Hi,

It depends on where do you plan to pursue your PhD. In most universities you will have to find a potential supervisor who is willing to supervise you if you are admitted. You should have a rough idea about your PhD thesis since most likely you will need to submit your preliminary thesis plan when applying to the PhD course. In addition you will probably need approval by your supervisor and 2-3 recommendation letters together with your own letter of motivation. Of course documents of your previous studies, CV, academic research and language skills are required too.

The scholarships can be tricky. Again it will depend on the university, some universities provide all students with a salary (for example universities in Switzerland) or scholarship (Estonian universities), some offer it only for limited number of students based on their study results. Anyway, I do not recommend choosing a course only based on available scholarships.

So, I would say that the most important step is to find yourself a good supervisor. I suppose you have some contacts with professors in university of Manchester or somewhere else.

Good luck!

Mia

http://www.universitiesineurope.org

Hi,

Majority of the universities require that you already have a supervisor by the time you apply for the study place. Since you do not have any contacts in Germany, I would advise you to go through web sites of German universities. See the information about the faculty you may be interested, usually they have a list of professors who work there. Pay attention to the research work they have done and see if you can find professors whose research field matches with your interests.

Once you have found some professors who might be your potential supervisor, the next step is to contact them. Write them an email where you mention how their research interests you, explain your aims and research goals. Of course, provide information about your education, research projects you have conducted so far, probably your master thesis will be most important one. It might be useful to mention your language skills (English and German). If you have any letters of recommendations by your teachers it can be a good idea to add it too. Overall rule is to keep the letter informative and do not make it too bulky.

Keep in mind that some professors get hundreds of letters from prospective students a month. Do not send the same message to all professors, make it personal! You should definitely demonstrate that you are familiar with his/her research topics. Make sure your letter is formal and does not contain spelling or grammar mistakes. Also, be prepared that many of those professors do not reply you. It might be because their research topics do not coincide with yours, or there are no vacant study places, or maybe simply they do not have the time for it. Applying to a foreign university is not easy, especially if it's a PhD study. Supervisor has to know that you are capable of carrying out the work that's needed for PhD. That's something what you have to prove in your letter.

Of course you might find universities where you can apply without supervisor but I guess it's a rare case. Additionally, many universities announce open positions for PhD candidates, the drawback is that usually they require special skills that most candidates do not possess. Anyway, it's worth keeping an eye on them.

Nope, I haven't studied in Germany but few years ago I applied to one university in Switzerland, the neighbouring country of Germany.

Best of luck!

Mia


http://www.universitiesineurope.org

Hi Padmashree,

it really depends on which subject interests you the most. I would highly recommend choosing a topic you are passionate about and something you are ready to work on for years. Also, think about what will be the outcome of your PhD studies. How the results of your work contribute to your field of study? If it's only you and your supervisor who are interested in the subject and the outcome of the doctoral thesis does not provide anything useful to the society then it's probably not worth it.

Did you get your previous degrees also in Germany? Have you already decided in which university you plan to pursue Phd and have you got candidates for your supervisor.  Having a good supervisor for doctoral studies is VERY important, please make sure you'll get a supervisor who has the time and interest to work together with you!

I wish you good luck!

Mia

http://www.universitiesineurope.org