Advice for applicants

Read some helpful tips to help you apply for doing thesis research at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies.

Make sure you meet the requirements

The University has general requirements for PhD study which differ for domestic and international students. You should carefully review the requirements and make sure you meet them before you apply.

For example, applicants who do not meet GPA or English language proficiency requirements are typically not considered by our Research Committee. Selecting a topic and a primary supervisor

We strongly suggest that you find out about our researchers and consider which academic staff members have the best expertise and experience to supervise your proposed thesis topic. You may find it useful to review some of the Potential Research Topics our academic staff are currently working on. When to contact a potential supervisor before you apply.

• Once you have identified a clear topic that you think fits well within a potential supervisor’s research interests and expertise, you are encouraged to contact that supervisor. In this case, the purpose of contacting the supervisor is to seek feedback on your topic and application, inquire if the supervisor is currently able to take on new students, and to introduce yourself and inform them of your intention to apply.
• You should avoid “cold calling” potential supervisors if you have not yet developed a topic or are unfamiliar with that person’s body of research. You should further avoid contacting potential supervisors for basic information about the PhD application process, which can be found on this page and the FGR website for the university. Academic staff will generally not provide personal replies to such enquiries.

Drafting a strong Expression of Interest

The Expression of Interest (EoI) is your opportunity to demonstrate that you have developed a topic suitable for PhD-level study and one that would find a good home in LALS.

The quality of the EoI is also a key aspect considered by the University’s Scholarships Committees in decisions on its PhD scholarships. Basic information about the EoI can be found on the FGR application step-by-step guide.

We suggest applicants should treat the EoI as a formal research proposal. This means that applicants should articulate clear research questions, cite relevant literature related to their proposed topic, provide an explanation of their proposed methods and analyses, and further expand upon how and why LALS and VUW provides them with the means to do their research.

An interested applicant may find it helpful to first draft a formal research proposal outside of the FGR application, following the question ‘boxes’ set out in the form, and then copy and paste relevant information from that proposal into the online application system.

Letters of recommendation and referees

When deciding on who to ask for a letter of recommendation or referee report for your PhD, it is ideal to secure recommendations from previous professors or supervisors who can speak to your academic ability.

If you cannot get a report from someone like this, it might be worth noting why that is the case in your application material. Moreover, referee reports or letters of recommendation from colleagues and co-workers are generally not informative for the purposes of our assessment of your application.