I have recently completed my MA in Environmental Psych at the University of Auckland and am looking into commencing my doctoral studies. Ideally I am looking for a studentship but those which I have seen tend not to cover the full fees of an international student. Furthermore, it seems I have predominantly missed the scholarship dates for study this year. Can anyone indicate the general difficulty in procuring scholarships/funding for overseas students?


Can anyone suggest the process for application (if a studentship was not available)? Should I create a broad proposal then approach potential supervisors? Should the proposal be very specific from onset? Or should I start e-mailing potential supervisors then working with them to create a potential project?


Also, I have as yet to receive my Masters grade. Has anyone else applied for PhD's with their Masters grade still pending?


Thank you in advance for your help.


:-)

Hi.

I too am from New Zealand, and I have been applying for a PhD in the UK. I'm sorry to say that it's unlikely that you could get in for the 2009-10 year - although it may depend on the University. I started the process in August of last year, and I'm still not confirmed for my October start!

Basically I emailed a couple of potential supervisors in my field of interest way back in November, and one of them conducted interviews in January. I was offered a place at the university in April. I've been applying for scholarships (both here and in the UK) since August 08, and I still haven't had any luck.

Admittedly this may be an extreme example because it's a huge university, but I would be surprised if you could get a project, supervisor, funding and a visa sorted before October!

You should definitely check it out anyway, but if I were you I would be looking for 2010-11 entry. That gives you the ideal amount of time to find a supervisor and funding and stuff. An extra year seems like a long time to wait but I can assure you it flies by!!

There are scholarships in NZ for study in the UK, check out the NZVCC for more details. For lots of them you need to apply over a year in advance. Also the NZ TEC Bright Future TAD scholarship is tenable overseas if you can show that it will benefit NZ.

And you shouldn't worry about applying even though you haven't received your final grades. I think most people start applying before they get their final grades anyway.