How to Choose the Right Programme for Your PhD Applications (+ Bonus Checklist)

You’re considering applying for a PhD programme, but you’re unsure of where to start or if you’ll finish. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Finding the best and most suitable PhD programme for your applications is challenging at best. Especailly with all the different programme types, study options and supervisors to choose from.

In addition, multiple studies have shown that up to 60% of doctoral students don’t complete their programmes or prolong them extensively. This clearly demonstrates the existence of a systemic problem in academia that will be encountered by any ambitious researcher, including you. Choosing the right programme for you can help you see your PhD through and have academic success.

In this article, we will analyse how a thoughtful choice of a PhD programme can eliminate many of the issues leading PhD applicants to failure.

1. Draw the Line over What you Do/Don’t want from a PhD Programme

The first thing you need to do is understand the limits of your ‘area of compromise’. Even the best PhD programme in the world isn’t perfect, and you will have to adjust your expectations, perceptions, plans, and activities to its conditions. However, setting clear boundaries is the first step towards making the best choice. Here are some questions you want to ask yourself:

• Should your ‘dream programme’ allow flexibility if you decide to adjust your research field or questions?
• Will you pursue tenure-track positions or an industry career after it?
• Do you have the means to temporarily relocate if you find an ideal programme abroad?
• What is the absolute minimal funding you need to survive in the worst-case scenario if you choose the full-time option?
• Will you be able to sacrifice your current earnings if you find a dream PhD programme that does not accept part-time students?

Writing these and other questions down allows you to radically cut down the scope of your search by excluding the options that may be lucrative in some areas but unacceptable to you in others.

2. Perform a Broad Scan of Available Programmes for your PhD Applications

Take the criteria from step 1 and put them into an Excel table as column headings. Next, simply browse through all PhD programmes fitting each criterion. Put all matches into the first column, and proceed to the next one. Don’t focus excessively on exploring individual programmes, just see if they match one of your criteria.

Next, see whether some programme names repeat across multiple columns. If you have invested sufficient effort and browsed through several dozens of options, you should receive 5-6 close matches fitting multiple criteria.

The trick here is not to look into individual programmes too much first. People tend to get invested in their search, which leads to bias. When you suddenly ‘fall in love’ with a particular option, you can start looking for confirmations suggesting it as the best choice. Don’t fall into this trap. Search broadly, make large lists, and let the ideal variants emerge from your data and not your bias. This approach also allows you to make further adjustments if you decide to remove some of the criteria (columns) to expand your range of options later on.

3. Look for Flaws, not Favourable Features

Another tactic to avoid a biased vision is to look for warning signs rather than programme advantages. While this mindset is inherently negative, it can really help you avoid bias and see each option for what it really is. Consider the following:

• Are there research centres and labs affiliated with your department of choice?
• Are there successful PhD placements published on the department’s website?
• How good are department collaborations and interdisciplinary opportunities?
• Are there enough faculty members operating in the same research sphere as yours?
• Has the programme produced some exciting published work in your area in the past?
• How many supervisors accepting students in your sphere are available?
• What programme requirements can be problematic for you?

4. Check Your Concerns

We live in the world of the Internet and global connectivity. Allocate a whole weekend to finding PhD students and graduates from your programmes of choice. If they are open about this, ask them about your concerns and overall experiences. Not all people will be willing to discuss their supervisors or universities with strangers. However, you may still find some valuable first-hand information that may contradict the ‘positive’ image formed by the official institution websites.

5. Check Your Personal and Research Fit for the PhD Programme

Finally, approach your institutions of choice and try to reach your prospective supervisors. While programme features are highly important, you also need to ensure that you have a strong personal and research fit.

There are some fantastic supervisors who are extremely difficult to deal with. Some do not find your area of research especially interesting. Don’t ignore this step. While extensive preparation may seem excessive, finding fit problems before you start is infinitely better than discovering them several years down the road.

Now, let us put it all together and create a step-by-step checklist to help you select the best PhD programme for you!

Step 1. Draw the line. Things to check:

• Can the programme accommodate shifts in your research focus?
• Does the programme support your career goals?
• Are you willing to relocate to enter a great programme?
• What is the minimum funding you need to survive?
• Are you willing to go full-time if part-time is not an option?

Step 2. Perform a broad scan. Things to check:

• Create an Excel table with the criteria above as column headers.
• Quickly list every programme matching a certain criterion in the corresponding column.
• Find the programmes repeating across multiple columns.

Step 3. Look for flaws. Things to check:

• Availability of research centres and labs.
• Interdisciplinary work availability.
• PhD placements.
• Sufficient faculty scholars working in your sphere of interest.
• Recent publications in your field.
• Supervisor availability.

Step 4. Check your concerns. Things to check:

• Find current and past students from your programmes of choice.
• Ask honest and specific questions about your worries from Step 3.
• Collect this data and compare it with the official image.

Step 5. Check your personal and research fit. Things to check:

• Contact prospective supervisors and measure their interest in your topic.
• Assess their mentorship style and availability.
• Appraise the personal chemistry.
• Ensure the alignment between your research interests and the faculty’s current research projects.

Final tip: approach your programme choice as a research study. Put points and numeric scores against each item, calculate the totals, and make sure that your decision is data-driven and unbiased.

If you are struggling to find a suitable PhD programme or want help preparing your applications for the best chance of acceptance, Original PhD can help. We offer comprehensive PhD writing help from before the start of your PhD to the very end. Contact us today!