I finished my undergrad last year and since then I've been doing random jobs to survive. Even though my dream was always to do a PhD I know feel very discouraged cause I'm thinking of all the students with better marks than me, all the new students that graduates this year and all the students that already have a Masters and are all applying for the same thing I am. Plus... I don't know how much of what I know is relevant any more, cause science moves so fast and what of the things I studied is considered "relevant experience" after all this time has gone by. I'm still quite enthusiastic about the research topic i want to follow but is this enough? All this puts me off submitting an application. anybody else feels this way and how do you overcome this?

I didn't get brilliant grades, I averaged a 2.1 throughout my final year whilst I was applying for PhD but managed to do well in my finals and finished with a first overall, but I still got PhD interviews and I got a PhD offer before my final result was known.

You have to be positive! The majority of Universities ask for a 2.1 or 1st, therefore if you got a 2.1 overall they will still consider you! When I started writing my personal statement, my bachelors research project supervisor told me to write down ALL my work experience even down to working in shop at the weekends. Then the skills that you have learnt that could possibly be transferred to a PhD such as time managable, the ability to get out of bed, etc

I know it's tough at the moment with funding issues, but if you can get a research assistantship for a few weeks or months that should get you some more experience (you might have to take it unpaid though...). If you are still struggling to get a research assistantship- prehaps consider a MRes or the EU science training scheme on offer at a few universities.

Just keep :) and stay positive! There is plenty of PhD students and wannabe PhD students on here to help you through what seems like a mindfield of putdowns but just keep trying!

Have you considered putting a few applications in to test the water?

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It would proably help to do a masters. Most people do before starting a PhD - I think it's very rare to get a funded place without an MA, even in the sciences. You could try and up your grades and catch up with the latest thinking etc.

Best, Esk x


p.s. I'm not a scientist, so you may want to disregard what I've said!

I did get a 2.1 for my degree (forgot to mention that) and unfortunately I can't afford a masters. I wish I did, it would make my life a lot easier.

I'm pushing myself to put in an application for a phd that is exactly the topic I want but again it's at Cambridge... Tough crowd but I'll make an effort to apply so I can at least get some feedback. Wish I had like an old professor I could speak to so I can gain some perspective.

I tried applying for research assistant jobs but no luck unfortunately so I'm running out of ideas on how to close the gap.

Don't panic about science moving on without you, it's only been a year. It's been four years since I graduated from my BSc and I'm just about to start a PhD this October. I have been doing a part time MSc gradually over the last 3 years while working full time but it was in a different, slower moving topic so I wouldn't know much anyway! Plus a PhD is specialised, you're not expected to know everything that's happening in all of science, you're just expected to know your specialist subject well, and that's after you start it.

I would think about working to save money for an MSc if you apply for a few PhD's and don't get them. As it is really competitive at the moment, I think most people are applying for 5-6 PhD's at least.

Also try getting some relevant experience, even just volunteering once a week in whatever your specialism is or something similar that will give any kind of scientific work experience. Although as others have said you can use any work experience to show you have various skills, even working in a supermarket, it shows you have determination to do whatever is needed at the time, a very good skill indeed!

Good luck with applications!

No joke, September 2010-April 2011 I applied for 18 funded PhDs!

Have you seen this? MRes European Scientific Research Training

This course was my back up just in case I didn't get a PhD. I spoke to the Professor involved and what happens is you pay for accomodation in Staffs and tuition fees until December, then in January you transfer to a partner EU lab and the European Union pay for you to stay in the country for 9 months.

Do you have a big university near where you are living? The reason I have asked is that I got 1 week (better than nothing) upaid work experience during my A-levels- it certainly helped with my Nuffield summer application and it's come up in PhD interviews.

Cambridge interviews aren't as bad as undergraduates make out! Mine was pretty straight forward and there was no panel interview like I have since had at other institutions.

Don't give up and keep us posted :)

Elmo: You went through interview for Cambridge? (not that I will lol). What is it like? I exchanged a few e-mails with the professor who told me that there will be a committee that will review the applications :-/. And I was thinking of going for a more "keep it real" letter this time cause I'm fed up with cover letters. What do you think?

To be honest, it was the easiest out of all the interviews I had! Basically it was meant to be 3 face-to-face interviews, but it turned out to be 2 face-to-face and a telephone interview. 1 was with the PG research director of the school of pharmacology and the other was with the supervisor I was interested in working with. The telephone interview was bad, but he choose to ring me just as I'd gotten in from a whole day of lab so I had all my lab diary to do, so not to my surprise I didn't get the funding for the PhD!

What do you mean by a "keep it real" letter?

Well I usually go for pretty standard cover letters which hasn't worked so far. This time I decided to show a bit of the enthusiasm I have about the topic. I know quite a bit on this particular topic cause I did my undergrad dissertation on it but so far i only found 2 universities that do research on it. One didn't have funding and the other is Cambridge which I find quite intimidating :-/

It's difficult to know what to say tbh. Prehaps rework the personal statement first, then attempt to get the covering letter to complement the personal statement.

Do you still have access to the careers service from your previous university? or your dissertation supervisor?

Hi Dwro8ea, you should always try and show enthusiasm through your cover letters, the CV is for the dry 'this is what I have done' stuff and the cover letter is for explaining gaps in employment, highlighting relevant skills and showing your enthusiasm and drive for the subject! It is really important to tailor each cover letter to each different application form. Have you applied to Cambridge yet? I would find it intimidating too, but then I think everyone would! If it is your chosen subject and you know about it you have nothing to fear though! Most people will apply there just to say they went to Cambridge, but you would be applying because of your passion and if that shines through in your application the supervisors would be crazy not to interview you!

Good luck!

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Here's what the application process requires : Applications consisting of a full CV, letter of application. Maybe stupid question but what is the difference between the personal statement and covering letter? Should I write one event though not required?




I tried them several times and they are useless! All they told me was to have a look at prospects.ac.uk :/ They had no clue! I knew more than them
:-( And that's depressing. So apart from a friend of mine that lives in USA (and things are different there when it comes to academic applications and letters) nobody else has had a look at my letter or CV so I don't know if I'm making some huge mistake somewhere.

By the way my area is genetics/biology/anthropology/archaeology. I know, it's kinda wide.

As far as I know a personal statement doesn't have a set out structure, but a covering letter has a very strict structure.

You can find examples on google, but basically you have four paragraphs,
1:with a summary of what you have done and your key skills,
2: Talk about the univerisity/institution what you know about them and why you want to work for them. 
3: This is specific to the project/job and why you're perfect for the job, your relevant skills show your enthusiasm etc
4: A summary paragraph where you really push the reasons you are applying and why you are good for the job.

Obviously you can change it around a bit to tailor to specifics but that is the standard and what is needed for most job/PhD applications. For jobs you are told to try to keep it to a page, but for PhD's or more research type jobs they usually allow two pages.

As for the CV for a PhD again check examples on google, but have a skills section highlighting relevant skills, science skills, computing skills etc and give brief examples where you've learned these, and under the education part list all relevant courses and your dissertation. The rest should be the same as a standard CV really.

Hope that helps a little! I'm always helping friends with CV writing so I'm happy to give any more advice if needed!

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