Applying for a PhD in Physics after a Master's degree

[Hooriah]

Hi,
I have a few questions about the timeline of pursuing a PhD after a master's degree.

Applying for PhDs seems quite a hassle as of now because each university has their own set of application procedures, academic requirements and deadlines. I am currently in the process of navigating where and when I wanna apply and as I was searching about it, I saw that most of the US universities consider applications for the Fall semester, beginning around the end of August. My master's will end by that time, next year, as well. The application deadlines were in December and January. So if I didn't apply now and wait for the next admission cycle, I will get admission in a PhD a year later? If so, then is a one year gap inevitable now? Will this cause an issue when I apply to these universities? What would be the best way to use this one year gap?

Apart from this, what is the timeline for UK-Ireland universities? As far as I have come to know, in UK-Ireland, getting into a PhD is more about mailing the supervisors you are interested to work with rather than a full fledged application procedure. But then again, this sort of a cold mailing application procedure seems so risky, I have mailed a few professors in the past regarding summer internships and hardly got any responses.

I am currently studying in Ireland right now, for context. Even if I were to apply in this admission cycle, I don't think I was prepared enough for it, to compete with other applicants in renowned and much sought after universities. But the realisation of having to face a gap year is making me feel anxious, like I have missed out on something or if I might face consequences ahead in my career path cause of the delay.

Hope I can get some answers here, Thank you for the help in advance!

 

[Vanadium 50]

Researching indivisaul timelines is something you should be doing, not us.

And yes, if you want to enter a school for Fall admissions and you don't finish your previous school's program before then (plus time to move), yes, you have a problem and yes you may have to wait.

 

[Hooriah]

Researching indivisaul timelines is something you should be doing, not us.

And yes, if you want to enter a school for Fall admissions and you don't finish your previous school's program before then (plus time to move), yes, you have a problem and yes you may have to wait.

Yes of course, I didn't mean to ask the exact dates. Since academic timelines can be similar for the same country or other similar places, I just want to know how other people deal with the overlap and in the case of a gap year, what do they do so as to make it an advantage instead of being counted as a negative point in their resume.

 

[gwnorth]

The most common PhD program intake timeframe in the US is for the Fall semester (beginning in Aug/Sept) and applicants wanting to begin their studies then are applying up to a year in advance prior to completing their current programs which often will end in April-June. Applications typically open around Oct-Nov the year prior to you commencing your studies with deadlines commonly in Dec-Jan (with the first half of December being the most typical). Interviews and admissions decisions are just starting to roll out now for programs beginning September 2024.

If you're looking for September 2025 admission, for which you will be applying this coming December, then if your program doesn't finish until August, then yes you're going to have a very tight timeframe for moving and being ready to begin your PhD. This is a frequent timing issue between the UK and NA as many UK programs begin in October. One option would be to see if you can move your enrolment to the winter or spring semester, but that's far less common and will be program dependent. Otherwise you may be needing to take a gap year unless you can come to some kind of arrangement with your current program (e.g. do you need to be there in-person until the end in August or can you finish remotely).

For the UK, as I mentioned programs often begin in October but you can look that up for yourself as there seems to be a fair amount of variability.

As far as I have come to know, in UK-Ireland, getting into a PhD is more about mailing the supervisors you are interested to work with rather than a full fledged application procedure.

This is not my understanding. Getting a direct admit by cold emailing supervisors is the exception not the norm. Not to say it can't happen but if you go to the webpages of English and Scottish universities, there are definite application time frames and a centralized application process. The same applies to applying for government funded CDT projects.

I'm not familiar with the application process in Ireland so it may be different there but since you're currently enrolled there presumably your master's supervisor can advise.

 

[CrysPhys]

OP: If you're considering US universities, besides a potential 1-yr gap because of mismatch in academic calendars, you should also investigate carefully how much of your master's coursework will carry over. Unfortunately there is no uniform policy; each US university will have its own rules (transfer credit, placement exam, ...). In the worst scenario, you would need to take all the courses that a US candidate entering with a bachelor's would; in which case, the US PhD program would likely take longer than PhD programs that presume completion of a master's program for admission.