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Year of Release: 2013

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I wasted six years of my life getting a PhD degree. What should I do, and how will I survive?

I struggled with low self confidence throughout my bachelors, masters and PhD in chemical engineering. After spending two years in Masters and six years in getting a PhD degree, I am lost at what I can do with my life.

Initially, my plan was to be in academia. Though I love doing research, I don't see that as a possibility anymore.

I did not do well in my PhD. I have only two first-author journal publications in ~2.5 impact factor journals. I did not acquire significant skills. I am bad at programming, and I have a 3.7 GPA. I did not learn to drive or learn any foreign language. I did not improve my health or developed a new hobby. I even did not spend time on having a relationship. In short, I have done nothing over the past six years.

My PhD supervisor has given me a postdoc position. And I feel extremely inadequate. I feel that I won't be able to do anything after my postdoc year, and I will just be a burden and disappointment to my parents.

I am an international student living in the US.

I don't know what I should do. What should I do?

career-path
academic-life
early-career
emotional-responses

190 I think your only issue is one of self esteem. I suggest you find a counsellor and discuss where you are and how you feel. Don't let imposter syndrome lead to depression. Your advisor can give you professional advice, but you should also seek personal advice. The future is brighter than you think. – Buffy Commented Dec 7, 2019 at 16:30
7 Is the work fun though? – smcs Commented Dec 9, 2019 at 9:52
1 Is there anything in your past that is unresolved? I suspect your low self confidence stems from something else and not the PhD itself. For example you mention lack of relationship, so I suspect you have a non-existent sex life. Are you exercising and eating right? All of those things need to be in order for you to be happy doing a PhD. Otherwise all you'll have is a PhD which is empty and meaningless. – sashang Commented Dec 9, 2019 at 23:45
3 ‘I have only two publications …’ to me, who has a grand total of zero from both the PhD project that fell short of its desired outcome and my first two years of postdoc in which the ‘basically already finished, just this’ project turned out almost impossible, this is quite a violet slap in the face. – Jan Commented Dec 10, 2019 at 2:33
1 Seek counselling! The problems you describe have very little to do with academia, but very much with you. This website cannot provide adequate counselling in that regard (although some of the answers of course hit very relevant points). – user2705196 Commented Dec 10, 2019 at 18:21

9 Answers 9

It looks to me like you did not do so badly as you think. Two publications and 3.7 GPA are not so bad. It might depend on the field, it might not be the best ever, but I have seen much worse. If your supervisor offered you a postdoc position after having you for 6 years as a PhD student, it means that they consider your work useful.

You might be suffering from impostor syndrome . Do read the question and the answers in that link and see if you identify.

If you are not sure now, you have plenty of time during your postdoc year to decide whether you want to continue in academia or get a job in industry. The pros and cons of both options have been discussed extensively, as a quick Google search for "industry vs academia" shows. I personally agree with this source .

And, in most cases, the answer to "I have wasted X years of my life because I did not do Y and Z" is "do not look at the past and do Y and Z now". Especially when, as in your case, Y and Z can be done at any stage in your career life, such as learning languages, programming or driving.

27 Also, the field is chemistry, where the PhD is basically required for an entry level position in industry, so that is certainly not a waste of time. – Simon Richter Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 13:29
13 @SimonRichter Actually, the field is engineering (chemical engineering) where a BSc is enough for entry level jobs industry. – Cell Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 16:52
2 Get a job in industry. The great part is, that at the end of the project/delivery/month, work is done and completed. At least for me, I never considered the results in science 'done'; also pace is probably faster, so you will get getting quite a few achievements under your belt quickly (since you are smart). – lalala Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 19:03
3 @Cell Where I've worked, a PhD is automatically hired into a position that it would take ~5 years to get promoted to from entry-level with BSc, and the PhD can offer more job opportunities and security in the right industry. If OP goes into industry, the last six years could be well worth it! – Sam Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 19:45
1 @Sam That's nice, but I never said getting a PhD is a bad idea. I was only correcting the previous poster. With that being said, unless you plan on doing novel research, a PhD may make you overqualified for many jobs that can be done by a BASc, or MEng. You also didn't say what your field is. – Cell Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 20:20

To be honest, I'm tempted to agree with Buffy. It sounds like the biggest issue you have might actually be the one you identified at the start of your post - low self-confidence. Studying for a PhD, and working in academia in general, has a tendency to have that effect on people - you're far from alone.

If I were you, I'd be tempted to take stock of my overall life situation at this point, perhaps with some input from the people around me, and try to get an objective view of how things really are - they may not actually be as bad as you think.

For example, here are some plus points:

You finished a PhD. That's already a huge deal - lots of people don't even start a PhD, and of those who do, a proportion never finish. Of those who finish, lots of people feel like they didn't change the world with their PhD, and that's fine - most people don't, and that's not required. You've got the rest of your life to worry about that, if you want to, and it's not required even then. It's ok to just live and be happy sometimes.

You've got a postdoc position lined up, if you want to stay in academia. Your supervisor wants you to stay, which means you probably did something right during your PhD. Maybe your PhD didn't actually go as badly as you think.

If you've just finished your PhD, it's quite likely (in the absence of other evidence to the contrary, which I don't have) that you're still relatively young. That means you've got time on your side - there's still a whole lot of life ahead of you in which to do all the things you want to do (learning to drive, learning a foreign language, improving your health, developing your hobbies, having a relationship, ...). It sounds like you're unhappy that you haven't been doing those things, which means you'd probably be happier if you started doing them. Pick one and go start on it right now - hopefully you'll feel better (it's generally worked for me, when I've been feeling down). Starting on one of them sounds like much more fun than carrying on feeling fed up about not doing them, at any rate.

Best of luck!

p.s. For what it's worth, the fact that you've got a list of things you wish you'd been doing, and are unhappy that you haven't been doing them, is a good sign - there's an easy fix for that, which is go do some of them. That's much better than not having a list of things, and sitting there having existential angst and wondering whether life is pointless :)

The postdoc is with my PhD advisor. I don't think that's an achievement. Probably my advisor felt pity on me and gave me the position. – Abhik Tandon Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 0:57
45 @AbhikTandon: Bear in mind that your advisor has something to lose from keeping you if you're truly not delivering (there's an opportunity cost - they could look for someone better). If they're keeping you, it's safe to assume you're at least above bar. Some advisors are kind, but few are so kind that they'll use their scarce funding to renew someone who has no possibility of being useful to them in any way. Advisors who pity you buy you a beer, gently tell you the truth, and help you find a job elsewhere; they don't generally commit £30k or more just to cheer you up. – Stuart Golodetz Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 1:45
4 @AbhikTandon Do consider that a PostDoc position often involves mentoring or teaching junior students, grading work, running tutorials, et cetera. Given that your PhD advisor is judged and graded not just on their research, but also on their teaching methods/standards, it's a role they quite literally cannot afford to give out of pity. You not being "up to standard" would put their job on the line! (That said, finding a hobby - preferably something more physically active than mentally, such as a martial art, to contrast with work - for a couple of evenings a week is a good idea.) – Chronocidal Commented Dec 9, 2019 at 8:41
the highest possible academic degree that one can achieve
a job in the field
a life in a developed country

You're faring really well.

This is not to say that what you're feeling isn't real. It is real, and there is a problem. It's just that the problem is not what you have, but who you are. What you have is a highly successful life, at the same time, you are depressed and miserable.

You don't need more things, you have it all. No Nature publication will take you out of your dark place. You need to learn to enjoy life and accept yourself.

I know the last sentence is useless in itself, because it only tells you what you need, but not how to do it. Unfortunately, that's about as far as a stranger on the internet can get you. Speak to friends, speak to a psychologist, speak to anyone willing to listen, speak to yourself and try to figure out where does this need for accomplishments comes from, so you can move on.

Technically I believe a DSc is a higher academic degree - but that usually comes at the end of a distinguished academic degree. – Martin Bonner supports Monica Commented Dec 10, 2019 at 16:06
1 @MartinBonnersupportsMonica DSc is not universally higher than PhD. In some countries DSc is just what a PhD in biology/physics is called, while in other countries DSc is just honorary, while other countries don't use PhD at all and have only DSc, which are seen as the equivalent of PhD, in countries that have PhD. – Andrei Commented Dec 10, 2019 at 17:51

You need to talk to someone – be that a counsellor (as @Buffy has suggested in the comments), a family member, a friend, or even (depending on your relationship) your supervisor. It does sound like a good part (if not most!) of the problem you describe may stem from impostor syndrome, and if that's the case, then it will be crucial to have others as a sounding board, to help put things into perspective. I have never known anyone in academia who didn't struggle at some point, somehow. Academia is tough, research is hard and failures are inevitable.

You mention you love doing research. Considering that you have also successfully turned that research into publications, it rather sounds like you do have what it takes to succeed. (Again, to put things into perspective, in my field it is normal for PhD students to graduate with 0–1 publications, and the impact factor of what's considered the leading journal is about 2.3. Different fields are different, yes. But you have definitely not failed.)

The other things you mention seem more minor to me. You say you are bad at programming. But you can always improve – programming, if anything, is one of those things where practice makes perfect. You mention you have neglected your health, hobbies and interpersonal relationships. But this is not uncommon: these things happen to many people who pursue a PhD, in various ways, and it is not too late to do something about them now. You say you have done nothing over the past 6 years. This cannot be literally true (you have earned a PhD, an enormous undertaking), but even if it were, the thing to do now would be to start doing those things you have neglected in the past.

But please do consider talking to someone. Having to verbalize your own thoughts and feelings is an excellent way of beginning to understand your thoughts and feelings, and of starting to see a solution.

Get your frame of reference right.

Achieving a PhD puts you in the 5% highest educated part of the population. That's quite significant. But you're comparing yourself to the smartest people in your direct environment - an environment set up try to get together all the smartest people.

If you don't manage to be in the top 1%, surely being in the top 5% is still something to feel pretty happy with?

They are marathon runners on arrival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSZlSaPJAdQ

Do they look well? Can you imagine, how bad feeling could it be, being there, after 42km of running?

But believe me: it is uncomparably better to be there, than for us, watching them on the youtube .

Don't do any irrecoverable mistake now! Wait, at least some months, more ideally some years! Take some longer leave, if you can (probably you can), and do nothing! Only think.

For example, now you can learn to drive. Ask anybody having a driving license, but no Phd, would they switch to the other.

I know what it's like to feel like you "haven't been living" for years. Six years of my life disappeared by my being extremely sick.

I have 5 years of unemployment in my résumé, an unfinished PhD, a tiny professional network, and ongoing health problems which make many things impossible. But I'm living again.

Some people have been in prison for 10 years. Some have escaped war-torn countries. Some have recovered from drugs or alcoholism. It's very hard when you suddenly awaken from a world of constraints into a world of choices, seemingly at a huge disadvantage from others within it. (I am not saying you've got it easier than they do. I'm saying you have this in common.)

Some of them go on to do amazing things. They have a moment that will define their life, and they work and work and work and work to a level that others can't imagine, and do something great for the benefit of their fellow man.

Others are just happy to be alive, happy to have gotten away from a bad place. Nothing wrong with that.

The most important thing in life is not success or respect or glory. It is to make choices that keep you out of misery. Anything more is a bonus.

But asking the question you're asking proves you are ready to change your life.

Maybe you could go to your home country or a country in poverty, where your skills and knowledge could make a bigger difference. Remember you don't need to use your degree at all; you could enter a completely different field. It's better to do it by choice than by necessity. Doing a variety of menial jobs of different sorts can be really enriching, since you see life from so many angles.

Doing a PhD doesn't just teach you about your topic; it teaches you about being thorough, exploring the state of the art, problem-solving, organisational skills, and so on. These make you very valuable if you use them well.

I know what I want to create. And I know what's stopping me is not my 6 missing years; it's my unwillingness to confront my weaknesses (like networking and time management.) Now I'm confronting these things, and I'm surprised at my success.

Go get 'em.

Two first-authored papers is not bad, I seen a lot of people getting phd for way less and still being full of themselves. You are doing good.

You don't think you did well during your PhD, but you stuck with it anyways. That sounds like a lot of PhD students. But, it also sounds like students that stuck with something, b/c their parents were back-seat driving their futures.

As others have said, your self-esteem issues stem from something. Something makes you feel inadequate all the time, and makes you compare yourself to others all the time.

Usually, that starts from overbearing parents constantly comparing you to other kids, chastising you for not being as good as some top-tier, stellar performer in your same grade or field, etc.

My dad did that to me my whole life. I was expected to get good grades. When I got them, I didn't get a "good job!" or anything. But, if I got bad grades, I got punished. As I got older, my dad would constantly compare me and my siblings against each other and to other kids his coworkers had. "So-n-so's kid is doing XYZ." (to insinuate it's better then what I was planning on doing, or was doing).

Even when I was an adult, my dad was trying to back-seat drive my career with "advice" that wasn't so much him trying to do what was best for me, but what was best for my career. He never took me, as a person, into consideration when giving advice.

What I realized over time (chatting with my dad extensively) was that he made decisions in his career... he gave up moving up the ladder or managerial positions, because he decided to start a family. He took a back-seat position at his job where he kept his head down and kept his mouth shut so he could keep earning an income and not rock the boat while supporting his family. He made one major career shift up the ladder to get more money, and in retrospect it was an awful decision that uprooted the family and set in motion events that pretty much tore the family apart.

What I realized as I got older was that he was trying to coach me to have the career he wished he could have; he was trying to guide his dream job vicariously through me.

He would push it in ways by either telling me exactly things he thought I should do, or package it as "I was chatting with kids at the gym and giving them advice, and this one kids doing XYZ" (again, to insinuate this "one kid" was doing something better then I was).

I got sick of it.

So, I stopped chatting with him about work, school, etc. When he'd ask or press, I simply told him that I was only going to speak with him like a member of the family, not someone I was seeking career counseling from.

I eventually had a blow-up with him, because I was tired of him trying to back-seat drive my life while I was watching his life implode around him with issues he wasn't staying on top of during a situation that basically forced me to take control of his responsibilities when he ended up in the hospital.

What I learned was ... just ignore him.

In 20 years time, my dad won't be around any more. But, god-willing.. I will.

In 20 years time, will I be happy if I had followed my dad's advice and done this and that? No. I'd be miserable, because he was pushing me to go in directions that were making me miserable.

So, why bother listening to him? Why bother trying to please him?

In 20 years time I can follow his advice and be miserable while he's dead, or I can ignore it and be happy while he's also dead.

Ultimately, I have to figure out what makes me happy, though.

But, when you have someone constantly telling you that you're not doing good enough, you need to do better, you're not doing as well as so-n-so over there, you should be heading in a certain direction, you need to do it all before a certain BS time limit... you know what, you eventually turn into a hot mess that thinks very little of yourself b/c you constantly have a devil on your shoulder that never thinks what you're doing is good enough.

Tell that person (or those people) to go screw off.

Since you're international.. and you're in a STEM field.. and you went through a PhD even though it sounds like you didn't really want to .. I'm going to assume you're Indian.

You need to have a moment of clarity where you decide to be your own person and stop having your family tell you what you need to do and where you need to go in life.

That can be hard if your family is paying the bills.

But, I may be making assumptions, but your story sounds almost identical to a ton of other folks I rubbed elbows with in college... all of them Indian. They were taking STEM when really they wanted to do liberal arts or whatever they were passionate about. Their family pushed them into an "lucrative career", b/c it's all about the money and status with them.

I had a couple of Indian folks tell me they had a massive weight lifted off their shoulders when they told their family to stuff themselves. They were dating people locally, and one was wanting to marry the girl he was dating. One guy dropped his STEM and went into art which is what he really wanted to do (and he was an AMAZING artist).

Ultimately, you have to figure out what makes you happy, and stop listening to folks constantly running you down and telling you you're not good enough.

I rented a room from a gay couple, and one of the guys had a degree in aeronautic engineering. You know what he did for a living? He was the director of a high school band. His parents pushed him to do engineering, b/c he was in the closet and just kept his nose down and did what they said. When he finally got older, he got tired of them, and came out of the closet and pursued what really made him happy: music.

People have to have that moment.

So, you're asking how you'll survive over here? I think you really need to ask yourself what will make you happy. And, you need to start ignoring folks that are running you down.

With a PhD in Chemistry, you don't have to be a great programmer. There are companies that will hire you to figure out some chemistry, and team you up with Comp Sci or Info Sys folks that will do all the coding and stuff for reports, data science, etc.

If you don't like what you have a PhD in, then go figure out what you do like. Maybe you like working on motorcycles or scuba diving or whatever.. find a way to make a career out of it.

It's better to live a modest life that makes you happy, even at the expense of others, then to be rich and f'ing miserable b/c you decided to make everyone else happy.. usually folks that won't be alive in 20 years time.. which just leaves you miserable while they're dead.

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Chris Peterson: “And then the rest of my life began”

Like many academics, I spent my young adult years postponing many of the small things that I knew would make me happy, including reading novels for pleasure, learning to cook, taking a photography class, and joining a gym. I would do all of these things when I had time—when I finished school, when I had a job, when I was awarded tenure, and so on. I was fortunate enough to realize that I would never have time unless I made the time. And then the rest of my life began.

Christopher Peterson, A Primer in Positive Psychology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 22.

This paragraph appears in the context of an exercise Peterson assigns readers: to write an obituary for themselves. What would they want friends and loved ones to remember and celebrate? How would people summarize their achievements? What would be highlighted? At the end of it all, what mattered? (Peterson died unexpectedly last October. Here’s what three of his friends and colleagues wrote about him.)

Peterson’s description of postponing life in pursuit of academic achievement resonates with me. My own experience was slightly different. I did put some things off—I still do, gah!—but other things I did but then felt guilty for not being the academic superstar I might have been. (“I had so much potential!” I joked.) While some of my colleagues worked 12 hour days, presented at a dozen conferences (or more), and published articles and reviews, I focused on extracurricular activities. I sometimes felt like an academic loser, but sometimes could take solace in knowing that what I was doing mattered in other ways. So my realization, which came after many years of avoiding the issue head-on, was that now is the time to work toward my life goals, to enjoy myself, and to dedicate my days (as much as possible) to working out who I am and what I want. I’m no loser: I’m me, and trying to be the best me I can is a truly worthy pursuit. And I’ve got huge potential . . . in a very different way!

What’s your experience? How would you like to be remembered? Are you living true to your values and desires?

6 responses to “Chris Peterson: “And then the rest of my life began””

He is so right! I’m so glad I didn’t postpone life while I was in grad school. I could probably have easily been sucked into it if we weren’t the fact that my partner is not an academic and it felt unfair to not spend time with him. Also, he had built a career in the corporate world without ever sacrificing his personal life and giving up his own personal interests, which were plenty. I read novels, learned to cook, took photography classes, and went to the gym (ok, this one a bit less than I wanted), all during my PhD. I’m now working but have made sure to take the time to also learn to knit and sew because these things make me happy. Sure, I worry about productivity. I also worry I don’t read as much as I should to keep up. But you know what? If I one day lose my job because of that, then it wasn’t worth having. I’ll find something else. But I can’t just work and have no time for myself.

“If I one day lose my job because of that, then it wasn’t worth having.” YES. And, FWIW, I’m so glad to know you 🙂

aww, thanks 🙂 I’m glad I know you too 🙂

This is just the reminder I need today!

Glad to help 🙂

Interesting post! I think I am lucky to have been born in Austria – we don’t work that much 🙂 … unless you work for the Austrian subsidiary of a US corporation.

Working on my PhD was one of the most 9-to-5-y jobs I ever had. However, I have been reminded often that I could achieve so much more because of My Incredible Potential.

I learned my first lesson in the Dilbert-style illogicality of management speak at the university as I could not understand why I should work more if I am able to meet the same academic benchmarks (such as number of publications) when working standard hours as colleagues who work more hours. I was (and still am) a believer in the idea of smartness being represented in output over time. The upside was that these unnerving and frequent discussions – on why I am not “utilizing the lab’s expensive resources at the weekend” or not cancelling my vacation in order to attend a conference – have prepared me very well for related discussions in the competitive corporate world.

I guess I want to be remembered for challenging authority!

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CAREER FEATURE
25 June 2024

How researchers navigate a PhD later in life

Elizabeth Landau 0

Elizabeth Landau is a science writer based in Washington DC.

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Krista Bresock sat crying in her professor’s office. She had to discuss one of five questions with her professor, in person. It was the concluding step of her final exam in functional analysis, the last course that she needed to complete for her PhD in mathematics. He’d shuffled a set of five cards, and she’d picked Card Number Two — corresponding to the one problem that she had not fully studied.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02109-x

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators (OECD, 2019).

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Resources 15 Tips on Surviving Your PhD Program

15 Tips on Surviving Your PhD Program

15 tips and advice on making it through a phd.

It can be extremely challenging to complete a PhD program while maintaining physical and emotional health. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 50 percent of all doctoral students drop out of graduate school without completing their degree. Some schools report a 90 percent attrition rate. Common reasons for dropping out include academic shortcomings, students who change their career path, or those who lose interest in their pursuit. Some students have the ability to complete their degree but opt not to. One cause is the discovery of a poor job market for professors or private organizations in their fields. The Chronicle reports that math and science students leave in their third year. Some 25 percent of dropouts in Arts and Humanities occur after three years, potentially leaving candidates with high student debt and despair. This guide offers examples of concrete, accessible, and practical actions that can alleviate many problems that overwhelm doctoral students.

15 Tips on Surviving Your PhD

There is a legion of experts that offer advice on making it through the years of your PhD program. Many agree on the necessities of maintaining a balance of academic pursuits against routine personal outside activities that foster physical and emotional health. Here are 15 suggestions:

1. Establish a routine you can follow.

It’s crucial to stay on track. Your best option to do so and keep peace of mind is to create a schedule that you can follow – and commit to following it. Get up and do your work on schedule, just as you’d report for a job. Devote segments of your routine for research and reading pertinent literature in your field. Add time in your schedule to include sound sleep, good nutrition, exercise, socializing and recreation. Remember you’ll have other obligations such as attending lectures, symposia, commuting, parking, cleaning your living space, shopping for supplies, meeting with study groups and peer collaborators. At the same time, build a realistic schedule so you won’t work yourself into fear frenzy.

2. Start writing from day one.

Your writing practice and research methodology can put you ahead of schedule on your dissertation. That’s because learning to write comfortably in a scholarly fashion should become a second nature. To eliminate last-minute furies, organize your research times, round up and cite sources properly, and create a number of drafts. Writing at least 30 minutes daily can allow you to consolidate your notes and findings, and note discovery of areas that require additional research. Plus, much of what you write goes directly toward your understanding of your subject matter. Because of your other commitments to teaching, collaboration, and outside activities, keep a writing routine and stick to it. At the same time, read smarter, understanding how the literature fits to your purposes. In reading and writing, look for key points, not bulk.

3. Create a positive community.

Decide from the begging that you can’t afford to collaborate or socialize with friends or peers that exude negativity. Braggards or chronic complainers can sap your energy or even cause you to adopt negative thinking or comparisons with the progress of other PhD candidates. Lead your own research, but seek advisement from people that you can trust, who have your best interests at heart. Join groups involved in your major field of study with which you can share academic as well as social issues. A positive community can bring you out of isolation, and isolation can foster fear or despair.

4. Build effective networks.

Along with creating a positive community, get on with networking from the very beginning of your program. You’re going to spend four or five years at the university, giving you ample time to forge and grow partnerships with working professionals, educators, junior faculty, and peers that contribute to your evolving knowledge base. They can offer suggestions to explorer literature, research trends, and potential opportunities for publications, conferences, and workshops. Remember to investigate online tools and communities as part of your networking as a way to make yourself known as a colleague. Create your professional/research profile at places like LinkedIn or join a LinkedIn Discussion Group. Speak with presenters at seminars. Connect with authors you discover in your literature research and participate in career groups outside your usual sphere at the university. Finally, consider taking informational interviews as a means of understanding the workplace, getting your name out there, and connecting with potential employers.

5. Put money woes to rest.

Having ample money to get you through your program can be difficult, even excruciating. But just knowing solid funding resources can give you some comfort and save precious time. Have a financial plan and do the legwork vital to your economic survival. Don’t let finances overwhelm your primary purpose of discovering your interests, focusing on your expertise, and making progress. Financial aid options for doctoral students are available at the U.S. Department of Education . You may need to combine several opportunities to cover your total expenses, including grants, scholarships, loans, fellowships, housing costs, and securing teaching and research assistantships. Some grad students make money tutoring but you’ll have to consider the time against your routine and academic schedule. GoGrad provides detailed PhD cost estimates broken down by professional field, along with scholarship/grant/fellowship search tools.

6. Make sound nutrition your ally.

Rutgers University advises students to find other ways to palliate stress than by overeating – even healthy foods. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables and all your meals at the right portion sizes. Cut out junk food and sugary treats that create the craving to keep eating them. That goes for alcohol, too, which can contribute to a decline in your health and create another source of worry. Student and faculty events often include drinking, so proceed wisely, even if peers call you a wimp. Vary your meals and include a free day for eating what you want without guilt. WebMd suggests that students include berries, oats, milk or yogurt, salmon, dark green veggies, walnuts, beans, and dark chocolate. Coffee is okay in small doses (8 oz) and without lots of sugar. Latte and mocha drinks are satisfying but often contain large amounts of sugar. Green tea can wake you up, if you don’t want to overdo coffee, but eschew energy drinks or other stimulants that make you jittery.

7. Add exercise to your routine.

Exercise, even moderate, can do wonders for both your physical and emotional wellbeing. Among its benefits, regular exercise fights stress, improves memory retention, and boosts your mood (particularly in winter). Researchers at Colorado Tech report that exercise increases “the number of brain cells in the hippocampus, which controls the formation, retention and recall of memories – all essential for student success. In most adults, the hippocampus starts to shrink in the late twenties, leading to memory loss over time.” Exercise can also add to your social bandwidth if you have regular workout partners or participate in intramural team activities. Remember to stretch. Consider taking a yoga class or Pilates workout. Do some running, weight lifting, swimming, or join a rowing group. Hike with friends or colleagues. Get out the mountain bike. For best results, get in a 30-minute workout at least three times a week. Time Magazine reports that cardiovascular exercise can positively affect depression, anxiety and mood disorders. And you’ll sleep better, too.

8. Learn how to deal with rejection.

Rejection in an PhD program is a routine, unwanted emotional downer. But how you react to it is crucial. Unsolicited advice can feel abusive. Competition for internships, fellowships and publications can stress you out to the point of collapse. Coping tools include not taking rejection or undue criticism personally and chalking it up to experience. It can soften the blows as they come. Comparing yourself to other candidates can be toxic. As with athletics, there will always be someone better than you. But you’re not pursuing your colleagues’ goals, dissertations, or even the identical degree – you’re pursuing personalized knowledge and skills for your life after the doctorate. Barbara Robson, an Associate Editor for two academic journals, writes in Quora that most papers (80 percent or more) are rejected and that there’s an element of luck in getting published. If your paper is rejected by a journal, find another suitable place to submit it. If you’re passed over for a conference, don’t sent a hate letter or academic rebuttal. Move on.

9. Choose a qualified graduate advisor and mentor.

Finding the right mentor and dissertation advisor is pivotal to your academic success and survival. The Gradhacker Blog at Inside Higher Ed suggests that you choose an advisor that shares your research interests and career path. Ask about their success rate in graduating students that they mentor. Check out whether they walk the walk by viewing their list of publications, conference presentations, and other research accomplishments. Find out if they’re available for ongoing advising. Explore their aptitude as a mentor and the personal chemistry toward working together. Are they hard to communicate with, abusive or condescending? Are they unable to otherwise maintain a productive and respectful relationship during the time you’ll be in the program? Not all accomplished professors make for good advisors. Some may be too wrapped up in publishing or attending conferences to meet with you. You should leave advising sessions feeling more focused, energetic about your research and dissertation, and armed with strategies for accomplishment.

10. Build in time for family and friends.

There’s an old joke where a friend asks if you can hang out and you say, “I’m in a PhD program so ask me again in five years.” It’s vital to maintain relationships with family and friends. They can sustain you and keep you from deadly isolation. At the same time, they can be distracting. It’s useful to maintain balance by scheduling time with family and friends while sticking to the need to bear down on research and writing. The PhDStudent Forum says when possible to combine family or friend events around studying. For example, take study time for yourself during a longer visit to family to keep your academic momentum. Visit a coffeehouse where you can study along with family and friends that also like reading in public. Be sure to communicate clearly about your schedule and find ways to book in indispensable phone calls and visits. Join friends for exercise or recreation.

11. Set aside time to pursue non-academic interests.

Yeah right, when is that supposed to happen? It happens when you make it happen. To maintain a sane equilibrium, devote some time to routinely indulge in things you like doing. For example, work in the garden, take a massage class, learn photography, play live music, go kayaking, join a cooking class, volunteer in civic or advocacy activities or learn a foreign language. Build something with your hands. Play scrabble. Paint to indulge your playful or creative side. Take a dance class. Learn meditation or improve your ping pong game. Because it can be near impossible to turn off your PhD brain, relegate it to background noise. That way you might have breakthroughs or discoveries that emerge when you return to work.

12. Arrange and maintain a peaceful learning environment.

Living alone may create a peaceful learning atmosphere, but not if you have noisy neighbors above, next door, or below you. Yet you can develop a horrible sense of cabin fever if you isolate at home. Wherever you reside should be comfortable and workable. Clutter can be a source of stress. According to Inside Higher Ed , living with roommates can save on expenses, but comes along with its own set of challenges. Roommates can have other routines and schedules that introduce unwanted noise, emotional drama, unwanted guests, or social habits that can send you off the edge. Research potential housemates carefully, allowing a back-up plan for dealing with inevitable problems. Developing a friendly but direct communication strategy can help. Or, you can create a work zone in your bedroom that lends for privacy. If necessary, you can find a quiet study environment in a library carrel or small café. The same suggestions apply if you’re living with family.

13. Address your emotional health.

According to Inside Higher Ed , there is a mental health crisis in graduate education. Grad students are six times more susceptible to anxiety and depression than in the general population. The study found that “transgender and gender-nonconforming graduate students, along with women, were significantly more likely to experience anxiety and depression” than their straight or male counterparts. A poor work-life balance can be a powerful contributor to burnout and depression. The worst thing you can do when you experience mental health issues is to keep them to yourself or feel like a failure for having them. Seek out the campus counseling center (student health center) or a trusted outside mental health organization for personal counselling. Join their emotional support groups. The National Grad Crisis Line (877 472-3457) provides free intervention services, confidential telephone counseling, suicide prevention assistance, and referral services. Look into NAMI on Campus Clubs which are student-run mental health support organizations.

14. Deal with expectations

Who you are, ultimately, is not a PhD student. Your grad program is what you’re currently pursuing. The Indiana University guide to thriving in graduate school suggests that you shrink overwhelming expectations into bite-size challenges. It’s normal for doctoral students to think that they’re an imposter among experts. Johns Hopkins University found that striving to meet your expectations can cause low self-esteem, procrastination, guilt and depression. You may find yourself unable to meet your expectations for perfectionism, so modify your plans to hit deadlines with your best effort. The guide further advises to straighten out the expectations that others may have for you. This can be especially true with families and people who provide financial or emotional support.

15. Make conferences a part of life.

Opportunities to attend conferences and presentations are richly rewarding. First, you become part of the greater community in your research niche and you can build a lifetime network of colleagues. You can also gain a greater understanding of the professional options available to you. Even attending conferences out of your niche area can stimulate ideas and send you home refreshed. Participating in panels is a great way to network and demonstrate your expertise. Attending job fairs is another way to network while exploring the professional environment. By networking at conferences, you can set up additional meetings with experts by phone, virtually, or before the next conference. It doesn’t hurt to cite conferences and your own presentations on your CV.

From the Expert

What are PhD students afraid to talk about?

The number one thing that PhD students are afraid to talk about is the lack of progress that they are making on their PhD dissertation. This was certainly true in my case and also in the case of many of my classmates whom I spoke with. The dissertation is such a big project with different stages in it and requires such self-discipline over a sustained period of time. When I got past my embarrassment about it and started speaking to others about it helped a lot and I found a way forward.

Another thing that PhD students are afraid to discuss is their ambivalence about being in a doctoral program and whether they've done the right thing and whether they should continue. These are all important questions that such students need to be aware of and speak to others (counsellor, friends, etc.) about.

What was your greatest challenge and how did you succeed?

As mentioned, my greatest challenge in relation to completing my PhD was getting through the dissertation process. Two things really helped me get over the line (and came from speaking to friends and classmates). (1) Since my dissertation was quantitative, I hired a statistics advisor that I met with on a regular (weekly or fortnightly) basis and this helped me make good progress in that it served to provide much needed structure (and assistance with statistical analysis). (2) I fired my dissertation chair and found a new one that I had a much better working relationship with. My new chair was more knowledgeable about my dissertation subject area and also he was much more supportive. I made significant progress with him and thereafter completed my dissertation in a relatively short time frame.

What are good ways to alleviate stress and anxiety?

There are a number of ways that I think will help with stress while working on one's phd. The usual suspects are approaches such as regular exercise, good diet, fun activities (e.g. movies), counselling and/or talking to friends and/or family.

However, I think the best approach that one can take is to get steadily work through each aspect one-by-one of the PhD program towards completing it. A useful way to think about it (with both the dissertation and the PhD program itself), is to not get overwhelmed by the size of this enormous project but instead cut it up into separate pieces and focus on each piece at a time, complete it, and then move on to the next piece.

How did you handle the challenges of extreme competition?

My tip for students who are experiencing high levels of competition is to try put it all into perspective: Do your best to get the finest resources (internships, grades, etc) that you can but know that once you're out in the profession, some of those things might really matter that much in the bigger picture. So, one can be just a 'pass' in your doctoral program but then get out into their profession and make a big splash.

What can you recommend to keep interest or inertia up so you’ll finish the PhD/Dissertation?

‘Cut up the sausage' and focus on/work on it a piece at a time; Locate assistance or supportive individuals and meet with them regularly and ongoing throughout; Create 'deadlines' and milestones for yourself to work towards and have these other (helpful) individuals assist in keeping you accountable.

Find ways that work for you that help to bring structure into this enormous unstructured (or scantily structured) project called a PhD -- and especially its dissertation. At the end of the day, it's really about just getting through it and into the next (and bigger) stage of your profession. Just do your best while you're in it and don't get too caught up in the moment.

Additional Resources & Help for PhD Students

You should realize that you can’t do everything on your own. To do so is a recipe for financial despair, insurmountable academic challenges and poor overall wellbeing. At the same time, you may need to sift through the wealth of outside resources to find the one that addresses your concerns. The following links will connect you with financial options, bulletin boards in your field, and academic resources. Find tips for time management, exam preparation, and help with emotional issues that can and will arise:

GoGrad Guide to Paying for Your PhD : Students are currently paying upwards of $80,00 in tuition to complete their PhD. Use our guide to research your financial aid options.
PhinisheD : This free, comprehensive bulletin board is devoted to PhD students struggling with completing their degree. Find links for reference guides, financial aid, health and well-being tips, and writing guides.
National Grad Crisis Line : It’s for when the going gets rough. The National Grad Crisis Line at (877) 472-3457 was founded in 1988 to provide free mentoring, confidential counseling, and referral services.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : The CDC offers a pithy, wide-ranging college resource for maintaining wellness through sound nutrition and exercise. It offers diet plans, activity guidelines, and stress-prevention tips.
U.S. Department of Education : Learn about financial aid for graduate or professional students including grants, loans and scholarships. The page links to government sites for applications and additional financial resources.
ThoughtCo : This site is packed with articles on graduate school written by experts. Topics include prepping for comprehensive exams, time-management skills, and dealing with procrastination.
Meetup : Student Meetups provide free, online listings for students to connect PhD candidates seeking peer support. Join an existing group or start one at your university.
GoGrad : Discover tips for PhD students who want to complete their degrees online. Featured affordable online doctoral fields include business, computer science, criminal justice, education, nursing and psychology.
The Grad Café : As host of graduate-school forums, the Grad Café operates a peer-run group that discusses the advantages and negative aspects of living alone or sharing housing.
PhDJobs : Register for free and post your VC. Search among 1,600 current listings for PhDs and sign up for job alerts or information about post-doc programs.

101 Health and Wellness Tips for College Students Rutgers University

12 Tips for Surviving and Thriving in Grad School PsychCentral

CAPS Grad School Survival Guide Indiana University

Mental Health Crisis for Grad Students Inside Higher Ed

Modest Advice for New Graduate Students Medium.com

Surviving PhD and Postdoctoral Programs: Tips to Guarantee Success! Enago Academy

The Crucial Issue of Doctoral Non-completion The Chronical of Higher Education

Top 10 Smart Foods for College Students WebMD

Aren't you too old for that? The late life plunge into a PhD

More students are taking up a phd later in life — even with no intention of finding work in their field.

Social Sharing

Originally published on October 14, 2018.

When Val Napoleon returned to university to study law, she was one of only two grandparents in her program.

After earning a law degree in her early 40s, she went on to pursue a PhD. She defended her dissertation in 2009 at the age of 53.

Today, Napoleon is a celebrated Indigenous scholar and a law professor at the University of Victoria.

She's also the director of a new Indigenous law degree program, which the university describes as the world's first .

For her, graduate school was "a type of driver's licence," she told The Sunday Edition .

"It was a way for me to get to places that I wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to get into."

Doctoral programs are evolving to address "the changing workplace… job redundancies owing to automation and people needing to upskill later in life," said Matthew McKean, associate director of education at the Conference Board of Canada.

Data from Statistics Canada shows that in 1992, 471 students over the age of 50 enrolled in full-time PhDs. By 2015, that grew to some 2,430, which reflects a "lifelong learning" narrative emerging within post-secondary education in Canada, McKean said.

Making up for lost time

For Lisa Armstrong, taking up a PhD was an opportunity to make up for lost time.

After a troubled relationship with high school, Armstrong turned to bartending and exotic dancing to support her two children as a single mother.

But when her oldest son went off to university, it sparked a desire to learn again.

"I was so excited for him and I really wanted some of that myself," she said. "I was really mourning for the opportunities I felt that I had missed out on when I was younger."

So she enrolled in an undergraduate program, even sharing classes with some of her son's friends.

Now, at the age of 44, she's a PhD student in applied linguistics at Carleton University, researching sexual harassment in the hospitality industry.

Armstrong says she has her sights set on an academic job after she completes her degree, but notes she's faced pushback for her aspirations. She recalled being told by a professor that she was "kind of too old" and didn't have "enough work years left" to secure an academic job.

"I didn't take very kindly to that," Armstrong said. But she remained undeterred.

"For me it always seemed intuitively that it would be worth doing."

Learning for the sake of learning

But not all older students see PhDs as a pathway to a career.

"[People my age] are doing it out of love of learning... There was never any question for me that I was somehow embarking on a new career," said Brian Pollick, who is completing a PhD in 14th century Italian art history at the University of Victoria.

Before he retired, the 72-year-old worked in the justice field, including as the executive director of the John Howard Society of Alberta.

Pollick says his inspiration for doing a PhD came "like an epiphany" during a post-retirement trip to Italy with his wife, when they saw an exhibit featuring the works of Pompeo Batoni, a mid-18th century painter.

"Somehow, I just knew within moments of being in that exhibition that what I wanted to do was art history."

'I've always wanted to be in the class'

Pollick sees many advantages to pursuing a PhD at his stage in life with no career ambitions in mind.

For younger students who are hoping to find academic work with their degrees, the PhD comes with a great deal of intensity and anxiety, he says.

"What's not there [for me] is the sense that I've got to do this because the rest of my life depends on it. And that's a huge difference, in that it takes away so much of the pressure."

From professor-in-waiting to florist: Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs
Life after academia: Your stories

McKean admits that most conversations in post-secondary education haven't caught up to this demographic.

"Universities are ideally spaces for learning for learning's sake," he said. "But the need for employability and job readiness has become much more urgent than it was in the past."

Victor Malins agrees. At 63 years old, he is a first-year PhD student in British history at York University.

When he's not reading history books, Malins is out on his truck, delivering snack cakes as an independent distributor for Vachon Bakery.

"I always sit in the class … and I think to myself, 'how many of these people actually want to be here?'"

"I want to be here," Malins added, noting that many younger students are in class because they feel they have to be.

"They're after the piece of paper at the end and they don't care… I've never had that. I've always wanted to be in the class."

Pollick, the art historian, feels the same way.

"I still love my topic. I'm still excited by it. I haven't for a moment said, 'Ah, why did I do this?'"

As for his advice to others who might be considering a PhD later in life?

"It's a pretty intense journey but it can just be so satisfying," he said. "If you want to do it, do it. And do it joyfully."

To hear more about these students' stories, click 'listen' above for the full documentary.

Written and produced by Donya Ziaee.

It might seem like a cliché, but the reality is that isn’t really a typical day for a PhD student. Your daily routine will depend on several different factors, from your research area and the stage of your PhD to what you’ve agreed with your supervisor and your own learning style. We’ve covered the main aspects that will affect how you spend your PhD below.

Subject area

If you’re doing a PhD in the Arts and Humanities , you probably won’t be surprised to learn that you’ll spend a fair chunk of your time reading texts or in the library. This is where you’ll do the bulk of your research. However, depending on the nature of your topic you may visit special collections and archives to view rare books and papers elsewhere.

In the Social Sciences , you’re also likely to spend plenty of time reading. However, you might also find yourself conducting research via surveys or interviews, as well as handling large amounts of data.

STEM PhDs usually involve lots of time in the laboratory, performing experiments and testing out hypotheses. You’ll probably also help supervise undergraduate and Masters students while they conduct work in the laboratory, making sure they’re using the right techniques.

Learning style

Your learning style will also have an effect on your daily routine as a PhD student. The independence afforded by a PhD means that you’ll have plenty of freedom to choose your own ‘working’ hours – as well as where they take place.

Some people value the regularity of a 9-5 schedule, while others may find that they’re more productive early in the morning or later in the evening (or a mixture of all three!). Similarly, you may have the freedom to choose where you want to study. This could be at home, in the library, a local café or a shared workspace with other PhD students.

The stage of your PhD

How far you are into your PhD is another big factor in your daily routine. Your first year will largely involve you getting to grips with your research area. You’ll familiarise yourself with the literature and beginning to lay the groundwork for what will become your PhD thesis .

Second year will see you taking on extra responsibilities, such as teaching or laboratory supervision, as well as undertaking the bulk of your research.

Your third and fourth years will usually be dedicating to writing up your research and producing your thesis, culminating in your PhD viva . This is typically the busiest – and most important! – period of a PhD.

Supervisor meetings

Meetings with your PhD supervisor will take place on a regular basis and are an excellent opportunity to provide updates, ask for advice and get their opinion on drafts. The frequency of these meeting will largely be up to you and your supervisor to agree on, but you can expect them to form an important part of your routine as and when they happen.

How many hours of study is a PhD?

As a general rule, you should expect a full-time PhD to account for 35 hours of work a week – the equivalent of a full-time, 9-5 job. It’s likely that during especially busy periods – such as when you’re writing up – you may work considerably longer hours.

If you’re studying a part-time PhD , your workload will be halved, at around 17 and a half hours per week. Depending on your schedule, this might be across a full week or a few days.

Universities rarely impose a number or pattern of work hours on PhD students, so it’ll be up to you to manage your time effectively. Most of the time, attendance is to do with regular meetings, set departmental deadlines and timely submission of written work.

Whatever your mode of study, it’s important to strike a healthy work-life balance. Peer pressure, demanding supervisors and extreme expectations may make you feel like you have to put in lots of hours. But you should remember that over-exerting yourself won’t necessarily lead to gains in productivity.

This is why some universities prescribe a maximum number of academic-related work, as low as six hours a week (you’ll often see 12-16 hours max) and why off-campus work sometimes require special permission (fairly rare but it happens).

PhD student workloads and holidays

The coursework requirement is likely to be higher at the beginning of your PhD and, while not really measured in hours, this will dictate how often you are on campus. In the UK, you will have some requirements in terms of transferrable skills training (in teaching, professional development and academic skills, for example) and your university may have a minimum number of hours of such courses you must take.

As you progress in your PhD, your workload will become progressively heavier, culminating in the period where you write up your research.

PhD annual leave

Funded PhD students at UK universities are usually entitled to annual leave during their studies, as stipulated in the conditions for their studentship.

The exact amount differs from institution to institution (and according to how you’re funded), but generally speaking you can expect between 25 and 30 days of annual leave if you’re a full-time PhD student, in addition to public holidays.

Part-time funded students will receive half of this allocation. If you’re a self-funded PhD student, you won’t have annual leave per se. But you also won’t be beholden to the same conditions attached to a studentship.

You’ll need to give an appropriate amount of notice to your supervisor and / or colleagues, as well as using the university’s booking system for annual leave.

Do PhD students get summers off?

No, you’ll be expected to continue working on your research throughout the summer – there’s no dedicated summer holiday period in addition to the annual leave you’re entitled to as a PhD student.

PhD responsibilities

The ultimate responsibility for good academic conduct and for successful completion of the PhD lies with you.

However, it’s a slightly different situation if you’re studying a PhD in a country where students are usually treated as a member of research staff (common in the Netherlands , France , Sweden and Norway , to give a few examples).

In these cases, you’ll have an employment contract and will be subject to the same regulations as a member of staff. Similarly, if you are doing an ‘industrial’ PhD, or if your funder has specific rules, you should make sure that you find out whether there is a strict pattern of work you should adhere to.

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How to Do a PhD Later in Life: A Primer on What to Expect

By Sara K. McBride

For many people, completing a PhD is a lifelong goal. However, not everyone can do one in their 20’s. Many of us have to wait until later in life to make the leap into this major commitment. It is critical to know what to expect when going in and some of the challenges and benefits of being a mid- or late-career student, which aren’t often talked about. I’d like to share my observations from both my personal experience as a late-30’s PhD student and those of my fellow PhD students in my program who ranged in age from early 20’s to age 70.

First, I need to say that, no matter what, you should avoid paying for your PhD on your own. There is a large number of fellowships and scholarships that will offer annual stipends and full tuition to incoming students. Self funding for 4-7 years is a huge responsibility. You don’t have to bear this cost alone if you seek fully funded PhD programs that support students financially.

Also, remember, take the bits of wisdom that are useful to you and leave the rest behind.

The Benefits

You’ve got different types of work experience. If you have had a lot of life experience, you can apply numerous skills from whatever field you worked in before coming back to academia. Knowledge of project management, accounting, communication, writing, public speaking, software programming, publishing, writing grant proposals, networking, team management…the list goes on and on of skills you might have learned in the workplace that applies to your PhD. Remember: a PhD is not a marathon, it’s a triathlon, that involves different skills at different times. So your skills in the workplace really help!

Resilience in the face of failure. You are going to fail…a lot. And, if you have worked in a variety of different environments, you’ve probably built up different ways of coping with failure. And you will also be familiar with rejection, which is also a critical part of academia. Peer review is a tough process at all stages of learning, and, if you’ve had a few years of working in harsh environments, this will help you pick yourself up again and keep going forward.

You know yourself. You have a separate identity outside the confines of academia. For me, I knew I had been successful in other spheres and so I did not feel as much of a let down when I submitted my dissertation. I knew a life outside the PhD endeavour and so, I didn’t have any missing identity problems of submission that I have seen other people who have never been outside of academia struggle with. Having a separate life and identity can be a real benefit.

There’s no FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) . I had spent 15 years working and travelling around the world, doing various things. I never envied anyone else’s experiences while I was writing my dissertation, because I had similar experiences already. There was no “what might have been” longing within me to distract myself.

You know what you want. I’ve found that most “later in life” PhDs are really clear as to their intentions and motivations. This makes it easier to focus your time and attention to complete your dissertation.

The Challenges

You need to park your ego. Now that you are a PhD student, you are no different in the eyes of the academy to your 23 year old peer. Your experiences and previous job titles no longer matter. You’ll have to leave your ego at the door and really humble yourself to learn from your supervisors, as well as the potentially younger and less experienced students around you. Learning can be a painful process, especially when you feel you have achieved so much in another field. This was a real struggle for me but honestly, it was also very liberating to leave my past behind and just embrace being a student again. Listen to your supervisors and your fellow students; you don’t know it all in academia (no one does).

Some doors are now closed to you. It is true, once you get that PhD, you can be perceived as being “over qualified” and there for, unhirable for many jobs out there. Be prepared for these doors to close and not re-open. There are really exciting new doors that are now available to you but these might be different than you were expecting. But before you start, make sure you are quite happy for those doors to be closed permanently.

Sacrificing your high earning years is tough. If you are doing a PhD later in life, you might be sacrificing earning potential for those years. This can have long ranging impacts on your ability to afford a home or your retirement plans. So be aware of the financial hit that you are about to take.

You may be older than your advisors/supervisors. It is true; you might have more experience and maturity than the supervisors on your committee. But here is the thing: they have more experience than you in academia. No matter where you are at in your PhD process, respect the pathway of those ahead of you, even if they are younger in age. Even if you disagree with your supervisors or advisors, do your best to always remain respectful in those disagreements. Remember: 90 percent of your happiness during a PhD will be based on your relationships with your committee, so do your best to be a great student.

You will feel really uncomfortable. I felt (and still feel) pretty stupid most of the time in research; it makes me feel deeply uncomfortable at times. If you were a highly competent professional in your last career, you might not remember when the last time it was that you felt utterly out of your depth…and stupid. So be prepared to feel stupid, it will happen. The best thing you can do is admit to this feeling and pushing forward until you no longer feel uncomfortable.

You’ll be a bit rusty. If you’ve been out of school for more than four years or so, your research brain may be a bit rusty. The advantages of doing a PhD right away is that your brain has been primed to work in the research environment and you’ve developed habits based on this. Academia changes rapidly; methods, informed by technology, can force you to learn new things. It may take time to come back up to speed and you may feel behind before you even begin. This is okay, keep going!

For me, doing a dissertation was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It challenged me and I certainly struggled. But I do not regret the decision I made to pursue a PhD. Hopefully the above will give you an understanding of what you are in for if you decide to do one later in life. It can be a rewarding pathway, especially if you know what to expect before going in. Accept the journey you’ve put yourself on and bow your head to the experience. If done properly, the PhD can be a transformative time in your life.

Dr. Sara K. McBride is a Mendenhall Fellow at the U.S.G.S in Menlo Park. Sara has 20 years of experience as a professional communicator and disaster responder, having recently shifted careers into social science research. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts in Law and Justice from Central Washington University, a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, and her Ph.D. from Massey University in English and Media Studies. Sara McBride is an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey but the above views do not represent the USGS’s position and is not an official statement from the organization. This post was not sponsored.

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Life after phd: what are your options, published by steve tippins on april 20, 2019 april 20, 2019.

Last Updated on: 7th June 2024, 05:20 am

Congratulations, you completed your doctoral degree. It has been years in the making and now you are there. This is a time to relish what you have done and congratulate yourself. It’s also a time to consider what your next steps are. While you may have started your PhD program with future goals in mind, chances are you forgot that life after PhD existed. But now you’re here, and it’s time to consider what to do. So what are your next steps? What comes after you get your PhD?

Personal Life After PhD

I deliberately put this section first. Mostly because, while pursuing a PhD, many people forget that they can have a personal life. Now that you’ve completed your PhD, it’s time to consider what you want your life to look like. Unless you want it to look the same as it did during your PhD program, I recommend taking some time to find yourself again as a whole person, separate from your PhD program. Here are my recommendations.

You did it. This goal has probably been on the horizon for years. Many people think about completing a doctorate well before they enter a program. Then there is coursework and a dissertation to write. You have sacrificed a great deal to get to this point. Take some time for you now to celebrate.

Thank those who helped you get here . Take yourself and those who were part of the journey out for a celebratory meal. Perhaps there is a trip that you have been putting off until this moment? I have seen a lot of t-shirts lately that say “Phinished.” Let your pride show.

You have been hard at work on this degree for years. Once you have celebrated, it’s time to take stock of where you are and what you want to do. It may be much different than when you entered your program.

So, take a moment to breathe. Look around you (literally and figuratively) to see what things look like now. Learn to take time to do nothing. This can be very challenging for people who have been so dedicated to the accomplishment of a goal, but it is essential if you are to have space to figure out your next steps.

Find Yourself Again

Remember how you used to like to _______ (insert your favorite activities here)? Now you can go back and find these things again and maybe get involved in new things. No need to feel guilty any longer for taking time for yourself.

Professional Life After PhD

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After you have paused to congratulate yourself and breathe a little I encourage you to jump into the possibilities that await you. Not only have you accomplished a major milestone, you have used and developed many skills to get here. Use everything that you have learned to show the world what you can do. How do you do this? Here are some of your options.

You wrote a dissertation, let people know what you found. Make your document into at least one publication. Not only did your dissertation get you across the finish line, but it is also an asset. You worked hard to create a solid document. Make the most of it and add to your academic credibility by publishing in an academic journal.

Also, start pursuing some of the other research areas that interest you. While working on your degree you probably came across a number of interesting ideas that you had to put aside to reach your goal. Now that you have achieved your goal, you can explore. Dig into those topics that piqued your interest. Use those academic chops, flex your research muscles. Life after PhD doesn’t necessarily have to be any less academically rigorous if that’s what you enjoy.

Teaching can be a rewarding profession. If you feel this is your calling, consider the following questions: Do you want to teach full time or part time? Would you rather teach online or in a classroom? Are you committed to one geographic location or are you able to relocate? Each area offers various opportunities.

If this is the path you want to pursue, work on creating a CV (curriculum vitae) that fits the standards of your discipline. You will also usually submit documents covering your teaching philosophy, a list of references, research agenda, and copies of teaching reviews. If you get a campus visit interview, you will most likely need to prepare a presentation about your research and may be asked to teach a class. Tip: you can base your presentation on your dissertation defense.

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Remember to ask for advice from those who have been there before. Get acquainted with norms. Your professors and advisors are an excellent resource to help you prepare for this, as are my career coaching services .

To find a teaching job, take a look at the Chronicle of Higher Education . The Chronicle posts academic jobs every day. You can also check out HigherEdJobs which has jobs that may not make it to the Chronicle.

If you’re interested in teaching online, take a look at my article about where to find online professor jobs , which includes a list of online universities that are currently hiring.

Jobs Outside of Academia

There may be alternatives to teaching or working in academia. Speaking at conferences, consulting, and getting a promotion or a new job all may be options you want to pursue. Having a PhD means you are part of a small and coveted group outside of academia–use this to your advantage.

If this is the path you want to take, you will need to have a resume and to be ready to answer all kinds of questions. Take the time to update your resume after finishing your PhD, adding relevant new accomplishments and experience besides the degree itself.

Remember to highlight the unique strengths and skills that completing your PhD program demonstrates you have. Remember that you are a member of a small group of people with an exceptionally useful skill set, and a degree to prove it. You have proven your capacity to innovate, learn, work with others, and work hard. Consider what lessons you learned from your PhD program that can apply to any professional setting, and highlight those.

Life After PhD: Summary

You have been through a lot. Late nights, a few tears, lots of work, and maybe even a few laughs. Now you have finished and have completed your doctorate. Congratulate yourself and thank those who helped you.

Take a little time to savor your accomplishment and then chart a path forward. During your journey you planted many seeds, now it is time to let all of them grow. Life after PhD may be even more rewarding than you imagined.

PS. Need some help figuring out life after PhD? I offer career coaching services for postdoctoral graduates.

Steve Tippins

Steve Tippins, PhD, has thrived in academia for over thirty years. He continues to love teaching in addition to coaching recent PhD graduates as well as students writing their dissertations. Learn more about his dissertation coaching and career coaching services. Book a Free Consultation with Steve Tippins

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Academic Career

Bipoc academics matter: diversity in academia is long overdue.

We at Beyond PhD Coaching firmly believe that diversifying academia is both necessary and important – and well past overdue. There’s no denying that higher education equals more power in society. This power has been Read more…

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Academic Arrogance: Dismantling a Culture of Harm

Academics are like polar bears. We live alone; we hibernate. If you walk down the halls of academic offices, you’ll find that almost all of the doors are shut. We live a solitary existence, occasionally Read more…

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How to Be a Good PhD Student

If you’re curious about how to be a good PhD student, this article is a good place to start. As a professor for over 30 years, much of that as a Dissertation Committee Chair, I’ve Read more…

How getting a PhD changed my life (and how it really didn’t)

by James Hayton, PhD
September 29th, 2022

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“i can’t contact my phd supervisor until i have something to show”, the dangerous myth of the “independent researcher”.

It’s been 15 years since I finished my PhD.

So today I’d just like to take a look back and talk about how getting a PhD changed my life, but also how, in some ways, it really didn’t.

So let’s rewind to the summer of 2006, about a year before I finished. I’ve told this story many times before, but basically I had a breakdown . I didn’t have anywhere near enough results, the equipment I was using was constantly breaking down, and it felt like no matter what I did the project was doomed.

At the same time, everyone else was publishing papers, presenting at conferences and generally (at least from what I saw from the outside) doing quite well.

On the surface, I was holding things together and If you’d asked me I probably wouldn’t have said I was depressed. I’d have said the work was stressful, but I wasn’t aware of what was happening on the inside and how the tension between feeling the work was doomed, but also wanting to carry on, was tearing me apart.

In a way I think the work was a distraction. I’d force myself to get up and go to the lab and just keep going, but it felt pointless because it seemed like I had no control over the outcome.

Not only did I have no control over the project, but it seemed like I had no control over the direction of my life. I’d started a PhD in part because I didn’t know what else I wanted to do, so when the PhD was going wrong I didn’t have any back up plan.

The strange thing is this didn’t make me panic, instead I became detached… still going through the motions of work, but disengaged from the project and completely numb to the stress.

But the stress was starting to affect other areas of my life… perhaps the biggest thing was that my relationship fell apart, but there were all kinds of other things going wrong as I had all this undirected, desperate destructive energy that I wasn’t even aware of.

Ultimately, this lead to a my breakdown. All these different things crashed together and I was basically forced to stop, face the reality of what was happening and change the way I thought about and approached the work.

If you want to know what I did then check out my video on the 3 habits that saved my PhD , but basically I managed to turn it around.

I managed to calm myself down, and by being more careful and engaged in the work I got the results I needed, and then when I had to write my thesis, it wasn’t just that I did the right things practically, I was in a really good place mentally.

I actually enjoyed the writing process, I finished my thesis in just 3 months and I passed my viva with zero corrections. I even got back together with the girlfriend I’d broken up with the year before.

So there’s a happy ending to the story.

Getting a PhD isn’t an end point, it’s a milestone

Except… getting a PhD isn’t an end point, it’s just a milestone. I was 26 when I finished and it’s not like I got the PhD and then everything was great.

I found a postdoc position within a few month of finishing, but due to admin delays It was nearly a year before I started and during most of that time I was working in a bar for minimum wage.

The high I’d felt during writing and after finishing wore off pretty quickly and without the work to focus on many of the same old feelings of inadequacy and lack of control slowly crept back in. I got through that year… I survived… but I was not in a good state for much of it.

The postdoc, when it finally started, was the prefect job. It perfectly suited my skills, my boss was amazing and the work went really well. It was also in a beautiful city in the French alps and I had an apartment with a panoramic view of the mountains…

But here’s the problem…

It’s easy to focus on fixing external circumstances or achieving external goals with the implicit expectation that this is what will make us happy, but it doesn’t matter what you achieve and it doesn’t matter what you have, if you’re not happy with yourself then anything on the outside is just a distraction.

The path I took opened up opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise have had, but getting a PhD, getting the perfect postdoc, getting an amazing apartment didn’t fix anything.

And since then, even though I’ve been able to be productive and achieve things, and help other achieve their goals, I haven’t been able to reliably reproduce and maintain the same headspace—the same sense of inner peace—that I had then. I’ve often felt like I just need to find the right challenge to bring out that same mindset, the same focus, the same confidence, the same happiness, but I’ve only recently realised that I’ve been approaching it the wrong way round.

Practical skills aren’t enough…

I’ve spent the last decade helping students develop practical skills like writing or working with academic literature or general project management or time management, but having the skills and knowing what to do isn’t always enough, because it’s your inner state that determines the kind of energy, focus and confidence you can bring to the task, or even whether you can do the task at all.

And beyond work your inner state affects how you experience, interpret and react to everything, often in ways we aren’t even aware of.

So, instead of working harder and harder to achieve external goals, with the implicit assumption that success will make us happy, we should work on our inner state first, and approach our goals from a place of calm and positivity and self-love.

When I was at the end of my PhD, it was almost as if I stumbled upon a healthy mindset by accident, through the right circumstances and the right events at the right time. But I think it is possible to cultivate that kind of state through conscious effort.

This is not an easy task, because life is complicated and we’re all carrying a lifetime of past experiences, beliefs and habits that affect how we think and feel and behave. It takes time and work, and some of it can be quite difficult to deal with, but if it affects every aspect of your life and work, surely it’s got to be a priority.

So what I’d like to do is start exploring this in a bit more depth; how to cultivate that healthy mindset first and bring it to bear on the tasks and challenges you face. I’ll relate it mainly to PhD work because that’s my area of expertise, but, ultimately, I think it’s about how to live a happy life.

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PhD: An uncommon guide to research, writing & PhD life

By james hayton (2015).

PhD: an uncommon guide to research, writing & PhD life is your essential guide to the basic principles every PhD student needs to know.

Applicable to virtually any field of study, it covers everything from finding a research topic, getting to grips with the literature, planning and executing research and coping with the inevitable problems that arise, through to writing, submitting and successfully defending your thesis.

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I just finished my PhD and I am so defeated

Just defended and passed with barely any revisions needed on the dissertation. Yay.

I went into the PhD program with hopes of becoming a professor. I loved my undergrad research and felt this insatiable appetite to learn more, so I thought being a professor could be a really fulfilling job for me. I knew about the shortage of TT positions but I thought: "hey, I'm smart and if I work hard enough I can have a stronger CV than my peers and I'll have a good shot." I mean, several of my PhD friends got TT jobs right out of grad school so it's certainly possible.

What I wasn't prepared for was: my unsupportive advisor, being strung along by professors promising me data but never delivering, the stress of being one bad month away from going on food stamps, and the looming $60k student loan debt from undergrad sitting there accumulating interest. I worked 60-70 hr weeks and now have health problems from the stress and lack of self care.

I wasn't unsuccessful. I had a couple first author papers. But I'm not going to land a TT job with that. I realized my friends who got TT jobs out of grad school had extremely active, supportive, rock star advisors. No such luck for me. The thought of doing a postdoc - working the same long hours with no shot for a raise - sounds awful. I'll never be able to own a house on this track and each year the salary will effectively decrease because of inflation. It'll be 15 years before I'm financially stable enough to even consider starting a family.

So, I'm giving up on my dream of becoming a professor. The financial and health toll of that track is just too much. To add insult to injury, I have no idea how to find a job. Everyone tells me I'll have no problem since I can program and have a PhD, but I'm simultaneously over qualified and under experienced for every job I've interviewed. It'll take months of unemployment before I figure out how to navigate the job market. I could have just gotten a masters...

I don't know who to be mad at. Me for deluding myself into thinking I would be the special one who got the professor job? My advisor for basically being a ghost the last 5 years? The other professors who forced years of labor out of me with zero return? The "system" that allows all this to happen to unsuspecting 20-somethings? I don't know. I'm just very lost and trying to process all of this at once.

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Hamilton child homicide: Family of Zahquiel Taipeti files IPCA complaint against police

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has received two complaints against police in relation to the death of Zahquiel Taipeti
Hamilton police are urging residents to keep an eye out for white clothing left on their properties
The boy’s family alleges if police had followed procedure the boy ‘would be alive and playing with his cousins’

Family members of the 8-year-old killed in Hamilton on Sunday have filed a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).

They claim that if proper procedure had been followed, Zahquiel Taipeti would still be alive.

A copy of the complaint, provided to the Herald, claims police delivered the alleged killer straight to Taipeti and his family’s door on the day of the alleged murder .

“Police made no attempt to verify with those at the address that it was [the murder-accused’s] home address, that he had any entitlement to be there, nor to explain why he was being taken there,” the complaint said.

The complaint continued: “Three people were [then] seriously assaulted, one, an 8-year-old child, so seriously injured that he died in the following hours.

“If police had followed proper procedure, the assault would never have happened and the boy would be alive and playing with his cousins,” it alleged.

It is one of two complaints received by the IPCA relating to Zahquiel’s alleged murder.

“We have received two complaints,” confirmed IPCA resolutions manager Cath Anyan.

“We are currently considering the matter.”

In addition, the matter was also referred to the IPCA by police themselves on September 3.

Eight-year-old Zahquiel Taipeti is alleged to have been sleeping in the same room as his father when they were attacked.

According to the IPCA’s website, the authority first reads complaints to identify whether they could meet the threshold for misconduct.

“For matters that could be misconduct we will find the relevant police records,” the website said.

“We then assess the information and decide whether we need more information.

The volume of complaints to the IPCA means it can take two to four months for a decision to be made.

Zahquiel Taipeti’s family’s complaint against police included questions about police processes throughout that afternoon.

Police responded to Herald enquiries with a statement.

“With the matter before the courts, as well as with the IPCA, police are unable to provide any of the additional details requested.”

Police undertaking enquiries in the Bader area after the killing of 8-year-old Zahquiel Taipeti. Photo / Maryana Garcia

Allegedly attacked with a hammer as he slept

The man allegedly attacked Zahquiel and his father with a hammer as they slept in bed.

The man is alleged to have then murdered the child and seriously injured two others, including Zahquiel’s father, Mitikiro Woods, as they slept.

Zahquiel is alleged to have been sleeping in the same room as his father when they were attacked.

A third victim was then allegedly attacked in an adjacent room.

The Herald understands Zahquiel and his father had recently returned to Hamilton from two family tangi.

Police undertaking their enquiries in the Bader area following the killing of 8-year-old Zahquiel Taipeti. Photo / Maryana Garcia

It has been alleged the defendant and the third victim had a tussle over the alleged murder weapon after the attacks.

The 37-year-old murder accused appeared briefly in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday.

His name is suppressed and he did not enter a plea to the charge of murder.

He was remanded to appear in the High Court in Hamilton on September 17.

‘Rest in eternal love’ – family

Zahquiel’s tangi was held in Whakatāne on Friday.

Since the family’s announcement of Zahquiel’s death, friends and relatives have posted tributes online in his honour.

“You didn’t deserve this Zah. Fly home to the arms of your mum,” one online tribute said.

Another family member wrote: “Rest in eternal love little cousin. Give mummy big hugs and loves from all of us.”

Zahquiel Taipete, 8, died after an attack in Hamilton. His father and another man were also injured.

“Go rock the heavens with your old lady, my boy,” posted another.

In a post to Facebook, the family said they planned to bring Zahquiel back “home” to Whakatāne.

Residents urged to keep an eye out for discarded white clothes

Hamilton police are urging Bader residents to not throw away clothing found on their property – in particular anything white that doesn’t belong to them – as they probe the alleged murder of the young boy.

In particular, residents of Pine Ave, Anthony Cres and Ansford Place are asked to urgently contact police if they find any white clothing on their properties.

Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.

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Rest Of My Life ft. Mr Blue - Hemedy PHD woow wowow haya mapenzi sio sumu nakwambia wee unieleweee mmmh! nilipotoka wengi walishanikimbia weeee nimebaki naweweee mmmmmh!, she is just my friend atabaki rafiki tu she is just my friend mapenzi nae siwezii X 2, mmmh aiyaaaaa!
Hemedy PHD
Lyrics. Rest Of My Life ft. Mr Blue - Hemedy PHD. ... woow wowow haya mapenzi sio sumu nakwambia wee unieleweee mmmh! nilipotoka wengi walishanikimbia weeee nimebaki naweweee mmmmmh!, she is just my friend atabaki rafiki tu she is just my friend mapenzi nae siwezii X 2, mmmh aiyaaaaa! Raha zako zote nitakupatia utamu nje ndani nitakunzia wewe ...
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Rest Of My Life
Read about Rest Of My Life by Hemed PHD and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists.
I wasted six years of my life getting a PhD degree. What should I do
After spending two years in Masters and six years in getting a PhD degree, I am lost at what I can do with my life. Initially, my plan was to be in academia. Though I love doing research, I don't see that as a possibility anymore. I did not do well in my PhD. I have only two first-author journal publications in ~2.5 impact factor journals.
Official Video
Official Video | PHD - REST OF MY LIFE. Official Video | PHD - REST OF MY LIFE. 11 years ago 5 years ago. Tagged: PHD Video Post navigation. ... AUDIO | Lakisha Ft. Treyzah - My Guy | Download. 4 days ago 4 days ago. AUDIO | Hazzo - Teja | Download. 4 days ago. AUDIO | Blaros Kidar Ft. Iysher - Amini | Download. 4 days ago 4 days ago.
Hemedy phd ft mr blue---rest of my life
Hemedy phd ft mr blue---rest of my life
Chris Peterson: "And then the rest of my life began"
I was fortunate enough to realize that I would never have time unless I made the time. And then the rest of my life began. Christopher Peterson, A Primer in Positive Psychology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 22. This paragraph appears in the context of an exercise Peterson assigns readers: to write an obituary for themselves.
How researchers navigate a PhD later in life
Many think of doctoral degrees as the domain of people in their twenties. Yet according to the US National Science Foundation, 17% of people who gained a PhD in science or engineering in the ...
Hemed Phd Rest of My Life Video Lyrics
I really like this song, let's enjoy together "haya mapenzi sio sumu nakwambia weeeniya leo wee mmmmh!!....."
How to Survive Your Ph.D Program
Here are 15 suggestions: 1. Establish a routine you can follow. It's crucial to stay on track. Your best option to do so and keep peace of mind is to create a schedule that you can follow - and commit to following it. Get up and do your work on schedule, just as you'd report for a job.
Aren't you too old for that? The late life plunge into a PhD
When Val Napoleon returned to university to study law, she was one of only two grandparents in her program. After earning a law degree in her early 40s, she went on to pursue a PhD. She defended ...
PhD is completely fucking my confidence : r/PhD
Yep, I used to be very confident and my PhD completely destroyed that. And not only academically but it seeped to every part of my life. I have 3 months to go and I finally feel like my confidence is coming back. Can't wait to be back at pre-PhD levels. Around when I had a year to go was the worst moment, I hit rock bottom. It gets better.
The Daily Life of a PhD Student
The Daily Life of a PhD Student. The daily life of a PhD student can be quite a departure from what you've experienced as an undergraduate or Masters student. You'll have much more independence and little to no 'taught' elements. Your average week will likely involve a similar amount of PhD study hours to a full-time job.
How to Do a PhD Later in Life: A Primer on What to Expect
Even if you disagree with your supervisors or advisors, do your best to always remain respectful in those disagreements. Remember: 90 percent of your happiness during a PhD will be based on your relationships with your committee, so do your best to be a great student. You will feel really uncomfortable.
PHD REST OF MY LIFE OFFICIAL VIDEO
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Life After PhD: What Are Your Options?
Personal Life After PhD. I deliberately put this section first. Mostly because, while pursuing a PhD, many people forget that they can have a personal life. ... Rest. You have been hard at work on this degree for years. Once you have celebrated, it's time to take stock of where you are and what you want to do. It may be much different than ...
Hemedy PHD
Stream Hemedy PHD - Rest Of My Life ( Official Music Video) by Salma Minani on desktop and mobile. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud.
How getting a PhD changed my life (and how it really didn't)
The dangerous myth of the "independent researcher". It's been 15 years since I finished my PhD. So today I'd just like to take a look back and talk about how getting a PhD changed my life, but also how, in some ways, it really didn't. So let's rewind to the summer of 2006, about a year before I finished. I've told this story many ...
I just finished my PhD and I am so defeated : r/PhD
However, I still want to do good for the rest of my PhD and publish as much as possible so as to get more points for the green card process and H1B visa. ... If I can stay in academia cool but I'm ready to just leave and know I've wasted 4 years of my life not making any money. I've been lucky to be warned before I started the PhD that ...
Hamilton child homicide: Family of Zahquiel Taipeti files IPCA
Another family member wrote: "Rest in eternal love little cousin. Give mummy big hugs and loves from all of us." Zahquiel Taipete, 8, died after an attack in Hamilton.