Has anyone done a PhD?

[AgrippinaT]

I'm looking into PhD study having just completed my MA (in Classical History) and wanted to know parents' experiences of such intense research while juggling kids.

I would do it full time, and hopefully gain funding for it.

My kids are 10, 8 and 4. They're fab kids and happy to go with the flow for most things. I worry about not being able to devote 100% of myself to them though. And it's no surprise to people that I am considering baby number 4 also.

If anyone has any experience, or advice, I'd be grateful to hear

:)

I've just finished mine! Did it part time over 6 years and it's not hard work really. I think with mostly young people doing them straight out of uni they are perceived as hard but as an older adult with work experience etc it's easier to apply yourself. My kids were in primary school when I started and I worked full time throughout. At the beginning I asked full timers how much actual time they spent on their own research rather than their supervisor's stuff/teaching etc and it was approx 50%.

In the first 2 years I had mandatory courses I had to attend but there were many many months during the 6 years when I did very little on it. Other than collecting the data I'd say 85% was done in the final 2 years. I was pretty good about writing up as I went along so by the time I'd finished my analysis I already had 25k words. My thesis ended up a mere 60k words but I'm a pretty concise writer.

My area was business so I'd imagine a science-y one would be more effort if lab time was needed.

I didn't get involved in uni life at all- no conferences, no teaching, no side projects. As a part-timer this was fine though.

I have no academic ambitions, I already have a good career and this was simply a bucket list item for me. I wanted to be a Dr!

Should add, I was awarded funding (not sure why as I was employed) which paid out over 5 years for part time so I had no incentive to finish quicker than 5 years as I would have lost the remaining money. It worked out as £45k over 5 years!

I’ve just completed mine. It was a ‘top up’ professional doctorate but still took some x years. So much happened in that time for our family and it truly was an endurance race. But I can’t tell you how proud I feel to have got there in the end. Whatever happens in my life, that achievement will always be there.

Your topic sounds fascinating ( I’m a psychologist surrounded by three generations of classicists and aspiring classicists). My MIL completed her PhD 2 years ago aged 73 ( about the Parthenon frieze).

I’d say, go for it. Very few things that are worth it are easy, think of it as your forth ( or maybe fifth) baby

Sorry six years - doctorate hasn’t helped my proofreading skills.

Congrats to those just finished!

I would say though that a history PhD is very different from a business PhD. Archival research is very time-consuming and in this case the OP would need language skills. And at least at my university, if you turned in a 60K word dissertation you would fail off the bat. It would be a sign that your research question should have been adjusted, you should have added more case studies, etc., as you had so much room left to investigate additional aspects.

Not saying the humanities way is better! But it is different.