PS: I forgot to add--

just because you haven't secured a phd position yet does not mean you are not an excellent candidate!!!! :-)

Lude, it just hasn't happened yet :-)

This is the same for those of us looking for jobs. Hang in there

love satchi

I was lucky enough to get the first one I applied for, because it was a funded scholarship and happened to be a perfect fit for my skillset and research interests. The more time that passes, the more I realise how extraordinarily fortunate I was - I applied halfway through my Masters year and as I didn't get a Distinction for my MA or even a first for my BA, I don't think I would have been accepted to do a PhD any other way. I wouldn't say it was a fluke, but it was definitely a rare case of 'right job, right person, right time'.

Also:

It sounds like you are doing the right things just providence hasn't been on your side so it's just a case of keep trying. I too was lucky applied to two got two. But I had been unlucky moving up the career ladder prior to PhD so I do believe good things come to those that wait. :)

I have been looking for a PhD (Human Genetics) from past 2 years with no success yet. I am a non-EU applicant and I am not self funded. I have graduated from my Masters (Medical Genetics) with merit and have excellent references. I have 90% in my GRE exams. Most of the times the replies to applications range from "..you're a high quality applicant, but the application process was highly competitive" to "..you're an excellent applicant but we received a lot of applications than we expected" and some not even bothering to reply at all...Which is really disheartening at times. I am currently looking for PhD in EU. All my applications, Motivation Letters and CVs are customized & specifically written for the given position. I have tried in Australia, EU, US & UK. So still wondering what exactly is the recipe to getting a position.
I guess sometimes it is just the timing and luck.

Hi everyone!

Ended up here while searching for tricks to get a PhD... but what I know deep down inside is that there are no tricks, is purely luck! I've been trying to get a PhD since I finish my MSc (so 6 years ago). I managed to get research assist. positions on and off for the last 4 years in the UK, so this allowed me to get a really good CV with publications, presentations, teaching and a lot of research experience. Right now, I have more experience in my area that any PhD student I know. However, I think I applied for around 30 positions throughout these years and only got interviewed for 2 of them. 2 of the positions I applied for, I know the candidates that were chosen instead of me and I know that both of them have less experience than me, they were fresh out of the Masters, no publications, no "real" research done ever. And on one of these applications, actually 3 of the candidates had indisputably better CVs than the person that got it.

So, how do you explain this? There are a huge amount of factors playing into who is chosen for a PhD position, that people will never admit. For example, politics inside the departments, that at some point might want to favour certain supervisors or certain research topics. Another thing I noticed is that sometimes a 15min interview can count more than 4 years of research experience. If by any reason they don't like your face, your accent, you don't give exactly the response they want to hear, you're out. On the other hand, I noticed that people that don't know the difference between their head and feet but look great and can be very charming when speaking, get positions very easily. It's not really about chosing the best candidate possible, it's much more than that.

The solution? Just keep trying until you get all the factors in your favor! :)

I was offered funding in a department where I knew people - namely the supervisory team and research group. I'd done my undergraduate degree there and also had done lots of research assistant work for them. I think that having some good connections is what helped me get funding fairly quickly. They knew my skills not only on paper but in reality. If possible I would suggest "getting in" with a research group - even if this means by doing some voluntary work. Also, as others have commented, if having difficulties with written communication I would suggest that you really work on those skills and have people proofread your work, applications, letters etc. On that note, I do proofreading so feel free to drop me a private message. Good luck!

That'd be me Edwardian. I am a chemist, so prepare for lots of techno stuff.

No problem Janine - it can actually make proofreading easier when the subject area is unrelated to your own. Fewer distractions!

Hi Edwardianguy, just out of interest, when you say you are proofreader, do you do this through a company or do you advertise to get clients yourself? What's the pay like? Any other info?

Sure. I started out working for a company as a freelance scientific proofreader and editor. The job was advertised on my university's jobs database. The company specialised in the proofreading of academic manuscripts prior to authors submitting them for publication. The manuscripts were mainly coming from authors who had English as a second language, from a range of scientific disciplines. I was paid £10 or £15 pounds per hour (can't quite remember) and expected to complete 2-3 manuscripts (each anything between 5 and 30 pages long) in a morning or afternoon (quite stressful!). I've since left that company and do it "on the side", charging around £10 per 1000 words or thereabouts - depending on how broke I am at the time. Some people advertise on Gumtree or similar websites; I just go by word of mouth. In terms of the training - I was trained by the company I worked for, but if you are confident in your formal/academic writing skills and have excellent attention to detail then I'd suggest you could go from there. Hope that helps!

Thanks that's really helpful. I was just thinking about ways of making extra cash and was considering this. I haven't ever had any formal training but I have corrected manuscripts unofficially for friends and I think I'm pretty good at spotting errors etc so maybe I'll look into it further.