PhD application mistakes and top tips!
Summary
TLDRThis video script offers crucial advice for PhD applicants, highlighting three major mistakes to avoid: not clearly justifying the need for a PhD, not demonstrating a fit with the chosen institution or supervisor, and not providing a compelling reason for the timing of their application. It emphasizes the importance of showcasing relevant experience, securing strong recommendations, and presenting recent evidence of the field's relevance. The script also advises on building relationships with potential supervisors, proofreading applications for professionalism, and strategically formatting the application to make it stand out.
Takeaways
- 📝 Make it clear why you should be doing the PhD, highlighting your skills and experiences relevant to the research.
- 🏫 Explain why the chosen institution and supervisor are the perfect fit for your research goals, possibly due to specific resources or expertise.
- ⏰ Justify why it should be done now, citing recent developments or gaps in the field that your research could address.
- 🔍 Include lab experience in your application to demonstrate your ability to contribute to peer-reviewed research.
- 💌 Obtain strong letters of recommendation to bolster your application and establish credibility within the academic community.
- 🏆 Highlight your previous academic and research successes to showcase your potential as a productive PhD candidate.
- 🔗 Make a compelling case for the combination of your skills, the institution's resources, and the supervisor's expertise, using visual aids like Venn diagrams if helpful.
- 🔍 Use Google Scholar and other sources to find recent publications and media coverage that underscore the timeliness and relevance of your research topic.
- 🤝 Build a relationship with potential supervisors before applying to ensure they are enthusiastic about your candidacy.
- 👀 Ensure your application is professionally proofread to avoid grammatical errors and is formatted to make a strong first impression.
- 🔝 Prioritize your most impressive qualifications and achievements at the beginning of each section to capture the reader's attention immediately.
Q & A
What are the three major aspects that PhD applicants often fail to address clearly in their applications?
-The three major aspects are: the reason why the applicant should be doing the PhD, the reason why the chosen institution or supervisor is the best fit, and the reason why the PhD should be done now.
Why is it important for a PhD applicant to have lab experience?
-Lab experience is important because it shows that the applicant has foundational knowledge about how to work in a lab or conduct research, which increases the likelihood of producing good science that can result in peer-reviewed papers.
How can volunteering in a lab help a PhD applicant stand out?
-Volunteering in a lab can provide the applicant with practical experience, which is beneficial for demonstrating their ability to contribute to research and potentially stand out among other applicants.
Why are letters of recommendation significant in a PhD application process?
-Letters of recommendation are significant because they provide personal endorsements from known figures in the field, which can help the applicant gain credibility and increase their chances of being accepted.
What should a PhD applicant do to make their previous successes clear in their application?
-The applicant should highlight their previous successes, such as high grades or notable achievements, right at the top of their application to showcase their qualifications and strengths.
How can a PhD applicant demonstrate that the chosen institution and supervisor are the perfect fit for their research?
-The applicant can create a Venn diagram or use other visual aids to illustrate the overlap of skills, instruments, or capabilities that make the institution and supervisor an ideal match for their research.
What is the importance of showing urgency in a PhD application?
-Showing urgency helps to convey that the research is timely and relevant, which can make the application more compelling and increase the chances of being accepted.
How can a PhD applicant use Google Scholar and other resources to support their application's urgency?
-By searching for recent publications and popular science articles related to their research field, applicants can demonstrate that their topic is currently a hot topic and gaining attention in the academic community and media.
What is the common mistake that PhD applicants make regarding their relationship with potential supervisors?
-A common mistake is not speaking with the professor before applying or not building a strong enough relationship, which is crucial as the professor's enthusiasm can positively influence the admissions office's decision.
Why is proofreading a PhD application important and what can applicants do if they can't afford a professional proofreader?
-Proofreading is important to ensure the application is free of grammatical errors and presents a professional image. If unable to afford a proofreader, applicants can use tools like Grammarly to help produce well-structured sentences and paragraphs.
What is the advice given for the formatting and presentation of a PhD application to make it stand out?
-The advice includes using background colors to highlight achievements, placing important information at the top in bullet points, and ensuring the application is easy to interpret and visually appealing to make a strong first impression.
What should a PhD applicant do to ensure their application starts with an impactful introduction?
-The applicant should bring all the 'awesome stuff' to the front, starting each section with their most impressive achievements or qualifications to make a strong initial impact on the reader.
Outlines
📚 Importance of Clarity in PhD Applications
The first paragraph emphasizes the significance of addressing three key aspects in a PhD application: the applicant's suitability for the PhD, the rationale for choosing a particular institution or supervisor, and the timing of the application. It stresses the importance of showcasing relevant skills, experiences, and recent developments in the field. The speaker also suggests that sometimes minor formatting adjustments can significantly enhance the application's impact. The video promises to provide tips on how to make these elements clear and compelling.
🔍 Demonstrating Fit and Urgency in PhD Applications
The second paragraph focuses on the need to demonstrate why a specific institution or supervisor is the best fit for the applicant's research. It advises using visual aids like Venn diagrams to illustrate the alignment of skills, resources, and research interests. The paragraph also highlights the importance of showing urgency by referencing recent publications and media coverage to argue that the proposed research is timely and relevant. Additionally, it touches on the common mistake of not engaging with potential supervisors before applying and the necessity of proofreading to ensure professionalism.
🏆 Prioritizing Achievements in PhD Applications
The third paragraph discusses the common oversight of not prioritizing one's achievements in a PhD application. It encourages applicants to bring their most impressive qualifications and experiences to the forefront of each section. The speaker suggests seeking feedback from others to identify which aspects of the application are most compelling. The paragraph concludes by advocating for bold and clear formatting to make the application stand out and to capture the reader's attention from the start.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡PhD Application
💡Lab Experience
💡Recommendation Letters
💡Institution Fit
💡Supervisor
💡Urgency
💡Formatting
💡Personal Achievements
💡Proofreading
💡Research Field
💡Venn Diagram
Highlights
Three major mistakes in PhD applications are not addressing why they should do the PhD, why a particular institution or supervisor, and why now.
Clarifying why you should be doing the PhD by showcasing skills and experience.
Importance of lab experience and how it contributes to becoming a productive PhD student.
Advocating for volunteering in labs to stand out in PhD applications.
The value of letters of recommendation in supporting PhD applications.
The influence of personal recommendations in academic fields.
Making previous successes obvious and not being bashful about accomplishments.
The necessity of explaining why a particular institution or supervisor is the right choice for the PhD.
Using diagrams like Venn diagrams to illustrate the perfect fit between the candidate and the institution.
Injecting urgency into the PhD application by referencing recent developments in the field.
Utilizing Google Scholar and other science alerts to demonstrate the relevance of the research topic.
The common mistake of not speaking with a professor before applying for a PhD.
The importance of building a relationship with a potential PhD supervisor.
Proofreading applications to ensure a professional first impression.
Using formatting to make the application stand out and be easy to interpret.
Placing the most impressive achievements at the forefront of the application.
Seeking feedback from PhD students or others to identify the most impactful parts of the application.
The overall strategy for creating a compelling and error-free PhD application.
Transcripts
the three massive phd application
mistakes that i see people make is that
they don't address three major things
first of all they don't make it clear
why you why is it that you should be
doing this phd what skills what
experience do you bring we'll be going
through that the second thing is why
them why the institution or the
supervisor that you want to work with is
there an awesome combination of skills
is there an instrument or an application
or something in this institution that
makes it a perfect fit for what you want
to do and the third thing is why now
why is it that you need to be doing your
phd now is there something in the field
that's recently changed have you noticed
a gap has your supervisor recently made
a discovery that you want to help sort
of explore all of those things need to
be made crystal clear in your phd
application and sometimes it is just um
like a few
simple formatting changes or bumping up
a paragraph to the top of a section that
can make a huge difference and we'll be
going through all of the tips and how
you make those three things awesomely
clear in this video
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up okay so the first thing that people
don't make absolutely crystal clear in
their application is why they should be
doing the phd that they're proposing so
have you got any lab experience now lab
experience goes a really long way
because in undergraduate you know you do
normal labs labs that everyone else has
done in the past but if you've got a
little bit of summer lab experience or
if you've done something in your
master's or if you've done any sort of
research experience that should go into
the application because remember these
supervisors right let's be perfectly
clear and honest about what they want
they want productive phd students who
are going to produce peer-reviewed
papers to further their career and the
more experience you have in the lab the
more likely you're going to create good
science that's going to end up in
peer-reviewed papers quicker because you
have that kind of foundation knowledge
about how to work in a lab or how to do
research if you're doing humanities
and you know
that is really what they want so lab
experience goes a really long way and if
you haven't already volunteered in a lab
consider doing it now i'm not a big fan
of volunteering in general but if it can
help you just stand out a little bit a
little bit of volunteering will do a
great thing so letters of recommendation
also go a really long way into helping
them say yes this is the person for me
all scientific fields are relatively
insular like i remember once uh walking
through a conference and people like oh
my god it's that famous scientist and i
was like who the hell are they they were
famous only to a handful of people and
that should tell you that if you get
into the click if
a certain phd
professor or a researcher says yeah i
know this person and they're great it
goes a long way personal recommendations
really work so if you can get a letter
of recommendation from wherever you have
worked even if it's say an undergraduate
even if you're coming in with no lab
experience speak to your lecturers and
ask for a letter of recommendation if
you've done particularly well in that
course and ask them to describe how you
would fit into that research group and
why you're an awesome candidate
and the last thing is any previous
success should be made super obvious and
this isn't a time to be sort of bashful
about your previous accomplishments so
make it absolutely clear have you got
high grades have you got something that
you can boast about like write down
immediately right at the top like your
highlights and i think that is something
that not a lot of people do because they
feel a little bit like cringe-worthy
about talking about themselves in a
really kind of
boastful way but it is a very important
skill to get over in australia we have
this tall poppy syndrome where someone
stands up and puts their head above the
rest and go i'm great they love to cut
them down but an application is where
you want to be that tall poppy
the second mistake that people make is
they do not make it absolutely crystal
clear why the institution or the
supervisor should be involved make it
clear why them why is it that this
university is perfect for helping you do
this research why is it that that
professor is going to be the person that
to help you through your
candidature and help you really sort of
understand your research area um it may
be a collection of scientific
instruments that are at this uh
institution it may be a combination of
skills or what i like to do is sort of
like pick and choose and sort of create
a venn diagram right of saying well
we've got this these skills we've got
these instruments or these capabilities
we've got this kind of uh situation it
maybe it's like oh you know i moved to
australia to do solar cell research that
was a win um but you know if there is
something else an environmental factor
of why it needs to be in that city that
country wherever put that in a nice venn
diagram and say this is where my
research sits use diagrams as well they
you know a picture tells a thousand
words and a venn diagram tells even more
i'm sure but you know why them what is
it what is it about the overlap of these
skills these capabilities that make it a
no-brainer to be admitted into that
university to do a phd the third thing
that should be really obvious and people
don't do this enough is why now you need
to inject some urgency into this kind of
application by looking at google scholar
go to google scholar type in your
research field and look for recent
publications that support your phd
application and say look these people
have just published this this is a hot
topic another really interesting thing
and something that i don't see enough of
scientists do or even phd applications
involve is head over to eureka alert and
science alert and look for popular
science articles on your topic what this
will do is help demonstrate to the
people who are looking at your
application that this is a hot topic you
know this is making its way into media
this is making its way into news so um
getting really hot topic things from
your field and say this is emerging
because i've got this evidence this
evidence this recent paper and these
students have just graduated look at
other theses from the supervisor that
you want to
get involved with and
that makes it sound a little bit weird
doesn't it that you want to to be part
of their research group um and you know
just
bring together a case for why now why is
it that within the next six months you
should start this and by bringing in
google scholar by bringing in eureka
alert science alert and also any other
students that have recently graduated
once again you're creating a nice body
of evidence to say not only it should be
me not only should it be them but it
should be as soon as humanly possible
because it is happening you know the
field is evolving quickly and i think
those three things coming together are
an absolute winner for any phd
application
so general mistakes that people make is
the biggest first one is that they do
not speak with the professor before
applying or they don't build enough of a
relationship because really the
professors are going to be the person
the final uh gatekeeper to this
application and you want them to be
excited when the admissions office says
oh we just had this application from so
and so and you want them to go yes
i want them like it's a no-brainer so
build up a relationship with a phd
supervisor beforehand and there's no
harm in showing them your application
and in some places you have to show your
phd application to the person that you
actually want to end up with but it
varies from place to place but uh yeah
making sure that they're excited so that
the admissions office can be like okay
yeah this must be a good thing that's
the sort of uh impact you want to have
once those two talk okay also get it
proofread there's another thing that uh
is just annoying which is you know your
first uh sort of appearances or your
first thoughts about a phd application
should be wow this is professional this
is great there should be no distracting
elements there should be no uh
grammatical errors so you know you if
you can't afford a proofreader you've
got no one to proofread it just download
grammarly download something that will
just help you produce good
sentences
and just good sentences and good
paragraphs and good formatting goes a
huge way in making people pick up your
uh application and go oh this one is uh
substantial it feels professional like
that's how you want the first
impressions to be
and also don't be scared of formatting
make sure that what you're saying is
easy to interpret remember these people
have to look at a whole range of
different applications every day every
week so you want yours to stand out so
there is no harm in using background
colors you know just to highlight like
your achievements in a box put stuff
right at the very top in a bullet point
and say these are the awesome features
about me i've got research experience
i've got these letters of recommendation
i've got this
this grade mark
and all of these things will come
together and that's the final bit the
final thing is that we do not put the
best things up front
so the way that we tend to write if
we're just doing it normally and
naturally is that we hide the good stuff
under just sort of like background
information that is incorrect a
supervisor of mine once said bring all
of the awesome stuff that for some
reason we want to bury bring it to the
front you want the first paragraph that
they read under each section that they
give you of the application for them to
go well this is impactful so start big
and then talk about your other
achievements but
if you're not sure which one is your
biggest achievements get someone who's
familiar like a phd student and ask them
which one impresses you most is it my
research experience is it my letters of
recommendation is it my grades is there
something else is there something else
about my application that makes me stand
out and then bring that boom right to
the very top because they're probably
not going to read or remember much but
you want them to feel as soon as they
read each section and be like oh this is
another rush this is another thing that
i should definitely take
notice of and doing that feed section
will definitely help you build up that
confidence in your application
those are the biggest mistakes that phd
applicants make in their application so
let me know in the comments which ones
you would add and if you have enjoyed
this video remember to go check out
academiainsider.com
where i have got my new website my new
ebook my new insider community all of
these things are helping phd students
and academics become the best versions
of their academic selves so go check it
out because i've spent a lot of time
writing the ebook and stuff and i think
you'll like it so i'll see you over
there and i shall see you in the next
video
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