6 tips to surviving a PhD

The day after I saw the last page of my dissertation come off the printer, I heard three masters’ students talking in the Graduate Student Lounge in the Department of Education.

“So what do you plan on doing after graduation?” Beeta said.⁽¹⁾

“I’ve got a job lined up at a consulting firm downtown. How about you?"

“I don’t know. I don’t have anything planned. I don’t know what to do. I’m bored with my topic," Beeta remarked before sighing. "Maybe I’ll do a PhD.”

I physically shuddered when I heard this conversation. “Don’t do it Beeta!” the voice in my head screamed. Why? Doing a PhD is like climbing the steepest mountain, pulling a piano out of your nose or trying to hold your breath for 20 minutes. It’s an incredibly difficult, nearly impossible, isolating pursuit.

However, if you have a burning question and passion; if you feel that by doing a PhD you will fulfill an important part of your personal mission on this planet; and if you think you will somehow create value by this commitment, then nothing is impossible.

I am in my final year of a PhD in educational studies. My research examines three different approaches to the reintegration of formerly abducted and war-affected young mothers in Northern Uganda. I have been to Uganda five times for a total of 51 weeks. I have more than 250 hours of transcriptions and 400 pages of field notes, and I have been writing for exactly one year.

Last week, I submitted my dissertation, did the happy dance, but now I’m struggling with going from 60 to 0. However, that’s not why I’m writing. I feel I have learned a few things on this journey that I would like to share with you and the Beetas of the world.

1. Choose your supervisor carefully

This relationship is immensely important and your choice of supervisors — and it is your choice — should be based on how closely your interests align and what you’ll need as a student.

Do you appreciate micro feedback and monitoring or do you prefer to be more independent? Do you and your supervisor have similar values and perceptions of time? Can this supervisor bring opportunities your way? What do other people say about them? Do you like them as a person? This is important as you will spend a lot of time together.

I didn’t want to do my PhD at Concordia. I had done my master’s here — 20 years ago — and I thought I should expose myself to a different institution. Nonetheless, I decided to meet with Ayaz Naseem at Concordia. I don’t think it took five minutes for me to know that this was the professor who would guide me to where I wanted to go, and I have no regrets.

2. Creatively tap the universe for funding

“I personally feel that a PhD should always be a funded one and it would be stupid/unbearable to do a non-funded PhD,” writes Moneek Dilawari, a graduate student at McGill University. Dilawari is both right and wrong.

Yes, go for a fully funded PhD, a university with an entrance scholarship, and the SSHRC, NSERC, FRQSC, CIHR and all the other big funding acronyms. If you’re one of the lucky 30 or 40 per cent that get this kind of money, then enjoy your Kraft Dinner with gourmet ketchup. If you’re not, then find creative ways to pull in some money to keep yourself in school.

Think of it as your job for a few days a month and research, for example, the 1,700 awards listed on Concordia’s website. Keep in mind that to get five awards of $10,000 is a lot less work than getting one $50,000 grant and, as an added bonus, you won’t have to give up your first born.

I got funding from Power Corp, the School of Graduate Studies, the Faculty of Arts and Science, Concordia’s Mobility Fund, the Canadian Federation of University Women, the Georg Eckhart Institute and the International Development Research Centre. I was a research assistant, worked part-time for the government, sold paper beads from Uganda, got compensation to write two articles and became an Airbnb host.

You’re not “stupid” if you venture into this unfunded — real classy Dilawari. There’s money out there, you just have to pull it in.

3. Watch out for pitfalls

Across disciplines, on average, more than 30 per cent of PhD students do not finish. Many who do find themselves divorced and without friends — sometimes their dogs have even left them. One of the biggest pitfalls is the illusion that you have to start publishing, and presenting, as soon as you walk in the door and while you are taking core courses.

“But I don’t have anything to say yet.”

That’s right you don’t, so don’t allow yourself to sacrifice everyone in your life in order to keep up with your colleagues. Some students in your cohort will have no responsibilities except their studies or their project will be smaller in scope than yours. So don’t compare yourself. There will always be students who have more funding, more publications and more brains.

While you are trying to compete, you may forget to maintain your relationships and, at the end, find yourself with a degree but no one to share the benefits.

I did a family PhD. My husband, children, sister and nephew all experienced Uganda with me and were my reviewers, editors and IT support. My husband, kids, mother, sister and friends got involved in some of the fundraisers I organized to support the group of young mothers I was working with in Uganda. Everyone contributed and was an important part of this journey.

4. Open the door

If you keep your ears and eyes open, so many opportunities will present themselves while you are a PhD student that will enrich your experience. For example, I got the chance to co-edit an academic journal, co-author multiple publications and co-organize an annual conference on Teaching about Extremism Terror and Trauma.

I’ve been funded to deliver presentations in Atlanta, Washington, Vancouver, Germany and asked to speak at a university in Tokyo. I was selected to do an internship with CEED Concordia in Uganda. But best of all, I was selected as a public scholar, received a lot of training and learned how to make my research accessible to the public. So, open up those emails from your graduate program coordinator.

5. Take care of yourself

In his blog, fellow public scholar Eric Filion likened doing a PhD to a marathon. It’s definitely not a sprint, so along the way you need to hydrate, exercise, eat well, schedule down-time and, oh yeah, sleep.

As for me, I think I stretched once in 2014. I’m getting to the finish line 15 pounds heavier, far-sighted and with a bit too much of a love for white wine. Eric on the other hand, ran miles in-between writing each chapter. Best to heed Eric’s advice here rather than following my example.

6. Appreciate

When I was writing the acknowledgement section of my dissertation, I thought I would peruse other dissertations to get an idea of how PhD candidates write this section. To my surprise, many were a mere paragraph long. What? You think just you and your brilliant intellect got you here?

I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but I do recognize that I have stood on the shoulders of greatness to get to this point. Without my supervisor, committee, partner and kids, mentors, professors, friends, and, not to mention, the 75 women who opened up their lives to me, I wouldn’t be here. So show some appreciation and humility.

So Beeta, I say to you, “Time to leave the university and get some life experience.” When you have a burning question and you realize that doing a graduate degree is a privilege, then come back with the intent of uncovering a mystery that will make the world a better place.

(1) Pseudonyms were provided to protect the foolish.

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