Applied for Phd while pregnant

[Mrmrita]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I really want help and advice.

I saw a PhD that I really wanted between March and April but the deadline was by the end of June so I decided to apply at the beginning of June. By May I found out I’m pregnant but still I applied for the PhD on June. Few days ago I got email telling me I got shortlisted and invited for an interview next month. They don’t know I’m pregnant and wondering If I am suppose to tell them. The PhD starts September and I’ll give birth beginning of January. I have done my masters with a newborn so it’s not the first time to be in uni with a baby. I’m more worried if i passed the interview and got the PhD I might get in trouble for not telling them I’m pregnant (especially that my due date will be very close) but on the other hand I am also worried if I told them now of the pregnancy I might not get it.

What’s the best thing to do and Does anyone been through such a thing?

I’m really stressed about it, I want this PhD so bad any advice will help.

Thanks

Hi @Mrmrita

I can't help on the application stuff I'm afraid, but I have done a PhD myself. Now pregnant, I'm not sure how well I'd have coped doing mine in your position - PhDs do tend to be a bit of a different beast to Masters courses as you'll be on your own a lot more. However, I do appreciate that everyone is different!

Is it a funded place? If so, you might want to check out what the funding body does wrt maternity leave etc. - I would have thought that there will be various policies you can find out about (ditto for the university). I'm not sure you would be in trouble per se with not disclosing at the interview stage (you could always 'not know' you were pregnant! 😜) but I have no idea how the prospective supervisor would take it once they found out, and my caution to you would be that PhDs (in terms of how you find it and the support you get with your research) very much do rely on the relationship between supervisor and student and how interested the supervisor is in the project, so it might be best to be open with them from the start (or at least try and find out a bit more about the supervisor and their attitude before you make your decision). My own PhD was quite fraught because my official supervisor (I had two!) was more interested in me putting a bum on a seat in his group than my actual research, and I have friends who also had a tricky time because of less than fully engaged supervisors.

Good luck OP!

I started a PhD in September 2017 then had baby prematurely in January 2018. I didn't know I was pregnant when I applied so not quite the same. If there is funding with a RCUK body there is a reasonably good maternity policy. Be aware though that a stipend isn't classed as a salary but also you're not unemployed so you are not entitled to financial help you would get otherwise (like tax free childcare).

Personally I wouldn't mention the pregnancy until you get an offer, if you get an offer, otherwise you'll always wonder if there was discrimination. If you get offered a place then it's full disclosure time and work out if you need to delay starting or what your options are. If you're looking at a lab based subject you might not be allowed for example.

I have to say it's harder doing the PhD than I'd hoped. There is great flexibility but some days, after barely sleeping I really wish I didn't need my brain to be fully functioning to get through the day. Conferences and training workshops are really hard for me too with child care.

Good luck in whatever comes next!

This happened to me kind of. Got my place at uni then found out I was pregnant. They let me defer a year. Then I ended up miscarrying. I was supposed to be doing midwifery. After my miscarriage I decided it wasn’t for me as it would have been too painful watching others be pregnant and giving birth when I had just lost one. Currently 18 weeks now. I’ll end up being one of those 40 year old students in the future when I can finally get the courage and time to go back.

Good luck xxx

Hi @Mrmrita,
I agree with the previous posters. I would wait until you've been offered the PhD spot before you disclose. In the meantime, I would investigate what sort of maternity benefits you may be entitled to (depending on how the PhD/stipend is funded). I would also think about budgets quite closely, and have a look at whether you'll have access to funding for conference travel throughout the PhD or whether you'll have to self-fund. A lot of universities offer a small pot of money for PhD students but this is unlikely to cover everything and in my experience most PhD students end up out of pocket. This was okay for me when I did my PhD (before I was pregnant), but the added consideration of child care might make this a bit more complicated.
Good luck! PhDs are hard but I had a lot of fun doing mine 😊

Depends on the funding and type - if it's science and you need to be handling radio active substances for instance then you would need to request delaying starting it, for a book based subject you can work up to delivery and straight away after - whilst some founders allow leave, the time doesn't always get added at the end plus remember the supervisors are relying on students (they have usually arranged the funding)