aurora017

Hi all! I'm new here and glad to find a place to chat with fellow masochists :-D So I'm going into the 5th year of my Ph.D. program, I'm ABD and have about 100 pages written already. My advisor is encouraging me to apply for grants in fall for the 2017-18 school year. I really doubt that I'll need a 6th year to complete this project but it's possible! That being said, is it even worth trying to apply for anything when I'm so far along? I don't want to take a bunch of time applying for things and then defend before the grant period would even come up :-) Anyone have any experience with this??!

Hi all! I'm glad there are others in the same boat as me. I actually have somewhat of a different situation than most on here and am looking for advice/thoughts from other grad student moms. Here's the rundown of my grad career so far: - Entered Ph.D. program Fall 2011 - Had first baby Spring 2012, left school for 2 years - Had another baby during 2 years of leave - Returned Fall of 2014 and am now ABD with 100 pages written - And it looks like I'm pregnant again!!!! Writing a dissertation with 2 toddlers hasn't been easy of course, but I made time at night, etc. Now if I'm pregnant AGAIN I have until Feb. 2017 to either 1) finish this thing as fast as possible or 2) continue at my normal pace and apply for grants if need be to finish up my 6th year in the program (we're only technically funded for 4). All of that being said...I know it's probably insanity to try to finish this with two kids AND a newborn, but not finishing isn't an option and I don't have any leave left. I also don't necessarily want to write a crappy dissertation "just to get it done," although I can live with that if need be. I really do enjoy grad school and there aren't a lot of jobs in my field, so this might be the last time I can research and teach for money (hence my hesitation on just finishing up and getting the heck out). As you can see, this is a pretty confusing time!!! Any suggestions??!!!! Thanks in advance :-)