For the record, I’m writing this coming from a very humble place, because I know my story isn’t spectacular. I have known a lot more people who had to overcome much more challenges to achieve way more than I did. However, each person’s experience is unique, and being a PhD applicant myself less than a year ago, I know that a new perspective from a real person who has gone through what you are going through will always be appreciated. Therefore, I’m going to try to re-tell the story of how I—a freelancer with zero research experience—scored a studentship from a decent university in the UK within less than 4 months.
So, a little bit about my background. I got my bachelor’s degree in Banking and International Finance from the Foreign Trade University Hanoi, Vietnam in 2017. Right after I graduated, I was awarded a 50% tuition fee only scholarship to complete my MSc in Branding and Advertising at Nottingham Trent University, UK in 2018. The master’s degree was just an excuse for me to go out into the world and experience life in a foreign country, so my grades were not what I cared about most. I never thought I would want to be an academic, so for my master’s graduation project I chose to do an internship instead of writing a 10,000-word thesis. I started working full time in the industry from 2019, hopping from one company to another for about a year before I decided to be a content freelancer. In December 2021, I switched my career direction one more time, and started to apply for a PhD program with the wish of becoming a lecturer in the future. Within roughly 4 months, I wrote and submitted my research proposal to 15 universities in the UK, 3 of them got back with interview invitations, 2 of which offered me a place at their schools. At last, I accepted the funded offer from Brunel University and enrolled in January 2023.
To date, I’ve always felt extremely lucky to be given an opportunity to undertake a PhD program with a background that is literally all over the place. However, luck solely could not have got me what I wanted. Upon reflection on my own PhD application experience, I believe a successful PhD application needs to demonstrate these following characteristics throughout all the stages of application:
Motivation
Ability
Strategy
In today’s post I’ll focus on motivation.
What is motivation?
Put simple, it is what pushes you to pursue a PhD, especially a PhD in the research areas that your proposal is in. Bear in mind the factors that constitute motivation also include time and location–you have to make sense why you want a PhD now but not a few years earlier or a few years later, and why you want to do it in this particular country/ university but not any other places.
Why is motivation important?
A PhD is not a picnic in the park, it’s a long-term investment, so you’d better have a very strong motivation in order to see it through. Motivation also acts as a moderator in terms of cost–and–benefit perception—it helps reduce the perceived costs and increase the perceived benefits of undertaking a PhD program. However, what I want to focus on is your motivation from the admissions team’s point of view.
For universities, recruiting a doctoral researcher is also a big investment–they invest loads of their resources in you to conduct your own research. Therefore, they look at your motivation as an indicator of investment risks. The stronger the motivation, the more likely it is that you will commit to your studies, yield favourable outcomes, and graduate on time, the less risks there are for them to take.
Where does your motivation manifest in the application?
Because of the importance of motivation, you will see that these kinds of probe appear a lot of times and in a lot of places. First of all, it’s one of the main topics that you have to cover in your Statement of Purposes (SOP). Second, it will be one of the first questions that get asked in any interview. Some universities even ask you to include an explaination of the inspiration behind your choice of topic within the scope of the proposal. Each time they will phrase it differently and look for a different angle in order to gain a comprehensive view of your circumstances and detect any inconsistency in your answers.
How do you (boldly and convincingly) convey your motivation to the admissions team?
There isn’t a set formula for everyone, and it might take a bit of trial and error, but my general advice is to make your story as personal and detailed as possible. The usual temptation is to cover a lot of the ‘why’ because that’s what the question is fundamentally about, but you have to really get into detail with the ‘what’ and the ‘how’, so the board can understand where you come from. Remember, they are not looking for a reason on the surface. They’re looking for someone to invest in, so it’s in your favour to let them know who you are as a person as much as possible. For example, let’s look at these answers to the question, “Why do you want to have a PhD?”
Answer 1:
“I love working in the education field, but I’ve always perceived being a lecturer as a highly committed job, which did not fit my personalities. Therefore, after completed my master’s degree, I chose to do a lot of things around education, for example, working as a marketing executive for educational institutions, ed-tech startups, and working in the book publishing industry—which is also a form of knowledge transferring. Now, after a few years, I feel like I have had enough experience, and I have reached a certain age when I really need to settle down and pursue a career that provides me with stability and chances to grow. Also, during my master’s program, I was particularly fascinated with the Consumer Behaviour module where I was introduced to the concept of sustainability and made aware of the fashion waste problem. Since then, I have thought that if I had the opportunity to investigate the problem further, it would be really cool. Those are the reasons why I think it is time for me to get a PhD, which I believe would open the door to a fulfilling academic career in the area that I’m passionate about.”
Now the above answer has some pros—it covers almost every fact that needs to be stated. However, what it lacks is cohesion and a lot of fire. Anybody can say they has a dream, a passion, or an obsession with something from their childhood, but you need to show them how in order to convince them. Otherwise, the board will see it’s just a tactic that you are forcing into your narrative.
Now let’s look at another example answer.
Answer 2:
“During these years working as a content freelancer, I was blessed with a lot of interesting book production projects. I was working closely with some of the top experts in marketing and advertising in Vietnam, creating content that truly made an impact and was regarded as guidelines for the younger generations of marketing professionals. I have a mentor who is also a scholar, and we were often discussing about the books that I was working on, and the thought process behind the ideas of those books. One day, she told me she thought I had many traits of a researcher, such as a passion for knowledge, and critical thinking skills. She encouraged me to think about pursuing a PhD in the UK. I took her advice and started to look for inspirations around me.
One day I was going shopping in a traditional open market. As I walked through the clothing aisle, a thought suddenly came to me. I have walked past hundreds of aisles like this one, but never have I realised how much clothes are being displayed and how cheap they are. Most of them are being sold for less than 3 pounds a piece, made in China, and of terrible quality. I thought about how most of them would probably end up in the landfills just a few months after they were produced, and the thought scared me.
Now I was introduced to the concept of sustainability and made aware of the fashion waste problem when I was studying for my master’s degree, but those are relatively alien ideas in a developing country like Vietnam. That was when the inspiration to conduct research into sustainable fashion consumption in Vietnam sparked in me.
I love working in the education field, but the thought of being a lecturer put me off quite a bit, because I was under the impression that it’s a highly committed job with very little room to grow, especially if I was to pursue an academic career in Vietnam. Now, with the newly found research inspiration, the encouragement from my mentor, and the support of my family, I feel like I could take this opportunity to undertake a PhD program as a foundation for a lectureship in the UK in the future.”
The second answer does not need to say cliché things like dreams and passions. It’s down to earth, and people can really get behind your mind to see how you’ve evolved and connected all the dots from your past to your present and your future. It’s compelling because they know you are being sincere. It’s convincing because now they know your motivation comes from reality, not an imaginary place where childhood dreams and fairy tales are made of.
Believe it or not, the approach of Answer 1 was what I used in my first PhD interview, and at that time I truly believed it was a good answer. Evidently, I failed that interview. I’m not saying that was entirely the reason why I failed. However, having a solid and convincing reason for PhD study is table stake for any doctoral researcher. The admissions team would not care so much about anything else unless they are sure you are 100% determined and focused.
So, if you are preparing for your PhD application and wondering how to shape your motivation argument strongly, I will encourage you to really dig deep, and think about these questions:
Where does your inspiration come from?
What is the trigger that makes you turn this inspiration into action?
What do you want to do after completing your PhD program?
How does a PhD help you realise your plans?
If you have any questions or comments, please leave it down in the section below. I’ll come back with the next episode on PhD application soon.
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