What is a test of your ability to get a PhD?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by kev314, Nov 15, 2009.

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  1. kev314

    kev314 New Member

    What would be a good test of my ability to get a PhD?

    My first thought is if I can do the sustained work required.
    i.e. can i put in several hours of study each day for a month?
     
  2. Han

    Han New Member

    I literally worked every day on my doctrate for over 2 years. Then I burned out and took a few days off a week. I think you need to be able to:

    1. Sustain a huge amount of work (either a few hours each day, an entire weekend, or whatever is best).
    2. Be able to fend off life - major life issues hamper the success - having a child, divorce, getting married, etc. (not that it is impossible, but it makes it much harder).
    3. Have a possion / love for the topic. Truely you will hate it at the end, it seems to go on forever, so you must love it in the beginning to have a shot.
    4. Have a good match with your advisor - there is so much to learn (not actual content, but about the process), that you need someone you think can be a match, to be a mentor.
    5. Techniques to stay motivated (I did this by making mini-milstones).
     
  3. BlackBird

    BlackBird Member

    Han has given us some very good pointers on the pursuit of a Ph.D.

    I would add:

    1. Can you write longer and reasonably good research papers?

    2. Can you manage mental and emotional fatigue long-term?

    3. Can you survive financially with all your other responsibilities?

    4. Can you put up with endless minutiae of academia?

    5. Can you play a game long-term and conform to the sometimes irrational rules of departments, schools, and people.

    6. Can you put up with some extreme narcissists who hold your academic fate?

    7. Can you read and read and read and read journals until your eyeballs almost fall out?

    8. Can you do things outside of your academic pursuits that rejuvenate you intermittently?

    9. Are you ready to do a "marathon"?

    Hope this helped a little.
     
  4. kev314

    kev314 New Member




    Thank you for the insights:

    To translate what you said to my perspective:
    committment is required: ability to grind through + love for the topic - distractions
    Good advisor: good chemistry + ability to navigate the system
    Facilitative techniques: energy management, time management, good milestones, artifacts, focus, etc.


    Might the following may be a good initial test?
    Study 3 hours per day(non consecutive) for the GRE for 30 days.






    Can you give an example of a mini milestone?
    I assume you break it up by the amount of time required?
     
  5. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    These are all great points. Here are a few more-
    You need to have thick-skin and not take the feedback personal.
    You need to be flexible on the topics and methods you first think of and plan to use.
    You need to leave the timeline somewhat open ended since you are working on "their schedule"
    You need to be organized and stick to milestones. Example of a milestone - read 10 journal articles in 30 days and keep notes on material or write one quality page per day during your seven day vacation.
    You need to try to get others around you excited about your topic. This is really important to stay motivated because you will always be thinking/talking about it and people will get sick of hearing it (trust me). If they are excited it will help "feed the passion".

    Hope that helps some. I am a firm believer in trying something without fear of failure. I say just go for it and decide as you go along as long as not one is getting hurt in the process.
     
  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    At the risk of being painfully obvious I'd say that one good test of a person's ability to earn a PhD would be to earn a Masters degree (although there are many people who succeed at the latter and fail at the former).
     
  7. Han

    Han New Member

    Sure, I had an overall schedule (4 years), but also broke down by milsteon, and mini milestone.... For example:

    I had the overall next residency requirement (for example a full lit review presented at the 1 year mark as I recall).
    I just couldn't put my head around it all, so I made monthly and weekly goals.
    Month 1: Pull at least 30 articles, read 10 articles, write up summaries.
    Month 2: Pull at least 20 articles, read 20 articles, write up summaries.
    Month 3: Pull at least 20 articles, read 15 articles, write up summaries, and start to categorize summaries into themes.
    Month 4: Same, but begin to start writing the literature review based on theme (at least two files with discussion themes).

    I would check off each month when I hit the mini-milestones.

    Also, be prepared to have thick skin. I remember taking my themes to my advisor, who took several of them, and threw them out and wanted me to go more in depth with the other themes. Bascially, it threw out about 100 hours of work. I just rolled with it (and got a better product in the end).
     
  8. Han

    Han New Member

    Did you have a thesis required for your Masters? This might be a better comparison.

    Writing is the biggest piece that would differ with your example.
     
  9. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    A PhD is not about what you can learn, it is about what you can produce (e.g. research, journal articles, term papers, a dissertation, lesson plans, explaining something difficult in layman's terms.) Hence the term, "publish or perish."

    My test would be to look for a journal article relavent to your feild. Look at the formatting, number of pages, and references.

    Now find a topic in your field to research and write about. The paper should be similar in style, length and scope, to the one you found. Don't forget to include references, and it must be done in under 8 hours.

    Do this every day for 5 days in a row. If you have the committement to grind through that, and you still love it, you are ready for a PhD!
     
  10. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    Produce or Perish

    Very well said.
     
  11. Woho

    Woho New Member

    I'm quite certain there would be a real market in the grad-school self help section on how to produce publishable journal articles in under 8 hours ...
     
  12. bazonkers

    bazonkers New Member

    I would sign up for that. :)
     
  13. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    If your ego is bigger than your capacity to dislike being pretentious and pompous ;)
     

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