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!

:-)

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....

:-)

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.

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

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 :-)

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!