Surviving a PhD – The Beginning
I have had fortune (or misfortune?) of having undertaken a PhD degree following my undergraduate degree. Whilst I have nearly completed the final draft of my thesis, I think it is worth my while doing a series of articles on surviving your PhD studies. I will write about all sorts of things that I have learned throughout the years which it has taken me. Okay so the first article will be online in the next few days when my work load has died down a little.
I intend the series to follow in the natural order of progress which I believe most PhD programs follow – something like this:
- Before it begins – Applying for your studies and the acceptance letter
- Starting out – The first 6 months of a thesis
- Your first year report
- Final year – Panic sets in!
- Fourth year – we know it’s pretty certain in most cases
I’m looking forward to this. I hope it will be of benefit to many people wanting to undertake a PhD program. I have had a number of students approach me and wanting to know if it is worth their while doing the degree, etc. Hopefully I have given them good advice, and now I can share it with everyone who reads this.
It is worth noting that my series will be written from my own experiences on studying for a PhD in the UK. Here we have PhD programs which are generally funded for 3 years of intensive research. I know in other countries, a PhD program is much longer with a different structure encompassing more structured learning before the research begins. Hopefully I will get some feedback from my friends abroad whom have undertaken PhDs out of the UK.
Wow, PhD for 3 years. In our country, PhD can take up to 10 years.