An Ultimate Student Guide to study abroad
Once you have decided to take that big step to go further into the
academic world, searching for Higher Degree by Research(HDR) Student
Positions (PhD, Masters) around the world, the first thing to do is to
identify a Potential Supervisor who is ready to take you in and guide
you towards your academic independence. It is necessary to contact
prospective supervisors to discuss the suitability of your research
interests in relation to theirs. Like I said before, in almost all
Australian Universities(including most other Universities abroad),
there is a need to get approval from a potential supervisor in
research degree programs ready to supervise you before lodging an
application for that program. In some universities, your advisory team
could be made up of two to three advisors.
You must keep in mind that, these people are among one of the
busiest people you will ever meet. Apart from the busy job life itself, they got lots of ongoing projects,
students under supervision, lectures, markings, seminars and equally
receive thousands of emails from students like you around the world asking
for studentship positions. With this busy schedule, only a few emails from
students around the world asking for studentship positions would get a
reply. The rest would end up in the trash box.
So in order to capture their attention and avoid your email being
sent into the trash folder,
your (first) email must be very captivating, explicit,
rich in content and well planned showing a genuine interest in your academic pursuit and your
possessed potential. With good planning ahead of time, you will be
surprised how much response you get from these researchers who are
interested to work with you. This guide will provide you with all
the tips you need to successful captivate the interest of your
potential supervisors. So how to contact a PhD/Master supervisor? In
another word, how to email potential PhD/Masters supervisors?
A good approach to email a potential supervisor might be email
formatting ie good mail presentation, style and content. Below are
two main strategies to consider that we will be looking at:
-
A rich email content And
-
The content Presentation approach/Structure
Let's now look broadly into the above two aspects or approaches to
successfully email a potential supervisor when asking for a
studentship position. We will start first with the strategies on how
to construct rich and captivating email content before looking at the
next strategy which is how to present or structure this rich content
to be more captivating, a reason for your email to be paid attention
to.
A. Rich Email Content Approach
The rich email content approach is more about the content of your
email, ie quality of your email, the inputs of your email, the
captivating subjects such as your academic achievements, skills,
experience, knowledge about your research area and
relationship with the current program you are going in for etc...
These are all essential elements that your email must
contain.
Tips: Things to take note of when contacting
potential supervisors:
#1 Search for the supervisors
The very first thing to do is to go through the school
database and search for those supervisors that have common
research goals with you. Most Universities have databases or
portals filled with supervisors portfolios and all the necessary
academic details you need to know about them. Make sure to single
out all those who match your research interests.
some lecturers even have their own websites. Go through it and
try to understand their research interest.
#2 Be sure that your research interests are aligned to his (Common
Research interests)
One of the errors must students make is that they do not care to
find out if the supervisors they are contacting have a research
area that is aligned to their area of expertise. Most supervisors
hesitate to read or even reply back to such emails.
#3 Have good background knowledge of your area of interest.
Having well-equipped knowledge in your area of expertise or
interest is the first stricken point to captivate your potential
supervisors. This is the area they want to see more as this will
enable them to be able to judge your already-acquired skills and
potential. You must keep in mind that, there are thousands of
other students around the world sending emails to him for the same
position, so ask yourself what makes you special? and try to
differentiate yourself from others.
#4 Prepare a well planned/very
captivating research background of your area of interest
Before sending your first email, make sure to have planned a brief
but explicit
research proposal about your area of interest. This should
explain why you are best suitable for the position you are
requesting for. Usually, I recommend students to do a cover letter, and make a well-formatted draft in Microsoft word, well planned and
revised. If possible ask for a friend or a lecturer from your
current university to cross-check. If you have not read this post
yet about how to write a captivating research proposal make sure to check it before preparing any research
proposal
B. Content Presentation Approach (how to approach that first Email)
How to email potential PhD or Masters Supervisor:
After all the above considerations, you are now good to go.
Before you send that first email that will leave an everlasting
impression, and win you the research student position you wish to
get, this is what you must take into further consideration
:
Mail content presentation approach (Structure of the email). Make sure to subdivide your email into three subcategories
:
Introduction, body and conclusion. (Note you do not need to write down these subcategories in
your email, it is just a format that you need to demonstrate
through paragraphing)
(1) Introducing yourself :
👉 Start with an email etiquette
Do not make your email look like spam. That is an email that you
have composed to be sent randomly to all professors around the
world seeking academic study positions.
To avoid this, always start your email with
"Dear Professor or DR" followed by his name and the greetings. Lecturers do not want to
read emails showing no dedication and personal efforts.
Ex. of a good start should be like "Good Day Dear Prof
"M"
etc..,
👉 Introduce who you are
State your current qualifications, that is:
-
Degree and the grades,
-
Number of publications,
-
English language scores,
-
Current university and your current location
-
And briefly highlight the reason for your email :
For
Ex. "I would like to apply for the position of a PhD
studentship under your supervision at the University of
X.
Upon visiting your research website, I found your research
interests to be closely related to my own field and thus
captured my interests.
After carefully investigating your research topics and
your publications, I am confident about your professional
skills....., I like these concepts in this your research paper"... etc...
You must give him/her an impression that you have seen his
works and publication papers, you know well about him. All this is
proof to show that you know exactly what you are searching
for.
(2) In the body paragraph :
👉 State your main goal
That is, expatiate on the reason why you are contacting him
and why you are interested in his works. if possible
introduce your funding status or how you intend to secure
funding. (Australian universities have high competitive
scholarships available for all eligible international
students. Once you secure supervision, there is a
possibility for an available competitive scholarship). Find
out more about scholarships in Australia and tips on how to apply for one from this
post How to apply successfully to Australian Scholarships.
👉 State your current research and academic background.
Demonstrate how your research interests are related to
his field of expertise. keep in mind that most supervisors can
only easily supervise people in their field of expertise. Let
him know about your most recent publications and how that is
related to some of the concepts in his own research
works.
👉 State your most current
experience
If available, maybe some internships and demonstrate how
that has improved your professional skills, and leadership
and how it can impact your working with him.
For Ex:
"with previous and ongoing experience, I think that I can
be an ideal candidate for the PhD position in your group,
and strongly believe that I can make a positive
contribution to your lab/your research group"
etc...
(3) In the conclusion paragraph :
👉 Finally, end your email with another sign of good email
etiquette.
For Ex: ...
"I would greatly welcome an opportunity to discuss with
you regarding my qualification & experience and the
position in greater insight.
Thank you for your consideration, and I am looking forward
to seeing your reply please".
Kind regards,
Yours sincerely future student,
Your name
Do not forget to attach :
Your resume, CV, academic transcripts and certificates, an English Language Proficiency Test
( for those who have English as their second Language)
With a well planned, explicit email demonstrating genuine
interest, knowledge in the area of interest, outstanding
qualifications, research skills, and a good formatting email,
there is a high chance that you will receive a response to your request.
Are you having problems contacting a potential supervisor
in Australia Universities or elsewhere? Please share your
experience with us. This could be in any discipline
including music supervisors
Good luck with your search for a studentship position in
Australia. Don't forget to leave a like on the page if you
find it helpful 😃
Check out this free online course on How to Succeed at: Writing Applications, from the University of Sheffield, an institution that stands among the top 100 universities with a reputation for teaching and research excellence. The course provides an opportunity to learn how to make a positive impression when writing your CV, How to write a brilliant personal statement etc...
Other related links mentioned in this post you should
equally check:
wonderful advice
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