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PhD Studentships Rejection

Hi People, so many of us are hearing about our scholarship applications. I am expecting a few results this month, and the whole process is quite nerve wracking. How can we handle rejections or how to prepare ourselves for rejection? Are there any tips on how to be less gutted about the whole thing?

Reply 1

Aglarien

I myself generally don't handle the rejections well. I have been quite anxious throughout last month and all I heard were scholarship rejections even from my "safe" choices. A talk with one of my referees somehow helped, though. He's working at a great uni with many publications under his belt etc. etc. I told him some of the rejections and he's like oh I was rejected by the same [studentship] for my doctoral study many years ago y'know? He added that he once supervised a brilliant phd student whose rp looked so perfect to him yet they failed to get the AHRC scholarship they applied for. They applied again next year and got it. I mean, scholarship rejections don't mean that you're not qualified or won't landing jobs in the future in the Academia. The Academia is underfunded in many ways and many of us won't get the doctoral funding we very much deserve. Looking at these cases from current PhD students / now successful faculties might help, I think! Also, staying away from forum threads and refraining from refreshing online application portals, at least most days of the week, helps. I'm trying to do that lol

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 2

Kpk1

Thank you for this response. I am indeed spending a considerable amount of time on online forums. I have also tried exercising to take my mind off all this chaos. However, I do keep returning to all this. Your advice does help, and I need to stop overthinking this and just let the process be. Hopefully, we will secure something before our anxiety takes over. Or get rejected from everywhere, wallow in our grief and march onwards. All the best for your application process!