r/PhDAdmissions

I did not do a thesis track for my MA program. Now I’m worried though that this is going to ruin my chances at getting into a PhD program. I am gathering my application materials and I want to provide a good writing sample, but I don’t feel any of my papers were long enough or exceptional enough to use that I wrote for any of my MA courses. One of my former instructors basically made it sound like I have to have a thesis of some kind but it’s too late for that because I have already graduated. I just don’t know what to do. Is it acceptable to develop and write my own research paper and use that? Even if it’s not a thesis? I just don’t know what else I can do at this point. Does everyone who applies to a PhD program use a thesis paper for their writing sample? I tried before I graduated to get an instructor to do an independent study with me but he made it sound like that was not necessary. I’m just really confused now what they are expecting as a writing sample and I don’t want to submit the wrong thing and ruin my chances.

After 16 applications 3 invited me to interviews.

5 online interviews.

2 onsite visits (one for a whole 2 weeks?!)

One scholarship run

I got offered 2 positions, and the scholarship run isn't finished yet.

I declined the first immediately after the visit.

I stopped the scholarship run today.

I accepted the third one. It is arguably the best deal I could have made with exciting Science behind it at a mid-rage university with a prestigious PI that I liked as a person.

I'm excited.

I don't have anyone close to me who understands what I accomplished so I share it with you guys.

(No publications, worked in industry, Good but not outstanding grades)

Cheers

Edit: I don't know the chances of an Indian student to get in a specific PhD program. Stop DMing me

TL;DR: I’m a 28yo high school history teacher in Chicago with a Master's in Education and 10 years of advanced Japanese fluency. I just went through a school closure (and CPS is a mess right now), which has me finally wanting to pursue my dream of a PhD. My goal is to research early Indian Buddhist political philosophy (specifically the Vinaya and Ashokan edicts), using untranslated Japanese scholarship by Hirakawa and Nakamura to bridge the gap in Western research. I’ve spent the last two years hyper-focusing on deep primary/secondary source research to build my own curriculums from scratch, but I don't have recent professor-led research or publications, so I feel like I'm just some random guy applying off the street

I am a 28 year old guy who lives in Chicago. I studied japanese for 10 years of my life. My bachelors degree was in international government and politics, and my minor was in japanese. I became very good at japanese, and helped TA an n1 level class (highest level) and helped create the materials for that class. After college i originally planned to teach english in japan and did successfully get a job there, but the pandemic prevented me from going to japan in 2020 and 2021 to be a teacher. I floated around for a bit after that (i substitute taught japanese for a few months) but came back to Chicago and received my masters in secondary education in social studies after 3 years. I taught at a high school for almost 2 years however the school was shut down by Chicago earlier in the middle of the school year due to financial issues. There I taught World history, US history, Latin American history, Civics, and Media Studies. Recently, in the last week CPS has announced it has lost 7 million dollars and many schools in Chicago are letting go of staff.

I pretty much built the curriculum and materials for the classes I taught on my own, following traditional state and fed guidelines for them. I had these guidelines to follow so I knew what I was supposed to teach (what students had to know) but I was expected to make everything for my classes myself. In making the materials for these classes in my first two years, I poured over what felt like a million scholarly articles and primary/secondary sources, and synthesized them to create year long courses that had their own year long narratives. I've always enjoyed doing the research, and putting a "story" together using all the resources available to me. Even in college I have had an affinity for doing research in the social studies/history field and then writing long essays on them. Many of my old professors said I wrote well at the time. Learning for the sake of itself has always been fun and held meaning to me. Although I guess many of my students would say I was too strict or demanding in the content and skills I wanted them to demonstrate.

I am thinking now that it might be the right time to get my PhD, it is something I have always wanted to do but never gave much actual serious thought towards. I enjoy researching and answering my own questions about the world, writing and explaining, as well as teaching.

I would like to study early Buddhism in India. More specifically, I would like to use my background in government and politics and research how early Indian Buddhist monastic law within the Vinaya as well as the Edicts of King Ashoka constitute a coherent Indian Buddhist political philosophy, and use the reign of Asoka as a case study to investigate the actual implementation of those ideas - comparing and contrasting Indian Buddhist ideas/government with Western political thinkers' ideas/government. Or something.

The reason I mention my Japanese is because Western scholarly research on Buddhism tends to pale in comparison to Japanese scholarly research on Buddhism. There is simply more scholarly research in Japan on Indian Buddhism than in the West, and relies on different Buddhist texts and canon, and obviously much has yet to be used in Western scholarship due to the language barrier. I would like to use the untranslated works of Akira Hirakawa and Hajime Nakamura (two prominent Japanese scholars on Indian Buddhism) to bolster my application and research. I already have had experience reading and translating high level Japanese literature and scientific documents.

Do you think it is possible for me to get a PhD in what id like to focus on? Be honest. Are there other things I should think of researching maybe? Or other things I should do instead? I am worried as i am now 28 and technically my researching experience comes from making the curriculum and materials for my classes and not with any professors. I enjoy research and writing, and I desperately want to know more about early Buddhism in India (it is a passion of mine! and not well researched in the West it seems like) But technically I am just some guy applying off the street it feels like. I do not have any recent true scholarly research experience and I've never published shit. I apologize for rambling, I kinda just typed my thoughts out. But please help me, I'm not sure what I should do.

I am from a poor Asian country and I don't work at the moment due to some problems I faced. A professor from a good Japanese university encouraged me to apply to his PhD program. Since the application money is about 180 USD, I had to ask my parents.

But my parents refused saying that Japan is not a good country (they are themselves govt school teachers, no experience in research or foreign travel at all and we live in a poor country with very less tourism): English is not the main language and the work culture is not good. They plainly refused to pay the application fees and will refuse the visa fees and all that.

Their refusal has been deeply painful for me and I think I am missing a very good opportunity.

Which facts about Japan Education system can I use to try to convince them that I am not taking a bad decision by applying there?

Also, my parents are insisting that I apply only to English Speaking Countries like UK, USA, Canada,Australia,New Zealand because my nation was colonized by one of these nations and I can speak English, They donot know that UK and all other countries have very high fees for international students as compared to domestic ones

How can I tell my parents in detail about this issue as well that fees in UK and other anglophone nations is very high as compared for domestic students and some other issues which donot exist in many Non-English speaking countries for International PhD students.

Can you please guide me!! I shall be very grateful and show them your answer.

Hey everyone,

I’m a Moroccan student finishing my first year of a master’s in finance at a low-mid tier business school in France. Got grades between 14-16/20 this year and my master's thesis is planned for 2027. I want to apply for fully funded PhD programs in Finance/Financial Economics in Europe, I am open to Germany, Portugal, UK, Spain, basically anywhere with funding.

A few questions: Is my profile realistic for these kinds of programs. and how do I up my chances in the coming academic year? Also, how important is it to have a supervisor confirm before applying? Should I wait or just apply? What actually makes a research proposal stand out when you don’t have publications?
For anyone who got a fully funded PhD in Europe as a non-EU student, what made the difference?

Thanks for any advice.

Hi everyone.

I have a bachelors and masters degree from a top 10 university in the UK. I am an international student and wanted to apply for a PhD in other countries since I heard that getting a PhD in the UK is difficult due to funding constraints for international applicants.

I applied to about 8 US universities in the fall 2026 cycle and unfortunately did not get in anywhere. I'll admit, maybe it was a bit short-sighted since there are many funding cuts in the US as well. During my applications, I wrote to many PIs and even had a positive meeting with one who seemed interested to have me. However, it did not work out since it was admission by committee.

Currently, I'm working as a research assistant at a good university in my home country. I hope this adds some research experience to my CV and maybe publications.

I don't want to do a PhD in my home country and would like to do it in UK, Europe, or the US, since these countries have more relevant work in my field. Does anyone have suggestions on how to change my strategy for applications or any ways to further improve my application for the next cycle?

I am aware that various countries have different mechanisms for how the applications are considered. Should I just focus on one location, rather than splitting my efforts across various places?

Also, when should I start emailing PIs to ask about vacancies? I'm not sure how the funding works and I don't want to email too soon.

I'm open to any suggestions!!

Thanks!

This is for anybody in a similar boat that i have been in for the last three application cycles. I applied three times, waitlisted for one program the first time, waitlisted for another the second year. I thought my life was over and I just wasn’t cut out for a PhD program. This cycle, I got 6 funded acceptances and 1 waitlist. I am so grateful and it feels so nice to be seen, finally. If you are in need of a sign to keep trying, THIS IS IT! I know everyone says it, and it is much easier said than done, but I truly do believe it all works out in the end the way it’s supposed to. Don’t give up!

Hello everyone,

I am from India.

I am in dilemma. I will be pursuing PhD in my field of interest that is more interdisciplinary and needs some coursework/study that my current major lacks. Though I have relevant research experience in that field, still I doubt that lack of grades in relevant coursework my PhD demands will lead me to a disadvantage. Will certificates be of any value to showcase that I know & have done some study & got grades in courses that I couldn't learn due to nature of my major? Pls help.

For those who don't know what NPTEL is, its basically like Coursera or MIT Open CourseWare but regulated by Indian govt. and proctored exams are conducted at the end of each 4/8/12/15 week courses and has transferable credits.

I'm an M.Sc. Astrophysics student in India. Can someone please suggest how to prepare myself that will increase my selection chances in PhD abroad? Also, suggestion of some good PhD programs will be appreciated. Thank you!

Is it typical for most programs to want around 3 letters of recommendation for the application? Also, who were these people typically? PI's make sense, and professors, but what are some others that people asked for letters from? (I am a potential chemistry PhD applicant).

Hello I am a high school student who will be going into university this year (McGill), I will be pursuing mathematics and I was wondering if I should do a PhD after.

List of things I DO NOT WANT:
-Low pay
-Dead end job with no intellectual ability needed (excel sheets and such)

List of things I WANT:
-Research position at a university or industry
-relatively good pay

Do I need a PhD in applied math? How common are research positions, or relatively volatile/exiting jobs that pay well IN INDUSTRY?

Any advice is well appreciated as I am just a high school student right now and do not know a lot of things about academia nor industry.

I was accepted into Howard's History PhD program last week, and while I was shocked and excited, I became anxious when considering the costs. I saw the financial aid package during the weekend, and saw that I only received loans and nothing else- no grants, scholarships, or even work study. Even with the loans, it still would not be enough to pay for this year.

With a heavy heart, I decided to defer to next year, because I'm hoping that I will have a better financial preparation and outcome. While I'm disappointed in making this decision, I'm trying to see the bright side of things, since I realized there are some things that I need to do while I defer and head to Howard next year instead.

Despite the deferment decision, there are some concerns I have. First and foremost, I'm worried that my deferment will not be accepted, and I will have to drop out instead. Second, I'm also worried that Howard's Admissions department will not respond to my deferment email since I know that their communication is not the best. With that, I'm wondering who I should reach out to instead of Admissions.

Despite these concerns, I also have some questions regarding preparation for the next year. I would like to know from those who deferred, especially current and former PhD students, what they did to get the finances in order. I already know about applying for the assistantships, which I am going to spend the summer preparing for, but I also want to any other access to funds, especially grants and scholarships. Also, I would like to know if there is anything I would have to do during the deferment to make myself a stronger applicant than the other candidates for next year. I'm looking into doing independent research, internships, and other possibilities to get some experience and enhance myself.

I really appreciate those who took the time to help me with this situation. Any advice and suggestions are taken into consideration.

Hi everyone!

The last post about the 2026 SSH Call has been deleted, so I'm starting a new one. How does everyone feel after their interviews? Did anyone receive any news?

Anyhow, hope we all receive the results soon!

I hold a completed masters degree and was thinking about trying to get into a PhD program in the next couple years as my life becomes more conducive to it. I seem to be seeing a lot of direct to PhD type programs and as such have been having a bit of hard time finding information about what it might entail to get into and complete a PhD program when you already have a masters in the field. If anyone has info on what they've seen or experienced in terms of program and/or financial requirements (for example amount of required courses, general phd costs, timelines, etc.). Would also love any general advice in terms of figuring out potential dissertation topics, applications, or programs you've heard good things about. US based, undergrad/masters are in applied math so would be looking in that general field i.e. mathematics / OR / Stats / Data.

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate your advice on my situation (hopefully this is enough information). I applied to PhD programs in AI regulations and technology at four different schools, but instead received MS offers from two of them (Courant and Tandon). One of the schools even offered me a small scholarship. I currently have three publications in peer-reviewed journals (Smart Cities, Emerald, and AI/technology related journals). I also have a BS in Data Analytics from NYU, an MS in International Relations from a European university, and an AS in Computer Science from Miami Dade College. What do you think would be the better option: accept the MS offer (and potentially (will it?) improve my chances for a future PhD application), or reapply directly for PhD programs in Fall 2026? Thank you in advance for any advice or insights!

(copied from r/ phd after the mods said posting it here would be more appropriate)

Hi all,

Brief background about my current situation. Studied an integrated master's degree in mathematics, UK based as a UK citizen. First year had difficulties relating to fitting into university life but survived (thankfully first year doesn't count to my total grade, second year mostly good but still struggling to fit into university, third year was absolutely perfect, loved doing my mini research project for it, fourth year absolute trainwreck but still got through. As I love my field I was dead certain on doing a PhD after my master's however having struggling with a lot of stuff that is often done in a PhD like researching and writing up reports I had to make the unfortunate decision that a PhD wasn't right for me at the time. Since then I've been looking for work for the past year with no results as of yet. Whilst I'm in my unemployment arc and active job searching is getting me nowhere, I am strongly considering using this time to work on myself to overcome my difficulties and be PhD ready. I've exchanged some ideas with ChatGPT (I know, cringe, but I wanted some bad answers quickly) to think them through on how to prepare. I've considered doing a small report very similar to the project done consisting of 25% of marks in my third and fourth year, and once I've gotten that done I'll contact my previous PT for advice and a reference. Is this a good way to prepare? What are your thoughts?

incoming engineering undergrad — considering between offers from the top (not oxbridge/imperial) schools here in the UK e.g. manchester, edinburgh, bath, bristol…. does prestige matter when you apply to phds? some of the schools i just listed have better research output than others — does that matter?

Thanks for any help!!

I have a 3.4 GPA in my masters program specializing in Human Resource Management. I have a research thesis underway after I complete it Im trying to head off somwhere abroad a friend of mine suggested somewhere asian or european. I cant really make up my mind some suggestions would help, thanks.

When it's explicitly stated as optional in admission requirements, do committees prefer candidates with GRE over non-GRE candidates? Considering that other aspects of the profile are similar (or almost similar). Apologies if its generic/repeated question, but I have not been able to fully understand its Impact on PhD applications.

For US Schools only

I'm currently writing my first CV 5 years post-undergrad. I know that sections such as research experience, professional experience, and publications are required and should be prioritized, but what if I wanted to include extracurricular activities/fun things I do in my free time that are still relevant to the programs I'm applying to?

For context, I work as a bioinformatics scientist and am looking to apply to PhD programs in conservation and ecology/evolutionary biology. I love to take part in citizen science outside of work, whether that's contributing to iNaturalist or Zooniverse.

Generally, are there any unconventional sections/things to mention your CV that you believe gave you more of an edge? Would adding such sections leave a bad impression?