So you finally decided to go after that PhD and do it somewhere far and beautiful like Europe. One of your options is to shoot for the Erasmus+ (formerly Erasmus Mundus) PhD Program.

First things first. What to study? You can find the list of all programs and their respective websites here. People get easily overwhelmed by the number of choices so I suggest that you seriously allot some time to read the ones which interest you. Totally ignore those topics you know nothing about and be very patient in going through all the information provided to you. Also, the deadline for each program differs, so take note of them as well. Normally, the call for applications open in September and close around December. There are programs like mine which close in January but rarely it can still reach February for some.

In Erasmus PhD, we get to choose the topics we want to work on, and those topics have universities assigned to them. You can apply for up to 3 programs. Normally, within one program application, they will also ask you to rank your preferred topics.

My application experience was a bit unusual in that I bravely targeted just one program, Sustainable Industrial Chemistry (SINCHEM), because I was very specific regarding the topic I want to work on. To me, it was I get into SINCHEM  and do this topic or I don’t get the Erasmus PhD anymore. Luckily, I got in. But yeah, know very well where your skills lie and if you are passionate enough to pursue it.

STEP 1. APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Don’t forget to do due diligence in completing the requirements specified by your program. They are serious with disqualifying people who have incomplete applications. In my program alone, there were 170 applications received but 4 were immediately declared ineligible due to some issues with the documents they submitted. Here are the documents I scanned and submitted online for my application:

1. Transcript of Records (English)
2. College Diploma (Original language and English translation)
3. Master’s Diploma (Original language and English translation)
4. Passport ID page + passport-size picture
5. Motivation letter
6. Summary of Master’s Thesis
7. TOEFL test results
8. Curriculum Vitae
9. Two letters of recommendation

I know, plenty, but just patiently go through the hassle of gathering all these, send it to them and patiently wait for their response.

STEP 2: INITIAL ASSESSMENT

All you really have to do here is wait. They will rank all applications based on the documents which were submitted and also release the scores along with the shortlist of candidates moving on to the interview stage. For my batch in SINCHEM, the initial shortlist was about 20 people.

STEP 3: SKYPE INTERVIEW

I was rank 10 in the shortlist that’s why I really knew that I had to get as high a score as possible for my interview in order to qualify. There were only 6 slots available.

My panel consisted of 4 professors. I would say, it was a technical interview. I prepared by re-reading my master’s thesis with all my heart. I had to review it because I was working in the industry for 4 years when I decided to apply so some if it slipped my mind already. I also read about some related topics within the program.

I was glad that I was only asked about the stuff I had experience about, like photocatalysis, so I was quite happy with the interview. But yeah, they really asked very specific questions, like how to know which oxidation state of copper is present in a sample.  So you get the idea. Here, I would say, is when my actual hands-on experience in my research played a very important role in sealing the deal.