I've just graduated from uni and I'm thinking about doing a PhD. What do you think?

I would think very, very carefully about doing a PhD. Forgive my curtness, but you really need to read around and talk to people at your institution who are doing PhDs because it would be very silly to march blindly into something like this. Are you aware of what you have to do to get on a PhD course? I'd like to recommend you read a book about it first, called How to Get a PhD - it will offer you a good insight. I have this book and could send it to you if you wish - just private message me if you would like it. I'm sure that some of the other members of this forum may be able to give you more insight.

In my field, I would do a masters first which would also give you time to understand what a PhD is about and whether you need/want to specialise further.

I would first ask yourself why you want to do it, because the reality of a PhD is very different from the way in which a lot of students imagine a PhD to be prior to embarking upon it. Much of the research can be tedious, time-consuming and can often involve going up blind alleys that have to be discarded in the final analysis, no matter wht time was spent on them.

I would also talk to a trusted academic from your university (or former university by the sound of it) and ask for their honest opinion of your abilities nd prospects for completion.

Finally, I would explore all the funding avenues that you can.

Hi Fizzy Lizzy, One way to decide would be to have a good nose around this forum to get an idea of the highs and lows of PhD, and post PhD, life. But also please bear in mind that many people post here when they are at their lowest ebb, in order to find support. If you think it is worth going through what you find here, for the love of your subject and of academic work, then a PhD probably is for you.

If you do go ahead then there are a few things which, in my experience, it is essential to do your research on, they are:

1. Find a good supervisor. Good signs include expertise in your field, make sure they know your subject areas very well and that they are as capable as possible - this includes their success in funding applications; make sure they take pride in their students, find out how their graduates fair in the job market (mine is excellent and advertises his past student's successes on his web page); try and fathom how sane they are, and how likely you are to work well with them.

2. As WJ suggests, get as much money on your side as possible, this will free you up to work and make your life much less stressful.

3. Choose a topic which will keep you stimulated, and which will lead into, and provide a foundation for, the career you want.

If you can get all of the above sorted then you're doing amazingly well, and you'll be off to a great start.

Hang around here for a while and see what you think of our craziness, and of you think your love for your subject is worth it. Good luck. :-)

I would have a good think about your motivations for doing the PhD and whether, even if you weren't to get an academic or other research job out of it at the end, if it would all still be worth it for you.

I mean, I love my research area, but when I first started I never took seriously the jocular "there aren't any jobs" conversations that I would have with peers and other academics. My supervisor once told me "we're probably training you out of any job really...". I didn't take them seriously, and thought that maybe I could be the exception. Of course now, at the end, I realise that there are precious few jobs (at least in the humanities) and many capable PhD's applying for them. Was it all worth it? Probably, but then, to an extent only because I was able to secure funding for 2.5 years of the 3.5 years it (i hope) will take.

I think doing a PhD for the love of the subject, the challenge, skills that you can perhaps take to other careers, is all well and good - but make sure that you start knowing what you are getting yourself in for.

Not to sound like Mr. Doom and Gloom, there are of course many pleasures to researching and writing a PhD.

The thing with PhDs is that every department is different and everyone here will have had a different experience. So, can you give us a bit more info? What subject area? What grades did you get? etc

I agree with much that has been posted already.

When I started doing mine it followed my Masters, with a year in between gaining more work experience. I wanted to do the PhD as I had throughly enjoyed my Masters and the research i had begun and wanted to further it.

At that point I also thought getting a PhD could easily lead to an academic job but 2-3 years into it found that it's a small percentage of PhD graduates who get academic jobs in higher ed.

The other thing I had thought was as I got funding for 3 years that I would finish then and then found the tutors had not had expectation of this and that it would take at least a year or two after the funding to complete. This leaves one in a state of the heavy writing up stage, much more difficult in my experience than the fun and stimulating research bit, and one has to get paid work. I was fortunate to get a full time job post funding but only did it for 6 months as i found I had hardly any time to do the intense writing up, since then its been a financially uncertain time with one or two part time jobs.

The other thing is that its a much bigger leap Masters to PhD, than BA/BSc to PhD.

So that's my response as these are things I wish someone had told me before I embarked.

Good Luck with making your decision as at the end of the day it's a personal choice but good to get as informed as possible before you make the choice. Don't make assumptions check out if they're based on reality.

There's alot of time, if its in the arts and humanities when you're going it alone ( it sounds different in the sciences as there's more working in the lab with others around), but you may want such a life challenge the choice is yours.