Should I keep trying for UK PhDs as an international student?
I’m honestly starting to wonder if I should keep trying for PhD positions in the UK as an international applicant.
So far I’ve interviewed at 3 universities. For 2 of them, the feedback was actually really positive. They said they were impressed with my presentation and interview answers and didn’t point out any major weaknesses. In one case, I was even told I was one of the higher ranked candidates, but there were very limited funded positions so I still didn’t get the offer.
The 3rd interview happened recently, so I’m still waiting to hear back.
What confuses me is that several supervisors I emailed also seemed genuinely interested in my profile and research background, but later said they couldn’t take international students because of funding issues. One supervisor basically told me they wanted to take me but later found out the funding only covered UK students, and they also said my CV and experience were strong and that they hoped I’d find something else.
So now I’m trying to understand whether this is just how competitive things are right now for international applicants, or if I should take it as a sign that I need to change strategy completely.
For context, I have an MSc in Physics and I’m mainly applying in materials, fusion, and quantum related areas.
I also wanted to ask honestly, when supervisors send emails like that, is it something they usually say to everyone they reject, or is it generally a sign they actually liked the candidate but funding became the problem?
Would appreciate hearing from people who’ve gone through something similar.