Hi,

This could be a daft question but I'm confused and would appreciate some advice.

I would like to apply for a PhD (psychology) at my current uni (MSc. student). I've completed all of the usual information on background etc. however I at a loss as to the other two sections. First I'm asked to write 150 words giving a brief outline of my project plan. Second I'm given the opportunity to write a personal statement about why I would like to do the course etc.

I was expecting to have to submit at least a proposal with relevant literature review, outline research questions/hypothesis etc.

I realise that the personal statement is fairly standard for university applications at any level.

However is this the usual process for a PhD? and if so should I be expected to follow up with a detailed proposal soon after the application?

Hi Ishi! I'm a final year psych PhD student. There are quite a lot of ways you can go about applying for a PhD, but often the application form is just a bit of a formality. If it's not a specific project that has already been advertised, then usually the first step is to contact a potential supervisor (which might be your MSc supervisor) who will agree to supervise you at PhD level, and then come up with a potential project together. Then you will need to think about sources of funding if you are hoping to be fully-funded. This might be from the department if they have any funding available or an outside body (ESRC, MRC, scholarships etc). I think I was only asked to fill out an application form after all of this had been sorted out, i.e. my MSc supervisor was willing to supervise me for a PhD, we had a project proposal, and we had obtained funding. The application form was then just put on file but it had already been confirmed that I had been accepted to do the PhD- it was just a bit of paperwork that was required. But of course, this might vary across unis, so check with your uni (contact the admissions office if you are not sure) and other people on her emight have other experiences as well. Good luck! KB

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Thanks Keenbean!

My project will be part-time and self funded, to give me time to work and build experience etc. It is also my own project idea, and so not one that's been advertised or has an existing research focus.

I have briefly spoken about this to my MSc. supervisor, but she was really rather vague and not much help! Although she is actually the one I want to supervise my PhD due to her research interests etc.

When I spoke with her about this she said it's customary for students to apply and then simply have the application passed around to anyone who might be interested. My work is based on occupational psychology, although when considering stress this might easily be taken by another researcher as appropriate.

It just seems all abit whimiscal. I've put far more effort in to ethics protocol than what the application appears to want!

I did investigate funding and I admit that form was very different; well in fact there was an additional proposal type form on top of the application.

I guess I'm just concerned that I'm going to be hit with a really heavy piece of work. My ideas are not that concrete and need refining, although I'm just not sure how I can be that detailed in 150 words!

Ishi

I'm in the same situation as you. I'm currently finishing my MSc dissertation and I've been accepted to do a part-time self funded PhD with the same supervisor (who's moved to a new university), starting in September. I had to apply via the formal route to my supervisor's new institution and then do a summary on the lines that you have to. I found myself giving an overview of and background of the main area that I want to explore, a short rationale for it and suggestions for possible directions/issues/themes to pursue. I've not been asked to submit a detailed proposal as I find that I'm getting additional ideas /possibilities as I progress my dissertation research and I realise that I won't firm it up until after I start (and I understand that your ideas can change as you get stuck into the PhD).

I'd be happy to compare notes off line if you PM me.

Hi Ishi,

The application form for my university (which had to be completed and submitted online as a pdf file) only allowed a certain amount of words for the proposal. The expression of interest was a flat 300 word minimum. Then after a meeting/discussion with potential supervisor, I had to submit formal application which included a section for the 'research proposal'. I had followed an online suggested format from some US university and managed to get my proposal (in brief) to about 1300 words (their recommendation was 1000-1500), only to find that the online form would only accept about 5-600 words maximum. So in the end, I abbreviated the 'proposal' to three longish paragraphs-that included why I had wanted to follow this line of research, my basic starting research questions and some of the literature that backed my ideas. I checked this approach with someone else who had successfully applied the year before, and they said that this was all that was needed for the formal proposal for the application but that I would work on a much more formal one once I started. But not immediately- I think you get some months before this is required.

Oh and I forgot- just was re-reading the bit where you mentioned the ethics-I had included information about how I would deal with the ethics side on the longer proposal and found I just had to ditch that bit completely when I edited it, if I wanted my edited version to be coherent and make sense.
The Faculty PG research coordinator has received it and will forward the whole deal onto the main research group once my referees are through. I'm gathering from her email (only received it a day or so ago) that the form was fine-so I wouldn't worry about this approach.

(What I did do-because like you seem to be, I tend to worry over these things a little- I included my longer proposal in with all of the documentation, supporting paperwork, CV and copies of degree testamurs, etc-so they could read that if they wanted to. Apparently they won't necessarily read it according to their forms-but I did it anyway).

Good luck with it all btw(up)