Before I had interviews for PhD positions, my old supervisor from my Masters degree told me that there are usually two types of PhD candidates who can be successful at interview. One is someone who is absolutely perfect for the position - their previous experience, knowledge and interests all match the research project so perfectly that it seems to have been written just for them. My supervisor said this candidate is extremely unusual, but if they turn up at an interview nobody else stands a chance, however well they do in the interview. The second type, he said, is much more common - someone whose experience, interest and knowledge can be adapted to suit the research project. These candidates, he said, can all be good in the PhD role, and it just comes down to who seems to be most adaptable and who seems to connect at the interview. I don't know if you'll find that as useful a thought as I did - for me, it took away the anxiety about not being the perfect candidate, and made me think about what it is that makes me adaptable and able to connect with the work being done by the supervisors. I was nervous before my interviews too, but I think if you can find a way to relax so that your adaptability and your ability to connect with the interviewers comes through then it will all be much easier.

I also found out all I could about the research interests of the interviewers - went away and read 3 or 4 of their most recent papers to get a feel for their approach - and that was really helpful. Both of the interviews I had (2 different universities, and I was offered both PhDs) focused on the work I'd done for my dissertation for my Masters, how that could relate to the advertised project (at one of the universities) and where I thought this could be further developed (at the other university), and more general discussion about approaches to research and the general issue that my subject area looks at.

Hope that helps!

Morning everyone!

Star-shaped, I'm glad to hear you got your applications done, that must be a relief!

I had a great day out on Wednesday in London - spent most of the day in the British Museum, never been there before, incredible place! And the seminar yesterday was fantastic - really stimulated a lot of thoughts about my approach, and I met lots of really important and interesting people, and managed to have a good chat to the woman who I and my supervisors secretly hope will agree to be my external examiner (and she's lovely, and would be fab I'm sure!)

Back to reality today, after a lie-in because I was just so exhausted! Goals for today:

1.) Email PhD students from other university who I met yesterday and promised to send a paper to
2.) Email list of potential interviewees sent to me by one of the organisations I'm studying and set up appointments
2.) Write up notes from yesterday's seminar and send to supervisors
3.) Think through the implications of the things I heard yesterday and make notes for own work
4.) Continue thinking about/revising my questionnaire

Yes, another person whose first supervision was mostly about logistics and paperwork! One of my supervisors is more experienced than the other so he took the lead, and talked about what was expected and when. We chatted a bit about what I'd done for my MSc dissertation and they suggested a few things I could look out for in the literature, and then I went off to do some reading. As far as I can remember, that was about it! I can understand being nervous about it, but really, don't be - it will be very relaxed I'm sure, and they won't expect you to make any startling insights or anything like that!

Good luck with it, Star-Shaped. Hang in there. I find it's very easy for me to lose perspective when I'm under pressure and end up making myself even more stressed, so I hope you're coping okay. Sounds like a horrendous day - but don't panic, you'll get there!

And thanks Dunni - I'm really looking forward to the day off! And I've now achieved 5 of my 6 goals for today (unprecedented!!) so won't even feel guilty about it! (Or not very, anyway. I am going through a stage of waking at 4 am in a panic about how much I have to do!)

I alos hope my brain suddenly gets analytical at some point in my PhD...

Just my final goal for the day - preparing for Thursday's seminar - to do now, and then I can go home.

Thanks very much everyone, I'm going to do some research on prices this weekend and hopefully make a choice and purchase next week!

Hello everyone

I have lots to do today because I'm off to a seminar tomorrow and Thursday (well, the seminar is on Thursday but I can't get there in time by train on the day so my partner and I are having a nice day out tomorrow in London (museums, restaurant - yay!!), then I'm staying in a cheapo youth hostel overnight and going on to the seminar on Thursday morning). Hmm, that sounded like a complicated explanation!

Anyway, it'll be nice to have a day off and do something fun, and then the seminar should be good too - lots of very eminent professors, all of whom I've cited frequently in my lit review, and one of whom my supervisors and I think would make a good external examiner....

So, goals for today:

1.) Go swimming for the first time in ages! - DONE - that felt good!!
2.) Write and send application for PhD student event that's always over-subscribed - DONE
3.) Print off all directions, reservations, paperwork for next 2 days - DONE
4.) Email both organisations I'm studying about scheduling preliminary interviews
5.) Finish final bits of draft questionnaire and send to software person
6.) Make notes on sensible things I can say to seminar presenters, especially potential external examiner (yikes)

Mmm, virtual chocolate cake is nice :-) Mind you, I've been eating chocolate eclairs (sweets, not cream cakes!) all afternoon so probably need to stop and eat something more sensibel/healthy instead!

Work is slow today. I keep hitting the same point of difficulty in my questionnaire and realise this is the same issue my supervisors are having with it, so I need to put some effort and time into solving this issue. Frustrating! A fairly late night beckone, I think...

Thanks, another good recommendation.

Chuff - thanks, the other thread's got some good advice on it.

Thanks, that's very helpful.

I did look for previous threads on this but didn't find any - I'll look again!

Hi all

I need to buy a voice recorder/dictaphone for conducting interviews, but I don't know anything about the different features. I'll be using it for one-to-one interviews which I'll then need to transcribe. There's also a possibility that I may need to record small group discussions with it as well. Do you have any advice for things I should look out for?

Thanks very much!

Hello Ballman, welcome and I hope you find this thread useful!

This morning I've rushed around sorting out various bits of paperwork that I've been ignoring for too long. Now that's done, I can finally start with some work! Only two goals today, but they're both quite big:

1.) Complete draft paper version of questionnaire to discuss with software person (started yesterday)
2.) Complete detailed plan for journal paper (started on Friday)

I also have to go to the bank and do some food shopping, so looks like a long lunch break and probably working a little late tonight.

Right, that's me done for today. All goals achieved - if 'make some progress' on my journal article includes just emailing my collaborator and having a very brief chat about it! That'll do me, anyway. I'm calling it the weekend. Though I'm only taking tomorrow off, going to work on Sunday, so maybe I should allow myself this.

Happy weekend everyone!

Hi Natassia

Welcome back!

I agree that you have every reason to be more confident about your position. Hopefully as you settle in to your PhD your confidence will grow - I think that's a necessary part of being a researcher, after all why would anyone else take you seriously if you don't believe in yourself? But I'm sure that will come. You've done really well to get this far - you've started a PhD!

I'm sure you'll hear from your supervisors soon, and will feel properly underway. But I remember feeling very uncertain about things and fairly lost at the start of mine - that will pass as you get yourself into the swing and start reading around your subject area. So don't worry, everyone feels something like you do at the start - and allow yourself to feel proud of how much you'v achieved so far! You do deserve this opportunity!

Good luck with it all!

Heh, love the dedication :-)

Good luck today! And hope you get out and celebrate once it's in!

Ady - hope you're not feeling too bruised after falling down the stairs! Ouch!

Star-shaped - sounds like you are getting there, even if it must feel like it's dragging out the torture now.

Just had intense supervision session, going through my draft questionnaire and being told that the focus is all wrong and it has three weak sections and needs rethinking. Gah. I kind of knew that but was hoping it wasn't as bad as I feared. Time to get thinking again. Except I'm too full of cold to think about anything, and that makes the criticisms seem even worse (they weren't even really very bad criticisms, my supervisors are lovely, but everything feels rotten today).

Oh well. I'm going to stick to my original goals for today and leave thinking about rewriting the questionnaire for a couple of days - maybe I'll feel better by then. Anyway, goals 1 and 2 are done.