how to get a phd

While getting $13,000 dollars for attending school may sound like a lot of money, keep in mind that youll probably be working in excess of 40 hours a week, attending courses full time, and covering your own rent, food costs, and other expenses. Likewise, many PhD programs only fund during the school year, making parttime employment a common occurrence among PhD students, especially during the summer months.

Academic departments can be competitive and cutthroat environments. With everyone competing for the same grants, awards, and respect, it can get ugly fast. Try your best to stay out of departmental politics, and make an active effort to reach out to others and collaborate. Put your head down and do your work. No matter how smart you may be, how great a teacher, or researcher, you will need the help of others in your research.

While your research and dissertation are your primary focus during your doctoral studies, make sure youve developed a healthy balance between all your responsibilities. If youve never taught before, it can be difficult to find the time to spend on completing the research you want to complete, when youve got a stack of fifty papers to grade, lesson plans to prepare, and a student in tears at your office door.
Dont Try to do everything at once. Because you will spend several years to earn your doctorate, its important to slow down and do everything with the attention to detail the process deserves. You dont want to get your dissertation hung up because of a silly documentation error you rushed through.

The average PhD takes between 5 and 10 years to complete. You have to be prepared to commit the time and energy, throwing yourself into the deep end of the academic pool. Its not something to rush through, but it is your chance to put your stamp on the field thats captivated you.
During the time you spend working on your doctorate, youll face a variety of challenges. The labs funding may be cut. You may lose grant money. Your paper may get rejected from a conference. Fail early and fail often. Create opportunities for yourself and work around the challenges.

Despite the reputation of academics as absentminded Professors, getting a PhD takes an ordered mind. Learn to prioritize tasks and relegate lesscritical chores until later. Do one thing at a time. Break large jobs down into smaller manageable tasks that you can complete and move on.