my new PhD face

I agree that so much more could be done to be supportive of the PhD experience. The ability to handle the stress of the isolation and other conditions is no barometer of one's ability to do the research at all.

I still think the worst day on my PhD was hiking all over the place to locate a post office, and finding that the local one had been turned from one week to the next into a kebab shop. I now have a chronic stress foot injury that is going to apparently take 12-18 months to heal, and I am sure that day was the last straw that kicked it over the edge...now I have a very painful foot as a longterm reminder of that day.

I have, I think, too many words, and am somewhere within 4-6 months more or less until I submit. I don't even know the total word count because I am gutting and revising every chapter, and a couple are only rough drafts, not yet fully written, but nearly there.

The word count will come. I would not worry too much about it. I don't even keep track of how many words a day anymore, I might reel off 3,000 in a day after two or three days of reading and thinking and taking notes, and drafting some things by hand.

1,000 or 1500 words a day is not that much, if you are in the flow and feeling comfortable, other days it can be a stretch. But think of it this way, if you wrote 1500 words a day for 30 days you would have what ( I cannot do the math, heading for calculator) 45,000 words. So you could have 90,000 words in 60 days...if you were ready to write that much.

Thanks, Lara, for your kind words.

You know, that is something worth thinking about. I wonder if those sorts of positions are in existence within student services offices of one sort or another.

Its something I am going to look into and give some thought to. You know if there was some kind of informal mentoring student to student match up ( I am thinking of something like the Mother to Mother programme where volunteer mothers meet with new mothers periodically to be friendly, provide social contact and support, talk about issues of new parenting) might be something to see about setting up.

Hmmm...!!!

I have been irritated by being asked, after standing in some interminable queue at the university "Are you a student"? ..No I just play one on TV, that is why I stood in the queue! Perhaps there is also not enough recognition of mature students as students, and not some misplaced person...!

I don't mind being called a student. Its not an internalised identity at all, it makes me sort of laugh, actually. Its novel.

I am used to the business world, where your communications and interactions have a degree of professionalism and responsiveness that I think goes lacking however when you are being dealt with in your "student" role, and this I find extremely aggravating.

Students should never feel driven to the point of despair that is brought on by the isolation. Universities ought to be proactive in providing some resources to counteract the natural and inevitable bouts of isolation the PhD entails.

It need not be something formal with officers and organisations and associations, in fact, it would be better if something was offered along with those for natural informal social networking

Its a difficult balance I think when doing the PhD, because in many ways you need to be alone to do the study, research, writing, etc., too many people around you can be counterproductive. That said, you DO HAVE TO HAVE some contact with other people. Even if you are someone who likes a lot of alone time, its important to have at least some kind of social network or connection or family connection. I like to be around people, enjoy the company of all kinds of people, but equally like to have time to myself, and can entertain myself quite easily. Being bored is not a problem. Too much time alone though is unhealthy--and that is where I think universities fall short. They should be aware of how significant this problem is for PhD students, and that something as easy as an informal coffee hour once a week, or a gathering for lunch, could ease this.

In hindsight, I think it would be easier to manage a job of some sort plus PhD, then just the PhD alone, on the balance, because the PhD alone results ( or can) in very detrimental amounts of isolation that seems to be a problem the UK system is wholly unwilling to recognise.

Its one thing to feel them, its another thing altogether to have these feelings with such intensity that they interfere with the work on the PhD, with life, with general well-being. The PhD is a recipe for anxiety and depression, with its isolation as norm. It has only been when my isolation was highest that I felt these--for two thirds of my PhD I was balancing a busy work schedule plus the PhD study, and while it had intense pressures, they were never so debilitating as when I was ONLY doing PhD work but completely isolated in so doing.

It might be the usual experience, but its NOT necessary, nor is it useful, and I think that the university systems should try to find a way to mitigate these feelings. I think they are brought on by the sheer isolation of the PhD study--and if any kind of meaningful interaction within your department or university can be provided, then it would no doubt help to cut down the isolation that leads to the feelings of despair, panic, and depression and demotivation. I personally am of the opinion that the majority of those feelings overwhelm people because of the isolated nature of the PhD.

Otherwise, I think starting PhD students are just trying to get their head round some of the foundational concepts, and rightfully, that takes a great deal of time and effort in the beginning.

So as for identity, I prize my previous experience and knowledge. I am not sure that others always value it or see it as relevant, but to the extent it advances my own PhD work then I think its worth being given credit for it.

Having had a variety of titles in life, I am not much fussed about what I am called. I say student without being an apologist for it, because that is what, among many things, I am at the moment.

I think this is a great question. I think it takes on particular relevance when you are a professional doing PhD work that is very related to your professional career. Does being a student mean you check all of your relevant knowledge and accomplishments at the door? Does my twenty years of experience in my field of study and work put me at the same intellectual level as someone who has never worked in the field, or anywhere for that matter, but only studied? I can answer for myself, that my years of professional work deeply inform my own studies and have given me a wider perspective and deeper appreciation of the information that I am considering. I am not struggling to understand basic concepts and standards, because I have used them, worked with them, refined my own understanding of them over the course of time. Therefore, there is no need to establish that foundation to begin to digest the academic scholarship.

I think all work places have their challenges, whether its in a university, some kind of think-tank, an NGO, a for profit business of some sort, etc...and most of them probably have to do with managing the sarky behaviour of others, whatever format that sarkiness takes, such as difficult bosses, co-workers, or people you supervise.

There is no perfect work place, and all of them have up sides and down sides. What is the Churchill saying about the fights in academia, that they are so fierce because so little is at stake?!

I always thought if I had so much time on my hands that I would have been involved in office politiking, then I really did not have enough to do. I would say the same about any work place or study situation. I try to remember the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and stay out of the nastiness.

Lara is stressed and dealing with it I think in the best way she can. I agree that simply telling someone to get over the stress is not a helpful measure--there are many ways for people to address the stress constructively. The old chin up get on with it approach does not in the end help when someone is struggling. As pointed out it is so beneficial to have someone to talk to, an ear to listen to you, a shoulder to lean on or cry on, a friend to care about you.

The PhD experience is or can be so hideously isolating that it is possible to go an entire day without having a conversation with anyone, including someone at the shops! That is NOT a healthy set up and I think that the PhD system compounds stresses by its very unhealthy set up.

If the idea is to promote robust learning and scholarship, then the UK system needs to take a serious reflective look at itself.