PhD supervisors - can I ask how you feel?

[PennyFleck]

I'm a mature student (mid forties). Just finishing an MA, uni have advised me to apply for M4C PhD funding, and the uni studentship funding to do a PhD.
I have a team of brilliant professors who have given up lots of their time so far.
My question is, what makes a good student for the next 3.5 years? Do they really want me, or is it just their job? I hear they're v overworked ATM.
I'll be leaving a secure, well paid career if I am awarded PhD funding.
Please can I hear a view from the other side? Obvs I can't ask them ☺️

Do you like your current career?
can you return to it, in a more senior role, when you get the PhD? or are you thinking to change track?

my dream student is someone genuinely enthusiastic about the discipline, who engages with the literature and is proactive in starting discussion on new papers, is creative experimentally (STEM subject), and able to manage their learning and eventually project(s). I have met several in my career and meetings with them are a joy and never feel like work or hassle - it s genuinely collaborative.

if your academic supervisors have already invested time and encourage you to stay... this is a great sign. You also can ask them - i like receiving this kind of enquiry from prospective students, it shows that they have an understanding that the phd student-supervisor relationship is a special one.

good luck!

Thank you @Marasme this is very helpful.
Yes, I like what I do, (teaching, but not uni aged students) it's a relatively easy way to earn money after twenty plus years. Like any job, esp. teaching, it can grind you down.
But the thought of a grant to study and research new things, in my area, would be a joy. We wouldn't be as well off as a family at all, but creatively it would be life changing for me. I suppose I'm checking whether it's worth it for the family changes, I'm not sure my children would benefit for a while.
I did say to the supervisors (after my eleventyth version of my proposal, taken apart again) that I didn't know whether I was up to a PhD, and they said that in their experience the better students acknowledge what a slog it can be and should be asking themselves these questions.

Do they really want me, or is it just their job? I hear they're v overworked ATM.

Yes we want good, hard-working students. But pleeeeeeeeese, if you're going to do a PhD, do it. Try to have some commitment & confidence that you can do it. Blips in confidence are normal, but please don't visit constant anxiety on your supervisor.

I have a mature-age student who is anxious and under-confident. That is what is hard in supervising them: I have to spend my emotional energy & about half the time in each supervision, reassuring, persuading and cajoling.

I am getting to the point where I may just challenge them: if you think this is so bad and you're not worthy or capable, just stop doing it.

If a supervisory team is interested in your topic, and willing to take you on, and can see potential in your proposal, go for it.

Or not.

But make a clear decision, and if you go for it, then take your supervisors' advice about the potential of the topic, and your ability.

A PhD won't necessarily get you an academic job nowadays, so at your age & career stage, be prepared for going back to your current profession. Or a version of it.

As a supervisor, I love having a good enthusiastic student. But as a student, you should think carefully about what you want to get out of the PhD and what you plan to do afterwards. It is not always a straightforward route to an academic career.