I was recently offered a PhD Studentship and have accepted it. I'm really excited to start in September! This is a pretty generic post really but I was just wondering if any current/past doctorate students have any tips for the road ahead? It's a joint teaching and research position so any advice from GTAs would also be appreciated! I only have a gap of around two weeks between my Masters finishing and my PhD starting, so I'm thinking ahead to see what I might expect. I'm just looking for any generic advice really regarding organisation, time management etc. Thanks in advance!

Congratulations!

I'm a GTA, and am now at the end of my 3 years.

Advice. Well - there's several things I wish I knew in September 2012 that I know now...

Firstly, and you must remember this at all times and get the Graduate School to back you up if necessary. The PhD takes priority AT ALL TIMES. Yes you'll be expected to teach, prepare, mark assignments, but the reason you are at the university is to get a PhD. A PhD completion is what they will want and expect.

The teaching will occasionally take up more time than you wished, and the PhD might seem to be taking a back seat, but never let this be the case for more than a week at a time. Ensure that you are not being asked to do more than your contract states. GTAs are very easy to abuse, as it is effectively free staffing for the department. Thankfully, I didn't have much trouble with mine, but make sure you're conscious that some departments might be a little less forgiving.

Another bit of advice is to hit the ground running with your research. If you spend the first month getting used to teaching, then realise you've done no PhD, the pressure can already start to rise. Get the PhD and teaching going straight away. It might hit you like a ton of bricks, but it's worth it.

Organisation? If you're teaching seminars/tutorials only (which you should be in your first year really), then ask the module leader for materials well in advance. You shouldn't be asked to give lectures really, or prepare very long sessions. Be professional, but put the bare minimum of hours into teaching preparation as possible while still offering a good student experience.

Finally - good luck! It's been a whirlwind 3 years for me. I've enjoyed moments, had horrible mental health dips, but have nearly come out of the other side with a PhD and 3 years of VITAL teaching experience on my CV. All worth it!

PS - if you're doing it at a north-west England uni, PM me!

Thank you, that's really useful! I really appreciate you taking the time to provide me with such a comprehensive response. Also, it's at a Midlands university!

Oh, and congratulations for finishing yours, by the way!

Hi BJS

My advice is a little different from Mr Doctor. I think it's important to highlight that not every path through the PhD suits everyone.

For example, the statement that PhD should be your main focus at all times. This is not always the case. I completed my PhD within my time-frame, I even had a few months to spare for editing and cleaning up before submission. But I also didn't focus on my PhD all the time. In fact, I had periods of a month or two each year where I didn't work on the PhD at all to get journal articles written and submitted, or other things that came up (such as getting married!) and this doesn't include taking my allowed annual leave of 4 weeks each year.

What you need to do is find a rhythm that works for you. The PhD as a 9-5 doesn't work for everyone, it certainly didn't for me. I probably didn't put in as many hours as I often read others have, and yet I got through with exceptional results, am in a current full-time contract teaching and research position which I landed before I had even handed in my PhD minor corrections (which were very minor) and will soon be moving to a research only position in a research institute that I've had my eye on for some time now.

1) Plan your time wisely. Do you write better in the morning, afternoon or evening? Plan your PhD to coincide with the best time for writing. For me, it was early morning. I was getting up at 6am and worked from home a lot. By 10am when I took a break to walk the dogs, I had heaps written.

2) Don't over commit with everything. Depending on your field, conferences are not always the best use of your time despite being touted as such. They are great for networking for sure, but they take up time and funds. Limit your teaching duties.

3) Listen to your supervisors. I know many have had horrible supervisions on this forum, but many of us have also had amazing supervision. I had a great relationship with both my supervisors because I took on their feedback, I let them help me shape my thesis instead of arguing against every piece of feedback. You have to be willing to let them help you shape your research, and be prepared for your research to change as it develops and grows.

4) Be prepared to be INDEPENDANT. This is something I've noticed. I was a very independent researcher and did well. I didn't rely on my supervisors to hold my hand. I took initiative for my own project. I handed in drafts on-time. When I went away I did the work that I thought was correct, I asked questions when needed but didn't overwhelm with emails etc. I did not meet with my supervisors every week or every two weeks. In fact, there were times where a few months would go by before I met with them. But I didn’t sit around waiting for them to tell me what to do. They gave me some basic guidance, and I went and developed it.

5) Get your work done. Aim to get chapters done by particular dates and do this. Do not spend a heap of time on one chapter. You can go back and revise, and you should. There’s another post floating around here that says you should only get one set of feedback and then revise at the end. Yes and no. I had revisions on chapters (probably completed 5-6 versions) and then had about 2-3 revisions of the final piece of work. Is this a lot of work? Yes. Is this necessary? Absolutely. Revision is one of the most important things you’ll learn in the PhD. You’ll be constantly revising your ideas post-PhD should you continue in academia. Journal articles, grants, research projects, etc. All of these will undergo a heap of revisions.

Just to follow on from awsoci's point about revisions (and I know which post is being referred to here) the 'rounds' of feedback provided on chapters of your thesis is dependent on your supervisor. Yes, keep revising work; I have found a huge chunk of PhD time in the latter half is spent on revising, updating, editing and perfecting. Some supervisors will be happy to look at numerous versions of one chapter, whereas others may have preferences or rules for this. It is a good idea from the start to have a discussion with your supervisor about what both of your expectations are, as this can prevent problems later on.

This is some fantastic advice! Thank you. It's really useful for moving forward.

Just to clarify what I meant by the PhD being the focus. What I should have said is research > teaching. The PhD incorporates the other stuff (conferences, articles and so forth). I meant the PhD experience should always take priority over the teaching/marking.

Sorry for the confusion!

Thanks :). I'm in the Social Sciences.