Eyes Wide Open – Starting on the PhD Journey

 

A Quick Recap

In an earlier post entitled The PhD Club – Members Wanted? I talked about how prospective PhD students can make a better informed decision to pursue a doctoral degree when financing the endeavor to completion is a primary concern. It is important to understand that the Comprehensive Exams period, writing the Research Plan (aka the Research Proposal) and the process of writing the dissertation can easily take years longer than doing the actual course –work, and many will run out of funds before completing their programs. This has contributed to very high attrition rates, as discussed in the aforementioned post.

Desire = Starry Eyes

Those of us who have been, or are, pursuing doctoral degrees know quite well the reasons why we chose to embark on this challenging journey. The reasons are myriad, can be complex, and are often steeped in what might seem to be paradoxes. These reasons span emotional, logical, professional, intellectual, spiritual, egotistical and perhaps even narcissistic domains. There is a mystique about the PhD title that seems to automatically confer upon its bearer authority, gravitas, and presence. People tend to listen to you, and your opinion matters. You have an authoritative voice, and you are considered a subject matter expert when you speak on your area of expertise or learning. Plus, PhDs, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, belong to a very exclusive intellectual club – only 1.67% of the US population are members! Yes, the very thought of it can leave you starry-eyed; you can become so enamored of the intellectual status that the seductive title confers upon the bearer, that you can ignore the perils that are lurking along this journey.

The PhD Journey

We tend to describe our life experiences in terms of analogies and metaphors that are related to journeys. When we set goals for ourselves or start new projects, we often talk about our intentions in terms of “setting out” to do something; if we make wrong decisions we reflect on taking the “wrong path” – or if we contemplate the sum of our life experiences, we mull over the “journey” from there to here. When I think of my own PhD journey, I envision various metaphors that describe this journey from various perspectives.

For example, in my entrance interview, when I spoke with my wonderful Student Advisor, I thought of the initial start of this journey in terms of a railroad track. Basically, this was a pretty straightforward path to me. Ashley (my student advisor) explained that there were markers (milestones) along this journey, and successfully completing these milestones would lead me from one segment of my journey to another, straight to journey’s end. When I look at this image of a railroad, I see the tracks very clearly; they seem to extend in a straight path to infinity… However…

While, at first glance, this seems to be a very linear and clear track that will take the traveler to his or her destination, logically, we know that there are many unknowns along the way. In terms of starting this PhD journey, the tracks represent the initial milestones that we must cross. For example, they are the various course-works that we must complete, one by one. The rails represent to me the bounds and structure that shape this initial part of my journey. The route seems clear and straightforward, and the destination is somewhere in the distance… but how far in the distance, and how long will it take to get there? While our vision at the start of the journey is clear, truthfully, the time to arrive at the destination cannot be known with any certainty at this point, and the initial estimated costs can and will be affected by circumstances along the way. In Project Management, when the scope of a project changes incrementally and uncontrollably, this is called “scope creep”.

Scope Creep = Longer Time to Completion

Life happens – and it happens with or without our permission. For example, in addition to running out of funds, many life circumstances that present roadblocks that can add costs to, disrupt, and delay your time to completion; these might involve (but are not limited to):

• Family and personal issues
• Lack of support structures
• Student misalignment with program
• Failing to successfully complete milestones
• Mentor/Supervisor
• Demands at work
• Time management, etc.

Moral: Starry-eyed ≠ Eyes wide open

The moral of the story is this: go into your program with eyes wide open. Plan for an extended journey, and verify you can pay for the ticket. You may have the funds to cover your course-work; however, if it took another 2 to 3 years to get through the Comprehensive Exams, Research Plan, and the dissertation writing process – how will you fund that?

As I mentioned before, most students think (too optimistically) that they can complete their dissertations within one year of completing their course-work (it can be done, under certain conditions); however, empirical research has shown that this is an unrealistic expectation; a PhD degree generally takes twice as long as a Bachelor degree, and can take as long as 10 years to complete. Now that I have stressed the importance of embarking on this journey with eyes wide open, future posts will quantify some of the costs that are associated with these roadblocks. I will also  share various tips on how to successfully navigate some of this journey efficiently, and in the shortest, most cost-effective length of time.

Dr. Ruth