Phd students with small kids? Is it possible?

[abirdinthehand]

I have a 4, and 22months docs. I have just found I'm expecting no 3 in august. I want to apply for a 3+1 phd to start sep 2013. My youngest yould be 1. I would do it part time until the youngest started school.

Doable? Would love to hear if anyone has experience of phd study with kids...

Wow sosick congratulations!!! That's such an achievement!!

Yes bird that does sound like a good idea. It's difficult I guess to see how it's going to work at the moment. There's no way DH can do nursery pick up or get back to do bath or bed so that really eats into the evening. Plus DC2 doesn't settle in the evening or at night at the mo argh!! I was thinking of getting up to be at my desk by 7am and leaving at 5pm to squeeze the extra hours in. My supervisor is super chilled re flexible working, he just expects me to do a full weeks work in 3 days !

I thought you generally couldn't get funding for part time PhDs? I thought you had to choose between self funding pt or funded ft.

I looked it up on the esrc website and it suggested that they support part time study...? It said they would expect universities not to discriminate against suitably qualified part time applicants. Don't know how that actually plays out on the ground though...

our 1+3s were definitely all full time. all the pt i know were self funding. i'd be interested to know if it has changed in principle though... must have a look!

You can certainly get funding for PT with the AHRC; don't know about the other funding councils.

I got waylaid with washing up - don't know if anyone is still following this...

AHRC definitely do PT, and if you start FT there is the option to drop to PT if you need to (though you can't switch back once you have made the change).

I was officially FT, though only actually putting in 4 days. It is really a matter of how much work you get done, rather than hours devoted to it for my subject - and I had very supportive supervisors.

I personally opted not to go PT because the constant stop-start of PT work didn't suit me. When I first went back after 9 months maternity with my first I began with just two days a week, in order to ease DD into childcare gradually. I did it for three months, but found it really hard to keep picking back up where I had left off. Continuity was important for me. (My funding was always officially FT, so the 2 day arrangement for 3 months was a bit cheeky).

Everyone works differently though, and I know PT suits some people/subjects better than others.

Another full-time PhD 1+3 ESRC funded student parent here :)
I have 2 years left of my studentship left and started when DCs were 3 and 6. They are both now in full-time school and it is so much easier to study (and lecture for extra money) than it was when I had one in part-time childcare.
While I definitely think it is manageable to do a PhD in social science with smaller children,i also know that it would have been a struggle for me because I'm a perfectionist and would have missed so many weekends/evenings with the family, to do that bit better at work. Although younger children with full-time childcare would have been just as easy as full-time schooling is now.

At my institution we were told that the ESRC would not support funded part-time study and in fact the university itself are reticent to accept even self-funded PhD students part-time due to the rate of non-completions. However, I definitely think that you should check this both with the ESRC and your chosen university.
The benefit of doing a PhD as opposed to a full-time career with pre-school children is of course the additional flexibility. I don't miss parents evenings,school plays, emergency doctor appointments, inset days etc but the negatives of that is that your study always gets put second place and you need to find your study form when you have time, no real luxury of procrastination days. That said, all PhD mothers I know are far more driven and productive when they are 'working' than those who don't have as much pressure on their time.

My personal advice would be to hold it off tor a couple of years until your older two are in school, but that's just what I would have done, I know many people who have successfully completed their PhDs with pregnancies, babies etc too. The final decision must come down to your own reasons.

I had some childcare ABITH - my parents did the school collection once a week, and my ex-in-laws did another afternoon school run. I did the rest picking up 2 kids for a friend of mine 2 afternoons to help her out (she paid my petrol costs and I fed all 4 at her house).

My kids were both at primary school so not babies - did a BA when my youngest was 3 and oldest was 5. MA straight after then PhD (AHRB funded - I was very lucky).

I spent all my spare time studying so had no social life and am still pretty much without one. I found that I was marginalised at the school gates as I was the odd mature-student who couldn't add to the Soap Opera chats, or spent her days with ladies-that-lunch.

Saying that I now lecture and on the whole love it (although the stupdily long hours and crap pay are downers!). My eldest is now at Uni, and my youngest at sixth form...my studying hasn't really seemed to have hurt them at all.

I learnt being a student mum that housework was unimportant...clean bathroom & kitchen; sod the dust ;o)

I agree with 826er above that studying will take second place but I managed to complete in under 4 years (funded only for 3 but knew I'd need the extra year given the single mum with kids thing). Studying, & being there for the kids was perfect for me - although exhausting I had to admit.

Good luck with whatever you chose.

Thanks everyone. I will check out the options for PT study more carefully. Teatime, I think your advice to wait until school is probably a good idea - I think financially as well, if I had 2 in childcare I would struggle financially on the stipend, but with just one (and an older one at that) I'd probably manage. And That way I could do some other work for a while (maybe earn a bit of cash!) before I launch myself into student land again.

It's so encouraging thought that it's not outside the realms of possibility. It's something I've always wanted to do. Don't know what I want to do AFTERWARDS mind, but one step at a time...

Just adding my own advice here as an academic (completed a PhD too many years ago to count - pregnant halfway through and got maternity leave from my funding body). Anyway: if you do postpone till the children are a bit older, don't see this as wasted time. Start to read around your subject and review and write and about your subject material (using Zotero - www.zotero.org/ - or other bibliographic software, it goes without saying). Also look into the sort of data you might use (perhaps there are existing datasets or online archives that you can gain access to). Lastly, if you need access to archives and/or experts, now's the time to start building a relationship with the relevant personnel. That way you will hit the ground running when you do start and of course your application will be so wonderfully thorough that your supervisor will welcome you with open arms!

Good luck.