Hi, everyone. I need your advice and help. I am an international student. Two years ago I got my Master’s degree in public health policy at the University of Bristol with pass degree. But, I have a high GPA for my undergraduate degree equivalent to the First Class honours degree for the British classification. And I received a fully funded scholarship for my Master’s study. I really want to continue to study for PhD in the UK. Recently, I applied for the PhD studentship. Unfortunately, my application was unsuccessful.

Is there any chance I can get a PhD studentship with pass Master degree, if I can write a good research proposal and can find a suitable university and supervisor?
Please could you give me your advice. Thank you very much.

How should anyone know that ? ;) It is probably possible to find a group leader who accepts you with a "pass" but it is rather unlikely as there is a lot of competition. I think the main problem is to explain why you want to pursue a PhD if you "only" passed your master. Either you were too lazy (not a good feature for a potential PhD student), not capable of the master (even worse feature) or there were other things that excuse the pass. I remember somebody who posted that he suffered from several family tragedies (and could prove it) during the master. That can happen to anyone and usually group leaders show some understanding.

I would suggest you to apply and see what happens. Good luck!

Thank you very for your response and encouragement Dunham.
During my Master study, I tried to my best to succeed. However, as an international student, it was challenging me for adjusting to a new environment and unfamiliar social life. Particularly, for the first six months, it was very difficult living in a big modern city. I think it is my big weakness, poor adaptive skills. But, it is not an excuse for my poor completion of the study I think.

Sometimes I think that studying for PhD it is like a “day dream” for me. And always ask myself that is it a really realistic future plan or not. But, I really want to be positive, to believe that I can get a good chance and better option. Thank you again.

Hi B108,

Sorry you've been having a rough time applying for a PhD.

What you might find useful, is to search for PhD programmes here: http://www.findaphd.com/

Each PhD which is listed here will contain details about the PhD, the eligibility criteria required to begin that programme, as well as describing what funding is available for that course. You'll also see a 'contact us' button on each programme which allows you to contact the institution directly and maybe discuss your specific circumstances.

If you were to secure a PhD, but there was no funding associated with it, you might be interested in searching Postgraduate Funding http://www.postgraduatefunding.com/ which lists various grants.

As well as that FindAPhD have annual scholarships, awarding a top prize of £5,000 and up to 4 £500 runner up prizes, which you can apply for here: http://www.findaphd.com/funding/postgraduate-phd-scholarships/

Good luck with your search,
Nikki

Hi Nikki,

Thank you very much for your advice and providing the links. I hope that I can find a better option.

Best wishes

good luck!

good luck!

HI B108,
I am in the exact same situation, and was wondering if you can tell me how your experience of PhD application been so far. Were you able to secure funding? PS- I am also an international student who secured low marks due to some family problems back in my home country. Would be really great to hear from you.