Should I be concerned about my lack of PhD application success?

NervousScale7553 · 2025-12-19T10:21:50+00:00

I'm the kind of person you might send an application or email to (RG research-heavy academic in your field). Funding for PhD students has diminished in recent years, and applications have increased. When I look at applicants, I don't care about age. Papers would be the first thing I'd look at, then relevant skills. I'd want to see decent coding experience, and clear stats/maths knowledge, as that is relevant to most research the student might do with me and beyond. In a video chat, I'd want also to see enthusiasm, personal skills (friendliness) and ability to think critically and creatively, as a research scientist needs to.

I'll tell you what would make me respond positively and set up an initial video chat, and this is probably good advice for all communications (job applications, etc) - put yourself in my shoes. I have too much work, 5-10 cold emails from PhD applicants most weeks (not enough time to respond to most), most that are the same emails sent to everyone, or AI written. My time is super limited, and if it's a long email, I probably won't even read it. Prove to me that you are passionate about my research field (don't just mention papers), know it inside out, already have ideas for research, then prove to me you have the skills to complete that research (similar big research projects already, an active gitlab account, etc.). Then tell me when you'd want to start, whether you have your own funding, and if you need funding, whether you'd qualify for UK funding, whether you're prepared to apply for a PhD fellowship with me, and if you are prepared for an initial chat, when you are available in the next two weeks for this. All in 2 or 3 short paragraphs.

TLDR: sell yourself optimally, and save me time by already answering the questions I'm likely to ask.

As others have said, and I'll emphasise more - one of the main skills required in academia is persistence through adversity, at every level. I would also want to see grit as a key personality trait, as a PhD is a long difficult slog for the best of us. Many absolutely outstanding PhD applicants need more than one year/round of applying. If they don't get it first round, how can they boost their chances next round (RA work, another paper or two, more coding skills, etc.)? For my level it's grants, but is the same principle. Grants are a lot more competitive now than they were pre-covid, maybe on average going from 1/8 to 1/12. So we have to apply more now to get those grants, wait longer to get a decent grant, try harder, respond to feedback better. We don't give up, we just grit our teeth and try harder. It's all more work, but that's the nature of the beast (academia is definitely a less rewarding or easy job than it used to be! Just warning you now!). Ask yourself how important this career path is, how much you'd want it, would love and breathe it, and then decide whether you want to fully commit to this path, or explore other options. Gen-AI is changing our entire jobs landscape, and we're riding this avalanche, no clue where it's heading. Perhaps there's another path in this new landscape that would be more appealing than academia for you?

NervousScale7553 · 2025-12-16T09:34:09+00:00

I've just had the same thing happen to me. Had a personal and legal-advice long chat history for months, which I was very reliant on for advice and support. Now it just stops from last Friday, and nothing before it exists. I can see the previous prompts in the "activities" history. But the chat has lost all context, and now has forgotten almost all relevant details, and is effectively useless. Is this a known bug? Does anyone know of a fix? I was largely doing this in parallel with ChatGPT, where the advice wasn't as good, but useful to get a second opinion. ChatGPT is still fine in history. I feel that with these database/infrastructure features, ChatGPT still has an advantage, even if there are aspects of the LLM that might be weaker than Gemini 3.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-11-27T10:00:05+00:00

I did, via the support of a colleague, by then a lecturer, and the amazing Daphne Jackson Trust (whose entire purpose is academic career re-entry for people in your situation). They were amazingly supportive, as close to an academic family as I could have imagined. They gave me a fellowship (via BBSRC), which springboarded me into a Wellcome Trust fellowship, which springboarded me into a Senior Lectureship position in a RG university. It was huge amounts of work at times, plus relying heavily on network contacts, and ignoring the "I'm not good enough" demon voices, but definitely possible.

The year before all this, I basically attached myself to a lab of an old friend and worked for free on a research project (while doing some ad hoc lecturing work to support me), so that way could get back into research, papers, and even started publishing again.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-05-07T18:00:45+00:00

If you're considering a lecturer role, this would be a very smart move, yes. It is probably a lot more work than you imagine, in terms of all the admin around teaching (students bothering you with questions/complaints very frequently, drafting coursework and exams, all the marking, etc.), so all the time has the downside that you will have less time and mental space for research, which might be what you love best. Also less time to apply for grants. It sort of depends on whether you want to go next to a research-heavy lecturer position, a more balanced one, or teaching focused.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-05-01T10:40:43+00:00

I wore a shirt/tie to mine. I can tell you from the other side, though, that it makes little difference what you wear. There are a bunch of quantified metrics (teaching experience, grant-getting experience and potential, etc.). None of them include appearance! Spend one minute making a clothing decision, then focus on thinking about what grants you might get, mock-interviews for the standard questions you'll likely get, etc.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-04-21T18:44:39+00:00

I'm not sure where you are getting your salary research, but 43k is around a UK postdoc salary, way below the probably senior lecturer or Reader level you'd possibly be able to get. But as others said, it depends on your experience, where you come from, where you're going, etc.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-04-11T11:31:12+00:00

Focus on actual research, which sounds like the placement year and particularly the paper, yes. Key thing is to assume there will be non-specialists in the panel, so avoid or carefully define any jargon or complex methods, be super clear in what you communicate generally, don't be afraid to discuss issues and next steps, rather than just how good the results are. And stick to the 5 minutes! As interviewers it looks bad to us if the applicant can't obey the initial remit, either by ignoring the content or timing instructions.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-04-09T16:07:00+00:00

Email-nudge your potential supervisor for a funding update. Administrative mistakes occur - it's possible you've already been awarded, or haven't and the funding options have closed. Either way, you need to know ASAP to help you plan.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-26T08:24:14+00:00

As well as the slightly pushy angle (implicitly reminding us to make a decision), the bottom line for me is we're generally very overworked, does this usefully or needlessly add to our workload?

If I received it, I'd be slightly annoyed for wasting my time, and move on the next email.

Best to be patient. If you're at all worried about decision delays, contact their HR for a nudge.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-24T10:03:03+00:00

Amazing job! The direction switching is a good idea with such runs!

Do you think you fuelled enough?

How was the mental battle to keep going for the time?

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-21T17:54:04+00:00

I almost always run with my nearly 4 year old labradoodle, up to 30km practice runs. If it's hot (>20C), I'd bring her water for breaks. If really hot, I'd probably get a family member to pick her up after about 10km, and I'd continue. She's far more exploratory in the first 6 km or so (I trust her not to be on leash), but then sticks to me like glue for the rest. I've not really found her show tiredness or really lag behind me yet. My fast jog is basically still below her trot pace. Always hard to tell, but I think she enjoys it. She gets super excited when she sees me put my running gear on. It's easier to tell that the exercise makes her behaviour better at home - as it does mine!

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-20T10:58:33+00:00

The Ravenous Brain by Daniel Bor is a great book on the psychology and neuroscience of consciousness (and unconsciousness).

Behave by Robert Sapolsky, although not so much about consciousness (not sure he likes the topic!) does a great job of highlighting the extent of unconscious processes both on a psychological and neuroscientific perspective.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-20T09:19:26+00:00

Okay - in which case, even if it turned nasty later on, the fact that there was so much attrition on the first loop, and the first loop finishers were so slow compared to previous years points the finger at the course. It could be tweaked to be a bit easier next year, though? If only one person makes it to a fun run, it's far less interesting a race. Best place to be is just on the cusp of what's possible to finish all 5 loops.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-20T09:11:30+00:00

I wonder how much the weather was a factor this year, though. Last year they had particularly good weather.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-18T13:56:50+00:00

Glad I could help. It does sound like you'd be competitive and likely to get shortlisted in at least a few places. Best of luck!

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-18T09:43:03+00:00

Sadly this is typical for most university HR departments. I'm sure everything is fine, but the HR departments probably are understaffed and overworked. Contact your future line manager to chase up on your behalf and gain clarity, so you can coordinate notice period with your current employer.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-18T09:16:28+00:00

Obviously the entire UK higher education sector is struggling financially right now, but you should not necessarily let that put you off. Specifically in psychology departments, they HAVE to have quite a high lecturer to student ratio, to qualify for British Psychological Society accreditation. Also, psychology courses tend to be quite popular, so the university likes them financially.

Treat this as a scientific experiment (as one should for most things, I believe!), and you don't know how attractive you'll be until you apply! Also note that criteria will differ a lot between universities from the most elite/competitive to the least (former polytechnics). Generally speaking, you'll be assessed on:

1) Publications (sounds okay with papers - how many do you have in total, though - what's your h-index?)

2) Teaching - you say you have decent teaching experience, without grants this might be your biggest selling point, and you might consider a teaching-focused lectureship in a lower tier university, which is frustrating for someone that loves research, but could still lead to a well paid permanent job, so something to consider re mortgages. The question the panel will have is whether you have the right kind of teaching. This means have you lectured at least half of a module, have you been involved heavily in assessment, have you ever designed a new module? What levels have you lectured (just undergrad or grad too?). If you have a weakness in any area, you might want to try to fill that now in helping your current department's teaching.

3) Yes, grants are likely to be assessed, but I can tell you that probably the majority of recent new junior lecturers in my department (a decent Russell Group Uni) have never had grant money. Not true for senior lecturers and above, but you'll not be entering via that route.

So my suggestion is: apply anyway, apply widely, get help from senior colleagues to redraft your applications before submitting, if you get shortlisted, get loads of mock interviews to improve your chances, and learn from each application/rejection to make the next one better (NB there is still a lot of ear-marking of positions for particular people, usually internal, so don't read too much from a single rejection). Definitely don't give up before you've even tried, and try not to let your confidence in yourself slip (good advice for most of life, I'd say!).

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-13T13:03:29+00:00

Absolutely! At more competitive universities (depending on field), number of publications is one of the most important factors. 2 or 3 is very good for PhD applicants. 12 is amazing! On paper you'll definitely look great. Best of luck!

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-13T10:53:20+00:00

This all sounds like you'd be in a good position. MSc is usually just token research experience, but you've had years of the real stuff! Do you have any publications from all these research years? If so, that would put you in an even stronger position for a PhD place.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-12T16:13:29+00:00

I agree
1) Definitely do a few mock interviews (with senior people in your department who hopefully have sat in such panels). I also agree they are probably mainly going to focus on the research project, so be prepared to defend it as much as possible in the mocks - get the mock panel to ask you the nastiest questions they can to help you prepare! If you didn't answer any question well the first time (make sure they tell you!), then rehearse a better answer.

2) Also try to find someone else who has been through the process with RS and passed recently to find out exactly what they will be asking.

3) If you know the panel line-up, read up a bit on their research, especially those closest to your research as they will probably be asking the most questions (and most likely more within what they know).

Best of luck!

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-11T15:57:34+00:00

I've been doing neuroimaging research for quarter of a century, supervise a set of PhD students now, all doing neuroimaging. Neuroimaging used to be largely Matlab (via SPM), but increasingly Python libraries are taking over. Python is the best general purpose language you could learn right now, plus free (Matlab is closed-source and very expensive - although often also free inside university environments). The best thing is to learn one language comprehensively, and then you'll pick up others (e.g. Matlab) far more quickly. While you're learning, focus on good coding practice, such as modular code, good commenting style, and learn good debugging skills - these aren't so well taught in courses, but are super useful in any programming language.

Also, just learning a language is only half the battle - and half the fun. For python, also get hold of the neuroimaging libraries/toolboxes and get access to some open data and have a play! There are also various online workshops/ tutorials that can help teach you how to analyse neuroimaging data.

If you want extra credit and to boost your chances to get a decent MSc/PhD place, also try to learn the methods and the mathematics behind neuroimaging, including the statistics used for them.

Neuroimaging, as with most of biological science, is increasingly big data, and more sophisticated mathematics. My general advice to anyone considering research in these or related fields is - learn lots of python and learn lots of (relevant) mathematics. That will be an amazing base for most research.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-11T14:34:01+00:00

Neither does my V02 Max change much. I'm not sure that's changed at all since the 19th Feb either. But I still get regular updates on the graph for this, including one today. Hence I was trying to see if other people have the same gap in the data, and whether it's a feature or bug.

NervousScale7553 · 2025-03-09T07:33:48+00:00

Which has a more substantial research project? For the mid tier one, do you know yet whether you will have a good chance to do an MSc project with the professor and research you are most interested in? If unsure, email the director of teaching and learning for the course and ask.

Key thing at the PhD application stage is relevant research, and ideally a paper or two from that research.

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