🎙️ Podcast Link 🎙️
Applying for PhD positions can be a daunting experience, but doesn’t have to be.
In this video, I unpack the ins and outs of two of the key stages of applying for a PhD: the initial approach to a prospective supervisor, typically done over email (although there are many other ways to establish contact), and the interview process itself.
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Complete topic list and timestamps:
(0:00) Introduction to PhD Applications
(0:09) What This Video Covers
(0:40) PhD Application Processes Vary
(1:08) Setting the Scene: So Many Applications!
(1:39) Busy Academics Miss Some Applications
(2:10) Academics Need PhD Students
(2:31) Types of PhD Supervisors
(2:48) Senior Experienced PhD Supervisors
(3:01) Junior PhD Supervisors
(3:23) Recruiting Philosophies
(3:35) The Idealist
(3:58) The Realist / Cynic
(4:33) Recruiting Styles Vary
(4:45) Length of PhD Program Affects Recruiting
(5:24) Contents of a Typical Email Approach
(5:55) Be Cautious of Excessive Personalization
(6:21) Assessing Whether to Progress Further
(6:50) Non-Negotiable Requirements
(7:20) Flexible Nice-to-Haves
(7:46) Publishing Experience
(8:30) Evidence of Substantial Project Experience
(9:15) Relevant Technical Skills
(9:38) Evidence of Extension Work
(10:06) Moving to the Interview Stage
(10:25) Interviews Should Not Be Adversarial
(10:42) Supervisors Are Grateful for your Time
(10:51) You’re Not Expected to Know Everything
(11:07) Prepared Presentations Are Optional
(11:33) Interviews Test Communication Capability
(11:58) Interviews Identify Your Contributions
(12:32) Interviews Test Technical Skills
(12:57) Evidence for Learning Capacity
(13:24) Interviews Evaluate Lab Culture Fit
(13:57) You Can Ask Questions!
(14:30) You Can Mention Key Constraints
(14:57) Practice Makes Perfect
(15:57) It’s a Numbers Game
(16:22) You’ll Improve Rapidly
(16:36) Learning Lifelong Skills
(17:04) Closing Comments and Good Luck!
Full Video Notes
Introduction: vid covers two key aspects of landing a PhD gig – the email contact, and the interviews. Will touch on other components, like meeting potential supervisors at conferences.
Varies hugely: supervisor & organisational norms vary hugely
Common Concepts: a range of things you can consider or do that will help in most situations
Setting the Scene: what a typical supervisor is handling in terms of PhD applications. 100s / 1000s email enquiries per year, typically some text, CV attached. So many enquiries will go unanswered. Typical supervisor also very busy. Likely has some research projects or grants that need PhD students.
Range of supervisors: 2 main types: 1) typical prof, large team, very busy, hopefully experienced. 2) junior academic, new assistant prof at a US university for example. Less experienced, may have relatively more time.
Supervisor Philosophy: again 2 types. 1) The idealist, looking for new promising students with great talent, interested in unorthodox backgrounds. 2) the cynic / realist: knows that a bad hire is far worse than missing a potential good hire – recruiting process will be tailored accordingly.
PhD types: lots of types, focusing on computer science. Key parameter here is length: a 3 year PhD (Australian, UK systems), or a 4-6 year PhD (US system). Once again, impact on the type of PhD being sought.
What does a Supervisor Look At Initially: rapid scan for range of factors, to determine suitability not for a decision, but for deeper due diligence.
Two key things looked for: 1) non-negotiable necessities, and 2) nice-to-haves. Non-negotiable necessities may be set by short PhD duration, or extreme difficulty level of technical content. Nice-to-haves are flexible and there isn’t a rigid set of boxes you must tick, and no-one will tick all of them.
What is in almost every application email: tailored to specific supervisor, talks about research areas of interests, talks about passion, talks about experience. Still do it – just know it’s normal.
Published Papers: PhD, like it or not, will require you to publish top quality first author papers in conferences and/or journals. Experience with this already a huge plus. First author a plus.
Deep Project Experience: For most PhD is deepest, biggest project taken on. Evidence of having had experience going deep (regardless of whether in the specific field of the proposed PhD)
Relevant Technical Experience: Especially for highly technical PhD topics, or short PhDs, having substantial skillset already is a huge bonus, to “hit the ground running”.
Relevant Technical Experience: Substantive evidence of going above and beyond a normal undergraduate course – extra courses, projects and so forth.
Interview process: supervisor has decided worth further investigation. Will set up one or more interviews or discussion sessions.
General insights: a good prospective supervisor is not trying to embarrass or humiliate you. They are grateful for the time you’ve taken to apply. They don’t expect you to know everything or even close to everything.
Research presentation: sometimes OK, not always asked for, especially if CV and papers listed were sufficiently detailed.
Communication skills: to determine ability to talk about technical research in detail at a competent level (noting second language considerations).
To determine intellectual ownership and input: all those projects and papers listed on your CV? The supervisor may probe to see exactly what level of input, leadership you had on these projects.
To determine technical base: test examples for coding, test examples for technical skills like choosing a network architecture for a certain task.
To determine potential for rapid learning: no matter foundation, PhD will require substantial and rapid learning of new skills. Research project hypotheticals, what would you do etc…
Fit for lab: *not* about only hiring people who are identical to each other. But most labs will have a culture, and they’ll want you to feel comfortable and integrate into that culture to some extent.
You can ask questions!: about the lab environment, supervisory style, past PhD students in the lab.
You can mention constraints: timing (e.g. need to give notice at job), geographical constraints, need for scholarship…
Practice makes perfect: if you haven’t done lots of interviews, practice: mirror, colleagues, friends. Practice recovering from a bad answer. Practice providing a certain level of detail in answer, and asking if the interviewer would like more.
It’s a Numbers Game: Even the strongest candidates typically apply lots and get rejected lots. They learn a lot from the process, get better at it, and end up with a better PhD placement. Good luck!Lifelong skills: approaching, pitching and interviewing are useful lifelong skills for many career types.