A while ago, I wrote about the path that led me to this PhD, but I didn’t quite finish the story yet. Like I wrote, I ended up writing an email with my expression of interest in the PhD position that was advertised on Twitter. I remember that hitting the ‘send’ button already felt like a huge thing to me. But I didn’t have much time to think about it, as I got a positive email back from Paul the next working day. He seemed keen on working with me and wanted to Zoom to discuss things further together with Ziggy. And so we did.
We met via Zoom at 7am (time differences are great). I was super nervous and didn’t sleep at all that night. I guess the reason for that was that, I don’t know why, I somehow knew this was going to happen. That I was going to do a PhD and I would do that at the other side of the world. I was kind of fooling myself by pretending that this didn’t make me super enthusiastic. I might have been fooling myself, but I definitely wasn’t fooling my girlfriend. She saw this coming from miles away. She was also the one that convinced me to write that email. I couldn’t have gotten any better support from a partner than the way she supports me. So, mom, blame her for me being so far away now 😉
Anyway, Paul, Ziggy and I met and the meeting went great. Both Paul and Ziggy seemed like really nice people and the conversation went pretty smooth. They also seemed open to my ideas and input and were very much open to discuss the direction in which I wanted to go. As this PhD was not funded, we also talked about the scholarship for which I had to apply, if I wished to proceed with this PhD. The deadline was in 5 weeks, and the clock was ticking.
When we ended the meeting, I was flooded with all kinds of emotions: happiness, fear, confusion and excitement. Everything sort of fell into place, and at the same time, didn’t make sense at all. To make the final decision I made a list for myself and wrote down what would make or break this PhD. I know there are already a thousand lists like these out there, but I wanted to share my take on it anyway. These are, in my opinion, the things that everyone should consider when they are thinking about starting a PhD:
1. The topic
This is an obvious one. If you are going to work on a subject for the next 3-4 years, you better like it. For me, it was also very important that the project would contribute more to the world than ‘just’ knowledge. I’m the type of person that needs to know why I’m doing something. I want to do meaningful work related to a topic I truly care about, otherwise I lose my interest. This is actually something I’ve seen happening around me quite often. PhD students start off super enthusiastic, but when stress starts to build-up, they forget why they wanted to do this in the first place. That inner motivation is something that keeps you going when the going gets tough.
2. Your supervisors
These are the people you will be dealing with on a daily basis. They will teach you what they know, give you feedback, introduce you to relevant people and hopefully, support you whenever you need it. A lot of people want that famous professor as a supervisor. And while that may be beneficial on the one hand as they know a lot, have great contacts, and probably plenty of money for research, they might also not have that much time for you. These people are often super busy, and besides you, supervise 10 other PhD students with whom you have to share the limited time that is available for supervision. This doesn’t have to be the case for everyone though. I preferred to have supervisors that are somewhat in the middle: not the 60-year-old fully established professor, but someone that still gets their hands dirty sometimes, knows the field well, has good contacts and has a nice but not too big group of students. Most importantly, there has to be a click. In the end, you will work with people, not with names.
A good idea is to contact some previous students and ask them about their experience. How are they on a day-to-day basis? What is their supervision style? What’s their availability? I ended up writing an email to one former and one current PhD student, and they gave me some great insight.
3. The location
Now this is something that often ends up somewhere at the bottom of the list, but I think it shouldn’t be. Yes, the topic and your supervisors are very important, but you only spend about 8 hours a day working (hopefully), and the rest of the time you can be out doing things you like. Living somewhere that doesn’t match your personality at all, is a recipe for disaster. I, for example, can not handle cold, rainy and dark days at all. And yes, being from The Netherlands that is kind of a problem, and it is the absolute limit of what I can handle. Moving to Scandinavia would thus be an absolutely terrible idea. Secondly, I really hate being in a place without much nature around. Big cities can be nice for a day or two, but being surrounded by concrete for too long will eventually drive me mad. One thing that does wonders for my mind is the ocean. The sound of the wind and the waves, the sun on my face and the whole beach vibe that goes along with it, is something that always makes me happy.
My dream was therefore to go to Australia: the beautiful nature, crazy animals, friendly people and good weather all mixed together, makes it the perfect place for me. I ended up going to Sydney, and even though it is a huge city, I live in a small coastal suburb where I can escape from the hustle and bustle of CBD life.
4. Your partner, family and friends
This one could actually go with the previous point. If you want to do a PhD and you have a partner, life is a little but more difficult. Unless you find a great PhD near the place you live, you probably end up either having a long-distance relationship, or bringing your partner along with you. The last option is of course the most ideal, but not always possible. If you have to move away from home and your partner can not come with you, think about whether this would work for both of you. If you’re only a few hours apart, you can visit each other quite regularly. In my case, I live a 30+ hour flight away from my girlfriend, so visiting every month is out of the question. Plus, the 8-10 hour time difference makes things even more complicated. Luckily, the plan is for her to come here eventually, so now we just have to bite through the sour apple (as we say in The Netherlands). The same goes for family and friends of course. If you live far away you will inevitably miss some important moments. Can you handle that?
5. Are you ready for it?
This question is also often overlooked. You may like the idea of doing a PhD, but are you ready for it? It’s a big commitment and a big step up from doing a bachelor’s or master’s. And even though if may feel as a logical step after your bachelor’s or master’s, I really discourage to dive head first into a PhD straight after. Take up a different job, do some teaching, try out a job outside academia and get some experience. Grow as a person, put aside some savings and do the things you didn’t have time or money for when you were studying. This advice of course doesn’t apply to everyone, some people might be very much ready. Still, a bit more experience never hurts and definitely makes up for a few ‘lost’ years. I was lucky to get a research assistant position, which gave me the perfect insight into life in academia while working on my skills. I got to work with amazing scientists that taught me a lot of things. I also worked on my time-management skills, got a decent salary, and picked up some hobbies I didn’t make time for when I was studying. I also worked on myself as a person: went to therapy, started meditation, and figured out a work-life balance that works for me. I truly feel that this will make me approach this PhD in a much healthier way than if I had started right after my master’s.
6. Does this PhD match your future career aspirations?
You definitely will learn a lot of things during any PhD, but sometimes a certain job requires certain skills. If your dream job is an office job, it would be good to start a PhD with a lot of focus on for example data analysis, modelling or bioinformatics. If sitting behind your computer all day drives you mad, you might want to pick up some valuable field skills. In marine biology, scuba diving and boating are highly sought-after skills. If your heart starts beating faster every time you see a pipet, then a project that involves a lot of lab work would be your thing. Do you like teaching? Ask your supervisors if there are any opportunities for assisting during courses or maybe mentoring a student. Think about what it is you like to do most, and what kind of skills you need for that. Finding a project that prepares you for that, will make your life easier once you finish.
Going over this list myself made it clear to me that despite some difficulties regarding the distance, this PhD suited me. And to make a long story short: I wrote a proposal for the scholarship, got the scholarship and a few months later I was on a plane to Sydney! Now time will tell whether this list proves to be useful. I will come back to this in a couple of years 😉
Renske Jongen 