Ada0824

Hi, I received an email from the Doctoral School at a UK university almost two months ago telling me that I got the place and funding. After 4 weeks of waiting, I emailed them to ask when the letter would be sent out and they just said that they were preparing all the letters for all of the students who got the place so no specific answer. I'm very worried and just wondering how long everyone had to wait to get their offer letters. And should I contact them again about it?

Hey, I know that there are often two processes after a PhD interview: the school will decide (1) whether you get a place; (2) whether you get funding. From your experience, did you hear back from your potential supervisors first whether you get a place or did you get to know both at the same time? It's been almost three weeks since my interview and I haven't heard anything from the school (I applied for a UK university and it's school of Arts and the funding body is the university, which offers scholarships for several schools and departments). The chair of the interview did say to me that the first process will be quick and the second will take 4-8 weeks. Does this mean I won't be offered a place?

I actually don't know anyone doing a PhD in humanities in the UK and those I do got the place without being interviewed. But yeah, I really hope so and thanks for sharing your experience!

I was applying for a programme in the UK.

Yeah, I found it weird too, and yes, as part of my application, I had to send them my research proposal where I talked about my research questions, methodology, etc.

Hi, I applied for a PhD in English Literature. It's a funded place and I just had an interview earlier this week. It was my first PhD interview and I proposed my own topic. I looked up all the questions that might be asked during a PhD interview (i.e. tell me about yourself, why are you the right candidate, weaknesses and strengths, why this project) and prepared for them, but on the day they dove straight into my project and asked me very detailed questions about the novels I want to work on (which of course doing a Master's I didn't have much time to think about them that far). So I was completely unprepared for this. But I managed to answer most of their questions. I said most because I couldn't answer two of them and gave a wrong answer to one of their questions. So I'm just wondering whether it's normal that interviewers would focus only on the candidates' projects and nothing else and whether the fact that I couldn't answer some of their questions is bad and shows that I haven't thought about the project properly. Have you had similar experience and did you get a place?