英国社科博士申请「保姆级套瓷攻略」

互推小编 2023-12-16

套瓷就是套近乎，搞好关系。留学申请者较为熟悉的一个术语，专指留学申请者和申请学校的有关教授通过Email联系，并通过联系达到增加自己被录取和获得奖学金的机会。

英国人文社科博士申请里必不可少的一个环节就是套瓷老师，很多同学都听说过这个环节，但是具体操作是怎么样的还是一头雾水。

Annie学姐汇总了自己的经验后，总结了关于套瓷的几点经验供大家参考。

套瓷时间：

最好是6-7月或9-10月。这两个时间段最合适是因为很多导师会选择七八月的时候休息，休息的时候要么不看邮箱，要么看到了也不会回复。学姐当年是9月底才开始套瓷，说实话是有点晚了。而10月，11月之后发出的套瓷信大多都是婉拒或者无回复。因为一些好的导师他的名额都是有限的，所以太晚的话，即使导师对你感兴趣也没有名额可以提供给你了。套瓷是一个痛苦且漫长的过程，中间有很多不可控的因素，所以大家在套瓷的过程一定要切记急躁。

必备内容：套瓷信正文+CV

选备内容：PS + Research Proposal

正文：简单的自我介绍+老师的研究很吸引你+你们两很match+一些套话。

我准备一些模版供大家参考。

模版一

Dear Prof xxx/Dr xxx,

I hope you are doing well.

My name is xxx and will get the master’s degree in xxx at xxx which is xxx (Rank x/xx, GPA XX/100). I am writing to inquire about the availability of obtaining a PhD position in your research group.

I have participated in some academic programmes using xxx, for example, xxx. My contribution here is to xxx, which requires solid statistical knowledge. I have undertaken statistics modules at which I excelled, achieving a grade of xx%. Besides, I have also got the opportunities for researching the xx, such as xxx (20xx). And I published xxx(xx). More detaied information can be found in my attached CV.

In the future, I want to focus on xx: xx. Previous studies have centered on the xx, which is not sufficient to explain the xx. The focus of this programme will locate the xxx, as well as the xx. How xx will be explored with regard to their xx. Multiple methods would be applied to investigate how xxx and what xx.

I have explored your website and your recent publications in detail, and it seems like an excellent fit for me because of its emphasis on the xx and xx.

I bear in mind that you are very busy, so I appreciated your reply at any time. Attached files are my MA/MSc transcript and CV. I would also be interested in any other information or advice you might be willing to share.

Best wishes

Xxxx

模版二

Dear Prof xxx/Dr xxx,

I hope this email finds you well.

My name is xxx, I have finished my postgraduate study in xxx (专业名称) with an average mark of xxx at xxx (研究毕业的学校), while I hold on xxx (本科专业) at xxx (本科学校). Inspired by the research I experienced during my postgraduate study, I determined to devote myself to academic research prospectively. I would like to apply for a PhD position under your supervision.

I found out that your current research addresses several themes, which includes xxxx. And your work focuses on xxx, which coincide with my research interest in the future. My proposal topic focuses on the problem between xxxx (这里可以简单介绍一下你的research proposal 的内容，要精简，同时也要结合你和导师之间的相同点去做一个结合的介绍，你要让你的导师看到你们的匹配度). Hence, I believe some future research in this area could profoundly improve xxx. And I would like to delicate myself to this topic. It will be my pleasure to discuss some more research interest ideals with you if you have a plan to recruit some Ph.D. students.

My academic performance indicates that I possess good academic skills for further academic research. I received remarkable xxxx (这一部分可以着重突出那些对你未来研究有帮助的学科成绩和项目作业). Besides, I did an internship in xxxx (这里可以介绍相关经历). In addition, I grasped great foundation knowledge of xxx in my xxx. Thus, I am pretty confifent that I can become a qualified researcher in my forthcoming research career.

I would like to inquire whether you are accepting a Ph.D. student at this time. If so, would you be open to talking more, via phone or email, about the possibility of joining your group?

It would be highly appreciated if you could take a look at my full CV and proposal below. I look forward to your kind response.

Best wishes

xxxxxx

套瓷时到底要不要有研究计划?

首先说结论，对于背景不是很有竞争力的同学，建议写好proposal再去套瓷。大家都知道套瓷的作用是导师对你产生最初的兴趣，进而让导师可以产生跟你沟通的想法。比如说指导你可以在哪些地方可以改进等等。你和导师之间的套瓷其实也是一种双向选择。就像是找工作的简历一样，是不是首先要过的去HR的眼睛，让HR对你感兴趣，你才能够进入面试环节。导师就相当于HR，你的套瓷信的内容要足够引起导师对你的兴趣，哪怕是一点点也好。很多学生都遇到过套瓷信石沉大海的情况，我觉得根本原因都是导师对你的套瓷信不感兴趣，所以当然不会给你回复。

所以我这里建议背景一般或者不好的同学，在套瓷的时候不要只是单纯的附件CV或者PS。因为背景一般，所以更要用别的文件让导师对你感兴趣，不然以你目前的背景，应该是很大程度提不起导师对你的兴趣。因为导师每年都会收到大量的套瓷信，也有很多人没有附件proposal,但是为什么只回复别人而不回复你的。根本原因我觉得应该是你的背景相较别人而言不够资格让导师回复你。所以提前写好跟导师方向一致的proposal，这样导师虽然对你的背景不是很感兴趣，但是他对你的proposal很感兴趣，这样他就有兴趣回复你，和你进行沟通。当然也有即便有proposal，导师也不回复的情况。这样的例子，我认为大概率是因为proposal质量问题。导师觉得从背景和proposal等方面没有兴趣和你沟通。所以背景一般建议多多打磨自己的proposal，增加一些竞争力。

对于背景很有竞争力的同学，可以先去套瓷。后写proposal，没有问题。可以先去询问导师有没有位置，然后再去和导师商量有没有什么研究方向可以建议你去写。

最后，对于研究方向比较小众的同学，不管背景如何我都建议先去套瓷，后写proposal。因为有些同学的研究方向真的很难找导师，所以最好还是找到导师再去写proposal，不然真的很容易白写。

陶瓷后的工作：

总的来说，套瓷后的无非是三种结果：积极回复（通常表现是愿意看研究计划或者进一步线上交谈），中立回复（没有拒绝，但是鼓励申请），直接拒绝。

如果是积极回复，那就是迈出第一步了！接下来就是反反复复的起草修改研究计划的过程了。

如果是中立回复，不妨后续和老师跟进一下，比如问问可不可以让老师看看你的研究计划，可不可以选他做你的申请过程中的potential supervisor。

直接拒绝就真的没什么好说的了，记得回一个礼貌的感谢就好。

最后学姐还要在这里强调几点套瓷中注意的地方：

1. Proposal可以是粗略草稿，但不能粗制滥造。必要时找专业人员proofreading。即使套瓷信想法很好，但是写的太烂。完全不够academic还有语法错误，这简直太致命了。

2. 套瓷信虽然是白话套近乎，但是导师没有和你那么近乎。不要太过于注意礼貌，好像在求老师一样。不卑不亢，恰好好处是最好的。

3. 邮件正文最好不要超过邮箱一页的阅读长度，其他supporting documents都放在附件，清晰标题。导师忙的很，秒回都是少数，一般都没耐心阅读长邮件，正文写明来意让导师轻松知道是最好的。

4. 一封套瓷不要用于所有老师，每个老师的研究兴趣着重点都是不一样。还是不建议一封套瓷投遍整个大海。