Hi everyone,

I know this sounds silly and depends on many factors. Basically what I wanna know is once a person has applied for a scholarship to a university (after he/she has managed to get a Professor to supervise 'em), how much percentage that the person can actually get the scholarship ? I mean since a lot of people on this forum have this experience, I am looking for something like how many of you ended up trying for more than one universities (because your scholarship application was rejected/not qualified) to be able to get into the program. With all due respect to everyone here, I am not looking for individual failures while trying to get into the program but would encourage everyone to share your experience about how you tried to get into the program and if possible, how many universities and how many times.

The reason which I am asking this question is, recently, I have applied scholarship to a university in Australia and now sitting duck, waiting for the outcome but not applying any more scholarship in any other universities. I have been wondering, what if my scholarship got rejected ? Should I try the same university with different proposal or should I try another university with the same proposal (In a general sense, I am saying it more like using the same proposal topic) ? Or shall I start applying scholarship in different universities now as I am waiting for the outcome of my scholarship. I know it depends on a lot of factors and making decision of what to do next is solely depend on one's choice. However, I would like to know the percentage of once a person has been offered by a Professor that he/she would like to supervise , what are the chances of that candidate to actually get the scholarship ?

Regards,

Really depends on how the scholarships are allocated, but you have already acknowledged this.

I had three different supervisors accept me for their PhDs and therefore applied for three scholarships, failed for two, and got one. I applied to other places (which came with funding) while I waited though, since you really don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. Then again the other places didn't require me to apply to the same funding body, since they came with funding, so that might affect it. Also each of the scholarships I applied for came from different sources too.

This will give you an idea at least...or I hope it does anyway.

You have asked a question which is really hard to answer. OK, external funding bodies, fairly slim to be honest but always worth a shot. Internally in the University, much better chance provided you make yourself known and show the right people that you are keen and passionate (without brown-nosing of course).

In the end, if your proposal is superb then you have every chance of making it, so good luck to you.

It varies hugely by many factors. In my field, humanities, the UK funding council AHRC generally award grants to about 1 in 5 of applicants. So very slim chances of getting anything. And that's, pretty much, the only source of funding for humanities students, short of self-funding.

In my experience science PhD awards can be much easier to get, because science PhD places are funded in much greater numbers. This is based on my past life as a science PhD student, and my own experience and those of many others.

But it's probably impossible to put a figure on your chances.

difficult question :-)
1. if you get rejected, first don't lose heart.
2. try the same university with different proposal: if me, I wouldn't.
3. try another university with the "same" proposal: if me, possible.
4. there is nothing "wrong" if you apply to other universities while waiting for your scholarship
5. the percentage of getting the scholarship if already offered by the Professor: I would say, are quite good; I would say 55% but again like you said, this depends on many factors etc.

one example is: everything could seem wonderful but suddenly there is no funding so no more scholarship.

6. the chances of that candidate to actually get the scholarship: I would say, quite good; again I put 55% because you never know what will happen (in fact you might even change your mind or get a better offer) and whatever it is, you need it in writing (black and white). So until you get the formal offer letter, then chances are less than 100%.

love satchi

It really is difficult to say- a lot of the research councils are having to tighten their belts and I know the ESRC have gone from approx a 25% success rate to about 11% in just 2 years or so for major projects just because of the financial situation. Personally I put in the same PhD proposal to three different funding sources- One never received my application as it got lost in the post (my own fault, I should have sent it by recorded delivery!) but both of the other sources offered to fund my first choice PhD, so I was really lucky. I agree that your best chance is probably departmental funding-a lot of people in my department are funded by the school itself, and these are mainly people who did their MSc here so the uni know that thhey have a good track record etc and they have had a chance to form a relationship with their supervisor too. Good luck with it, KB

like others have siad, it's not really possible to answer this one...I was accepted for a PhD in my undergrad department, with a project and 2 supervisors sorted, but the department was only awarded funding for 4 places that year which went to uber-qualified people so I couldn't do it with self funding (Science phd). The following year I was told that I could have received funding that year as there was loads available for the department, but I had already started my phd in a different department. So it;s horses for courses I'm afraid...I'd apply everywhere you can though, no point restricting yourself, although don't plan things too much for one place if you are secretly holding out for another place...

First of all, Thanks everyone for taking time to answer my silly question. I was out of town and did not happen to check my post. It gives me lots of thoughts. I do appreciate for the replies. All the replies, lead me to one conclusion. Now I am browsing other universities web site and started sending email to professors. At first, I think it's a bit lame to write a lot of proposal at the same time with different research topic but it appears that I should not leave any chance behind or I might end up trying like 3 years to actually get into the program. Thanks all for sharing ideas and I will be looking forward to hearing more.

Is it really 1 in 5 from the AHRC? I know for a fact that my funded scholarship, ie. fees + maintenance, had a shortlist of 6, implying that more than 6 submitted proposals (I'd love to know the actual number of applicants, but have veered away from enquiring). I'd spent months developing a resprop for a different university, establishing a good rapport with a supervisor, and chasing funding, only to reply to an advert for an AHRC funded place elsewhere, and landed that one very quickly. Depending on your urgency to find a place, I'd chase a few options, rather than working through them sequentially over an extended period.