Although not all PhD programs require interviews, most do, and you will usually interview with the faculty member who will be supervising your research. If you’re invited to a PhD interview, you want to take full advantage of the opportunity you’ve been given by preparing effectively. In this post, we’ll focus on some of the questions…
Deciding Who Should Write Your Letters of Recommendation – PhD
Letters of recommendation (LORs) are a key part of your application. A strong one can provide meaningful support, while a lukewarm one can really hurt your chances of admission. In this post, we’ll answer two questions: (1) Who should write in support of your PhD application? And (2) how can you make sure your LORs…
Seeking Employment with Your New PhD
Congratulations! You’ve worked hard and are now the proud holder of a PhD. Now what? In today’s job market, PhDs are hired not only as professors, but also as: Researchers in STEM fields, plus many other academic and non-academic areas Directors of nonprofits or government agencies A wide array of positions within business and consulting…
Reapplying to PhD Programs
What if you did apply and were unsuccessful? How can you strengthen your candidacy for PhD reapplication? Step #1: Conduct an honest assessment of your candidacy. Did you apply to too few programs? To the wrong programs? (Applying only to Harvard is not a great strategy!) Consider broadening your list of schools. Were there weaknesses…
Obtaining Graduate Assistantships
Assistantships are a way of funding your graduate education. They are more often awarded to PhD students than to master’s students (though a department may sometimes have funding available for exceptional master’s students). You may be awarded a Teaching Assistantship (meaning you help teach a class, teach a section of a larger class, teach a…
Minimizing Technical Jargon in Your SOP
Frequently, applicants in STEM fields are working on projects that are quite technical in nature. Field-specific jargon might show that you know the language of your field – which is important – but using too much of it can also make your SOP very hard to read. Aim for the middle road: you want to…
Choosing the Right PhD Program
Choosing the right PhD program is key to your success – not just in getting admitted, but in having a successful grad school experience. What makes a PhD program the right one? There are two things you need to be on the lookout for when choosing the best program for you. First, it needs to…
PhD Applicants: Strengthening Your Candidacy
Once you’ve made the decision to apply for a PhD, how can you prepare effectively and strengthen your candidacy? The importance of pre-PhD research Your research is a vital part of your PhD application – you need to have clear reasons for pursuing advanced research in your field, and you need to be able to…