12. My Applications to Universities in Four Countries
|
University |
Details of Application |
Outcome |
Details of Outcome |
|
Australia / Application type - Direct PhD / Duration in years (average)
– 4 |
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|
University A (Times world ranking < 50) |
An interview with the supervisor was held initially. After the supervisor’s willingness to be my supervisor, the application was made. Automatic consideration for Research Training Program Scholarship (Stipend and Fee Offset) when the application was made. |
Pending |
Even after 1 year after submitting the application, I was on the waiting list 3 times due to the COVID situation. My result had to be out in April 2020. As I think, they held the application due to the travel ban in Australia at that time. Since the beginning, my supervisor told me the success rate was high for me but I could not take the risk and wait for the outcome with the time frame of NTU admission. Also, I was uncertain that if there would be some impact on university scholarship for new international applicants with this still ongoing COVID situation. |
|
University B (Times world ranking < 100) |
No interview was held. After the supervisor’s willingness to be my supervisor, the application was made. Automatic consideration for Research Training Program Scholarship (Stipend and Fee Offset) when the application was made. |
Admission was offered. But scholarship rejection |
As I assume, it was due to their requirement of Q1, Q2 research journal papers |
|
Canada / Application type – MSc then PhD / Duration in years (average)
– 2 + 4 |
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|
University C (Times world ranking < 150) |
An interview with the supervisor was held initially. With the professor’s willingness to be my supervisor and to provide a monthly stipend, the application was made. |
Admission was offered with financial assistance from the supervisor (Stipends to cover tuition fee + living expenses) |
This was straightforward because the admission offer was made without any problem since there were sufficient qualifications. Since the supervisor would like to provide financial assistance with his funding, the success rate of the application was very high. |
|
University D (Times world ranking < 400) |
After the professor’s approval to be the supervisor, the application was made. |
Rejected due to inability to secure supervisor |
It was due to a decision change by the supervisor. Even though the supervisor told me to apply, the professor had to change the decision of supervising at the last moment. As I assume, it maybe due to that, the professor got some other appropriate candidate or professor had some problem in funding for me. |
|
University E (Times world ranking 400- 500) |
An interview with the supervisor was held initially. With the professor’s willingness to be my supervisor and to provide a monthly stipend, the application was made. |
Admission was offered with financial assistance from the supervisor (Stipends to cover tuition fee + living expenses) |
This was straightforward because the admission offer was made without any problem since there were sufficient qualifications. Since the supervisor would like to provide financial assistance with his funding, the success rate of the application was very high. |
|
New Zealand / Application type – Direct PhD / Duration in years
(average) – 4 |
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|
University F (Times world ranking < 200) |
The application was made without prior contact of supervisors. Automatic consideration for University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship. |
2 supervisors contacted me, held interviews, and both professors were interested to work with me. Then, my most preferred professor was going to be my supervisor while the other professor was going to be my co-supervisor. Admission offered. But scholarship rejection |
As my supervisor told me, it may be due to their requirement of GPA or mainly due to the impacts of the COVID situation. The supervisor mentioned that fewer number of scholarships are usually provided to international students in Newzealand compared to Australia. He tried a lot to find another scholarship within the deadline (1 week) given by the university for my acceptance of the offer. But that time was not enough for him to find another possible option to provide financial assistance for me. |
|
Singapore / Application type – Direct PhD / Duration in years (average)
- 4 |
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|
Nanyang Technological University |
After the supervisor’s approval, the application was made. Automatic consideration for NTU Research Scholarship (Stipend and Fee Offset) when the application was made. After the application was made, there was one interview with the supervisor and also another interview with some other professor who is in a different department (PhD Candidate Interview). |
Admission was offered with a scholarship offer. |
This was a quick process compared to my other applications, but as I felt and heard it was very competitive. As I think, GPA, research background, GRE/IELTS scores/ supervisors’ comments, evaluation from the interview were considered for a successful application. |
You can see that
even after making 7 applications which had high success rates initially, only some of
them made positive responses. Thus, it is always recommended to have multiple options to make your applications with the approval of potential supervisors
because there may be some unpredictable situations and rejections.
In my case, the outcome of applications was usually obtained after 2 months from submitting
the application. It depends on the criteria of your university and scholarships. First, the offer letters were received from 2 Canadian universities and I preferred one university
(University C) from two of them. For that, I got some guidance from my family as well as from some of my lecturers. After that, I
talked with three students from my supervisor at University C and got to
know about their lifestyle/studies during studies.
Even though I obtained the offer letters in early 2020, it was a really bad time due to COVID situation and there were travel restrictions n Canada for international students. This unpredictable consequence certainly made me worried regarding my opportunity and changed my path. Until August, my supervisor was also not sure about the commencement of studies because those travel restrictions were up to the government and based on fluctuating impacts from the COVID situation. However, I had many worries about whether I could even make it in January 2021 because of travel restrictions that were made in March were still the same. Additionally, my supervisor informed me that I should have to start my research soon because otherwise, their external funding for my financial assistance could be in a jeopardy. This had made a change in my path. With these uncertain impacts, I thought it was better to consider other options because COVID situation and its impacts were in doubt. Then these things made me consider the direct PhD option in Singapore where I dreamt to do my PhD during my undergraduate studies. I made my application to NTU in August end and got the offer in mid of November. Then I declined 2 offers from Canadian universities and decided to go to NTU because of my parents’ concerns, less time duration to complete PhD, easiness of traveling, and also significantly the well-controlled situation of COVID in Singapore. Since my priority was mainly dependent on education, I have not based my decision on the ability to settle in the country because I always dream to be a lecturer in a Sri Lankan university. But I would like to recommend that if you desire to get settled in a foreign country, Canada is one of the best countries with very high living standards and a very good community.
Therefore, you can get some idea from my experience regarding how the outcome of applications can be changed, the possibility of some unpredictable consequences, and the way you can grasp the best option with the positive options and your priorities.
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