Hello,

I've been mulling over the idea of doing a PhD for over a year now and have finally decided to go for it. Specifically, I am looking at pursuing a PhD in the UK or Europe in development studies/ public policy. I have a few queries regarding this:

1. My undergraduate and post graduate degrees are unrelated to the area I want to pursue a PhD in. However, I have over 4 years of work experience in this field. How will this affect my PhD chances?

So my field of interest is development studies/ public policy. I hold a bachelors degree in commerce and a post graduate diploma in management (equivalent to an MBA). However, I have worked in development consulting for over 3.5 years and am now working with an NGO in healthcare policy analysis. I also worked part-time as a TA for a Public Systems course. Would my unrelated degrees be a barrier to the PhD application? Or would my relevant work experience actually be a plus in my application?

2. Very good grades in bachelors but rather pathetic grades in post grad. How will this affect my application?

Both my degrees are from India. I have an 80% in my bachelors degree - equivalent to a 1st class in the UK, or a 3.5+ GPA in the US.

However, I scored a 2.44 (equivalent to a C) in my PG Diploma. While this is bad, it isn't really be equivalent to the US GPA because the grading in my b-school is much stricter: the batch topper scored around 3.6. However, I did very well in my masters dissertation (3.66), how will my low grades affect my PhD chances?

I can get very strong letters of reference from both academic professors and work supervisors, including one from my masters supervisor where she can say that the 2.44 isnt as bad as it sounds - putting it in context, if so required.

3. Assuming I get a PhD place despite these drawbacks, but not from a highly reputed university, should I go ahead and do it?

So while my main reason for pursuing a PhD is personal satisfaction, a PhD will also open up a lot of doors for me, not just in academia, but also in international development institutions. I do not want to spent so much time and money doing something unless there is a chance of better job prospects, given I am currently doing rather well for myself professionally (my PG Diploma is from one of the top B-schools in India). Given this, does it make sense to take up a PhD from a university which is not very reputed or well known?

Thanks in advance for taking the time out to help me with this

Come on guys...I'd really appreciate any advice here!

Hi Rummy, I'm afraid I can't help you with most of your queries, e.g. regarding grades etc. Just to say that my first degree and masters were in an area unrelated to my PhD (they were in Development Studies, incidentally :-)), but work experience and further study helped me to get the PhD scholarship. Your work experience will definitely count in your favour. :-) Once you have worked for a few years the subject (and grades) of your first degrees become less relevant.

I'm not sure about doing a PhD at a 'less reputable' university - I think in the end it comes down to how well-known and respected the department itself and especially your supervisor are. I think the reputation of the university is less important when it comes to PhDs, at least in the UK.

As regards the chances of a PhD opening doors and furthering your career, that really depends. There has been a lot of discussion about this on here recently, and in the UK at least the situation isn't great. A lot of people seem to be more reluctant to leave good jobs/careers for a PhD because there are no guarantees of a good job at the end of it. But it might be very different in India (assuming that's where you are planning to work?).

Good luck with whatever you decide. :-)

I'd agree with Moonblue's advice - there are lots of useful tips.

I understand that the competition for jobs is even more intense in India so a PhD maybe the way to go. If you stay in academia the uni does not matter so much at this stage and the focus is more on the dept and your supervisor. Outside academia not many people understand how academia works so they may just go by the reputation of the uni as a whole but I really think it does not matter so much as a PhD is impressive so will look good on your CV.