the UK)
- 蘇俊翰｜From Cambridge to Cambridge — 從思想開始的跨領域之路 (It’s in Mandarin on the investigator.tw) I quite like his point of view here, on looking for what truly matters
Of course, if you want to have someone to discuss your scientific interest/ career plan/ life in the UK/ Europe, just write me an email, and I will try my best to reply: kou12301230 [at] gmail.com
All the best for your PhD application!