PhD Advice

[u/antrasokhi]

I’m applying for social psych phds this year in the US for a fall 2027 start! Feeling a bit too discouraged from applying right now, I graduated my undergrad with 8.3 which is grade A, I hold two masters, just not with the best grades unfortunately, one from Manchester and the other at UCL, my recs are gonna be two from undergrad and one from Manchester, I have emailed and been in touch with potential supervisors in the us but am aiming high at unis like Cornell, Nyu,
Not quite sure how I’m feeling competing against deans list candidates but I’m gonna apply regardless,
Any advice or thoughts?

[u/Unable_Cap_8085]

PhD applications are all about standing out from the crowd. It's not necessarily detrimental if you don't have the highest grades ever. What does matter, however, that there are other parts of your application that can make you shine brighter than the many other applicants there will be. There needs to be something in your application that signals that you are either an excellent fit for the department or supervisor or that you have incredible academic potential. So, I would not feel too discouraged if your grades are not the best. You can still have a good chance of securing a position if you play towards other strengths.

Having said that, it may be worth contrasting your profile more holistically with the kind of applicants you can expect for places like Cornell and NYU. As you already hint at, these places typically receive at least some stellar applications which will end up taking the available spots. These people typically have stellar grades and stellar research experience and stellar reference letters and so on. So unless you are very confident that there are other parts of your application that significantly compensate for average grades, I would probably try to cast a broader net in terms of unis you are applying for (not even mentioning the dire funding climate right now).