Landing that dream PhD — opening the doors as a queer woman in academia
I have been wanting to write this piece for a while, as the fact I got onto a very competitive PhD programme starting in October 2020 has been one of my personal highlights. When I returned to university in 2016 at 34 my singular intention was to get onto a PhD programme, and everything I did was aimed at getting me there. That is the story I like to believe. This article is the long version that I hope will both inspire and help you get there should you wish. It is my personal perspective and take on the application process, so if you are looking to apply please read around and get a broad picture of the current PhD climate.
I won’t pretend it was easy or that the process was a tad frustrating. Indeed, the irony was that for all my planning, emails, and trips to the USA, it was thirty-minute application form that landed me my initial, and only, PhD interview. Once at the interview my passion, zest, and skills shone through and I was accepted on merit. The feeling of elation still sits in me some three months on, and I am probably insufferable because I cannot stop talking about it. So, here are my pointers that could help you land your dream PhD programme:
1. Be absolutely certain that doing a PhD is the thing you want to spend the next 3–5 years of your life doing. Once you have your undergraduate, and possibly your Masters, qualifications doing a PhD sets you up as an apprentice researcher where essentially you go back to being John Snow and know nothing metaphorically. A PhD helps prepare you for a research career within academia or industry, and you have to be certain that this is something you want for your life. At any interview and on any personal statement one of the primary things they are looking for is your ability to commit for the long-term, especially with funded positions. You will not get a funded position if the interviewer or reviewer of your application senses that you are not going to be the right fit or will drop out over the course of the programme.
2. Flowing from that, have an idea where you want your career to be in ten years. Obviously nothing is set in stone, especially in the Covid-19 world, but supervisors and universities are looking for students who appreciate the a PhD is an apprenticeship to a long term research career. There is a tacit understanding that not all PhD candidates will make it as academics, and the likelihood these opportunities will shrink over the next decade, but when applying for a PhD you need to be certain that you will be one of those who is going to succeed. There is no harm in having contingencies in place in case it doesn’t, but keep those to yourself during the application process. You will be asked about this during interviews, and while lying is never a good thing, having the certainty to say you are going to be a researcher and academic goes a long way.
3. A PhD can be a lonely, singular experience, and you need to be certain this is something you can handle for the duration of your research. Depending on the programme, you could be expected to work in collaboration as part of a team (which brings its own pitfalls) or you could be expected to be entirely self-assisted with minimal input from your supervisor. Usually the programme will state on the tin which direction it pitches itself in, and you need to understand in yourself if this is something you are comfortable with. While others can, and will, give you support, you are a person alone in delivering your research. This can be a major issue if you get no direction or support from your university, so reading other PhD candidates experiences is important to get a broader understanding of the lie of the land.
4. You need to start a year or more out with any application. Most funded PhD programmes close their applications in the November to January window, so it is essential that you are aware of all the requirements prior to your applications. Some programmes require you sit exams like the GRE which need to be prepared for, and it took me six months to revise and sit the exam. I personally aced two sections, but fluffed my qualitative section as I had not done academic maths for two decades. If you know that you need to take an exam, revise and get tuition if you need help.
5. Personal statements are probably the single most important and time-consuming element of any application. Most schools will state that they look at your application holistically, and while that is true, your personal statement is your opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, passion, and understanding of what the programme. Take your time writing it, get people you trust to proofread it, and if possible, ask for advice from someone within the field to get their take. Ultimately, this is the application process’s window into your world, and your chance to sell your personality and ideas.
6. If possible, go and visit any prospective university, and do not be afraid to look abroad for a programme that suits you. Your university generally should have funding to help cover some or all of these costs, and personally, it helped solidify my decision to apply to Stanford and University of Southern California. I visited Boston, New York, LA, San Francisco, and Oxford in 2019 to get a feel for various universities, and arranged meetings with academics at all of them. It helped grow my confidence, and while I was un-successful at all of them, I have built connections that I can now build upon once I start my research.
7. This leads on to another fundamental, which I feel is essential for women and queer people going through this process. Networking during your applications will help build your future academic network that you can use for collaborations and sound boards. The people you speak to today become your peers on completion of your PhD, and they can help you gain that next foothold on your career progression. Networking is not easy, and for every ten emails you may only get one reply. That one reply could lead to something bigger and brighter than you could have imagined. Networking may not come naturally, and you may feel you do not have the confidence, but the worst that anyone can do is ignore you or say no. As long as you are respectful and polite, doors will open. This is why having a basic understanding of where you want your career trajectory to go, as you can precisely target people to network with who can help you along the way, and become your colleagues and advocates.
8. Every university has their own way of doing things during the application process, and often PhD programmes are buried deep within a university’s website, so you may have to go hunting. Know your subject area and pick your programme, school, and university accordingly. The QR rankings and Times Higher Education rankings are good indicators of research universities, but for niche subjects it may take more time to dig out where the quality programmes are. This is where the bulk of my time was spent, as I wanted to do an interdisciplinary PhD. Some subjects, like most sciences, have clear sector lead universities, so if you want to apply for a position there make sure to do your homework and thoroughly understand the processes.
9. Where allowed, email any potential supervisor and get to know them and their ways of thinking. A PhD is very much a synthesis between you and your prospective supervisor, so if you know who you would like to supervise you politely email them and see if they are the right fit for you. Read around about their work, their past students, and what approach they have to supervision. Some supervisors are very hands off, others very hands on, often it will be somewhere in the middle. You will be expected to complete the research as an individual, but through the PhD you need to have a good working relationship with your supervisor in order to deliver your work. You need to understand your own ways of working and decide if your prospective supervisor is the right person for you. I have got really lucky with mine, as we gelled pretty much off the bat, and I cannot start to work with her on my programme.
10. Not all PhD programmes are equal, and it is essential you understand this before you commit yourself to any application process. I applied for six programmes, and in my head I had a clear order of precedence that each would take — from Stanford through to Nottingham Trent University. I was very clear about why I was applying to each, which ones were my unicorns and ideal dreams, Stanford, and which represented my absolute fallback, NTU. By targeting specific programmes and universities I got a clear sense of what each offered, how much the stipend provided and what the cost of living was, what each programme’s expectations were, and what would be expected of me. I knew that I wanted to do a four-five year PhD as I did not have enough research experience during my undergraduate and Masters courses to warrant stepping up (even though I got a First/4.0 for my degree). I targeted programmes that were fully funded with stipends that were 4–5 years, as I knew that was what I needed from my PhD. You may need different things, and you need to be clear what expectations you have from any programme you apply for. Top tier programmes will push you and demand a lot, but also provide you with a lot of funding and a degree of academic security, along with institutional cache that can carry you a long way.
11. Finally, leading on from this, don’t be afraid at targeting your unicorns. Stanford was by far the best experience I had in this whole process as their application process was clear, concise, and told me exactly what was expected from me. They helped and advised me at key moments, and while I was not successful, I am determined to follow-up on all the leads I developed during this process. Having ambition, especially if you are from a minority group within academia, is difficult as many doors are seemingly closed. Getting a PhD is hard enough, landing a position on one often harder. I will not pretend this process was easy, as there were many challenges and doors closed on me, but with the help of the many people who gave me advice, read through my applications, gave me personal references, and generally steered my ship of state, I have got onto what is probably the best outcome I could possibly have hoped for at the start of this process.
This list is not exhaustive, and I recommend doing a lot of reading around to get further advice. This is just a stepping stone to something far bigger and bolder. As a queer woman I want to help lift up and guide other women through this process. It can be a tangle to navigate and work through, so if you need help and support please drop me a DM and I will do my best to help.
