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I am nearly finished with my master in mathematical finance. I have finished my thesis and have one course left to take. I am finishing it in a third world country and am interested in pursuing a PhD in stochastic analysis in the US.

I have heard that the application process for PhDs, unlike applications for masters or bachelors, involves first speaking to faculty and then to the school. Is that right? That is, when I apply I should already have a professor in the university willing to be my doctoral advisor?

The exact procedure I heard is something like:

  1. Read up various literature on your desired dissertation topic which should include several textbooks and even more for recently published articles. (If necessary, study for IELTS, GRE, etc.)
  2. Come up with a PhD proposal.
  3. Contact relevant faculty of the universities to which you intend to apply.
  4. Discuss your proposal with them if they're up to it.
  5. One of the following: Revise proposal if needed, completely change proposal or get referred to different faculty member.
  6. Actually apply to the university.

So, is that how it actually is?

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BCLC
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  • Aehm .... what? – xLeitix Mar 24 '15 at 20:54
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    The PhD process varies strongly from country to country, and sometimes even within a country. Thus unless you specify the country, your question is too broad. – Wrzlprmft Mar 24 '15 at 21:15
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    Do a search here on "application process" (without the double quotes). It will turn up several earlier questions with answers about how the application process works in different countries and universities. – mkennedy Mar 24 '15 at 23:14
  • @Jack If you edited your question, you may candidate it to be re-opened. Before requesting your question for re-opening, please make sure that there are no duplicate questions and it is perfectly edited to stay on the site. Minor edits are not enough for closed questions to re-open. – enthu Mar 25 '15 at 08:24
  • @EnthusiasticStudent I believe this emphasis is not a minor edit. I am just wondering if in general one must have a faculty member of the university already willing to be my doctoral advisor? – BCLC Mar 25 '15 at 08:26
  • Voting to leave this closed since the issue of country-dependence is still unresolved. – Wrzlprmft Mar 25 '15 at 09:03
  • @Wrzlprmft Are you saying there are some universities where I can apply for a PhD without getting one of its faculty to be willing doctoral advisors? – BCLC Mar 25 '15 at 09:05
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    Perhaps. At the very least, the process you are describing (even the undetailled version) is definetely wrong for some countries – you could go as far as saying that it’s not even wrong, as you are making some implicit assumptions that do not apply. Most importantly, however, academia varies more than you think it does (I just see that your case is even listed as an example there) and thus if you do not specify a country or similar, possible questions to this answer would have to cover all of them – which is too much. – Wrzlprmft Mar 25 '15 at 09:13
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    @Jack For most math/econ/finance/stat programs (which is where I assume you'd want to be) in the US, it is very rare to already have an advisor lined up. The vast majority of the time you apply directly to the program and don't choose an advisor until sometime in your second/third year. I am not familiar with other countries' programs, but I believe that most European PhD programs are the opposite. – Roger Fan Mar 25 '15 at 15:39
  • @RogerFan Oh, thanks! You said "The vast majority of the time you apply directly to the program and don't choose an advisor until sometime in your second/third year." So your proposed research can be something no one in the university researches? :| – BCLC Mar 25 '15 at 15:47
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    See How does the admissions process work for US Ph.D. programs – ff524 Mar 25 '15 at 16:20
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    @Jack Generally you aren't required or expected to propose any specific research at all. You might talk a little about your interests in your personal statement, but there's no formal proposal or anything. That said, you probably want to apply to places that have people doing work that you're interested in. – Roger Fan Mar 25 '15 at 17:08

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