The process of defending your thesis is not only rewarding but it also needs to burn enough midnight oil, involves going through myriad learning experiences. But how to get into a Ph.D. program? How to go about the process, whom to reach out in need? That's tiresome as well. Let's try to simplify the process here. Before we begin unwinding, we would like to establish some ground rules. In the subsequent sections, Ph.D. refers to only full-time Ph.D. and the entire explanation is based on our research. Any deviations thereafter can happen. Please reach out to us in that case. we will try to help to the best of our abilities.
What are the different types of Ph.D. possible?
The Doctorate of Philosophy or as we call Ph.D. is conferred to the students for their academic contribution towards research in any discipline that's of the highest order. Essentially, the contribution is in the form of a thesis which the individual student defends and the work is recognized to confer the honor, It can be in any subject of education and covers a vast area of opportunities. But here, we will segregate the Ph.D. program in terms of funding. Essentially there are three different types:
The self-funding program is indeed quite self-explanatory where the students fund their entire course themselves or sometimes are sponsored by their employers. The latter part is very rare and this type of program is quite prevalent in private universities in Europe, the USA, Australia, and Canada. Next comes the partially funded program. In these programs, funding by universities covers a certain part of the course curriculum in the form of stipends. The remaining part of the costs can be covered by the students in the form of scholarships, bursaries, or by self-funding. The last and one of the most popular ones are the fully-funded Ph.D. programs. In this type of program, the student is offered full funding to incur all her/his expenses. Moreover, certain universities offer grants for travel to different conferences as well. The idea behind these programs is to engage the researcher solely towards creating quality academic output and support their process.
Understood about the program, but, how to begin? Where to begin?
There are primarily two processes to undergo as a part of joining any Ph.D. program. While the first process is more prevalent in tech and social science-based research programs, the latter ones are more followed in business-based programs. Having said that, it is always recommended to check the "Application Requirements" section thoroughly before applying to any of these programs.
The very beginning of the process is finding your own call, your own areas of interest where you intend to pursue research into. The areas of interest most likely need to be aligned with your past education, work experience, or relevant interests that can be showcased. Next, you need to frame a research proposal or at least a research idea. Along with this, you need to be ready with your Statement of Purpose(SOP) or Statement of Intent. Once you are done with these, start finding out relevant researchers who are working on similar topics across the globe. The easiest way is to look for the faculties in the university website section. Please do read some of their works, publications in order to get acquainted with the volume and essence of the work they are pursuing. Once, you finalize some research personals, please do reach out to them via email along with your research proposal, SOP and if possible, a resume. Wait for some time because they are generally very occupied with their work. If you get a positive reply, they might ask you for a discussion or interview. If you get through this, you need to send application documents. We will discuss the general application document checklist in the subsequent sections. After sending, wait till they get accepted and you receive a Letter of Acceptance(LOA). And voila! Welcome to the world.
The other way around is relatively simpler and is followed in many universities worldwide. While you need to put similar efforts into creating a niche research area and map them with areas of interest of a particular researcher, there is no need to contact supervisors and pitch your proposal. Generally, you need to apply through university online application portals with all the relevant documents. Please try to mention your preferred supervisor in your SOP if not asked otherwise. If your profile fits well, professors will schedule an interview to discuss further. Once you clear that, you might be asked to send original and relevant documents to prove your claims. And that's it! You will receive your LOA and there you go!
Ok! You have talked a lot about the application package. What it should contain?
Application package necessarily means the documents you need to upload while applying through the online portal. Whether they need to be sent by post or only digital copies need to be uploaded is discussed below.
Fundamentally, the application package should cover all your supporting documents for the online application process. As we have stressed a lot in this article, the research proposal/idea and SOP are very important documents. Next, you need a minimum of three letters of recommendation with a major share from the academic side. If possible, try getting referred from academic professors or teachers from your prior education. Kindly note, in most universities, this is an online process and you need to provide email ids of the referees. They will be provided with a unique link to complete your reference. This makes the process fair, easy, and confidential. Few universities like the University of British Columbia, Canada provides you an opportunity to send them hard copies of the references inside a sealed envelope. The resume needs to be updated and uploaded as a digital copy. To add to this, while applying, you need to upload unofficial academic transcripts for all your prior educational experience. If you are selected for the program, you need to mail official sealed copies of the transcripts. Unless you are a student of that particular university, this is standard accepted practice across all major universities. The last two sets of documents are GMAT/GRE and language requirements. Please go through the "Academic Requirements" section to verify if your program needs GRE/GMAT. We will discuss their preparation strategies in some other posts some other day. As far as language requirements are concerned, if your medium of the native language is English and/or you have proof that your academic curriculum was taught entirely in English, you are exempted from language-based tests. If not, then you need to appear for IELTS/TOEFL/PTE. The official scorecard needs to be uploaded as well as to be sent to the universities.
What's Next?
The Ph.D. program across any discipline is a very prestigious and highly competitive program. We hope this article serves as a starter to the process. If you need, any further assistance or you have certain queries, feel free to reach out, Hopefully, we can learn and grow together.
Till then...
Cheers!!
-Kush...
Comments