<hr>
<p>I will start my PhD in English in August 2008. Since some answers are still to come, I haven't yet chosen the university, but chances are that it will be on the East Coast. For the moment, I am very curious about how life is for a PhD student at a major university. Is there time and money enough to do anything else than studying? I am not the partying type, but I would like to travel, for instance. Could anyone share experiences?</p>
<p>A lot will depend on how your graduate studies are financed. Most humanities doctoral students with whom I am familiar are busy during the school year and even the summer working as teaching assistants, so travel opportunities are impacted.</p>
<p>My graduate school years were pretty much consumed by studies, research in the lab, preparing for presentations at conferences and writing up results for publication. However, my field was biochemistry/molecular biology, and the demands of a lab science, particularly one that relies on using living creatures like bacteria and yeast, are very different than English. You can't regularly walk away from the research for any length of time.</p>
<p>My husband's doctoral field was social science, but the demands on his time and the lack of money for extensive travel was as true for him as it was for me. </p>
<p>I think it is very important to love what you are doing. Graduate school is generally a long adventure, characterized by a lot of work and little money.</p>
<p>I think it very much depends on your field, and maybe also your school. I personally had no life (and we were a very resource rich school and field). But then again, we didn't have the luxury to take more than four years and we also had an intense course load not typical in a lot of fields. </p>
<p>If you have an opportunity, interview the students at the places you end up considering. I'd trust their opinion most.</p>
<p>Thanks, Midmo and Starbright. I will bear all that in mind.</p>
<p>I'd advise little outside life... I think that midmo's advice that you love what you do is essential. I went to graduate school in statistics. Although there was no lab that we had to worry about, it was clear that the more studying you put in, the better you would do. And this isn't a bad thing: you're paying dues that will last the rest of your career.</p>
<p>You need to work hard and well. In the beginning you need to attract the attention of a good advisor (let me define that: someone with good ideas, someone you're comfortable having as the most important person in your career for years to come, someone who has proved that he or she spends time with students, someone who has proved that he or she can get students to that PhD). You need to prove to that person that you're worthy of the attention. Then, you'll need to <em>keep</em> that attention. And if you're in a program that requires that your dissertation be original research, you want to work hard and quickly so that your research is still original at the time you're ready to publish.</p>
<p>It's a tough road. It's been described as a "long and lonely apprenticeship". But is is very rewarding intellectually at least, and rewarding financially for many.</p>
<p>Best wishes to you.</p>
<p>If you do talk to students in the program, don't fall for what they say so easily. Some grad students are very sneaky people who might very well resent you for having the nerve of desiring to get a share of their advisor's already scarce time. They may thence put up an act of being miserable in hopes of getting you to go somewhere else.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Some grad students are very sneaky people who might very well resent you for having the nerve of desiring to get a share of their advisor's already scarce time. They may thence put up an act of being miserable in hopes of getting you to go somewhere else.
[/quote]
lol.. i'm not sure that's common at my uni.</p>
<p>dobby,</p>
<p>I've been in academia for decades and I direct a graduate program, and thank goodness, I have never witnessed (nor heard of) the disturbing phenomenon you mention. As a matter of fact, if such a student were in <em>my</em> program, s/he wouldn't last long.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you do talk to students in the program, don't fall for what they say so easily. Some grad students are very sneaky people who might very well resent you for having the nerve of desiring to get a share of their advisor's already scarce time. They may thence put up an act of being miserable in hopes of getting you to go somewhere else.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think I have to agree with the posters above that, if it happens at all, it seems not to be a mainstream phenomenon. </p>
<p>Besides, I question the motivations of behaving this way anyway. After all, if your advisor deems that he has sufficient time to take on new students and that he wants new students, he will get new students. Acting miserable as a deterrance mechanism will just make your advisor reach further down in the admissions wait-list. But at the end of the day, he is still going to get new students whether you like it or not. You also run the risk of your advisor asking why his first-choice student didn't choose to come study under him and instead chose to go elsewhere, and if word gets back that you were responsible for spiking the decision, then he probably won't want to be your advisor any longer. </p>
<p>Besides, having more good students around should not be seen as a bad thing, but rather as a good thing. After all, another strong student provides you with more opportunities to produce joint research and joint publications. Numerous publications that grad students submit are coauthored with other students.</p>
<p>As always, it can be difficult to make the sweeping general comments that the original questioned asked, but I'll do my best. </p>
<p>On the financial front, it really depends on how your PhD is being funded. Most science hard PhD students are on fully funded fellowships with (often) a half-decent living stipend. However, this is often not the case for humanities students so it will obviously depend on what school you attend and what financial package you're offered with admission. Regardless though, grad school is always, to a certain extent, a lesson in budgeting and frugality. So long as you truly love your studies, then it should hopefully make up for shortcomings in the financial department.</p>
<p>In regards to the day-to-day life of a PhD student, there is often a big difference between comments made by science/engineering PhD students (that work in a lab) and humanities PhD students. Working in a lab is more or less like having a job. You have co-workers, you have regular meetings, you interact with the same group of people on a daily basis. I often hear humanities PhD students complain that they spend day after day on their own in the library or room and this can be difficult for some. Again, this may or may not apply to your situation, but it's something to keep in mind and, if necessary, prepare for. </p>
<p>Although the work is a lot more intense, the good news is that you will still be on a college campus and thus able to still enjoy most of the 'fun' aspects of living in a college town. Be sure to make some new friends to enjoy your free time. </p>
<p>A lot of people often say that a PhD can include some of the best and most exciting, but also worst and most frustrating times of your life. It's very hard work, often lonely and often frustrating to look out to your undergraduate friends who have become established (and are likely making a lot more money) in the real world. However, once you get through it it's definitely worth it. You'll feel like you can accomplish (or learn) anything and you get to be called Dr (obviously not the reason for doing a PhD but a nice touch at the end). The situation after a PhD financially is a bit more diverse... on the low end you could do a post-doc of some sort making ~40k (likely still much less than your undergraduate friends despite a much more extensive education) or on the higher end some get snapped up and go into consulting at around 100k starting (and much higher after a few years). Obviously money is not the most important factor, but it's not something to ignore either.</p>
<p>PhD programs in English usually involve several years of continued course work on the way to written and/or oral examinations, generally in your specialities (e.g., Renaissance, lyric; Victorian, novel); then the dissertation, which takes about 2 years for most students. In most programs, graduate students eventually teach freshman writing courses as part of their fellowships, which is time-consuming but essential to gaining experience. Nowadays, there are lots of student conferences and many journals, and graduate students start off early on presenting papers and trying to get articles published. So it is all demanding, but there is plenty of time, at least when you are not studying for exams, to enjoy yourself. The job market has been bad for decades -- go to the most prestigious school that offers you a good fellowship! Don't go into debt. Find an advisor for your dissertation who is someone you like, who reads papers promptly and turns them back to students with helpful comments (that is surprisingly rare) and who does not have a reputation for being difficult to work with -- such reputations are generally true...</p>
<p>As a general remark, I want to thank everyone here for the answers so far. They were all welcome and useful in some way.</p>
<p>Emag;</p>
<p>In the beginning you need to attract the attention of a good advisor</p>
<p>For what it is worth, I had some mail exchange with faculty members in most of the universities I have applied to, and some of them seemed to have a genuine interest in my research proposal. I hope that may prove long-living. </p>
<p>Dobby;</p>
<p>They may thence put up an act of being miserable in hopes of getting you to go somewhere else.</p>
<p>Thanks for the warning. In the end, however, I feel Sakky made a valid point: if they don't want me there, they will end up having someone else, which may be as bad as or even worse. ;)</p>
<p>In the end, however, I think it never hurts to be judicious while reading personal views about such things, so your initial advice is sound.</p>
<p>Rocketman;</p>
<p>On the financial front, it really depends on how your PhD is being funded.</p>
<p>All the programs I have applied to are fully funded: they offer a full tuition waiver, a health plan and a stipend ranging from US$ 16,000 to US$ 28,000 a year. The offers I have so far are around US$ 21,000. I know that living expenses vary widely among localities, but I hope that is enough for a frugal existence.</p>
<p>Again, this may or may not apply to your situation, but it's something to keep in mind and, if necessary, prepare for.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I already have some experience in that: I've written two dissertations so far, one of them for my MA in English, and it was indeed lonely work. But I was at home (I am not American), and I suppose that being in another country would make things all the more lonely.</p>
<p>Thanks for everything else you wrote.</p>
<p>Mamenyu;</p>
<p>So it is all demanding, but there is plenty of time, at least when you are not studying for exams, to enjoy yourself.</p>
<p>Well, this is perhaps the best news so far. Thanks. ;)</p>
<p>i am a freshman in my community college, i have two roommates that are going through phd right now. let me tell you, they don't have a life, lol. i think they are in some kind of research program and working for their professor, they sleep, eat and work at the same place for days. i don't know if every phD student has to go through that, but for me, i'm cool off of that ****. my other roommate is biology major, even though he is only working on his bachelor right now, but it looks like they all killing themselves slowly.</p>
<p>
[quote]
All the programs I have applied to are fully funded
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Find out how long that full funding lasts. A lot of "fully funded" programs are fully funded for some number of years that is not necessarily long enough for most students to finish the program.</p>
<p>They are for five years.</p>
<p>That's pretty standard. Depending on your undergraduate background, 5 years could be tight. As you will learn, there are dissertation fellowships that can add a year to the 5. There are also Mellon fellowships, Fulbright fellowships, and other possibilities. And sometimes you can teach for an extra year.</p>
<p>I have some graduate experience too, which might help. Besides, I have been working for the last eight years on my present subject. I would like to try to do everything within five years. In case I don't succeed, it is great to know there are funding options for additional years.</p>
<p>Maioli
I just caught the title of your thread.My Daughter is a third year PhD in Musicology at a top 25 Private University here in the US midwest. She picked her school after much research and communication with an advisor she wanted to work with.It seems yiou have done this type of research as well, and bravo to you on that!
She has the god fortune to be fully funded with tuition remission (thank goodness..its a $35,000+/year school) plus a fellowship stipend which meets her living expenses in her midwest city.Location is important..she was able to live alone at first (now has a live in boyfriend sharing expenses) run her car,buy her groceries,clothes,cell phone,etc on that stipend.She did apply to schools on both American coasts, and does figure that if she had gone there she would have needed a roomate to meet her housing costs.She does work some hours in the Music Library on campus as a cataloguer, a skill she picked up as an undergrad,for extra $$. She doesnt save $ in the bank, but hasnt had to ask us for loans either (car is paid off but she pays insurance).She's managed to take some low cost vacations (think camping type trips).
She has been fortunate enough in her dept to get extra funding for both summers so far (a thousand or two each summer). Her dept pays for one conference attendance each year and supports research expenses,like travel, when ABD.She didnt have to TA in her first year but since then TA's one class each semester in addition to coursework.She finishes her coursework this spring,and has already started her research component with an appointed advisor Just for the record, her advisor is not who she started out with.. someone new came on staff this year with a closer research background and they decided he would supervise her with the original advisor, who is close to retiring, remaining on her disseration committee.She takes her comps next October and then will be ABD,still TA'ing.She figures 4 years from next fall should finish it up.
There is a new student in her dept this year who arrived with a Masters, as you have, but because of the schools reqs(language, course sequences), he is considered a year behind her and won't take comps until after her.I guess you'll find out what your dept will do with your prior coursework once you arrive.
She finds her tight knit dept social and friendly.She's had good experiences in her new midwest city,theres enough culture,music and good food options to keep her happy (shes from the New York metropolitan area and attended undergrad in Arizona).She did not choose graduate housing from the University, but its an easy way of meeting other grad students.
Best of luck to you in your new American adventure!!</p>
<p>I have heard for hard sciences PhD that the schools will pay for your travel costs to tour the grad school and meet profs once you have been admitted to the program -- is this usual practice?</p>
<p>My D has applied to PhD programs in Plant Biology and has received "expenses-paid" visits to a number of schools - time to meet with professors, other grad students and get a general feel for the environment. In general, these weekends have been fairly laid-back - appears to an opportunity for the schools to convince her that School X is the right place for her to spend the next 4+ years.</p>