5th Rejection After Interview
Last year I made the mistake of applying to programs in America. I interviewed for 2 out of the 6 I applied to and was rejected from both which, for the sake of my ego, I'm blaming on Trump. I have since been applying to studentships in Europe and the UK (where I live). I have applied for five so far. I got interviews for three of these. One I was nominated to the awarding body for funding and then waitlisted. Another, I got accepted onto the program but no funding so that's basically a rejection because I'm not an heiress. I interviewed yesterday for another studentship and was rejected within 24 hours of the interview. I'm still waiting to hear back about a scholarship at Edinburgh so fingers crossed.
I'm not good at interviews I get anxious and flustered but I'm not sure how to fix that. Plus, the more I get rejected the less confident I am in my interview skills so it's like a vicious cycle.
I hate living at home and a PhD feels like the only way I'm getting out because there are no jobs and the one I currently have has an annual salary of 16k which would barely even cover rent for a room in a share house in my city. I applied for dozens of jobs earlier this year and got like two interviews so at least I'm actually getting interviews for PhDs.
It would be better if I could actually apply for more places but my expertise is in like phonology, corpus linguistics and multilingualism. I am applying for all of the suitable positions I can find it's just that not many of them.
I know I'm not entitled to a funded PhD and these places are incredibly competitive and it's probably because I suck at interviewing etc. etc. It just sucks getting close so many times but still being stuck at 23 living at home working a dead end job I hate despite speaking 3 languages and having a masters degree.