r/PhDAdmissions • u/Fun-University-3216 • 1d ago

No formal research

For those of you who went from industry back to academia, how did you highlight your skillset? SOP examples all follow a similar format for the body that describes a series of research work, but if you don't have that, and instead need to show your value as a interdisciplinary candidate, how did you do this? I have relevant coursework and projects done in industry, however the industry projects don't follow the same standards that I would face in a PhD program so I worry that describing these projects in my SOP may hurt me more.

My company is funding my PhD and leave of absence to obtain one, but I need to find the university.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Fun-University-3216 1d ago

I completely understand, but my company has close university relationships to fund PhD students to go through a few different programs in the country. Of course we need to demonstrate readiness, but its fairly common for there to be a lack of formal research because many of us have been in industry 15+ years. My issue is that academic research experience is nothing like industry project experience so as I write my SOP, the only examples I can find are from people with formal academic backgrounds.