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Four weeks in to my PhD - first impressions

M

Just thought I'd share some of my first impressions of PhD life, one month in...

Basically things are going fine - first supervision went well on Wednesday (supervisor liked the essay I'd submitted and seemed impressed/relieved that my writing skills are up to scratch, which she says can be half the battle).

Two things that have surprised me:

1 - I've been given some tutoring work straight away, which I wasn't really expecting till my 2nd year, a bit daunting, but going OK so far.

2 - I've felt a bit swamped by on-campus commitments at times - mostly to do with that tutoring work (e.g. attending course lectures) - and been left wondering when I'm supposed to get any actual research done! But various introductory things are out of the way now and I think I'll soon get into a workable routine.

So, off to a good start and feeling positive... but very aware that I've got a lot of work ahead of me!

:-)

A

I'm heartened to hear that your first month went well, Magictime!

Is your tutoring work intended to fill gaps in background knowledge? Or is it more about research methodologies?

Just curious....

:-)

M

Thanks!

From my point of view, the tutoring work is about filling in gaps in background knowledge and getting some teaching experience on my CV. From the department's point of view, I think it's just about having a lot of first years to teach and hence a lot of tutoring work available.

N

Sounds like its going really well, and they obviously think you're good if you're teaching already! Good luck with the rest of it - what are you researching? Nx

N

Hi Magictime,

It's great to hear that things are going well for you. I'm in my first month of my PhD and like you things seem to be going well. I met with my supervisor last week and came out feeling as if I had made the wrong decision doing a PhD but a week later and another meeting down and I'm feeling on top of the world. Doing lots of reading just now along with some compulsary classes which I guess is allowing me to find my feet before I get stuck into the nitty gritty side of the project :-)

Hope the future brings more smiley faces :-)

V

I agree, it's great to hear you are going well! I remember when I started my PhD about 9 months ago, I almost died of anxiety. My first month or two were horrible. I was at a new uni, in a new lab, with new people, I didn't know anyone and I didn't know my way around. It was horrible. On top of that my supervisor expected so much from me, I think all my manged to do in the first two months was read, do a few PCRs and a little cloning. I couldn't sleep at night sometime and I didn't want to go in. Then, one week. It magically changed. I came in a new person, I was finally comfortable with everyone and everything and fell completely in love with my project and now I don't want to leave! Although I'm still frustrated with my supervisor expecting so much!

The teaching really settles you in i think, I found when i started that I felt like I belonged there and t really helps solidify your own knowledge, that and you are god to aspiring undergrads haha.

Anyway, those are my thoughts!

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