Timeline for Should I just stop applying for admission to PhD with my research gap of 8 years?
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| Dec 22, 2024 at 13:27 | comment | added | testaccount | Since it has been 8 years, if you want to get back into academia, another option to consider is to apply also for another MSc degree program of 1-2 years. With the right choice of a program and some luck, this could be a way to get a foot in the door. For example you will get new academic connections, fresh reference letters from your thesis supervisor and other teachers, and possibly a publication or two. Also in your updated post, you only mention 4 universities that you applied to, which is not very many! So consider also casting a wider net in your applications. | |
| Dec 20, 2024 at 20:05 | answer | added | Ivan Nepomnyashchikh | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 20, 2024 at 19:57 | comment | added | Giuseppe Negro | @MisterMiyagi: "There are a lot of age-restricted funding programs" I am deeply and negatively surprised. In the UK this would be illegal, and rightfully so. "the "young scientists" are often an extra group with extra spotlight attention". Sure. For example, the ERC grants offer a "Starting" modality which is much more accessible. However as I said in my previous comment, the statistic to decide whether someone is early-career typically is the age after PhD completion. Therefore, a gap BEFORE PhD is not relevant in this sense. (Finally, I totally agree with the soft barriers you mention). | |
| Dec 20, 2024 at 18:23 | history | edited | Candy | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 20, 2024 at 10:30 | comment | added | rhermans | Age discrimination is illegal in many countries, including the UK, under the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits unfair treatment based on age in various contexts such as employment, services, and public functions. Consider Birkbeck University is uniquely positioned to support mature students and working professionals, with 94% of part-time students and 66% of full-time students over 21 years old. The university specifically designs its programs for working adults, maintaining a historic mission to educate working Londoners. | |
| Dec 20, 2024 at 0:53 | answer | added | kosmos | timeline score: 3 | |
| Dec 20, 2024 at 0:15 | answer | added | bob.sacamento | timeline score: 4 | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 21:13 | comment | added | Ivan Nepomnyashchikh | As you put it, it sounds strange that you haven't been accepted. I got accepted to a Ph.D. program in the USA after 5 years since my graduation from a Russian university most of which I didn't work at all. So, please, clarify 1) what country you're from, 2) what universities you applied to and get rejected, 3) what your application strategy is (i.e., how you approach your SOP, how many universities you applied to, your GRE scores etc). And also, please, clarify if you started your SOP with "So" just like you did in your post or used "I mean" somewhere in the SOP (just like in your post). | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 19:31 | comment | added | cag51♦ | You mention that your master's and your job are in two different fields. In which field are you applying to do your PhD? | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 17:58 | comment | added | Xander Henderson | The first question asked here is of motivation, and I still don't understand yours. What is the long-term plan? Why is it important that you complete at PhD at a "top university"? I kind of wonder if the problem is less the gap, and more that you might just be setting your sights too high (top level universities tend to be very selective; if you set your sights a little lower, the gap may not be nearly so important). | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 15:17 | answer | added | Hilmar | timeline score: 8 | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 13:39 | comment | added | Candy | @user176372 I meant the top 300 universities in the world, based on QS rankings! | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 10:40 | answer | added | Giuseppe Negro | timeline score: 6 | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 10:22 | comment | added | Giuseppe Negro | @MisterMiyagi: "... older and unconventional candidate is ... will close up quite a lot of opportunities that other students have" What kind of opportunities are you talking about, if I may ask? I respectfully disagree with you. What you say would be true for a gap AFTER the PhD, since many fellowships and positions are restricted to "early-career researcher". Early career usually means: < x years from PhD. However here we are talking about a gap after the master, and in my experience nobody cares about that. | |
| Dec 19, 2024 at 6:32 | comment | added | user176372 | Could you clarify what you mean by "top-tier", incidentally? This may not describe your situation, but we frequently see instances where someone has applied to only a handful of the most acutely competitive PhD programs in the world. The numbers game is often rather stark in these cases. | |
| Dec 18, 2024 at 18:43 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Dec 18, 2024 at 12:16 | answer | added | Tom | timeline score: 6 | |
| Dec 18, 2024 at 11:08 | answer | added | Nathan Gavenski | timeline score: 5 | |
| Dec 18, 2024 at 7:30 | answer | added | user366312 | timeline score: 8 | |
| Dec 18, 2024 at 7:23 | comment | added | Candy | To get back into academia basically, thinking of resigning from my job. | |
| Dec 18, 2024 at 6:25 | history | asked | Candy | CC BY-SA 4.0 |