Three years gap between Master's and PhD and no article

Question

I am a 31 year old international student. I applied for a PhD position in one of the top Australian universities. I’ll interview by Skype next week. I have a three year gap between my Master's and this PhD position. During these three years, I applied to many universities but was rejected from all. My GPAs are both above 3.8/4.0. I don’t want to work on something related to my master project.

I don't have any article yet. I wrote one three years ago but my supervisor, who is the corresponding author, submitted it only this April. Because I need her recommendation I couldn’t do anything but politely request to submit it.

In these three years, I took the GRE and IELTS exams (the latter was expired two weeks ago). I wrote a review article which I don't think my supervisor will ever try to submit. I tried to learn Python and R programming although I can’t say I am good. I participated in the translation of a book related to my major. I am also a high school teacher of 11 years.

Australian universities care so much about articles and research background which I don’t have. I don't know what I should say about this three year gap. I love research but I live in a small town in a deprived area of my developing country and I didn’t have any chance to participate in research. I also have a commitment with the educational office to work at my home town, that’s why I didn’t leave here. (During my studies I traveled around 2000 km every week to attend the university at the capital city of my country). However, now that I think about it I at least could have learn some bioinformatics tools and write an article.

How can I explain my gap without research? I don't want them to think that I make excuses. I love the project and I don’t want to lose this opportunity.

Answer 1

This question was asked a long time ago, but remains on the unanswered queue, so I'll try to answer it.

The OP doesn't mention what field he's in, but mentions wanting to learn R and Python, so I think it's safe to assume it's in the sciences but is not stats or computer science (because, a master's student would already know those languages). Perhaps it's bioinformatics. I'll answer from the point of view of a mathematician who has also published papers in applied statistics, biology, and epidemiology.

Generally speaking, there is not a strong expectation that you already have publications before starting your PhD. Much more important is what the admissions committee thinks about your research potential. They largely assess this based on letters of recommendation. If your master's advisor is a well-known researcher and writes a strong letter, explaining that the work you did is high quality and likely to be published, then this matters just as much as the publication itself.

Another way to show your research potential is with preprints or independent projects, e.g., implementing well-known algorithms and sharing your code on GitHub. Or the review article you mentioned. Put it online and include a link to it.

Generally speaking, the degree that prepares you to do good quality, independent research, is a PhD not master's degree. It's perfectly fine to say that your love of the subject was enriched by your master's degree, and in the three years since then you've been exploring the subject more deeply through teaching, reading, learning these programming languages, etc. There is no need to try to come up with excuses for not having published papers.

In terms of why you might have had trouble getting accepted, here are some possibilities:

1. There's a strong "prestige bias" at all levels of academia. A great GPA at a totally unknown school might not matter much to the admissions committee. The solution is better letters of recommendation, better GRE scores, etc.

2. Unfortunately, racism is still a force in the world. Consider casting a wider net in terms of admission to PhD programs.

3. Writing quality matters. In addition to trying to strengthen your research record, you could try to strengthen your writing skills, through blogging, stack exchange websites, expository writing, etc.

The acceptance and interview is about more than research alone. They also want to judge "fit" in the department, ability to work well with each other, etc. Believe in yourself and describe yourself as someone who will make positive contributions and will make the department better. Don't focus on ways you feel like you've failed or not been good enough. Focus on the positives.

Answer 2

You are demanding way too much of yourself!

Actually you are even a good step up the ladder, because you already have a paper pending. And another "in queue". That is awesome!

You do not even have to mention, that you believe, it won't get published. You have submitted. Period.

About the 3 years gap: You are a human being, you know? Of course you do some travelling or also just a phase of relaxing and restoring your empty batteries after finishing your Master.

You are not supposed to work-learn-roll-repeat all the time. There has to be times to let you breathe! Or you will burn-out in no-time.

What do you mean with 11 years of high school teacher? That is also awesome! You could also say you conducted social studies with human test subjects ;) In any case, this is invaluable experience you have there.

Also. Be confident and just submit your application to those PhD programs you like. Don't bother thinking about an answer to this question. Let this question be asked of you. And you will see, nobody will ask this in an interview. Because either they did filter you out for some reason (does not need to be that gap) or they don't care and want to meet you. So, you are in no trouble.

Even if this question would come up, you have given a very good answer yourself in the question text. What about being honest? Just be honest. You do not need to present something if you do not have it. But you are also not supposed to devalue yourself if you do not have it! State the facts. Maybe mention your ambitions and your willingness to do research, but do not overdo it.

Don't be ashamed of yourself! That is detrimental. Be proud of that, what you have. That makes up for anything you do not have many times over.

Edit: Whoops. This question is 6 years old, but popped up in my "Newest Queue". Anyways, I hope you did well and you are happy!