How to get into a PhD program

Well, you've decided that getting into a PhD program, i.e. voluntarily getting into a world of pain and self-torture, for the next 3-6 years is a good idea. I have you covered, my friend; in this article, you can find the most helpful information to make your search and admission process more manageable.

Find the right program/department/professor.

Remember to research all potential options and choose one based on your research interests. If you want to get into the best possible PhD program, you have plenty of options. But this might not be the only driver behind your decision. What if you want to use your PhD experience to move and stay in another country. In this case, your choice might be limited by schools and programs in a specific country/region/province.

One of the most popular references for this is the Top Universities website, where you can check the rankings of universities worldwide. However, this might be a pitfall because a specific university's ranking or brand name does not mean that a particular PhD program, supervisor/research group would be the best possible. There are plenty of cases when one specific group from a lower-ranked university would benefit you and your future careers more than a similar group from a higher-ranked institution.

Your search starts with a department of your choice web page. You would see all major research topics, completed/in-progress topics, and a list of academics and researchers working for the department. Usually, this information will be accompanied by research topics/interests of academic staff members. As soon as you find a professor working in your field of interest, you can start drafting an email showing how great you would be as his/her potential PhD student.

This process has some exemptions, mainly if you apply for some North American and European schools. In many American and Canadian schools, you apply directly for a PhD program, and in some cases, you don't even need a supervisor. However, in some European schools, particularly Sweden, PhD projects are treated as jobs, so you are applying for a vacancy and sending the required documents as part of your application.

In these discussed cases, you have specific deadlines you need to adhere to. However, this is a different situation in most Commonwealth countries. Over there, you apply for a PhD program as soon as you get approval from a faculty member to be your supervisor.

You have two ways to approach your future supervisor, regardless of the admission system. They either list their current projects or their research interests. It is more or less a straightforward process with the former one since you need to describe your skills in the way they match the requirements for a specific project.

The former is more challenging since you need to think about original research (remember that this is the whole point of becoming a doctor) that fits within the research profile of a particular academic. It is beneficial if you already put some information about your research topic. Still, sometimes it is cumbersome since you need access to scientific research paper databases.

Your best friend here is public libraries that sometimes have access to those portals; otherwise, you might find some information on the web via Researchgate or reaching to academics directly. A pro-tip on this topic, when a paper is published, in 99% of the cases, nothing stops an author/author from sending you a copy of their manuscript if you ask them for it. Putting a research proposal together for your application can be easier if you build on top of your previous degree projects (MSc and so on), but this only sometimes happens. As you can see, this is quite a complicated and time-consuming process.

In my case, when I was trying to get into a PhD program in Auckland, New Zealand, one of the professors from Auckland University of Technology granted me access to the Uni library so that I could write a good research proposal for admission. But this does not often happen, so remember about some backup options.

After some email exchanges and multiple revisions of your research proposal, you will get approval to apply for a PhD program. And if you thought that the most complicated part was over, you were unfortunately wrong. The next important step is preparing all the required documents to get admitted into the University. But even before you do it, you need to discuss the financial side of your program with the supervisor. The professor might have some budget allocated for new students. Still, you may also have to get a University doctoral scholarship to afford the program. You also need to understand whether you can work as a Teaching or Research Assistant to offset the costs of your programme or earn extra money on top of your scholarship.

Don't get discouraged if you don't get a lot of traction with your requests to professors. When I was applying for PhD programmes across the globe in 2015, I got almost 60 rejections (ghosted/no scholarship and so on), 6 interviews that resulted in four offers - 1 from the UK and 3 from New Zealand. An Australian PhD offer from RMIT that looked like a done deal for my supervisor and I did not go through due to sanctions (dual-use application of my future research).

Academic requirements

In most cases, an applicant should have a postgraduate level (MSc/MEng or, for instance, Bachelor with Honours in New Zealand). However, some North American universities are more flexible, whereas European and Australasia universities have more defined requirements.

If you apply for a PhD country in the same country where you obtained your undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, the academic admission criteria would be hustle-free. However, for those educated overseas, this requirement could be a challenge. For example, some universities require an assessment by a 3rd party (WES in Canada/US or NZQA in New Zealand). In contrast, other universities will require certified translations of your transcripts to conduct the equivalency assessment by themselves. There also could be additional requirements, such as an apostle or confirmation letter from your alma mater. You can already imagine the time and cost implications of this requirement. Sometimes, you can share your credentials directly with the University via a special portal, such as myEquals in NZ and AU. Still, you should rely on something other than this getaway from jail card.

Your GPA also means a lot since your degree should be in good standing, which means having an average percentage of 75% or higher. But as always, the better your GPA, the higher your chances of getting into your desired PhD program. The reason is that your supervisor's blessing does not guarantee admission into the program. Instead, an admission committee will review your credentials and GPA to determine whether you would be granted admission and any financial aid/scholarships.

Letters of reference

This is straightforward and should not take too long if you start getting your reference letters at the start or before your PhD search journey. Universities usually require two or three letters, preferably from your former supervisors, both professional and academic. It is beneficial to have written letters, but some universities must provide references via web portals. The letters should outline your academic and professional abilities, research experience, or potential to conduct research.

English language requirements

In most cases, if you are not a citizen of an English-speaking country or your undergraduate degree was not taught in English, you must present above-average IELTS Academic or TOEFL scores. Always check University requirements since this admission criterion varies widely amongst universities in the same state/province. Also, most universities will waive the English test requirement based on your undergraduate rather than a postgraduate degree. There are some exemptions to this rule, so pay attention to this part of your application.

Test Results (GMAT/GRE)

It depends on the PhD program to which you are applying. Some programs may require the GMAT, while others may require the GRE. It should be noted that North American PhD programmes require these tests, whereas European and Australasian universities don't need them. For some people, it could be the main factor determining in which country you plan to do your postgraduate degree. Most universities accept both tests, but GRE is usually required for CS and Engineering programmes, whereas GMAT has always been the number one choice for Business and Finance programmes. When submitting scores for either test, ensure they are sent directly from the testing agency to the program.

At the same time, GMAT focuses more on math (Quant), whereas GRE heavily focuses on vocabulary. This is why GMAT is quite often preferred by non-English speakers since they can exercise their quant skills instead of the sophisticated language that is needed just to pass GRE. The GMAT also uses adaptive testing technology to determine the difficulty of each question within a section based on how you did on the previous question. Additionally, the GRE math section is more straightforward and includes a calculator for all quantitative problems.

These are the documents you would require to provide in almost every University, but remember that some additional information might be needed. For example, you usually don't submit a separate application for a doctoral scholarship (if merit-based). Still, you might if you apply for a specific non-merit-based scholarship.

What's next?

And after you receive a confirmation from the admission committee that they received all your documents, you can sit, relax and wait. It usually takes a few weeks/months to hear back from the University of your future supervisor about the results of your application. After that, the rest of the paperwork is pretty straightforward. Once you receive your unconditional offer, you can apply for a visa (if you need to) and start organizing your relocation. Quite often, your University can guide you through all these steps, so don't think you will be left alone. Good luck with your future studies since the most complicated part has yet to start.