More likely to get funding at 'less prestigious' university?

I am currently applying to undertake a PhD in English Literature as well as applying to the relevant research councils. I have applied for a total of 4 universities, 2 of which belong to the same funding consortium, meaning I will only be able to apply for funding at one of them. One of these universities tends to rank among the top 20 universities in the major rankings, whereas the other is closer to the bottom, though I would still be happy to study there. The 2 universities are in the same city and both have supervisors who have responded positively to my proposal, and who I would be happy to work with. I understand that the home universities themselves play a role in shortlisting candidates for funding from the research councils. Would it therefore be in my interest to apply for the university that does not rank as highly, on the assumption that there would be less internal competition for the funding?

Original post by PlainsOfCement

I am currently applying to undertake a PhD in English Literature as well as applying to the relevant research councils. I have applied for a total of 4 universities, 2 of which belong to the same funding consortium, meaning I will only be able to apply for funding at one of them. One of these universities tends to rank among the top 20 universities in the major rankings, whereas the other is closer to the bottom, though I would still be happy to study there. The 2 universities are in the same city and both have supervisors who have responded positively to my proposal, and who I would be happy to work with. I understand that the home universities themselves play a role in shortlisting candidates for funding from the research councils. Would it therefore be in my interest to apply for the university that does not rank as highly, on the assumption that there would be less internal competition for the funding?

Try and speak to an administrator (as senior as you can get to) in the consortium, because it depends on their selection rules. I haven't dealt with this for several years, but iirc we had quite detailed rules about how to handle too many strong applications at one member and not enough at another (basically make an offer conditional on moving Uni.

However, I think each consortium can make up it's own rules on how to do this, and whether applications to Uni A are still reviewed collectively across the consortium etc.

Sorry, that's a bit vague, it was several years ago, but GDPR and info sharing means that if it isn't clear on the application website, you can ring up and ask, if nothing more than to understand where your info might be shared.

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PlainsOfCement

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6

Thanks for your reply and helpful suggestions.

More likely to get funding at 'less prestigious' university?

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