#but i intend on working on a phd in cognitive psych

[axolotlclown]

Cosmetic surgeons are often partnered with hospitals so ofc people can get top surgery at hospitals why are you spreading misinfo about a surgery thats already hard to get.

??? This actually might be a miscommunication about location and intention. Hospitals do not offer top surgery in my part of the US. There was one hospital that did, but that hospital had to drop its gender affirming care or risk losing funding from the state. I only offered my experiences with the process of getting a top surgery as prompted by the poll (I assume you came from). In my experience, and the experiences of the transgender people in this area, the big road block to top surgery is the price rather than finding quality surgeons. I believe, at least in the US, that is a common concern. It was one thing I wish I knew before starting the process. It is expensive and insurance never covers it. I'm not sure where you're from—maybe these surgeries are possible to get in hospitals. where I'm from, elective surgeries are not commonly done in hospitals at all.

I apologize for the miscommunication, but I assure you that I am not intentionally spreading misinformation, but rather sharing advice from my experiences. I hope all is well.

[c-offeeandcocoa]

Since you seem so thoughtful, maybe you could you help me with your honest opinion? I’m an international student and I’m trying to do my phD at Imperial but I need a professor to be my supervisor. Do you think it’s too difficult to be accepted by one? I’m planning on sending some emails but I’m afraid I’ll be rejected by all since I’m not from the UK.

Hey! So I’ve never applied for a PhD, so take what I say with a pinch of salt! I think needing a professor as your supervisor is general practice across the UK - you need to have one supervising you at Cam as well. I don’t think it’s difficult to be accepted by one - if they say on their academic profile (on the uni/department website) that they’re accepting applications from PhD students, then they legitimately are on the lookout for someone to supervise. 

Will you be rejected because you’re not from the UK? Unlikely - if anything, there’s a higher proportion of internationals doing PhDs than undergrads. I honestly don’t think your country of residence will come up as a problem - the only thing you might have to do is attach some sort of letter explaining the grading system in the country that you studied in, but there should be guidance about this on the Imperial website if you search around their international student section. More important than where you’re from is how good your application is. Obviously, top-notch grades are a must. I think you’ll also need a fairly coherent idea of what you want your PhD to be about. Another key factor is whether or not your intended research fits nicely within the research that the professor is carrying out - so like, if you want to study, say, the neurobiological basis of autism (sorry, throwing in psych examples here) but the professor is studying cognitive theories of autism, they may not accept you because the research you’re doing doesn’t fit within their work (ofc it’s still worth a try, but if they come back with a no, don’t take it personally). Also, if you don’t have funding yet, a likely consideration will be how likely you are to get funding - in Cam psych, a lot of masters students have great ideas for research, but don’t get in because the department has limited funds and gives them to projects that are a little higher up on the research agenda. 

Like I said, I’ve never applied for a PhD, so most of the above is based on my (limited) interactions with PhD students, and on the experiences of my friends who applied for research Masters programs. But hopefully it makes sense/helps a bit! Good luck!