Should I just stop applying for admission to PhD with my research gap of 8 years?

Question

So I graduated from my Master's in Electrical engineering 8 years ago, with a good CGPA of 3.75/ 4.00 and three conference publications (with around 15 cites) along with my job which is only tangentially related to my master's research topic (MS topic was in Controls, job is of embedded systems design). I am really passionate about doing a PhD in my master's area of research but am finding it really difficult to get admission, especially in the top-tier universities. Have managed to get to the interview stage but rejected and mostly given the feedback that I have a long gap without recent publications. I have started to get disappointed now, does the academic world not take on PhD candidates with a research gap like mine? I mean I am still in a research and development based job so I am not totally out of the process of conducting research? I always mention the technical and soft skills that I have gained from my job in my interviews and personal statements/ letters but it seems professors don't want mature candidates anymore.

Any advice or feedback is welcome. What countries should I target with this profile? I personally feel Canada and Australia favor fresh candidates more but I might be wrong.

Answer 1

You can apply to Europe.

There are some EU countries where they don't care about the kind of gap you are talking about as long as you can demonstrate you are involved in science. However, you will have to sit for an entrance exam and an online interview.

Try countries like Lithuania, Czechia, etc.

The good thing is, they offer 4-year programs, which is much better than most Anglophone countries in terms of viability.

By the way, for some reason, these former Warsaw Pact countries maintain high quality in running their PhD programs, and those degrees are very well treated in North America.

Answer 2

I know someone who got their BSc in 2005 and then worked in school system for many years before starting their PhD in 2014. They now have a research fellowship.

So in theory at least in Europe it is possible if you can demonstrate your expertise.

Answer 3

Since my gap was only one and a half years, I mostly based my answer on talking to other researchers in a similar situation. They told me that some EU countries (e.g., Portugal and the UK) might favour you more in this situation than others. It will be more challenging for you than others since supervisors usually look for students fresh out of their master's or bachelor's, but I don't think it will be that much harder.

My recommendations for you would be:

• If it is possible, do research on your own. It doesn't need to be published anywhere fancy or even in any peer-reviewed place. It can help you show that you still have experience in research and will be able to use your job expertise in favour of other much younger students who will struggle with the initial steps of the PhD.
• Contact potential supervisors before the application process. If you apply using the website without prior connections, you are just one of many doing the same. Give them the privilege of knowing you, and showing why you are a good fit.
• Some universities have a more industrial-focused program. When applying to KTH, my PhD interview was like a job interview. I had a programming assignment, an HR interview and a knowledge test. They viewed their PhD as official lab employees (and paid like we are). Programs like these might help you significantly since you have 8 years of industrial experience.

I want to give you more details, but other things might be too area-specific, and my conversations are around computer scientists. I might edit my post later with extra recommendations if you provide more information about your goals.

Best of luck to you!