I’ve been fortunate to have landed in a good PhD programme and have had a largely positive experience but there are some things that I wish I had known while applying to PhDs when deciding which programme will be best for me. Well, in this blogpost, I share tips for choosing the right PhD programme and hope this will give you a head start if you are just starting off the journey. Here are the tips:
1. Reflect on what discipline is best for your research interests: Research about the authors of the academic papers in your area of interest. What discipline(s) are they in? Are they sociologists, geographers, development economists, chemists, biologists, mechanical engineers, literary scholars, historians? Certain research outputs also straddle multiple disciplines and departments, and this gives you more options in terms of what disciplines you can pursue for your PhD.
2. Find a supervisor that has research interests that are related to yours: I was interested in studying youth employment from a sociological perspective, so I contacted supervisors whose research was in the area of sociology of work when I was applying for my PhD. Consider what you are interested in studying and search online for a supervisor at the universities that you are considering applying to. If you have started on a particular research trajectory during your undergraduate and master’s degree that you would like to continue on during your PhD, your undergraduate and master’s supervisor could also refer to you to someone that can supervise your PhD. Make sure to read the research output (books, articles) of the supervisor you are considering to ensure that their work is aligned with your interests.
3. Research about the department that you are applying to: Beyond finding a suitable supervisor for your work, make sure to research about the broader department in which your supervisor works. What are the main research themes of the department? What kind of research are the other faculty in the department pursuing? If you have a falling out with your supervisor (hopefully not!) or if your supervisor leaves the department, is there another faculty member in the department who would be able to supervise your work? It is also helpful to have other faculty apart from your supervisor in your department with similar research interests to yours to give you a range of people that could give you advice and feedback as you work on your PhD.
4. Talk to students who have gone before you: Reach out to students who have passed through the programme that you are interested in applying to especially to those who have been supervised by the supervisor who you would like to supervise your work. They will be able to tell you what you won’t be able to find on any website. What is the culture of the department? What kind of personality does your supervisor have? What has been the experience of students that have been supervised by the supervisor you would like to apply to? Many universities have information about their current students and recent graduates on their website from which you can cull their contact information. Some will respond while others might not, but those that do will likely give you invaluable information. You can also ask your supervisor for the contact information of his other students to give you insight into the programme.
5. Visit the campus: Visit the campus and department that you are interested in applying to if you are able. This might be more difficult if you are an international student like I was but if you are able to, it could give you more insight to make informed decisions as you apply for your PhD.
6. Find out about funding possibilities: You also need to find out about how you are going to fund your PhD. Where could you possibly get funding for the programme you would like to pursue? Does the university or department have funding that supports PhD students? Does your prospective supervisor have funding that could support your PhD studies? Also, you will need funding for things such as fieldwork, conferences etc., does the programme you are applying to provide funding to support these activities?
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