Considering a PhD? Ask yourself these 7 questions first
The idea of obtaining a doctoral degree can be a very appealing prospect, but have you given it a good enough deal of thought?
My decision to start a series about PhD life stems from my own exciting and sometimes bumpy experience doing a 4-year degree, and the desire to have read some solid advice and honest opinions before and during the degree itself.
One of the most important things in the beginning is the decision to pursue a PhD in your favourite subject.
Before actually applying, let’s slow things down a notch.
Have you weighed the decision carefully? Have you considered things from every angle?
After all, it is a serious and long-term commitment.
For those of you who are tempted by the glamorous and mystical PhD journey, I’ve collected 7 questions that, I believe, are crucial to ask yourselves before applying for a PhD.
1. Why do you want to embark upon a PhD journey?
More important than anything is your drive to do a PhD.
Everyone has a different motivation as to why they want to embark on the PhD journey.
Some people love research — be it practical or literature-based. Their curious minds can’t imagine doing a job where they’re not challenged or working towards answering a fascinating question. Or they genuinely enjoyed research in their undergrad degree, and want to give academia a proper chance. For these individuals, a PhD is a no-brainer.
Others want to progress faster in their careers by fast-tracking their way up the ladder — and it is not surprising they consider a postgraduate degree since PhD graduates have better chances of accessing many different job sectors given their unique collection of skills developed during their degree.
These are all sound reasons to do a PhD.
Bad reasons to do a PhD are:
a. If you’re not sure what to do but still enrol just because the option is there
b. Wanting to be called ‘Dr.’ (yes, people do actually start PhDs because of that)
c. Somebody else (your family/supervisor) thinks you should do this
Whatever the reason behind your drive to start a PhD is, think carefully about this before embarking on a 3/4-year journey. You will spend a large chunk of your time working towards getting that degree.
2. What subject matter to do the PhD in?
This should be an easier question to answer — what makes you most excited?
Has ancient Greek fascinated you more than anything else? Or do you want to become a world-leading expert in sleep derivation?
Whatever your subject of interest is, make sure you’re curious about it enough before applying to do a PhD.
Another important question to ask yourself is:
Should you consider a cross-disciplinary PhD?
Do you have a love of engineering but have always been fascinated by biology? Why not put your two topics of interest together in the shape of one big and exciting cross-disciplinary project that can benefit multiple research areas?
Not having enough knowledge of one area can be daunting, but such a project might be better suited for you than one-subject area ones.
3. What kind of PhD do you want to do?
Depending on the subject matter, PhDs come in two major flavours:
· Theoretical i.e. not requiring practical work other than a high volume of reading
· Practical — e.g. science-based PhDs. These are also divided into:
- Non-lab-based projects i.e. bioinformatics or data analysis
- Wet Lab-based projects i.e. lots and lots of experiments
Whilst non-science-based PhDs are unlikely to involve a high amount of practical work other than reading, getting volunteers from the general public to fill in questionnaires or recruiting and working with volunteers/patients for certain non-invasive tests might be a routine part of the job.
Make sure you are well-informed about the type of work and think whether you will be keen on and capable of doing it.
It will save you a lot of suffering down the line if you’re not 100% sure about the subject matter to begin with.
4. Are you willing to ‘write off’ (so-to-speak) 4 years of your life?
Of course, a PhD doesn’t automatically equate to putting your life on hold for 4 years — during my PhD some of my colleagues got married, others had babies whereas some bought a car or house.
But in some cases, a doctoral project can mean just that — putting your life on hold to a certain degree to prioritise your studies.
Because a PhD is a long-term commitment, one that, if you decide not to honour to the end, may result in either no qualification whatsoever, or at most, a Masters degree.
If you’re ready to put in the time and effort, be patient, and accept that you might not be able to afford to get a mortgage, get hitched or go on expensive holidays until after you graduate, then you are ready to apply for a PhD.
5. Is doing a PhD your decision?
One thing is for sure — doing a PhD has to come from you. From a deep-rooted desire to pursue one research question and not give up before you find an/multiple answers.
I can’t think of anything worse than doing a PhD degree because of or for someone else.
Why, you ask?
Because progressing through a PhD is the equivalent of a slug’s crawl — frustratingly slow, zig-zag-like and ‘icky’ at times.
Now, imagine doing all of that when it’s not even your decision to begin with. Do you reckon you can actually get through about 1100–1500 + days of that when you don’t even want to be there in the first place?
Sure, your mother might be an MD with a PhD on top of that and have sky-high expectations of you. But if your whole life’s dream has been to start your own business, would ‘wasting’ 4 years of your life getting a degree be better spent than actually building your business from scratch?
Whilst perseverance is highly recommended in a PhD, obedience to get a degree for the wrong reasons, especially because of somebody else, is not.
If doing a PhD is not what YOU want to do, I’d advise to not even consider enrolling. You can save yourself time and nerves by pursuing another path.
6. Do you have enough drive to finish when things get rough?
At the start of your degree, when your excitement is high and you’re just discovering what a PhD is all about, it’s unlikely you’ll feel disillusioned.
Later on, things slowly start changing.
Fast forward a year and a half when experiments aren’t going well or your results make no sense and, inevitably, you’ll feel the pressure and frustrations quickly building.
Fast forward another year and a half, and you get to final year when you feel like you don’t have enough results to write a good-enough thesis — that’s when the stress fully kicks in.
At these points in your degree, you will need:
a) a good supervisor to keep your spirits up
b) a lot of motivation to keep going
And no matter how much your supervisor wants you to succeed, ultimately, the PhD project lies in your hands — and it is your responsibility to finish it successfully.
Because of this, only one thing matters: Having enough drive to finish what you started.
Or, alternatively, enough courage to quit and start again.
None of these options are wrong, you just have to be strong enough to choose one and stick with that path.
7. Are you certain a PhD instead of a Masters degree is the right thing for you?
Yes, holding a PhD qualification is the equivalent of winning a golden ticket in terms of career progression, no matter what subject your degree is in.
But is a 3/4-year-long PhD the right thing for you?
If you’ve looked at all the questions outlined above and found answers that satisfy your conscience and heart, then go for it.
If, however you are still unsure of whether a 4-year doctoral degree is right for you, a Masters degree may be a better option.
Sure, for a Masters degree you need to find funding to pay for the costs, but it may end up being more beneficial for you than spending half a decade on a degree you’re not even sure you want to do.
And at the end of the day, nothing stops you from then enrolling in a doctoral research project after graduating your Masters — provided it’s what you really want.
Overarching conclusion?
Whatever your decision regarding pursuing a PhD is, make sure you take time to weigh your options, and carefully establish your drive to do a PhD.
You owe it to yourself to make the right decision, first and foremost, for you.
And, lastly, consider this quote:
“Look and see which way the wind blows before you commit yourself.”
Aesop, Aesop’s Fables
