i know that in good departments in the US, application success rates are 10%, if not even less. I (can only) imagine that this percentage grows as the reputation/quality/call it what you like of the department drops. I seriously doubt there's any centralised statistics anywhere, but many departments do mention these numbers in their websites

Nimrod81, thanks for your reply - I'm actually working on the statement of purpose right now, and from what I understand it's closer to a PhD proposal than a cover letter: It's supposed to be two pages long and list motivation for applying for the PhD, expected career prospects etc etc. So I would imagine there's not much space there to mention things that would go in the cover letter, right?

what if it is online? Cause I'm working on an on-line one right now and i'm facing the same dilemma described above..

(here goes)

In order to answer your question, I'd have to ask back: a) what kind of financial situation you're in and b) how much of your PhD work is going to be based on research on the actual city. This can be important: there's a huge difference between London's extremely developed and complex transport system and Leeds' much more conventional one.

Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to ask any questions here or at [email protected] - i rarely check this forum

a.

Mapleleaf, here's a short &late word of advice: I spent three years in Leeds uni (Sociology BA) and another two in London (doing my MSc). The two places are of course completely different; which one you would enjoy most depends on what you ask from a city. Leeds is a good and affordable undergrad student city with lots of nightclubs, sports events, two unis close to each other and its very own student-ghetto town, Headingley. Stay there for over two years though and you can definitely get bored of it. And pursuing a PhD does take some time!

London on the other hand is a bit harder to get bored of (practically impossible?) as long as you've got enough money... This must be the most ridiculously overpriced city I've been to in my entire life (and I've been in quite a few!). Exchanging canadian dollars into pounds is not gonna help you a lot either. You can either love or hate London; most of the time I do both. (to be continued)