Hello All,

I got an interview for a Studentship on Friday last week and was wondering when will I know if I got the place or not. How long after can I consider my application unsuccessful if I haven't got a reply?

As a tip for any future interviews, it is always a good idea to ask when you are likely to hear about any decision. In this case, you could email them to say thank you for the interview and then ask if they know when they will be making a decision. If you don't want to do this then just wait until about 1 week after the interview and phone or email them with the same question.

I was outright and asked at the interviews I went to, when was the decision going to be made. Many of them said "we wouldn't have invited you if we weren't going to give you an offer". It appears that references and your CV seem to give the best impression. However one university, I sent an email the day after my interview, thanking them for my day, and they said that a decision had been made and the offer was being processed.

Just send an email if you don't hear anything.

Nick, which offer did you get? The one with the email? You said "many of them said.....", so did they give you the offer on the spot or what? Just wanted to know. This is my first interview.

I got offers on the spot at the University of Edinburgh and University of Surrey. Birmingham took a week until I recieved a letter of offer. Don't worry about the interviews. I really enjoyed them, since they are more like an informal look around the department and a chat. Hope that helps.

By the way, I emailed an informal interest to the groups I was interested in a year in advance of starting a PhD. They ALL invited me to come and have a look around there departments (and told me to send CV and references and an application form just in case I did want to apply to get the ball rolling). I sent an email to Birmingham since they did not let me know their decision on the day.

Thanks Nick. I think it is more competitive for international students and funding is the problem for us. My interview was by telephone so there was a bit of disadvantage. May be the offer process for us might take longer.

I am highly interseted to pursue a PhD scholarship from an English Country.First off all I have to get an offer from a research teacher, but most of the cases I cna not get reply about their opinion.