The year 2021 was one of the most exhausting years in my academic journey, as I have mentioned on the previous page. The PhD application process was almost identical to my master’s application: the most important requirement was having a valid English proficiency certificate. Only after that could I proceed with the application for the NIMS-GRA program.

Ideally, the first step in applying for a PhD is to contact a prospective supervisor. However, since I had already planned to continue my doctoral studies with the same supervisor I worked with during my master’s program, I was able to “skip” this step. From a documentation standpoint, the process was also slightly easier—one of the recommendation letters could be written directly by my supervisor. This was quite different from my Master’s application, when I had to request recommendations from my undergraduate advisor and another faculty member I had worked with at ITB.

A small note for readers who may be considering pursuing higher education:

maintaining good communication with your professors is extremely important. A good relationship makes it much easier to obtain recommendation letters, and at the same time, you gain invaluable academic guidance and feedback.

One part that was far more challenging than collecting documents was writing the PhD research proposal. This section caused me a great deal of stress. My first draft felt unrealistic and overly ambitious, so my supervisor suggested that I rethink and revise my approach. The revision process consumed a lot of time and energy, but fortunately, my supervisor was very patient and supportive until the research plan became solid enough to submit (I guess).

After passing the document screening at NIMS, I prepared additional documents to be submitted to the University of Tsukuba. Then came the entrance examination day: I had to present my master’s research results and my PhD research plan within a very limited time—around 15 minutes.

Ironically, once I officially became a PhD student, the research plan I had written was not carried out at all. My research topic shifted completely in a different direction, far from what I had originally proposed. In the end, I learned that research does not always follow the plan. What matters most is staying flexible, persevering through uncertainty, and completing the degree on time.

The NIMS-GRA program has a particularly demanding graduation requirement: a minimum of three first-author papers within three years. Thankfully, I was able to exceed this target—I published three journal papers during my three years as a PhD student, with a total of four first-author papers over five years of study (master’s and doctoral combined).