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Hi! I'm English so I thought it might be of some use. I can't speak for Biosciences specifically, but in very general terms funding in the UK is much fewer and further between than it is in the US, but with your great research experience (a lot more than probably 90% of UK applicants and it does count for a lot) I would say you certainly have as good a chance as any EU applicant at getting funding. There are less scholarships for internationals but they generally do exist through the universities themselves rather than through government bodies or other organisations. The UK system is less concerned with grades, so you shouldn't need to explain your GPA. The most important things in the UK system are your proposal and your references. It's also probably a little more important to find a faculty and a potential supervisor who are open to your ideas rather than applying straight off. The good news is there's no need for the pain-in-the-arse GRE. I'd say yes to the taking a slightly more formal approach in your essays just because Brits are uptight - less is more on the dramatic stuff, but don't take it out completely though - a little goes a long way. Hope this helps - if you have any questions about the UK generally then I'm happy to help.

Let us know how you get on trying to take it in Melbourne - I'd be interested to know if the Aussies are any better at organising it than we are. I applied to Columbia last year and their rejection was swift but I'm going to give it another shot as it's a great school, as are PSU and Duke. The mid-tier places will probably take some investigating, which is what I'm doing at the moment - I've made a spreadsheet for it to organise all the different factors which are good or bad about each college. Is that going too far? The grotesque body is a classic - that was popular with a lot of people when I was an undergrad, but always in relation to Renaissance literature. I think it would be a lot more interesting in the context of Palahniuk and I'm sure that'll go down well with potential supervisors. Look for the ones who list 'the body and death and race and stuff' in their interests and I'm sure you'll be a shoe-in!

I was in the exact same position last year - only needed it for a couple of schools so I wasn't sure it would be worth it and I'm still not sure it was! Is it a requirement for NYU? I know I could look on their site myself but thought you might know as it's on your list. I did consider going to Paris to take it as there were spare seats in Paris and the Eurolines coach was pretty cheap. I did ask ETS about the best course of action and had a long email exchange with their customer service desk about it. They advised me to show up for standby testing, so I did, and they let me take the test. There were one or two people in the same position and we were all pretty indignant about it so if it comes down to it you may be able to get to do the test by giving the guy a hard time, as mean as that sounds. If you really need it though, you really need it. I took the general test pretty late (November I think) so that should be all good for you. Also, it took ETS ages to send me my scores for the subject test due to the rubbish admin of the standby procedure - they refused to tell me them over email and I had to wait months to get them by post, and in fact I'm still not entirely sure they were reported correctly to the universities, but I have no way of knowing. I ended up with two ID numbers but only one of them registers with my online account, which seemed to confuse them no end even though it's their own system! I hope you have a smoother ride with it and am sure you will - I think I was in the minority with my experience, but it's good to be aware of it.

That's good to know. I live in Surrey so Kent isn't too far to go really - a lot of people had come from Scotland and Ireland to take it, and I really felt for them!

I guess that's the same as for us then - hopefully the test centres in the US are bigger than ours!

Pleasing to me the Yoda-esque word order of this sentence is.

I don't think that's necessarily true - if your grasp of English is good enough to want to study at graduate level in English then I think it's good enough to understand some arbitrary tests in English too. The administration of the tests is much better in the US than the rest of the world, but I wouldn't say that it's 'preying' in any way, shape or form.

NYU is on my list too - it's a great department and a fantastic city. I don't know which departments are good for philosophy/English intersection but I'm sure there are lots. Are you considering Canadian universities too? Having taken the GRE once and planning on retaking it, I'd say do study hard for it but don't get too worked up. It's harder for us (English applicants I mean) than some subjects because you're expected to score very high on the verbal, which I was complacent about, assuming I'd be good at it because I already had a BA and MA, so I didn't study enough and actually did a lot better on the maths (maybe that's telling me something I don't want to know). Also, the subject test is a bit of a pain. I'm weighing up whether to take it again as I scored OK but not stellar, but it's only a requirement for a handful of the universities I'm applying to. It's also unbelievably poorly administered by ETS - it happens about twice a year at this tiny college in Canterbury which literally holds about 25 people max, all taking different subject tests. It was booked up, but they told me I could go 'on standby' meaning I could just turn up and see if they could fit me in. They did, but I had to pay a little more for the privilege and the conditions were very cramped. There was also only one guy running the whole thing so it took about two hours (not exaggerating) for him to collect the papers at the end! It was a bit farcical. So be prepared for some fun if you choose to take the subject test. The general test, however, is very well administered but can get booked up early so I'd recommend taking it as soon as you can, but not before you've studied hard

Well done on getting on to the MA at KCL - that's a great university. It's hard to get it 'right' as you say as it's so vast and complex. Have you drawn up a list of universities you're interested in or started prepping for the GRE etc? My field is the intersection between literature and visual studies, what about you?

Nice to hear of someone else in the same boat! I've started revising for the GRE again, what a drag - though apparently you can now combine your scores from previous tests with new ones, so I can keep the one score that was good if it isn't so good the second time around. How did you find Penn State? I never studied abroad and now wish I did, obviously. I never did general studies or the 11+ either...maybe if I had done them I'd be better conditioned to the GRE tests. Where else are you applying to?

Thanks!

Hi, I've newly signed up but have been browsing these forums for a while as I applied for entry in Fall 2012 and followed the results board which was a real godsend. I'm wondering if there's anyone else out there who's in the same situation as me - I'm English, did my BA and MA at a top ten UK university and am hoping to study for my PhD in the USA. I applied this year and got rejections across the board, and am now putting together my application for 2013. I think I know where I need to improve but I wonder if anyone else from the UK has applied to the US and got in/got rejected and what their experiences were, especially with regard to contacting POIs as this was something I didn't do a lot of. You all seem like a nice bunch too so hello!