How on Earth do you go about applying for a PhD?

[Steala]

I'm training for my second career and want to go into academia. A PhD is the next step for me. The problem is my interests are very eclectic and I can't narrow it down. Would it be career suicide to just ask a department to slot me in where they think I would be best suited?

I imagine it would, in which case, how do I narrow down the choices and how many applications can I make (to the same place....)?

I am very keen but currently a bit clueless and would welcome any advice!

Hi Steala - I didn't want your post to go unanswered, but am not sure how much help I can be, even though I'm doing a PhD myself. I had an idea of a topic, and a clear idea of which departments I would fit into, so I made preliminary enquiries with a couple of them and applied to only one in the end. It's obviously different in other subject areas, or if you're in a bigger field (mine is quite niche and I am in the 'obvious' place to do what I'm doing, so there wasn't loads of choice).

I'm sure making an informal enquiry to an academic whose work you know and finding interesting isn't career suicide, but you probably need to have at least a vague outline of the area you want to work on, if not the exact topic. Are you studying at the moment? Talking to someone in your current university is probably a good first step, even if you think you'd want to do your PhD somewhere else. www.vitae.ac.uk has lots of useful PhD advice in general too.

IIRC, my application deadline was the end of Jan so if you want to apply for next year (and especially if you hope to get funding), start now!

Steala, can you tell us a bit more about the general field you're in? For example, presumably you wouldn't be equally happy with being sent to biochemistry or history?! I am in my second year of a doctorate in Soviet history, so if you are in arts/humanities I could at least offer you my own reflections on the matter..

If you are a scientist, applying for a PhD can often just be like responding to a job advert: someone has a project that needs doing, and they pick the best application for it. In this case your research proposal will obviously be based on the call for applications. There are also a small number of arts/humanities PhDs that work like this (and usually have funding automatically attached as you will be part of a wider project), but the majority involve you putting together your own research proposal, and whether or not you get a place/funding depends on whether the department thinks it is a worthwhile project that could plausibly be done in the time allowed.

If, as I am assuming since you don't mention looking for advertised places, you would be planning to put together your own proposal, I cannot recommend strongly enough that your proposal stems from a fairly specific question that really interests you, and that you put considerable thought into how you might approach it. I speak from experience as someone who applied because I wanted to do a PhD rather than because I felt strongly about a question that I wanted to research! I cobbled together a proposal, was lucky enough to get a place and (I know not how) funding to go with it, and spent a good part of the first year wondering how on earth I was going to get anywhere with it..

As for deadlines, I think with most UK universities it depends how you are planning to fund the PhD. If you are hoping for research council or scholarship funding, the deadline will very likely be in Jan; if you're planning to fund it yourself, many universities carry on accepting applications for places only until they've offered all the places they have, so would theoretically consider apps until the summer. But do check, and obviously the sooner the better!

Long, sorry! But I would be happy to talk about this more if you any of the above has been relevant.

Thank you both. It is geosciences, which I think makes the application a little easier. There are funded places out there. The problem is every one I look at excites me. Boundless enthusiasm can really be a curse!

I'm trying to target applications now and, as you have both pointed out, time is not on my side so I really need to get a move on!

Steala- cool. No help here, but I'm halfway through my BSc in Earth Science and am thinking of doing a further qualification when I finish!

I just applied for and got into a PhD program - and I second Splinters in saying that by far the most important thing is to form a really strong, clear, and focused proposal. This will aid you in every way possible (including being considered for grants & scholarship) and prepare you for undertaking a project of this scope. Here's a book that was suggested to me - I haven't really looked through it yet, but hopefully it might help you on your way.

Good luck sorting it all out!

This one was also a suggested read...

Ooh, thank you for the book recommendations. I'll plough through those the moment I get a chance!

I've been doing my homework and have an informal chat lined up with someone who seems to be my ideal supervisor. Hope he sees it the same way!! I'll make sure I am focused. The general consensus is that is the key.