I have got two offers to study for a Phd degree. I really hope I can finish it in 3 years. Recently, I have discussed about the prospect of doing a Phd in another Uni and I was told that I am expected to make publications and attending conferences. While it is a good idea to publish and attend conferences, do you think they will delay the completion of my thesis? Do all Phd degrees expect candidates to publish?

Hey AquaRoo! I'm just coming to the end of my PhD (4 months left to go) and will be one of the only clinical students in the department to actually finish within three years. I also have a number of first author publications and have presented at several conferences in the UK and the USA- so yes, it is possible. Having said that, in my first two years I often worked into the evenings and came in at weekends. This year, I was told by my supervisor to slow down as otherwise I would finish too early and apparently would not be allowed to submit that early...so at the moment I am basically doing 9-5, Mon-Fri and not much more. Not all PhD supervisors will expect you to publish, but I would strongly suggest that you do. As you can see from the other posts on here, jobs are so hard to come by and publications (and conference presentations) will really strengthen your CV. I went to an interview earlier this week for a position that I didn't get- but when I got feedback I was told that they had actually strongly considered offering me the post instead of the candidate who already had a post-doc, simply because of my publication record. In all honesty I think they did the right thing by going with the person with more experience, because it would have been a very challenging role for me to fulfill, but they said I was very 'appointable' because of my CV, and that I should have a strong chance of getting another position (which would be great if any actually cropped up!). So you can do it in three years, and to be honest, even if it delayed you by a few months I still think it would be worth it to have that on your CV. Good luck with it, and congrats on your offers! Best, KB

Dear KB,

Thanks so much for your reply and inspiration. So the moral of the lesson is to work very hard in the first couple of years. I also heard that choosing a strict supervisor would help. I am going to be an international student in the UK, so there is no way I can tell how strict a supervisor is. However, judging from the way a prospective supervisor 'interrogated' me and tested my motivation even before I sent in my formal application, I think she's THE one lol.... She mentioned about how only 1 in 5 Phd candidates managed to make it and not many did it within 3 years. And how she wanted to set ground rules for students etc.

Also, I would like your input -- which is more important: going for a Phd in an Uni with lower ranking (world top 500) but with publications or one with good ranking (world top 100) but no publications?

Much appreciation,
Roo

Hey Roo, that's a difficult question. First of all I would say don't go off the university's overall ranking- look at the department you are going to be studying in. There are great universities with average departments and average universities with great departments. I went from the former to the latter and it was a very good decision! I would also say to think about the supervisors you want to work with- again there are rubbish ones at great departments and great ones at lesser rated departments. With regard to good university without publications vs not-so-good university with publications- I don't think this needs to be a trade-off. Wherever you go you should have the opportunity to publish-some places you might have more support than others- but whether you end up in a top uni or an average uni or whatever, you should try to publish. At the end of the day, you will be judged partly on the university, the department and your supervisors, but just as much (if not more so) on whether you have published. Just having a PhD from a good university might not get you far without publications and conference presentations, so I wouldn't go thinking that if you go to a 'better' uni you don't need to make as much effort with publishing/conferences. Wherever you go you will need to work hard! Hope that makes sense! Good luck! KB

Dear KB, Thanks. It all makes perfect sense to me :D:D:D:D... Congratulations on your great work and wishing you a success in your thesis submission and viva.
Roo

It depends on your topic whether you finish in 3 years or not. It is very possible in social science but not so likely in science as the experiments often develop a mind of their own and things do not usually go according to plan. Even with the best of intentions it is a good idea to allow some extra room for flexibility incase things don't go to plan or you find out something interesting you want to focus on etc. At this stage of your education - the uni does not matter so much as KB said. I'd suggest you go for the project that you are more interested in and hopefully with the supervisor who you can potentially have a better working relationship with. Their help and support is crucial to your success and will make things go better especially during the hard times!

Yeah it's a good idea to publish especially if you want an academic career and it'll help you get a job. It's not a requirement of a UK PhD to publish by the time you finish but if you can it'll benefit your career. Alot of this depends on the structure of your project as it is rarely possible in my field as the data comes together at the end. However if you're not interested in academia you don't need to publish but your supervisor will probably want to use your results so may request to publish them.

Going to conferences should be seen as part of the PhD process to tell people about your results and get yourself known which is very important in academia and to getting a job! You're are known through your supervisor so depending on the reputation of him/her you'll get some interesting reactions!

Good luck (up)

Yeah- as Doodles says, it does depend on your subject. I don't know much about social sciences, but I do clinical psychology and it's very unusual to finish within the 3 years- I don't know a single person who hasn't needed their 4th year in our department. This is mainly because of the ethical procedures required to test vulnerable people (it takes a long time to get through the NHS ethics procedures) and also because recruiting a clinical population can take forever. People doing non-clinical psychology sometimes finish on time as they rely on recruiting only on a non-clinical population, i.e. students, and there are plenty of them around! The only reason I am due to finish on time is because, as I said, I spent most of my evenings and weekends working in first and second year, but also because I cut a big chunk of my project off. I was massively ambitious with the original proposal, and realised in first year that there was no way I could do it all due to the time it would have taken to recruit all of my participants. Having said that, I still have more material than I need for a PhD, so it didn't really matter that I cut a chunk out. Be prepared for your project to change as time goes by! So yeah, allow time for things to go wrong and if you're relying on recruiting lots of participants, be aware that it can take longer than you think, depending of course on what type of population you are recruiting from. Best, KB

go with the supervisor that you respect and that you know or at least feel strongly will support you through thick and thin. One of the best advices I got is that the student supervisor relationship is what makes you even if you are complete retard, if your supervisor is respected in the field and likes you, even with 0 publications you can land a job in Harvard or any other ivy leagues (if they know some profs there). I have seen that with my own eyes. Forget completion of the thesis, it will happen, what is more important is publications, the more you have the more likely you are to getting a decent post doc. So basically the more publications you have even if you don't complete in 3 years you are more likely to land a job than if you have 0 publications and finished within 3 years. Nowadays with so many high profile labs a lot of academics are expecting that you publish before you get a phd. Its all about the supervisor-student relationship that gets you places that should be the most important aspect at this stage. Remember 3-4yrs is a long time not to get on with your supervisor and this can end in 0 publications, and loss of income as academics are quite childish and vindictive.

Scottie, Doodles and KB, thanks a great deal. These really help a lot!! :-)