• Question: was it really hard doing pHD?

    Asked by Cabbagelife to Carrie, Cedric, Ellen, Ines, Rupert on 8 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Carrie Ijichi

      Carrie Ijichi answered on 8 Mar 2017:

      Yes it was but anything that’s really worth doing will be hard work. I loved every single minute of it and the harder it is the more it means to you once you’ve got it. I’m very proud of having a PhD because I know how difficult it was to do. Don’t let something being hard ever hold you back – go for it

    • Photo: Ellen Williams

      Ellen Williams answered on 8 Mar 2017:

      I am doing a PhD now and I suspect I am maybe in the ‘rose tinted glasses’ stage. I spent the last 12 months trotting around zoos gathering video footage of elephants. Now I am watching videos and inputting the data into Excel. I can honestly say there have been some stressful times but it is the most fun I have ever had, I really love it. I am wondering if the ‘really hard’ bit comes when I actually need to write a thesis! But as Carrie says, all worth it in the end!

    • Photo: Ines Goncalves

      Ines Goncalves answered on 8 Mar 2017:

      Yes, and no. It was challenging and hard work, but generally speaking, things worked out well and I had the time of my life during my phd. I grew up and learnt so much, I had amazing supervisors who helped me become a much better researcher than I was before I started.

    • Photo: Rupert Marshall

      Rupert Marshall answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      I enjoyed doing my PhD. It was busy and there were lots of things to do so if this is hard work then yes it was. But it was quite varied and spread out over several years so I never got bored with it either. I was watching birds outside, recording their song, analysing it, then using DNA fingerprinting to work out who was related to who

    • Photo: Cedric Tan

      Cedric Tan answered on 13 Mar 2017:

      Good question! It was a challenge at first, as I was not used to the culture shock when I moved from Singapore to Oxford. Nevertheless, the intellectual challenge was difficult but very fun and fulfilling when you have achieve something like a publication!

      A PhD can be really hard but diligence and a ‘never give up attitude’ would help you with overcoming all the challenges along the way. An encouraging supervisor is always a good thing as well!

Comments