Application DIY Kit
The old Edyssy menu had a link called Application DIY kit, between “How to get it” and the offers page. This is its rebuild: a fifteen-month plan for a funded graduate application. Pick your start term, and the dates fill in. Tick items as you go; your progress stays in this browser and nowhere else.
- 15 months out
- 14 months out
- 12 months out
- 11 months out
- 10 months out
- 9 months out
- 8 months out
- 7 months out
- 6 months out
- 5 months out
- 4 months out
- 3 months out
- 2 months out
- Start
Why fifteen months
Because the real work happens before the application portal opens. Committees read files in January, but the decisions that matter, which professors know your name and which letters will be strong, are made the previous spring and summer. People who start in October can still get in. They just have fewer choices about where.
Spring starts exist, mostly in master’s programs and some engineering PhDs, and the calendar shifts by about five months. Funding for spring entrants is thinner, so if money matters, ask each program directly whether spring admits get the same package.
The pieces of a file
| Piece | Who controls it | Lead time |
|---|---|---|
| Statement of purpose | You | 2 to 3 months of drafts |
| Recommendation letters | Your recommenders | Ask 2 months ahead, remind 2 weeks before |
| Transcripts | Registrar | 1 to 3 weeks; longer for credential evaluation abroad |
| Test scores (if required) | Testing agency | Test 3+ months before; reporting takes up to 2 weeks |
| CV | You | A weekend, then revisions |
| Writing sample (some fields) | You | Revise an existing paper; 1 month |
| Fee or waiver | Program | Waiver requests often due before the application |
Where to go deeper
Each step in the kit has a full answer on the help desk. The emails in month nine are covered in the sample email teardown. The letters in month eleven are covered in getting letters from a well-known professor. And if your record has a weak semester, read applying with a low GPA before you write the statement, because the fix starts there.
Still an undergraduate and a year or more away? The college ranks page explains why research experience outweighs the name on your diploma. For what happens to your file after you press submit, see the department side of the process.
Questions about the kit
- I am starting this in October for next fall. Is it too late?
- No, but you will be compressing four months of work into eight weeks. Ask recommenders this week, draft the statement, and email a short list of funded professors; skip programs with a December 1 deadline if you cannot do them well.
- Where are my ticks saved?
- In your own browser’s local storage, on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere, so clearing site data or switching browsers resets the list.
- How many programs should I apply to?
- For funded PhD programs, six to twelve is a common range, chosen around professors you would genuinely work with. More applications mean thinner statements and more uploads for your recommenders, so cut weak fits before adding schools.
- Does the kit work for European or UK PhD applications?
- Only partly. Many European doctorates are advertised as salaried positions with their own deadlines spread across the year, and UK funding calls often close in winter. Use the early steps (questions, shortlist, letters) and follow each position’s own dates.