Applying to a PhD (Part 1 — Mindsets)
My Suggestions for Applying to US PhD Programmes as an Indian Student
Note: My post here is largely meant for Indians who are considering applying to social sciences or interdisciplinary PhDs in the United States (with some relevance for Canada). Other aspirants may also find this post useful, but please be aware that I’ve written this post with the above audience in mind.
Please also note that this is based on my experience with the Application Process. I applied mostly to Planning, Public Policy, and Urban Studies PhD programmes. Other people may have had different experiences. Speak to a wide number of applicants to get different perspectives.
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In March 2023, I concluded nearly 12 years of work at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in Bengaluru. I began preparing to move to the United States to commence pursuing a PhD in Public and Urban Policy at the Milano School of Public Policy, one of the Schools of Public Engagement at The New School in New York.
I’ve written about my motivations for pursuing a PhD elsewhere — that’s not the objective of this post. This post (and the next couple) are about the Application Process itself.
Many other PhD applicants and scholars have written about planning and preparing for the Application Process and this is my addition to that literature. I hope what I write below will prove useful to people who are looking to apply for a PhD themselves.
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This will be the first of three posts. The first post will deal with mindsets and approaches I found useful while preparing my application. The second will deal with costs. The third will deal with logistics.
This first part is a bit ruminative. It’s deliberately so. I think it’s important that aspiring applicants are aware of abstract things to keep in mind before they apply. Therefore, I’ll talk about mindsets which were greatly useful to me during the Application Process. These mindsets helped keep me sane, and didn’t let me falter along the way. While I taught myself some of this, much more came from other scholars and colleagues who advised me during the Application (shout-out to them for all their help).
If you’re applying for a PhD, I recommend you read the full text below carefully. However, if you just want to start with some practical advice before moving on to the philosophical, I recommend starting with the sections titled “What This Means Practically”.
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Hidden Curriculum
Before I talk about mindsets, I should share a term which will be useful for both parts of this post — Hidden Curriculum. Hidden Curriculum refers to all the requirements, tasks, work, or behaviours that students are expected to know or perform at university, but which are never explicitly shared, spelt out, or mentioned.
Hidden Curriculum topics are often things which university administrators or professors take for granted. They assume that all students are aware of such requirements (when in reality, they aren’t). On some rare occasions, Hidden Curricula may be open secrets, which are not talked about for a variety of reasons.
Application Processes can be full of Hidden Curricula. They will vary from country to country and university to university, but pretty much every place have them.
There are two points potential applicants need to be aware of regarding Hidden Curricula:
- First, do not assume that Hidden Curricula are caused by malice (Hanlon’s Razor is a useful tool here). There are often strong reasons why they exist, although these reasons may not work in your favour. There’s no point getting angry or upset about them during the Application. They exist. We have to deal with them.
- Second, always assume that Application Processes will contain hidden curricula. In other words, always make sure you have extra time, extra energy reserves, and the mind-space to deal with unexpected tasks or unplanned work. Trust me, there will be unexpected stuff.
WHAT THIS MEANS PRACTICALLY
The best way to deal with Hidden Curricula is to give yourself more time. The earlier you start the Application Process, the better it is for you.
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MINDSETS
Okay so, on to the mindsets. I’ve found the following points very useful in dealing with the PhD Application Process.
(1) Be prepared for a high rejection rate:
Unless you’re an extraordinary student, you’re likely to see most universities reject you.
This has nothing to do with you. I’ll say it again — this has nothing to do with you. Most universities have the budgets and staff to support 5–6 PhD entrants every year (sometimes fewer). If you’re lucky, your preferred university may admit 9–10 applicants. At the other end of the Application Process, they can get anywhere between 100–500 reasonably good applicants every year. Maybe more.
Each of these applicants may be a perfectly good candidate, but with such tight acceptance rates, the question of who gets in and who doesn’t can boil down to razor-thin slices of luck. Maybe someone in the faculty has found funding to start a new research theme in the department (which hasn’t even been publicly announced). By sheer coincidence, your application profile fit the requirements of the new theme. You get accepted. On the other hand, another university may be realigning their long-term plans after decades. Your profile (which would have been a great fit two years ago) no longer matches their priorities. You get rejected.
These things are mostly out of your control. More importantly, this means that rejections are not judgements on your abilities or skills as a researcher. Do not let anyone tell you that a PhD application rejection is somehow a black mark on your career record. It’s not.
WHAT THIS MEANS PRACTICALLY
A high rejection rate means you may have to attempt getting into a PhD programme two or three times. I hope this won’t happen, but this is possible.
Mentally, prepare for at least two years (two cycles) of attempts. I would also suggest giving a gap of one or two years between attempts.
Giving yourself a year in-between creates some time where you can reflect on your previous attempt and prepare differently for the next one.
I wouldn’t recommend rushing into the next cycle without some reflection and time off.
(2) Be prepared to spend money:
This is a Hidden Curriculum topic that very few people talk about (in my experience). The Application Process itself can be quite expensive. The actual expense depends on the country you’re applying to, and the universities you’re engaging with, but regardless, you will need to start setting money aside for the application process early on.
Example: Most universities in the United States have an application fee ranging from $80 to $120. At a Rupee-Dollar exchange rate of Rs. 82 to $1, that’s about Rs. 7000 to Rs. 10,000 per application. If you’re applying to six or seven universities, the total cost of submitting the application alone can be Rs. 42,000 to Rs. 70,000.
This does not include the cost of writing the TOEFL (which most US universities require for Indian students), the GRE (which some universities still ask for), or the cost of getting your transcripts transmitted out of India and verified by a US agency (which is a costly logistical nightmare that I’ll talk about elsewhere).
There are further costs to pay after getting an offer letter, which is again something no one talks about. You may have to pay a deposit to confirm that you’re accepting an offer (you’ll get the money back, but you need to have it in hand at the right time). You may also have to pay a deposit for the housing or accommodation you’ll be staying in. And of course, there are costs to getting a visa and booking your flight tickets.
This may all sound rather gloomy, but…I’m not saying any of this to discourage you! Quite the opposite. I’m warning you about this beforehand, precisely so that you can plan and prepare for these costs when you apply.
It’s easy to get discouraged when these costs keep popping up without warning and you may give up your application half-way. Knowing about them beforehand can help you plan your finances early on and avoid any psychological fallout from the process.
WHAT THIS MEANS PRACTICALLY
Set money aside early! I applied in the 2022 cycle. I began saving for the Application Process three years earlier. I would suggest saving at least two lakhs per application cycle (at exchange rates of Rs. 82 per dollar). Saving more than that is a bonus — it gives you the space to apply to more universities.
This is also one of the reasons I recommend working for 2–3 years after your graduation before you apply for a PhD. There are other, better reasons to work before your PhD (which I’ll talk about another time), but a simple concrete one is that a regular salary helps bring money in for the application process.
A personal opinion — I don’t think you should borrow money for the application process. Either you should be capable of paying for the applications yourself, or someone should be willing to sponsor you at no cost (like a relative or a well-wisher). If you cannot afford the application process right now, think carefully about whether you want to apply. You can always apply a few years later, when you’re financially better off.
(3) Be prepared for a new “part-time job”:
Most PhD applicants will be applying while they are simultaneously working at a job or completing their undergraduation/Master’s degree. In both cases, you’ll have to balance one important priority — your job/existing education — against another (your PhD application). This is of course, assuming that you don’t have other responsibilities.
I’ve applied for a PhD twice. In both attempts, the application process felt like a part-time job. In fact, before my 2022 attempt, I’d also begun an attempt in 2021, but had given up halfway without applying — I couldn’t balance the demands of my work with those of the application. At the end of the 2021 cycle, I spent several months discussing options with my supervisors to redesign my workloads. Based on their advice, I went part-time at the beginning of the 2022 cycle and this gave me more breathing room to work on my application.
Treating the Application Process like a part-time job may sound extreme, but it’s very much like a job if you look at it carefully. You have to cold-email lots of people. You have to prepare strategies and plans for the next few years. You have to market yourself (as a suitable candidate). You have to look up and pursue funders (scholarships). And like any other job, you have to brace for failures and carry on. All of this takes pretty much the same time and effort as a small job.
WHAT THIS MEANS PRACTICALLY
The US/Canadian application cycle for most universities runs from September to December/January, about 4–5 months. During these 4–5 months, you should mentally assume that you’ll be juggling two jobs together.
Plan your tasks and your time accordingly. If you’ve had experience juggling two or more jobs before, rely on that experience to work out what schedule works best for you. If not, I would suggest the 4–2 routine (or 4–3 routine) — plan so that your current job/education will take an aggregate of 4 days of a week and your Application takes 2 days in a week (3 if needed, but not recommended).
Most importantly, plan for rest/relaxation and stick to it. If you don’t have experience balancing multiple jobs, the stress can be overwhelming and you can end up with burnout. Do NOT compromise on your rest or relaxation. Just plan for it beforehand.
(4) Make sure you’re REALLY sure :
A PhD abroad is a big step. Not because of the syllabus or the rigour of the programme (those are important for different reasons), but because it is a significant commitment of your time, money, and resources. If you’re doing a British or European PhD, that’s at least 3 years. An American or Canadian PhD can go up to five or six years (maybe even more). That’s a fairly big chunk of your life. So before you apply, make sure you’re doing it for right reasons.
Personally, I feel you should NOT do a PhD for the following reasons:
(a) Getting a “Dr.” before your name: You may laugh, but I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve met in India who chase a PhD for this. Don’t do it for this. No one cares about the Dr. before your name. Least of all, other PhDs.
(b) Everyone else in your field is doing it: Pursuing a PhD because everyone in your field of work is pursuing a PhD is probably one of the worst (but most common) reasons to pursue a PhD.
In my opinion, any industry that requires you to have a PhD to do your job is asking a lot from you. Perhaps too much. If the only reason you’re doing a PhD is because you’re being peer-pressured into it, you might want to think about changing jobs or sectors.
Note: Not all peer pressure is bad. Some amount of peer-pressure is inevitable in the decision to pursue a PhD and it can sometimes encourage you to pursue one when you’re feeling hesitant. However, peer pressure should not be your only reason.
(c) You can’t think of anything else to do: Another terrible reason that’s unfortunately quite common. Don’t do a PhD just because you couldn’t think of any other options after you completed your Master’s degree. A PhD is not worth the time and investment in such cases. Put the same time and effort into finding new avenues of work and passion for yourself. That pays off better in the long run.
WHAT THIS MEANS PRACTICALLY
Everyone has their own special reasons for applying to a PhD abroad. From my observations, the ones who do well are the ones who see the PhD as the next logical step of a much bigger, concrete set of goals in their lives.
And I mean concrete. The best PhD scholars I’ve met have very real-world concerns that they wish to tackle or solve. Pursuing a PhD is a way for them to find the space, the time, and the resources to think about how to approach their problems in ways they normally cannot in a regular job or industry. The best scholars complete their programmes with fairly clear plans of how they want to build on their research after their dissertation is complete.
My advice is to apply for a PhD only if you see it playing a clear, concrete role in helping you achieve bigger goals in life. Be clear about how doctoral training and research will help you with these bigger goals. But be aware that there is more than one way to achieve big goals or tackle big issues. A PhD is not mandatory for you to get there.
FINAL NOTE FOR PART 1
A lot of what I said above may sound depressing, gloomy, or intimidating. And sure, there will be phases in the Application Process where everything feels that way.
But there’s also a lot of joy and pleasure in the process. A PhD application is one of those rare bureaucratic processes which allow you to turn the spotlight on yourself.
If you plan it well, you’ll get to really think about who you are and what the work you do actually means, for both yourself and the world around you. You’ll get to write about this, and present this to people who (hopefully) think and feel about the world in ways similar to you. One of the nicest feelings in the world is getting to hear a senior scholar tell you how much the faculty in their department enjoyed reading your statement and how it resonated with their own work.
However, the first step to getting to that point is to be aware of the work it involves. I’ve done my best to be honest and blunt about the workloads of a PhD application. By doing so, I hope I’ve given you some idea of what to expect, so that you can plan your own application accordingly. Keep in mind, that the difficulties may vary from candidate to candidate. An unusually brilliant student may find the Application Process a lot easier than what I’ve mentioned above. However, I do believe what I’ve written applies to many typical candidates, who are not outliers.
The very last thing I’ll say (from personal experience!) is to not get disheartened, disillusioned, or angry in the middle of the process. There are lots of problems with modern universities (and especially the application processes), anywhere in the world. But the middle of the process is not the time or place to dwell upon them. Make sure you work your way through the process, right up to the point you receive your decision letters. That’s the only way you can give it your best.
More practical steps in my next post.
A note about AI art: I sometimes use AI art in my blogposts, strictly for content I put out for free, where I wouldn’t have hired an artist anyway. I use free AI platforms, or free options, and share prompts/sources so that anyone else can create AI art. Whenever I have time, I draw instead. I do not support the use of AI art when it displaces human artists.
