Dal PhDer

I'm so sorry! I thought this was the other SSHRC thread where someone asked if the results were delivered in Feb! My apologies!

Why is it that you want your PhD? I'm just curious! Not that I don't think it's the road you should be taking, but perhaps you should make sure it's what you want to do. It sounds like you were happy with your previous job...will a PhD add onto that? How do you see a PhD impacting your career? Do you want to go into academics? The other option is to see if you can get someone from the other department to come on an do a co-supervisor and change your topic to one that might allow an intersection between the two disciplines...if that's possible. The other option is to find another program/school. That won't look bad on you at all. If a PhD is something you want to do and see it as the career path for you, then the most important thing is that you're doing what you want to do. I would talk to (a) your supervisor and see what your research options are and ( talk to career counselling at your university. Not enough students use this service- at my school it's free, and they're fantastic. They can help you with your decision by providing you with information! Good luck!

This is a really interesting conversation, and oddly corresponds to a discussion in class I had the other day. My class consists of me, 2 other males students, and a male professor. Needless to say, that when we discuss a gender specific topic associated with health- eyes go to me. Last class one of the students asked me if I ever felt my gender impacted me, and whether people didn't take me as seriously as a man....and I was really taken back and was like .. "NO! Should I have felt that way?" I have to say, since that comment, I've kind of felt like a token female in the class...whereas I never felt that way before- or felt uncomfortable. I have never even considered my gender as something that would impact me in my field. I honestly feel that if people think I'm less competent- it's their fault. I guess I feel it's more my demeanour that limits me in my work. I guess if I think about it, my bubbly, overly nice and happy appearance might be seen as linked to my gender, but I've never felt like that personally. I know students don't take me as an authority figure- but I assumed it's because I'm blonde, 5'2, and chipper- not because I'm a woman. As a woman, I really never consider how my gender could impact my work. I guess in a way, it's because I don't often feel that people consider it too. I have met people who are a bit sexist, but when it came to evaluating my competence or work quality, I didn't think my gender influenced it. Maybe I should pay more attention!

Hahaha...I take that as "bother with caution"! As TCL said, it does come in time. And I'm not talking about BFFs with friendship bracelets...but it is nice to have some kind of relationship with your lab mates so that when you do have a bad day, you have people who can relate to you and you can just vent. For me, age hasn't matter...one of my closest lab mates is a late 40's post-doc who's married and adopting a child...aside from being women and in the same lab together (and liking cute animal pictures) we don't have a lot in common...but we're there for eachother when we need to vent, get feedback on our work, or just need a little favor. I do know it's more difficult for some to jump into socializing, and can totally feel for you...but I'm just trying to give some reassurance that your lab mates would probably also like someone to share venting with and would most likely welcome you with open arms for a bitch session! As for your advisor...it'll take time. It's the same kind of relationship you would have with a new boss...it's hard to understand the boundaries and social dynamics when you first start out. But it will get better!

My exercise is limited to the evenings as I'm part of team sports. Typically it hasn't impacted my sleep. I'm use to being about to go to bed at 11pm and sleep as soon as my head touches my pillow, and then dance out of bed at 7am in the morning. But I do agree that it's probably contributing to my spike in perkiness! I guess I'm wondering if it's ok to accept that maybe right now the late nights are my best working time, and embrace it. I actually enjoy it- I light some candles, flip on some jazz, and work away. I'm just so use to having a 'bedtime' to follow...I feel very devious staying up past it! I will sleep in on the days I don't have to be on campus for meetings, but those are rare. I am lucky that up until now, I have been able to be really productive during the day too...but it's painful for sure. If I could, I would have a caffeine IV hooked up during the days (I'm making sure not to have any past 6pm, encase that's impacting me too). I guess maybe it also goes back to the feeling that I shouldn't be shutting off to do nothing when I have so much to do. So sitting down with some TV or a book still results in my thinking about school. Grad school guilt!!! It's worse than my irish-catholic-family guilt! PS: Today I did get to sleep in until 11am...which was wonderful!!

You can also try directly contacting the student. Also, WorldCat - it's the system my library uses to connect to numerous libraries over the world- is great about sending electronic copies of articles, chapters, etc. to students.

I DON'T LIKE IT!!! *huff* ... I especially don't like that I have no trouble falling asleep in the middle of the library when I'm working...seriously...maybe I just need to take my text books to bed with me....I'm going to go try that now!

Hi there, Here are some of what I tell my students who are taking a research methods class and must develop a proposal. 1) Think of a topic/area of research that interests you. You seem to have an idea! That's great. 2) Do some preliminary literature searches to find out what has been done, and what hasn't. I suggest looking at the limitations and future direction sections of articles to see what the research is calling for for future work. This will give you a good starting point about gaps in your area, and how you might want to address them. It will also help you narrow down your question. 2b) Are you thinking about deductive or inductive reasoning? This will inform how you phrase your question. 3) Clearly state and define your variables and population of interest. In my class, I recommend students to only look at an x - y relationship. Adding variables can make it too difficult and confusing to frame your lit search and research design. Mind you, in graduate school you're expected to expand on this relationship- but for the sake of an ug project, just stick to: What is your independent variable? (think about how you will define it, and how your definition will impact your methods/data; review the literature to see how others have defined it) What is your dependent variable? (same points as above) What is your population of interest? (I like to suggest to students to be specific...if you start out being specific, you can always broaden it if there's not a lot done...but starting off too broad can sometimes be very overwhelming) 4)Your research question will define how you design your study. Think about your variables and population. What are the limitations/advantages of the different study designs and how could these influence your data. 5) PICK A TOPIC YOU'RE INTERESTED IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your tasks (2 and 3) are interrelated in my opinion. a psychological study lends itself to more of a quasi- or experimental design...which inevitably influences your methods. In the end, your first step should be developing a clear, concise and realistic research question!

We didn't have an orientation for my program...but I would suggest joining as much as your schedule allows. Having peers on campus that you can socialize and veg with is really important. I REALLY believe it's important to have a social circle during this process...and the best way to develop that is to get involved and meet people. Some of the stuff on campus that I've been or am involved with include: Graduate student society; departmental buddy (linked with an international student); recreational sports; dance classes; student conference planning...it's a great way to meet people and get away from work!

^^ I literally LOL'd! Mostly because it's what I was thinking! My bucket list...hmmm...honestly, I think it depends on the day..so here is today's bucketlist! 1. Attend a TEDTalk 2. Meet and shake hands (while making googly eyes) with one of the foundational researchers in my field 3. Have my supervisor say my work was outstanding 4. Have a student be excited about my research (this kind of happened today, I did a presentation to the class I TA for about my work...she came up to me and was all like "Oh my gosh! Your research is so exciting! I loved the articles you posted! Can I get a copy of your presentation to read?" ...I kind of got warm and fuzzies, and my head grew just a tiny bit!) 5. Fully teach, plan, and succeed in my own course. 6. Talk to the hot guy in the library I've been oogling and silently objectifying for the last year.

I am 99% confident that SSHRC results, regardless of the competition level, will be announced no earlier than April!

I'm a bit bias with my answer as my work focuses on our disconnection to our natural work which is the result of the substantial amount of screen time we have during our day....so....from my academic standpoint, I would say that virtual lives can be as significant and organic as our non-virtual lives...and in some cases, the relationships, interactions and experiences one has virtually are more 'real' than those they have in their non-virtual life. I think the most of us can no longer compartmentalize the two, as they overlap each other so much now. On a personal level...I believe I am SOOOOOOOO much cooler, smarter, and hotter online than I am in the real world.

Recently I have gotten myself into a vicious cycle. I wake up around 7am (waking up is the wrong phrase....at 7am, I begin movement as a newly turned zombie from the Waking Dead) I am normally am at school by 8am, and home by 7/8pm. I then relax for a couple hours or am out playing recreational sports, and then end up going back to work until 12-1am. Then, when I finally put myself to bed, I'm so wired from work, that I don't sleep until around 3am. Then I restart the cycle. How do I get myself out of it without ruining a complete day of productivity? I know my problem is going back to work so late at night...but it's probably the time of day when I'm most awake and can get a lot of minor task completed in a short time. Do you guys tend to slip into a bad sleep cycle during the busy times of the year (i.e., the ENTIRE FREAKING YEAR....) Also...I've turned quite cynical, grumpy, and unpleasant to be around because of the lack of sleep...and I'm constantly hungry....and go on tangents...mmmm...tangerines. Anyways, I'm just wondering how you guys make sure you get a good night sleep, or maybe it's just what happens when you're in grad school. I just want hope that I'll be able to get a good night sleep soon!

I really agree with fuzzy about setting up expectations, and Physwimic about the student-advisor relationship being difficult. I have been through some rough times with supervisors, but they've turned out for the positive. I have learned that setting up concrete, clear, and upfront goals are important. And it sounds like your supervisor is encouraging you to do that- which is great! Some supervisors prefer never to see their students! And in a lab that size, that's pretty good! I know being shy is difficult...it took me a long time to just decide to be out there, and I still battle with expressing my needs and opinions to my supervisor - as we're often taught that they are right and we are wrong. But in a PhD relationship, it's really a reciprocal experience and one where both parties need to be happy. It takes effort on both sides, and it sounds like you're trying hard to meet his expectations, and he's trying to meet what he thinks yours are of him. On another note- because you're in a lab of 25+ people, it would be good to start socializing and coming out of your shell with them...I know it's hard, but the graduate school experience can be quite isolating and lonely, and if you have peers that can support you - beit with humour, peer-review, buying you a beer, or bitching with you when you have a bad day- it's important to have that, and a great way to start becoming more comfortable speaking out. Also, talking to other graduate students about their interactions with your supervisor, their experiences with him, and goals/expectations, is another way to understand the relationship you're building with him- and can eliminate you having to engage in uncomfortable situations with him (or at least I'm surmising they're uncomfortable from what you said! ) I think you're doing great! Just try and be collaborative and social- I have found that it's helped me a lot.

Hey, I think we all feel a sense of competition with other students and lab mates. And I promise you we all have that one student who we secretly hate because they're just (in our minds) out performing us. I think, as uromastx said, you should use this as motivation. Push yourself to meet standards and expectations that you might not have otherwise sought. Considering you say that your supervisor is pretty hands off, this is actually a really great thing! Also, and I'm going to contradict myself in the next paragraph, use it as a way to compare your work/progress to what you know your supervisor likes. What I mean is - I'll use an example - I read a comprehensive project from another student in a different department. This student is like, Einstein. I read their comp and literally needed 2 bottles of wine to calm myself. I was like, "*%^$), my work is WAY below that....I need to pull my shizzle together and up my game". I used their work as a standard that I want to meet...and by comparing my work to theirs, in this sense, I improved my output (or will be...soon....I'm still drinking that wine). One the other hand, and this is where I'm going to contradict myself, your degree is about YOUR progress. Don't compare timelines, amounts, etc. too much...because everyone works differently and has different situational factors that influence their output. And just because their birthing papers left, right and center, doesn't mean they're exceptionally quality- right? It's important to step back and ask yourself: are you meeting YOUR and your supervisors goals/expectations? Have you set a timeline, and met the critical points? At the end of the day, you'll each graduate with the same degree, how you got there and the time it took doesn't really matter - on some levels...there's always a caveat!

Hey WV! Sorry for the situation. I have been in a similar situation where I was a research coordinator, and had several students working on my project- and they didn't all get along. I held a meeting with them saying that part of the learning process with research is not only developing research skills, but also learning how to work on a team. That means handling various personalities, sharing ideas/problems/issues, and communicating effectively. I also knew that one of the students was a telephone line to my supervisor- so I made sure to watch what I said in front of them for my sake. Personally, I feel that (in terms of the personal issues between #1 and #2) in the real world you have to work with people you don't like and you don't always have a choice- so why would the research experience be any different. Its much like group work in class- i tell students the same thing...people have problems with others in the real world and it's good to learn how to deal with it early on. In the end, you can't reprimand someone for not being likeable. If they are doing their job and completing tasks, then they're doing what they're suppose to. However, if this person isn't meeting the objectives/tasks that they should...you should talk to them. A system that I think works is setting up weekly meetings. In them, clearly list your expectations of what they should complete during the week. Make them take notes and send them to you. Then the next week, go through them to update you on the status of each (problems, completion, etc.), and make a list for next week. This could be a 5 minute meeting, done over email, or whatever...this will allow you to make sure they're meeting their responsibilities...and if you do it together with them (i.e., all of you), you can also address any personal issues with them both- as I'm sure #2 wouldn't want to know that #1 is bitching to their boss, right? It might seem like micromanaging, but I have found that if there are issues, these helps clear it up.... Good luck!! xo

To comment on the 'learning new stuff' topic...I've been in that thought and let it weigh me down...but came to the realization that your PhD isn't so much a process to learn new things, but it's a process about really honing in on your skills and becoming an expert in one area. Now, I am coming from a social science background, where I'm really referring to content areas...perhaps in a life sciences it's different...but in the end, maybe think not about what new things you can be learning, but if there is anything left to learn in what you already know...that sounds like a fortune cookie quote.

Really great advice above! I also vision myself teaching, and will practice in front of a mirror. Practice is another great thing- keep doing it so that you get more and more comfortable. And the suggestion about getting some classmates together to practice is great. If you do this you will 1) be practising in front of the same people you're going to be presenting in class with - so you'll feel more comfortable doing it, and 2) you'll have friendly and encouraging faces in the crowd. Whenever I know someone is nervous (or notice it), I make to smile and nod interestingly/encouragingly at them when they look around [sometimes I'll give a little thumbs up if I know them well] I'm one of those really odd people that have absolutely NOOO problem speaking candidly in front of people (regardless of the size of the group)...but put me up there in the same situation with a rehearsed presentation and I'm all freaked out! I'm actually teaching a class tomorrow and decided to make it an engaging / discussion lecture so that I can talk more candidly and openly, and thus be less nervous!

*hugs* Honestly, if that wasn't the right PhD program for you, then you were completely right to switch down to an Masters. A PhD isn't something that you just do for fun, and does require investment and a bit of 'desire'. I think your supervisor was in the wrong- but perhaps it was just a knee-jerk reaction. Regardless, you (as all students) should do what is best for you. A supervisor who respects their students and wants them to succeed in life (and happiness) will respect a student's choice. It doesn't matter about the money and time- if you're getting your masters that still a POSTIVE and FANTASTIC outcome and not a waste of ANYTHING! I think a lot of supervisors think about themselves and what it means to have one more tick under the PhD Supervision box on their CVs. But in the end, that tick in their box (sounds so dirty...) doesn't help you, does it? So think about yourself and what is best for your career path!

I was at your point and considered leaving. I had a talk with my advisor to let him know how unhappy I was and my options. I think there are several things you can do before you actually quit quit. I would first talk to your advisor and let her know what you're thinking. Sure this might be difficult..but, if you do decide to leave, it won't be out in left field. This also gives her the opportunity to talk with you about what YOU really want out of the PhD. Since you're not solidified into a dissertation, it sounds like you have the opportunity to perhaps change projects? Maybe even labs? As hard as it is, I might feel her out, and just let her know what you really want out of the program/degree, and that if you can't get it, you're thinking of leaving. I would also talk to your graduate coordinator. I went to mine, and it was a confidential talk. She really helped me shift through why I was unhappy. Was it that I don't want to do research? or perhaps it was my topic, or my environment. There are many things that can contribute to a bad experience, and make you not want to continue, but you are so far in and have accomplished so much, that you should really consider if it's the PhD that you are not enjoying, or the situational/circumstantial variables that are the cause of your unhappiness. I would also go to a career counsellor at your school. They would be able to help you figure out what opportunities you have available what your current education, and what you would have with a PhD. They may also be able to help you with other opportunities that you might not know about. Also, look around on the internet at jobs. This is REALLY what helped me. When I was unhappy and considering my choices, I searched around to see what I could do with my current education, what jobs were out there that I like (and what I needed for them), and where my PhD could take me. This did a few things for me: (a) solidified for me that a PhD was what I wanted, ( showed me that I had many more opportunities with my PhD than my Masters, and © scared the shit out of me! Having gone through these emotions of not wanting to continue and feeling like it's a waste of time, I know what it's like- you just want to get the weight off your shoulders and leave. But I would REALLY recommend talking to the above people, and taking two weeks off where you do NO work...you don't think about it, you don't stress about it, and you don't care about it. Give yourself some time to clear your head and think. Then go back and reassess. It'll let your emotions ease, and you can really figure out what you want to do. Also, another way to think about your PhD is that it's a means to an end. I know it's not the BEST way to think about it, but it's true. A professor I really respect told me that. He said that really, it's just one tiny step in your entire career- so think about the bigger picture. You might not be learning something new now, but your PhD may be the step you need to get you into a position to learn new things, to do new things, and to do what you want. I think a lot of students put weight on their PhD, in that they believe it has to be a profound process with some earth shattering outcome- but, at least in my area, it's really just a hoop you have to jump through to begin your career in doing what you love. Take care, and if you ever need to chat- PM me! Good luck! And know that in the end, whatever choice you make, if you make it for yourself, is the right choice.

To get in, probably nothing less than a 3.7. Once you're in, I heard that anything less than a B is considered 'failing'. With that said, my experience with grad school was much different than my undergrad experience. Things are graded very differently, less on a 'right/wrong' basis, and more on a content/strong argument basis - at least in my field.

Yes, people do their PhD on topics they're not interested in all the time...and yes, there is an adjustment from undergard to graduate school...and yes, it's an amazing opportunity to have a fully funded PhD...BUT...in the end you have to do what's going to make you happy. Think about where you want to be in 10 years...is it in a research environment? How would a Masters help you get there? How would a PhD benefit you over a Masters? What topics are you interested in? I am a firm believer that happiness is essential in life and should be a top priority. There is no point in spending 3-5 years in a degree where you're miserable, only to then have to find a job in an area you hate. Don't let your supervisor push you into something you don't want to do...really think about it. Talk to someone on campus that can help you figure out what you're looking for in terms of a career, and your opitions. Good luck

Great suggestions! Also, remembering that todays problems are often absent tomorrow. I use to dwell on the little things that seems so significant in the moment, but realized quickly that taking a step back, putting school into perspective, and realizing you have your entire career ahead of you is important. Also, laugh...a lot. Surround yourself with other grad students- even if they're not in your department...You will NEED friends/peers that can relate to you situation! Write every day. even if it's a paragraph..write write write.

The student-supervisor is a hard relationship. The best way I can explain it is by using the phrase: a happy wife (supervisor) is a happy life. Supervisors will have favorites- the good supervisors don't show it. Unfortunately, it sounds like you're having a hard time. Is there a commitee member you can talk to? What is it about this situation that you want help dealing with? If it's just the intrapersonal dynamics of you and your supervisor, I would just say, ignore it- be nice and respectful - and get done and out of there. As for the reference letter, is there someone on your committee that you can get a letter from. I knew a girl that was in a similar situation and got held up over a year...the good news is she's currently doing great in her PhD program and loves it.

Try and write a little bit every day. It can seem overwhelming to sit down and write an entire thesis..but if you start early and just write down thoughts and summaries from what you read, you will realize in no time that you have a lot to put towards your thesis.