Grab a Ph.D - GAP

Dear all

Just a little information we want to share.

So many Professors/institutes post about the open Ph.D. positions on LinkedIn.
So, How to receive updates?

1.On your profile click on Open to Work and mention the details.
2. For instance, mention you are looking for Ph.D. then mention your interests, subjects and then you can also mention countries.
3. You will receive regular updates and you won't miss any chance.

We have uploaded a picture for your reference.

We hope this helps you and you like it.
For more information follow Grab A PhD (GAP)
Shallu Verma Abhishek Makol

Dear All

We hope you are doing well. Today we are uploading the samples of the Motivation Letter for your reference.
Here are a few key points to keep in mind.

1. This is a very important document for you. Make sure it's original and should have your own story and should be true.

2. Be creative in it, proofread it, and get it checked by someone in the field to make it perfect.

3. Highlight your research background and skills learned. It is very important.

4. Divide it into different headings it is easier for the Professor or anyone who is reading and becomes very concise. As it gives them the liberty to read whatever topic they want to.

I hope you all like it. We are overwhelmed of the response on our workshop, it was huge. Thank you so much everyone who joined and appreciated it.

*Also, as we were getting so many requests for one on one sessions thus, we will be starting one those at very minimal charges from this month. Those who want to connect with us through the one-on-one session. Please Mail or message on Linkedin.*

Hope you will like this.

Hello Everyone

We hope you are doing well. So today we are sharing the template of the cover letter of Shallu Verma and Abhishek Makol . It was asked from us by so many people. But we will like to give you some advice:

1. Be unique. Your cover letter is really very important and it tells the Professor about your background your experience and your interest. Do not just pick and copy anything. Since everyone is unique your cover letter should also be!

2. Be honest. Don't put anything in your cover letter which is false. You will get caught in an instant. You have to be honest and portray your true qualities and skills in a better way.

3. Highlight your research experience and the area you are interested in. It is also a really important point. The Prof. should know the reason you are interested in their lab.

4. Last but not the least, you should not make a generalised cover letter. You are telling the Prof. Why did you like the research, so spend some time and write about it. Do not send a general cover letter to all.

I hope you like this. Do let us know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Hello everyone. We hope you all are doing well.

We are grateful to announce that we have started our one-on-one consulting sessions at legible prices. If you want to avail, dm or mail [email protected]

So, today we are going to post about mail and mail template

1. The subject line should be straight and meaningful. This is the only door through which your mail will be opened on the window of the professor.
2. Mail should be crisp and precise.
3. Start your mail with a good salutation.
4. In the first paragraph, tell about yourself and your educational background.
5. In the following paragraph, about your research background and end with the line that it aligns with his/her research or that you are eligible for her/his research group.
6. This Paragraph should be dedicated to him/her and what you liked in his/her research.
7. Close the mail with a cordial statement and if appearing for English proficiency tests, add about it. Also add, if your paper is about to be published.
8. Most importantly, don't forget to attach the files before mailing (people do it in haste)
9. Now, attachments; Please make one merged pdf in a sequence with your name. (as there will be many files in his/her system)
10. End it professionally with warm regards and add your name.

To get through the following points, have a look at this template!

We hope you liked it and this was informative.

Thank you.
Have a good day.

Hello Everyone

We hope you all are doing good. So, as promised Shallu Verma and Abhishek Makol have uploaded their CVs. Since both have fairly different research interests with completely different extra curriculars you will have a fair idea of how to structure your CV.

Just a few pointers

1. Be very clear and very smart with your CV. Don't try to write stories SOP is there for that purpose.

2. Be creative, since both of them hadn't done any internship in our bachelor's but we had done some courses on Green Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry etc. which were application based so we mentioned that, it's highly effective if you could think out of the box and make your profile better.

3. Do add your skill sets and be true to it, do not add anything which you don't know/or will not be able to know. You may find yourself in a soup.

4. Also, do remember your CV should be clear and effective. For example, in our CV we divided our skill sets into three different verticals according to us. So, you should be smart with segregating and making good bullet points, it will help you and the reader understand you better.

5. Stress on your project work and qualifications more. They are the really important part of your CV. As you can see we gave one full page for it.

6. Do add references and preferably the ones who know you better and can give a good recommendation.

I hope you all find this helpful.

One more piece of advice we would like to provide:
You can make your email id a bit professional while shooting emails.

1. You should use your institution ids for official purposes like applying for Ph.D. as for us its address was like: cys20.....iitd.ac.in
so due to this, it's quite clear to the person why we'll be mailing him or it conveys as well it's definitely an important email from which institution.

2. Apart from that, you can make kinda official gmail ids like us
[email protected]
[email protected]

I hope this will help you.

The few points that Shallu Verma and Abhishek Makol learned through their experience.

1. Attach all the files; CV, Cover letter, and mark sheets(if your grade point is more than 8.5) in a single pdf file. It makes it simpler for the person to open the pdf file, as there are loads of Ph.D. applications.

2. Name the Pdf file wisely.
For instance: Merged Documents | Shallu Verma

or if you are shooting segregrated documents
Curriculum Vitae | Abhishek Makol

3. If you are aiming for the country other than Europe. (In Europe, in some specific universities, they ask for English tests) Then start searching for which English proficiency exam is suitable for you IELTS or GRE/TOEFL. And, if thinking to start Ph.D. next year. Choose your time judiciously and give these exams and mention that in email as well, as it shows you won't be facing a language barrier there as far as it is concerned to English

4. Check the time, when you are mailing. Try to shoot in the morning time at; 9:00 am according to that particular country.

5. Keep the mail very very crisp, but add one formal slang or statement, which makes your mail different and unique.

6. CV: 2 pages, Tabular form to make it more concise.
Cover Letter: 1 page
Motivation Letter: 1.5 page (if you want to attach) {We personally didn't attach at most places, it was bit hectic for us, we recreated our cover letter accordingly.}

Also, right now, we just created the post randomly, it's not curated. Points are not really cohesive in nature but they are important. As it is going to be really busy for us, this month. One of us has started Ph.D.and ought to shift in 2 or 3 months and one is about to start the Ph.D. in new country. So, we might reply late or create the post randomly, but it will be informative.

Furthermore, we are thinking of sharing the post of people here, who post really great content, if that would be okay with them.

And, addition of valuable points are most welcome as obviously we are not experts.

We are excited to announce the launch of our new project!

So, On the request of many, we have started our paid one-on-one consulting at Grab A PhD (GAP) , as time is money. If anyone is interested, you can message us on Linkedin or by mail.* We'll be happy to help.

We Abhishek Makol Shallu Verma have organised our first free workshop and we are so grateful for such a big response to our first free workshop on Ph.D. Abroad. It received 300+ registrations and 70+ attendees. We thrive to make this platform big and to bring information about Ph.D. abroad on a single platform. Another big news is, we were invited at Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar by Career Development & Placement Cell, IIT Ropar to deliver a session on Ph.D. abroad. It was a big honor for G.A.P. which has just started and is taking big leaps. We want to thank the organising members to consider us qualified enough to guide Master’s students of IIT Ropar.

We wish to continue in this direction and try to fill the G.A.P. between you, your Ph.D. and your dream country. And, hence starting with these much awaited and most requested consulting sessions.

Grab a Ph.D. - Filling the GAP between You, Your Ph.D., and Your Dream Country.

"A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more."- Rosabeth Moss Kanter
We have created this logo with a strong vision, this Ant resembling toon is engraved from GAP letters only, an ant is a symbol of hard work and perseverance. And I wish we all would develop this quality of ant soon to succeed in our lives!

"Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world."— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Indeed, it took strength to start this initiative as we had different baffling thoughts while starting it.

GAP is the initiative that has started by Shallu Verma, a Ph.D. student at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand & Abhishek Makol, Ph.D. student at TU Darmstadt, Germany. They have started this to assist you in fulfilling your Ph.D. abroad dream and fill the gap between it!! As they have experienced, how much information, assistance and healthy discussions are needed to reach there, which are available but segregated at different places.

Our vision is to build a community that will help each other in fulfilling their Ph.D. dream and to put all the information regarding it on one platform. As we are not experts, so we invite everyone who is at that level, who can assist students in their journey, that is why we have created a group as well.

Once we settle down in our Ph.D.s we'll share our journeys of Ph.D. as well on this page. How Ph.D.exactly is! Is It the right choice for you or not, maybe you'll be able to decipher through this. Besides, the application process for comprises different verticals like:
1. Email structure
2. CV
3. Cover letter
4. SOP
5. Motivation Letter
6. English Proficiency test (sometimes)
and then followed by an interview.
Moreover finding research groups, and country preferences to name a few factors is another story.

We'll try our best to help you guys out by making a bit of time from our strict schedules! This month or next month, we'll see how much time, we are able to make as our Ph.Ds are our first priority and we have just started. If everything goes well, then by October we'll start one-on-one sessions for several verticals, we mentioned or workshops at minimal charges; as time is money.