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!

Thank you all for the points. I'm very happy with my supervisor and hopefully will also find a good second. I know someone who has had a difficult time with their suoervisor and its meant lots of pointless work and rewrites. Mines has a great deal of clarity and has helped me order my thoughts and structure things already so im hoping it keeps up. It just seems such a huge thing to take on so it's reassuring to hear from others who have done it.

Hard cheese that is amazing! Well done.

Good job I'm not studying English language though eh? Although its not the thought of it that scares me - I like the thought - its definitely the doing!

If you have a great supervisor and you are a determined person, you will not fail. You have to be prepared for it to be an emotional rollercoaster at times, and to be aware that almost all PhD students go through phases where they feel hopeless and that their work is crap - this is normal and can be worked through.

Just in case your great supervisor turns out to be not so great later - good supervision is something you must fight for. Lots of students feel this is out of their hands but this is not true - your department will have procedures in place to sort out these problems, including finding you another supervisor, and you should put this in motion sooner rather than later if things are not working. Gosh, that sounds pessimistic, given that you say you have a good supervisor. But the majority of PhD failure - and a lot of the stress even of successful PhDs - is caused by bad supervision, and it is really important to know how to handle this if the worst comes to the worst.

But you should not worry too much - there will be lows, but the highs are great, and the feeling of satisfaction is amazing. (The amount of respect you get from people because you have the title 'Dr' is kind of fun, but of course this is a vain and silly reason for doing a PhD!)

My supervisor says you don't need to be brilliant, just determined. The determined bit is absolutely right, stay focused keep going and you will get there. I'm sure you are also brilliant as well as bloody minded like me determined

Congratulations on finding the topic, question and supervisor.

May I ask though, to inject a note of commercial reality, why are you doing a phd?

My experience of the graduate intake is that those with phds never do particularly well - they tend to be too ruminative and not commercial/flexible/adaptable enough.

So if you intend to pursue a career in academe, then fine. If you are doing it out of general interest with no career objective in mind, then fine, why not? But I just want to check in with you that you're not doing it with a vague future well-it-might-improve-my-career-prospects thing in mind.

There is definitley a set of phases in all PhDs.

Initial excitement, then dread, then a sense of wonder when you get going, then dispair when you think you will never get anywhere, then inspiration, then exhaustion, then a final big push to the end, then blind panic before the viva, then elation when you get it, then you put the thesis on a shelf and swear to never pick it up ever again.

Good luck!

Yanbu to be petrified, but as many social science types you will meet in your studies Wil tell you "feel the fear and do it anyway". I am half way through my social science PhD and I'm lucky enough to be funded fulltime to do it. It is thoroughly hard work but it is so worthwhile. I too was wracked with lack of self confidence but it has done me wonders! I've just arranged to give my second international conference presentation and even a postgrad presentation was unthinkable to me 3 years ago.

Do it, you'll love it. Enjoy the good bits, be disciplined during the bad bits and keep going. :)

Yanbu to be petrified, but as many social science types you will meet in your studies Wil tell you "feel the fear and do it anyway". I am half way through my social science PhD and I'm lucky enough to be funded fulltime to do it. It is thoroughly hard work but it is so worthwhile. I too was wracked with lack of self confidence but it has done me wonders! I've just arranged to give my second international conference presentation and even a postgrad presentation was unthinkable to me 3 years ago.

Do it, you'll love it. Enjoy the good bits, be disciplined during the bad bits and keep going. :)

Good luck! I am just ivermectin a year into mine, I have already had some wobbles (on a six/seven week cycle) and found the first six months the hardest so far. Then I found my niche and I'm dug in quite nicely now. Just at the developing events to test out my research, I have also found a supervisory team (of three researchers) works well as usually one will back you up or hel out when you get stuck.

Thak you all for your replies!

Sydney you weren't being negative at all - more realistic - I have been told the same abby other people. I will be careful all the way through that the supervision is right and if I have any worries I'm not slow to air them!

Quattro why do I want to do it?

I don't need it for career prospects in that I have excellent academic and vocational qualifications already, and good experience etc. in some hays it's a vanity project so my reasons are:

I've come this far and if I don't stretch myself all the way I'll always wonder if I could have made it.
A phd is the gold standard of academic achievement and why settle for less.
I am and always have been a compulsive reader.
I know I can make the time I need by stopping Mning
I love doing research, particularly qualitative where I get to hear and tell people's stories and make sense and order of them.
I would at some point like to lecture and a phd is pretty much mandatory for it now.
I am used to studying and working and feel I am getting stale just now because I'm not doing any studying (officially)
And yes I do like the idea of being Dr rj, phd!

Well done all of you who are working on or have completed yours.

If it helps at all I found doing my phd much easier than getting through my undergraduate degree. I loved the research too (history), it was one of the best times of my life despite having a terrible supervisor.
The thing I did wrong was not going to enough conferences in my subject. I hate networking but that is where the opportunities were. I'm a lecturer now but only P/T, I think I could have done better had I shown off and mixed with the right people a bit more. Just thought I'd mention it because you said you'd like to lecture.
Good luck with it rhonda.