[0:00]Hi, I'm Casey. I'm a professor, and this is my fourth in a series of videos about applying for PhD programs. Probably the last for now. So my previous videos, and I'll include links to all of those in the description down below, have focused on some deep dives around things like, should you get a PhD at all? What are some tips for the application process, et cetera? And based on a lot of that information, I wanted to do a final video that sums up some of the most common reasons that I have seen or heard about that PhD applicants are rejected. With the hopes of giving you some insights and some tips that would help you avoid those problems. The last one in particular, I think is both hopeful and depressing at the same time. All right, so first my usual disclaimer, which is that most of my experience is in lab-based stem disciplines, and so some of this advice might be more specific to that than for example, disciplines where you don't work as closely with an individual advisor. All right. Reason number one, why you might be rejected from a PhD program, it's not clear why you want to get a PhD. Maybe your personal statement doesn't show a strong interest or passion for research, or it's not clear what you're interested in. Maybe you're talking about career aspirations that don't actually require a PhD, or maybe your statement is focusing on things that just don't matter as much, like how excited you are about PhD coursework. Maybe you're not showing that you even understand what research is or why someone would get a PhD. If you're not sure, then have a look at my previous video about reasons to get a PhD, and that might help you think through some things. But in general, you should be making sure that in your statement of purpose or personal statement, that you are showing that you have interest in research, that you understand what it is, that you have passion for it, and that you have a specific research interest. That doesn't mean that you have a dissertation topic, but that at least you have some general idea of what it is that you're so passionate about, that you want to spend the next five or six years of your life making no money and being really stressed just so that you can deep dive into that thing. All right, reason number two why you might be rejected from a PhD program is that you're not a fit for that program, or at least you haven't demonstrated why you are. Does the research area that you proposed even fit into that discipline or the research methods or sort of type of research that you talk about in your personal statement? Are you applying to the right discipline? And then a little more specific, are you talking about things that are happening in that department? Some disciplines are huge and some departments are small and quite specialized. So, are you even a fit for what's happening in that particular department or program? Also, maybe you sent the exact same statement to every single program to which you applied. Don't do that. There needs to be something specific about that program, and the only way that you can show the admissions committee what that thing is, the thing that makes you want to go there and that makes you a fit for there, is for you to be specific for each program in your statement. Now, of course, there's going to be a lot of it that's going to be exactly the same, but you need to make sure to have some tailoring. And if, for example, you have a reason that's like, I really have to live in this particular city, don't say that in your personal statement necessarily.
[4:04]Come up with something else. You can totally come up with something. Sometimes, if you need to live in a specific location, for example, that means that you need to adjust your own interests and expectations to fit that program. And if that's what you do, that's what you need to say in your statement. Are those things that you've adjusted? All right, a third reason you might see a rejection is because there's no advisor fit in that department. Now, as I've mentioned in my past videos, it's really important to know the faculty and the department and the kind of work that they do. This is of course, more true in a lab-based discipline where you're going to be working extremely closely with a particular advisor, but this is also true even in other kinds of disciplines, where you might not have an advisor for a couple of years, but there still needs to be someone who can advise you.
[5:05]So if your research interests are just completely unrelated to what anyone in the department is doing, in a way it would be unethical to accept you as a student when there's no one to advise you. Now, it doesn't need to be an exact fit, but you do need to be able to show some connection to at least one faculty member in the department and ideally more than that. Some PhD programs even have a requirement that there has to be at least two people who could advise any incoming student. And so you need to try to see a connection with your interest with at least two faculty members. And make sure that this is a reasonably up to date, right? Like don't assume that someone is still doing the same work that they've done 10 years ago. And also make sure that you've looked into the recent work that their students are doing because this might also give you a sense of how broad they can advise. And make these connections clear in your personal statement. Did you mention the faculty by name? Also, make sure that the faculty you mention are actually in that department. This is a mistake I see students make really frequently and I'm not entirely sure why. Um, but definitely make sure that the faculty you say you want to work with are actually in the department that you're applying to and not elsewhere at the university. If you reach out to potential advisors ahead of time, this is one of those things that they can potentially help you with. They might even point you to other faculty members. Have a link in the description to a Twitter thread where I wrote out a sort of template for how you might reach out to faculty with these kinds of questions. You don't have to do this, but it can be helpful for you thinking through some of these things before you write your, your personal statement. All right. Another reason why you might see a rejection is because you don't have research experience. First, to be clear, do not let a lack of research experience dissuade you entirely from applying. But I do want to mention this because it is a legitimate reason why you might have a harder time getting into PhD programs than someone who does have clear research experience. Some of this is about proving that you have potential, that you know what you're doing. I mean, it certainly is less of a risk to take on a student who, for example, has a master's degree and has already been doing research for a couple of years because you know that they can do it. But it's not just that, it's also about showing that you know what research is, and therefore you might seem more confident that this is what you want to do. This doesn't mean that you need to be published. I mean, of course that helps, but I don't think that it's an expectation that students should have publications when they're applying to PhD programs. So if you have experience, flaunt it. Talk about it. Talk about what you've learned and how this is how you know that a PhD is the perfect path for you. Mention working in a lab, if you have papers that are in preparation or under submission. Talk about how this experience made you understand your love for research and how it led you in the particular direction that you are interested in. This is how you should write a statement of purpose. However, even if you don't have clear research experience, make sure that you write about how you know this is what you want to do, why you're excited about it, what you're interested in. Just make sure that it's clear that you know what this is and that this is what you want to do. And if you're early enough in the process, like if you still have another year, say, before you're going to be applying for PhD programs, then get that research experience. Reach out to faculty and see if you can help them on a project. And if you're really worried about your PhD applications for this reason, but you really are passionate about this, you might consider also applying for some master's programs, because if you do strike out in PhD applications, particularly if this is the reason, then getting that experience in a master's degree could make it so that it's a slam dunk next time. All right. Another reason you might see a rejection is weak letters of recommendation. Do all of your recommendation letters just say, I taught a class, here's what the class was, they got an A in this class. So there's more detail about this in my application tips video, but essentially, make sure that anyone who's writing you a letter is writing you a strong letter. It should be someone who knows you well, ideally someone that you've had some kind of research experience with, or maybe they taught a class where you did a really impressive project, but there needs to be something that they can say. And if you're still early enough in the process, try to get to know some faculty because that will really help. All right, my least favorite one, but one reason why you might get rejected is low grades or low test scores. First, please don't let this discourage you from applying. I can't pretend it's not an issue at all, even if I personally don't care as much about some of these things. As I mentioned in my tips video, GRE scores are increasingly less important for PhD applications. So if you do have low scores, you should maybe consider applying to programs where GRE scores are not accepted or are optional. There are a lot of them and you can probably find some places to apply where your score definitely will not affect you. Grades are a little trickier. Grades can be both an indicator of like work ethic and skill/subject matter expertise. But of course, when we're looking at applications, we do know that it's impossible to really judge this by looking at grades. I typically only take note of grades if they are exceptionally low, in which case I look at the transcripts to see what the trajectory looks like. For example, was this one bad semester that just tanked your entire GPA? In which case, that suggests that there was probably something going on with you. and that it's not a broader indication of your work ethic, for example. Something that I also see a lot is someone changing majors and then doing so much better in the new one. This is often something that we can read between the lines when we're looking at an application, but if it is really significant, it might be worth addressing and trying to put a positive spin on it in your personal statement. So, for example, even though I struggled with XYZ, I was able to dot, dot, dot. You also might consider whether one of your letter writers can help you with this explanation. So, for example, they might write something like, I saw this student struggle, but they really pulled it together, or I really saw this student blossom when they joined our department, or something like that. But mostly, and this is true for all of these things that I have mentioned, a deficiency in one part of your application can be made up for by strengths in other parts. So, if your grades are really low, get some research experience so and so that you're going to have that to talk about and like an awesome letter of recommendation from the faculty member that you work with. If you don't have research experience, maybe your grades are awesome. This is what holistic review is for. No applicant is just a single number. I'm sure that there are some programs that have numerical cutoffs and that kind of sucks and I don't know what to do about that. But for the most part, when we're looking at an application, it is the whole person and not just one single part of the application. All right, next reason for a potential rejection. I'm saving this for almost last because you would think it would be obvious, but sometimes you'd be surprised, and that is mistakes in your application. In your personal statement, do you give the correct name of the university, the correct program at the university? Do you mention faculty that are actually at that university and in that department? Do you provide everything that they ask for for the application and don't leave things out? Did you hit the deadline? Now, it's not that we're like black balling people because you made a small mistake. But some of these things do suggest a lack of attention to detail. This doesn't mean that if you accidentally send in the personal statement for the wrong school, that there is like 100% chance you're going to get rejected, but it certainly doesn't look good, right? So just try to be really careful about these things. All right, this brings me to my very last point, and this is a good news, bad news thing. A reason that you could be rejected is bad timing. So the good news is, rejection isn't always your fault at all. And the bad news is, rejection isn't always your fault at all. Basically this means that you can do everything right, and if you had applied last year or next year, you might have been a shoe in, but this year it's a rejection. It's the same kind of thing with job hunting. It depends on a lot of different factors that are completely outside your control. So there are a lot of reasons for this, but the most common has to do with capacity. Could be the capacity of an individual advisor. Maybe the only faculty member that it would be appropriate for you to work with just has so many PhD students or is completely out of money. Maybe the entire department has a capacity issue and that they can only have so many students at a time. Both of these things might also intersect with whoever else happens to be applying this year. Maybe a particular faculty member only has one spot in their lab. And maybe you are actually the better applicant, but the other person's research interests are so much closer to say a grant that's funded and need someone to work on it. There could be a lot of things that you just don't know, even maybe everyone in the department knows that the faculty member who works in your area is leaving the department at the end of the academic year and isn't going to be there next year. The point of this is, all of these things that are outside your control suggest that you shouldn't give up. And that you should always apply to multiple programs. Even if you think that there is a dream place that you are an absolute shoe in for, you never know what's going to happen. Please don't put all of your eggs in one basket here. As I've mentioned before, I applied to PhD programs earlier in my career and I was rejected from every single one of them. These things happen. If you strike out, you can try again. And as I talked about in my video about how to decide which programs to apply to, you should make decisions about if you don't get into your dream school, would you be willing to go to this other school, or would you want to wait a year and try again, for example? You might even get some indication, particularly if you have reached out to specific faculty members about why you received a rejection, maybe. Please don't bother them about this if they don't offer that information though, because sometimes it's really complicated and there isn't a clear reason, et cetera, et cetera. And I know that's a little discouraging that there's this bit of randomness in the process, but on the bright side, sometimes this randomness works in your favor. Maybe you're the one with the perfect research interest for the grant that just got funded. You never know. All right, so I hope that this video gave you some ideas for them some things that you might do in the process now to better your chances in being accepted into PhD programs. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below. And of course, again, you'll find some more detail in some of my other videos about this process. For right now, this is the last video in the applying for PhD programs series. However, I will be picking this back up again in the spring as people start hearing back from programs and you need to think about things like interviews and making final decisions. So if you are going to be in that position, make sure that you subscribe and hit the bell so that you know when I post new videos, even if you wait until January to watch them.
[17:26]As always, I wish you the very best of luck with this process and I really do hope that you find the perfect PhD program for you. So this is Casey, and thanks for watching.
