PhD stories

[MakkaPakkas]

I've been offered a PhD and think I'm going to take it. I don't know many people well who've done one so was interested in advice and stories. Why did you do your PhD? What was fun about it? What was hard? Did it benefit you? What do you wish you'd known before you started?
Mine is paid, I'd do it part time, it has some taught elements at the beginning, broadly humanities & cross disciplinary and is with a cohort of 20 working in related areas.

[MakkaPakkas]

Just asked the same in HE as perhaps that's the more appropriate section.
Thanks by the way to those on here who advised when I was applying!

[DrGilbertson]

Congrats on a funded humanities PhD. That's really well done. Mine was a long time ago, and science so no real advice!

[parietal]

getting a funded phd is great, well done.

i'm also science so this may not apply, but my best advise would be to keep in touch with your supervisor. meet with them, listen to them and don't let them ignore you.

and if you have a phd cohort with you, then keeping in touch with the others in the cohort will also be v useful. a phd can be lonely, and having coworkers makes a big difference.

[MakkaPakkas]

Thanks, that's good advice @parietal I will be part of a cohort & will have two supervisors.

[Novicegardenlady]

I did a funded social sciences PhD and loved it. I loved exploring my topic, I loved the freedom and I absolutely loved writing up the thesis at the end!

Am in a bit of a rush ATM but be more specific if you want, here or through DM

[mdh2020]

I did a PhD part time in 5 years with part funding and loved it. Be prepared for it to take over your life. I wrote one chapter of my thesis in Tuscany on a two week holiday.
I did it because I was interested in my topic but it helped me to get my dream job in HE.
My husband told me I would be 50 when I got my PhD and I pointed out that I would be 50 anyway so might as well have a PhD for my birthday.
Advice ?
Go to all the training sessions.
Keep multiple back ups of everything you write - email your work to yourself and to others, save on USB s.
Plan your work so you always know what you have to do next.
Supervisors like students who keep on top of the work and meet deadlines, who are organised and listen to them. I used to record my supervision sessions so I could listen at leisure and take in what was said.
Ask your supervisors about suitable conferences to attend and try submitting papers - you get used to talking about your research and answering questions on it.
Use an electronic referencing programme.
Write every day - even if you don’t use what you have written, practice is important.