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Student story

The PhD was a post on a professor's LinkedIn. Dorsa found it on ApplyKite.

Dorsa started a year before she meant to apply. She checked ApplyKite almost every week, and three of her PhD offers came from what she found there: Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge and the University of Melbourne.

PhD offers she found through ApplyKite
3
PhD offers she found through ApplyKite
her PhD at Imperial College London
Fully funded
her PhD at Imperial College London
she started before she applied
1 year
she started before she applied

Timeline

Two years, step by step

  1. October 2024

    Joins a webinar, a year early

  2. 2024 to 2026

    Searches every week

  3. Along the way

    Finds the Imperial PhD

  4. July 2026

    Offers from Imperial and Cambridge

  5. July 2026

    A scholarship from Melbourne

  6. August 2026

    Becomes a mentor

  7. Autumn 2026

    Starts at Imperial, fully funded

Offers

Three PhD offers, all found on ApplyKite

  1. Imperial College London

    PhD, fully funded. Where she studies now.

    The professor announced it in a LinkedIn post. It was in her ApplyKite results.

  2. University of Cambridge

    PhD offer

    She found the professor in Professors search, wrote to them and applied.

  3. University of Melbourne

    PhD offer with a scholarship

    Another professor she found on ApplyKite.

Some PhD positions are announced by one professor, in one post. Dorsa's PhD at Imperial was one of those. Here is how she found it, how she found two more offers the same way, and why she now mentors students who are where she was.

Starting a year early

In October 2024, Dorsa wrote to us before one of our application webinars. She wanted to join, but she wasn't planning to apply until the following year. Was it still worth her time?

We told her it was a good time to start. The webinar was about strengthening your profile, and a year gives you room to do it. She registered the same evening.

The post that was easy to miss

Over the next year and a half, Dorsa opened ApplyKite almost every week. When a position looked relevant to her research, she saved it.

One of them was a PhD at Imperial College London, which the professor had announced in a LinkedIn post. A post like that is easy to miss: a few days later it has slipped down the feed. ApplyKite collects positions from university websites, job boards, LinkedIn and X, so the post was in her results next to everything else.

It is the PhD she is doing now, fully funded.

I clearly remember that the professor had posted the Imperial College London PhD on LinkedIn. It would have been almost impossible for me to find it on my own.”
Dorsa J.PhD student at Imperial College London

Writing to professors directly

Not every PhD is advertised. Dorsa used the Professors search to find people working in her area, then wrote to them herself.

That is how she found the professor she wrote to at the University of Cambridge. She emailed, applied, and was offered a place. Later, a professor at the University of Melbourne she had also found on ApplyKite offered her a place with a scholarship.

She used ApplyKite's AI to write first drafts of her emails and statements. The final versions were hers.

I used the AI to write first drafts of my emails and motivation letters, but I always spent a lot of time making the final text personal, so it never felt artificial.”
Dorsa J.PhD student at Imperial College London

Now she mentors

In August 2026, while she was still waiting to start, Dorsa saw that we were looking for mentors and applied. Before mentoring opened, she tried the mentor workspace and sent us a list of what to improve, from the spacing in profiles to saving a package halfway through. We made changes from her list before launch.

She now helps students choose universities, write their CVs, statements and research proposals, find funding and prepare for interviews. With about ten papers published since 2023, she also takes on a few students each month who want help writing and publishing their research.

Dorsa J., ApplyKite mentor

Work with Dorsa

Dorsa now mentors on ApplyKite

Dorsa J. · PhD student at Imperial College London · Verified by ApplyKite

“Having gone through the entire application process myself, from identifying and reaching out to potential supervisors to writing research proposals and preparing for interviews, I know how stressful and overwhelming it can feel.”
  • University, programme and country selection
  • Academic CV and cover letter
  • Statements and research proposals
  • Scholarships and funding
  • Interviews
  • Research and publication
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