To be petrified of starting a phd?

[rhondajean]

I now have the topic, the question, and th supervisor.

I am bricking it.

I used to have balls! (not literally) but its a huge commitment and expense. However I'm dying to do it.

I think I'm scared I'll find out im not good enough?

Queue up to,slap me!

You are slapped and now you can get on and enjoy it

What's the alternative?

Living with the knowledge you've given up one of the most scarily brilliant things you could have done?

Don't be daft

You wouldn't have got this far if you're not good enough.

Are you able to say what your question or topic is? Not sure how these things work.

I'm scared it would out me totally, not that I am that anonymous!

But to paraphrase...

It's to do with social media and how that has changed the way people can make a change in their lives.

Sociology, it's people that interest me.

And thanks both of you, I used to have self belief but it's been a rough few years.

Plenty to get your teeth into then?

You'll soon be looking back and wondering how your head didn't explode the time went so quickly.

It's not starting it that's scary, it's finishing it .
You'll lose respect for it about 2 years in, but in the end you'll be glad you did it.

I don't get why I have such a big mental block about it!

Have just started a PhD this year, too tired to run you through the highs and lows, but will do so tomorrow. Apologies this is only a bookmark.

Thank you, I will look forward to talking with you. I'll be working full time too.

Oh blimey, that is hardcore, I've seen it done and very well too!

Wow, good luck to you! You don't need to be particularly clever to do a PhD, you just need an idea and perseverance. It helps to be passionate about your topic, at least when you start

Try not to let it overwhelm you. Just remember that any progress, however small, is still progress. So just writing a few lines a day is still moving forward.

Are you interested in qual or quant methods? Or are you doing mixed methods?

I like qual methods. I like telling people's stories.

My supervisor says you don't need to be brilliant, just determined. That I can doM

I took 8 years with mine, worked full-time too.
My top tip, is make backups of everything, all the time, typing every 10 mins or so.
Comes in very useful when you hate it so much you toss it in the bin in a fit of pique. There's always a recent version of it still in existence....

Ty I like that one!

I need to know other people did it too so tyvm, seriously.

I love qual too. But ended up doing quant on secondary data because I wanted to finish. Qual's great but takes a lot of time to do properly which scared me off.

I agree that finishing is harder than starting!

My brother worked full-time (though in a job that was related to his PhD so he could use data from it) when doing his and managed to complete in under 4 years. (but it was science so, again, very different to what you are doing).

I am proud of mine now and actually really enjoyed diving back into it to find some data when someone emailed me about it recently.

Good luck!

I wish you all the luck in the world. Do it girl.

I wish you all the luck in the world. Do it girl.

OP, I hope you'd be rather be petrified "at the thought of" or "at starting" a PhD than "of starting" one.

No apologies for the inevitable accusations of pedantry. If you've got this far, then you should know better.

Go for it. My best piece of advice (besides backing up obsessively) is that if the supervisorial relationship isn't working, look at your options for switching to someone else sooner rather than later - I left it very late in mine to change, and the world immediately became a rosier place when I did. Also, realise you will have stagnant periods and wobbles when the sight of a footnote makes you want to throw up - but keep calm and carry on etc. This too will pass.

I finished mine quite some time ago, but went on to other areas of research, so only published a book based on my doctorate last year, and discovered just yesterday that the book has won a major prize in my field. Which would have made me absolutely incredulous during my second PhD year, which was when my wobbles kicked in...

My friend started hers in september gone and absolutely loves it so far. She says the most frustrating thing is trying to arrange meetings with people/stakeholders etc and waiting for approvals etc. She is just waiting on the nod for starting to collect data soon. She seems well supported and is always doing all sorts of extra seminars (stats or whatever) but she has had to find and organise most herself. I know she found this quite bewildering at first and felt a bit lost with no "pointing in the right direction" but seems in the swing of it now.

Contrastingly, we have 3 people at work on the writing stage now and this seems to be the worst part by all accounts. One of our students has had a complete rewrite (but she had a crap supervisor who has since moved on).

I think loads of people (including me!) definitely feel overwhelmed when you start. Quite a few (including me) felt overwhelmed all the way through and when they finish!

Determination is the key. I worked a part time job, taught on three different courses in two different universities and still passed with no corrections. The feeling of not being up to it never went away but I have never been prouder than on my phd graduation day. Just take little steps and ignore the self-doubt. Good luck!!

I second the 'make sure you have a good supervisor' point - not just one who will enjoy chewing the intellectual fat with you, but someone who will be mindful of your waypoints (you will hopefully have regular 'events' like approval of your research plan, some kind of annual review to mark your progress...). Research students who get behind are often the ones whose supervisors are so busy being intellectual that they lose sight of timescales. A good supervisor should support you with both.

Good luck!

I'm finishing mine now. It's taken 8 yrs part time. I loved the beginning, and I don't mind the finishing bit, tbh. The long middle bit, where I couldn't see an end in sight was tough.