Any PhD students here?

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I'm in my third year of a PhD program. I've taught two undergrad classes so far, but both were a pretty horrific experience. (I'm convinced, however, that this is not all my problem, but partly due to its taking place in a large, unsupportive state school.) Teaching is, in my area of study, pretty much an unavoidable part of being in the field...I just hope that someday I have a job teaching a smaller group of students who actually care about the subject.

But, er, setting aside my own bitterness, I've found that lecturing does get easier with practice. For me at least it's partly a matter of getting into what I think of as "blather mode."

I wanted to complete a phd program when I was nineteen and still in undergraduate study. As I got older it seems that I am losing interest- I am twenty three and work at a software company although I only plan to complete a MS degree.

I am a recent PhD graduate. I was one of those who saw their marks go up and up as the studies became more focused, and I loved my dissertation phase (while my more socially-geared classmates often found the solitude trying, I adored it). I teach at a university now, which is difficult in many ways (as you can likely imagine), but has many good points and I do find it rewarding. The students like me - they think I'm just a wacky eccentric, and that seems to please them. I think my classes are interesting (I hope). I found it did get easier.

My best advice is to embrace the self-directed nature of PhD studies, and make it work for you by being honest about your needs and work habits - and then use them, organically, rather than listening to your classmates about what "should" be happening. Example, I focused on publications instead of conferences, since I loathe traveling. I only did a few local conferences, but I ended my degree with three or four times as many publications than expected from PhD students in my field. That's just an example. Stick with your strengths.

I'm currently in my first year of a science Ph.D program. I'll be taking coursework until my qualifying exam and then it's all dissertation from there! Although I expected more of my cohort to be intensely focused on a particular subfield like I am, I've found having a common interest has been very helpful socially (though soft skills are still very important, even in science). I hope to stay in academia as a researcher when I graduate and teach what I'm learning now. Overall, the experience so far has been incredibly rewarding, and if you have a subject you truly love, go for it!

I am going to be applying for a PhD program fairly soon, which is a nerve racking experience, frankly. I'm at least somewhat concerned about the possibility that I will have difficulty finding a program that will accept me, although my GPA is good as of now, because I don't have a tremendous deal of experience outside of academic course work. So, I hope to be a PhD student soon. I really hope to be.

When do you plan on applying? I applied with only about a year's worth of lab experience and got positive responses (either an acceptance or an interview) at about half the schools I applied to. There may still be time to boost your credentials depending upon your field of study .

Probably as soon as I get my GRE scores. My situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that I'm graduating a semester early. I'm a history major, and normally I assume that they want to see that you've published material in an undergraduate journal or two (which I would have done, but I changed to history only a year ago and didn't know that much about it at the time). I'll probably be able to get in if I have to get a master's beforehand, but I would like to go into a PhD program immediately after undergrad because it's easier to get funding from the college providing the degree. I'm not exactly rich, so it's a frightening experience.

I've just been accepted into a biomedical sciences PhD program and will start school in the fall. I am going for immunology. Any other advice or tips from the science PhD students will be appreciated.

Glad to hear you're living your dream. Hope I will be able to do the same someday. Very hard right now- I feel nobody takes me seriously in the field, and I largely suspect part of it is because I look/am so naive and innocent because of my AS. I just hope I'll be able to be accepted into a program in the future, once I slog through doing "research experience" to even get that far...

Don't worry about going alone. You'll meet a lot of people with similar interests (at least academic interests) in school and you'll all be working toward the same goals.

I'd really like to get a PhD. I'm almost done with my Associates now, and I'll be transferring soon to get a Bachelors. -.-... I'm a LONG way from it at this point.

Currently, I am in the PhD program in Biostatistics. In several days, I will have completed my first year of grad school.

I just finished my second year in a psychology Ph.D. program. It's an experimental program and my interest is computational neuroscience. I actually really enjoy grad school, the structure of my program really plays to my strengths (working individually on research most of the time). I work a lot more efficiently than most of my classmates and don't get bogged down on "does my advisor like me/do my students hate me" type drama that seems to bother lots of other grad students. In that sense it is easier for me than most. I work 35-40 hours a week most of the time, but work closer to 60-70 for the last 2 months of the semester. Overall the workload is what you make of it if you have a reasonable advisor and are in a program that values research productivity over everything else, and you are good at that to begin with (I had three years work experience going in, which helped).

In the UK, at least for sciences and engineering, it's usual to get research council funding (if you're from the UK or EU). You get about £12000 a year (actually, it's probably a bit higher now) to cover your living expenses. What happened in your case? Did they not have any funded places left? I'm not sure how you'd fund it without research council support, or some other scholarship . At least, if I didn't have that, I wouldn't have been able to do it!

I would suggest a scholarship. They are pretty tough to get in the UK though as they are very competitive. During my Maters I had to just tough it out, took the fees as debt and lived off of a part time job. My PhD is expensive too, but the University that I am studying at has paid my tuition fees for me. If they did not do this, I simply could not afford to go. Further, the expense of studying overseas is also very high and my parents have taken out large loans in order to allow me to live.

I was hoping to get my Bachelor in Criminal Justice and Masters. Perhaps "minor" in Sociology and study "enough" of that to jump into a PhD Sociology program ALL at the same University. Not sure if that's "possible" Criminology and Sociology overlap ALOT but I'm not quite sure.