I just got accepted into a PhD program and offered a scholarship. I’m beyond excited but also deeply nervous — no one in my family has ever studied at a level this high, and I went to high school in a lower socioeconomic area. Though I did my Honours degree at the same uni as the PhD and therefore have some familiarity with the staff and inner workings, I feel like there’s a LOT about academia that I don’t know by virtue of only being introduced to it when I began studying.
What advice do you wish you had when you started your PhD? What should I look out for? Where do you wish you started? Any and all thoughts are welcome! Particularly looking for insights into Aussie unis, and literary studies as a discipline.
Thank you!
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Everyone’s journey is different.
The one thing I always try and impart on PhD students; this is not school, this is work/your career. Make sure you set boundaries for yourself. Very rarely will you ever need to be working long hours/working on the weekend. Find that work/life balance and stick to it.
Read this book and try not to get depressed about the fact that things have gotten worse since it was published: https://theprofessorisin.com/buy-the-book/
A lot of it is things you won’t have to worry about for a few years but it’s not too soon to understand what you are working towards.
You have been offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to get paid to pursue your passion, to read widely and write a book, so don’t screw around (too much), work hard (but don’t burn yourself out), be diligent and disciplined (slow and steady). I’ve had a few students blow it by having long periods of poor productivity then burning themselves out racing to a deadline, then dropping out.
Ask lots of questions! It may feel like everybody already secretly knows things about the “inner workings” but PhDs vary so much between universities and disciplines that a friend or family member with a PhD probably won’t really know how things working at your school. Since you did your last degree at the same university, you will probably come in with the most relevant knowledge of how things work.
Beyond that, echoing the work/life balance. You’re going to hit snags in grad school, everyone does. Have other things going on so those snags don’t control your life.
As a PhD student you are (ideally) a future colleague to your professors. Treat them that way. Protect your reputation, play the game when you have to, and build connections with people who can help have your back. Unfortunately, academia is a very hierarchical environment. It pays to have powerful people around who care if you’re being treated fairly or not
THis is a tough call, but I’m leaning toward taking advantage of it.
You have to think 6-8 years into the future. What can you do to make money with your Humanities PhD? This subreddit is littered with Humanities PhDs who are lamenting that they cannot become employed…..essentially their multiyears of research experience is not valued enough for anyone to give them money for it.
However, since it appears your PhD is ‘free’ and only costs your time, I think its a good opportunity. If you are young, you may never have this opportunity again and the cost in you life ‘time’ is not too bad.
Note though, that you have to be keenly aware that you aren’t going to be getting employed in your research field….so what will you do afterwards?
Also….one more word of caution….is this a ‘predatory’ opportunity, where someone is claiming to give you money, but in reality there will be ‘fees’, costs in books and training, etc? Ask to talk to recent PhD graduates and see what they think of this institution and their experience.
I’m really nervous when you said scholarship. If you’re in the United States, you should never attend a school that doesn’t fully (or nearly) cover your tuition. This is a realllly bad sign. A simple scholarship is not enough.
Going into my PhD program, I met with a potential advisor who recommend this book. It was SPOT ON and talks about an unfunded PhD. https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Screw-Grad-School-Professional/dp/022628090X
If you don’t have an advisor already, that’s anothe red flag.
Just about to graduate with my PhD in the humanities. I have absolutely loved my time, but if I’m being honest, I was only able to do so because I secured a major doctoral fellowship AND my partner had a good paying job.
Financial security is no joke as a necessity for mental security AND academic success.
So with that in mind, if you do this PhD, understand that your job prospects upon graduation in the field will be extremely limited. Make sure that you spend time in your PhD simultaneously tooling for your exit out of academia.
Because the weird dirty secret I’ve found, is that the more hire-able you are outside of academia, the more likely you’ll be hired inside academia.
That is an amazing life opportunity – congratulations, you have obviously impressed people. Sometimes you can’t prepare yourself for academia, you just have to go ahead and do it. This is why we have coursework and exams after all.
Be aware of two things. One, a critical skill you will need to cultivate is time management. Wherever you are at with your major or Master’s it is going to be 10 times tougher. It’s like self-employment. No one is your boss telling you what to do, you must be able to manage your own time. Many students show interest in becoming a doctor but cannot even finish their dissertation because they have no idea about the level of responsibility involved and end up as an ABD student (google this.)
Second, most PhD holders end up in academia. If you like researching, publishing, teaching and marking all day long, great. If you do not, there is not much point working in academia. Sure there is prestige in being a Doctor. But working in academia is still competitive and you still need to fight others for jobs, opportunities, research grants, hell someone I know has been on the market a year after graduation and still cannot find employment.
There are a lot of things to think about so look around, talk to people and gather as much evidence as you can before making a decision. Mostly, people will talk about the prestigious nature of holding a doctorate, which is true, though not every professor has wonderful intentions about making the world a better place and that might be why they went for it in the first place.
Btw not a doctorate student but my university keeps trying to pull me into one and I have learned a lot about it!
I was a first-gen PhD student, and I didn’t realize it at the time—but (depending on your department/PI/school) you can negotiate offers, kind of like a regular hiring process. My PI asked if I had any competing offers he could beat or match. Unfortunately, I didn’t know I could leverage my stipend like that, and I only applied to one program.
Set the standard for your family. I was the first of my family to ever do a masters, so definitely the first to finish a doctorate. Then my kids followed suit because they saw me do it, and have since done advance degrees themselves.
As for academia, ignore the white noise of it all as much as possible while in the program. Avoid the politics and listen to your PI with focus on yourself, while not comparing yourself to others along the way. Stay focused on your degree progress and not jockeying for jobs until you graduate.
You aren’t supposed to know everything when you start. You are supposed to develop your skills and knowledge along the way. Current you is supposed to have less skills and knowledge than future you, in three years’ time, or five years’ time. Not knowing something isn’t an embarrassment, but asking questions and pursuing skill development are signs that you are taking the period of study seriously.
I’ll give you a short form of the speech I give all the students.
Science is hard. Grad school is hard. That’s okay. It’s supposed to be. You’re going to walk in as the person who doesn’t know shit, which is okay, because at the start you’re not supposed to know shit.
So it’s all right to ask questions, be curious, and not always be following along. Likewise, that will be times during your studies will you feel completely stuck, overwhelmed, like you hit a wall. These can be very defeating feeling, because most students are used to being very successful undergraduates, top marks, always the smartest. Now everyone around you feel smarter, you’re stuck, you don’t know what you’re doing, and imposture syndrome can totally overwhelm you.
But every time you’re stuck, every time you don’t know what you’re doing, every time you feel lost, those are not bad moments. Those are precious. Those are beautiful.
Because those are the moments when you were going to learn. Those are the moments when you’re going to push past your boundary. And at the time, it might not feel like it, but if you look back in 6 months you will realize you overcame that problem. It won’t feel like it at the time because it’s not Eureka moments, it’s climbing a cliff.
But every time you’re stuck and don’t know what you’re doing and feel confused, those are your learn-a-tunities. The moments when you were pushing past your current abilities and giving yourself an opportunity to grow.
And that’s what grad school is all about. Not being smarter than anyone, not always having an answer, but finding the edges of your knowledge and slowly and painfully pushing past it.
I just got promoted to associate professor and I still have many of those moments, and I still savor them.
Don’t think about your identity nor compare yourself to others. Give a damn about tour work and grow. No one expects you to be ready to go. But put some damn effort and try to figure things out on your own and ask for help without fear or emberesment.
The program I went through had a “introductory” seminar course that was required for all doc students. One of the things we did was to write up a rationale for why we were there, what we expected to gain from it, what are personal boundaries would be, and what sacrifices we were willing to make. It really helped me mentally prepare.
We had several guest speakers, also. Current doc students who were further along in the program, recent grads, new TT professors, and tenured professors. They helped answer a lot of questions about motivation, time management, opportunities as a student (internships, labs, etc.) and post graduation.
One of the best pieces of advice I was given and now give to others is to find your people. Have a study/writing group of people you can depend on and who can depend on you for support, feedback, accountability checks. They don’t necessarily have to be in your speciality, although sometimes that helps. Come up with a schedule for when you will meet to work (or sometimes to debrief or decompress, and then stick to it. Don’t make other plans for that time unless it is an emergency or otherwise unavoidable.
I graduated 2 years ago and I still meet with my writing group to work on research papers or just to have coffee and go to the book shop.
2nd year checking in, in a STEM field but some things might be universal?
Find more mentors than just your advisor: senior grad students, other profs in the department etc. a PhD is a community effort, so ask for help often (after puzzling it out for a while). it doesn’t do anyone any good to spin your wheels for months on a problem that could be solved with some outside expertise.
Self-evaluate and ask for feedback OFTEN. It can be painful in the short term, but it’s so necessary (if you ask the right people).
Some people will hate your project bc they don’t care about your field. do your best to explain why your work is important, but don’t spend too much time trying to argue with them.
If there are opportunities to present your work or apply for grants/funding, take them as much as you can. These are the skills that help you land jobs post-grad.
Similar background to yours, always remember your purpose and WHY you are doing your research and PhD – there will be times when it crosses your mind to quit or switch gears. You will come across toxic people who don’t have your best intentions at heart, have a strong support system (family friends church etc). CHOOSE YOUR ADVISOR WISELY – don’t be afraid to switch either – not just a subject matter expert but more importantly someone who has empathy, grace, will stand up for you, look out for more personal qualities and soft skills. A good advice would be to work with them on a project and see how they behave. They will be the main person who will approve your graduation, can delay your entire process as well. Good luck you should be proud of yourself in pursuing this!
Be realistic with your potential prospects after your phd. Generally as you grow older and mature what you value as of now may differ once you graduate.
Enjoy it. At times it will feel hard at times due to things beyond your control, but that’s just life. Enjoy your cohort, enjoy the opportunities for cool research as they come up, and enjoy the place you’re living. Find friends outside of your department and take interdisciplinary classes. It’ll help broaden your thinking and how to tackle problems in your research beyond your lab.
Congratulations on your acceptance into a PhD program! I am in the same boat as you — I was the first person in my family to finish my undergrad and am now the first to pursue postgrad study. I am only a few months into my PhD, so I do not yet have the gift of hindsight! However, I can offer you this — I am also working with similar staff from my undergrad and that has helped me a lot. I know the expectations and expertise of my supervisory team and I am comfortable with them because they are excellent people and academics!
It may be a pretty granular point, but I have found that being organised and systematic has worked well for me. Little things like making an agenda for supervisor meetings, tracking my literature etc. just keeps me ticking along.
I have spent the last few months working on my proposal. Up until last month, I was reading a lot and writing very little. I think it’s important to keep that in mind. I started to feel like I wasn’t progressing because I wasn’t putting pen to paper. The reality is that it’s just the process!
I work 8am – 4pm everyday (including side work related to my PhD — tutoring, marking, applying for professional development opportunities etc). I’m lucky to have positive influences from candidates later in their candidature who walk the walk when it comes to work-life balance. It would be naïve of me to think that there will not be stress down the line (just looking at my Gantt chart proves this!). However, I think it is important to note that in threads such as these, the posts represent a bias sample of people having a truly rubbish time. You don’t often hear of people venting when they’re having a good or easy time. So yes, the difficult times will come, but it is not all doom and gloom! 🙂
I hope this helps, though I am sure those who are on the other side of their PhD will have a stronger overall perspective than me!
My advice would be do it for the educational experience and not for a job. A job won’t be on the other side of this, especially not in humanities. It’s the most difficult subject to get a tenure track position.
Read a lot!!