Nearly two years have passed since I finished my PhD, so I thought now would be a good time to reflect on my PhD journey. More specifically, what regrets do I have from my PhD?
I’m not a fan of dwelling on things. Nevertheless I have this website so I’d love for others to be able to learn and hopefully reduce the chance of you having the same regrets in the future. To that end while I’ve listed the regrets I’ve also included the lessons I learned and what I would do the next time around. I’ve also included three things I’m happy I didn’t do, which I know other PhD students regret.
It goes without saying that all of the items in this list are personal reflections on my own PhD journey. If you’re a current or prospective PhD student please don’t let my hang ups start to bother you! Even so, if a few resonate and allow you to take proactive action to avoid them then this post will have served its purpose. 🙂
Other relevant posts to this one which you may be interested in are:
- This interview with an anonymous PhD drop-out in which we discuss whether they regretted embarking on a PhD
- My Advice and Tips for New PhD Students
Pre-PhD Regrets
1. Not applying for a PhD abroad
Looking back, I wish I’d spent some time seriously looking at overseas PhD programmes.
Although I found the idea of doing a PhD abroad appealing at the time, I was clueless and simply didn’t put any time into understanding the process of applying for one. To be honest it wasn’t a certainty that I’d even do a PhD at all so I gave up with the overseas idea before even really trying, figuring it was an extra complication. I simply never reached out to any overseas potential supervisors.
Having now seen how keen academics are to speak to prospective PhD students, I’m sure these potential supervisors would have been able to offer some help and advice. Also, from all the international PhD students I’ve since met (both in the UK and abroad) I now realise it probably wasn’t actually that complicated. Of all my PhD regrets this is the biggest one!
Lesson learned: Don’t be scared to get in touch with potential supervisors, especially if they’re abroad or at a particular university you’re interested in. Potential supervisors are usually happy to talk to candidates and they can tell you all about the process for overseas candidates.
2. Getting hung up on trying to find the perfect PhD topic
Deciding what topic to dedicate 3-4 (or more!) years of your life to can be incredibly daunting. I had lots of self doubt and spent years trying to figure out which topic I’d like to do a PhD. I wrote a post here sharing my own journey to starting a PhD. You can also read how lots of other PhD students chose their projects here. I had (and still do have) really diverse interests and I was incredibly worried about choosing the “wrong” topic.
Looking back I’m pretty sure that I thought that I could find any topic interesting once I got into it. Even so, I was hung up on doubts like if I could find another topic even more interesting, or how my choice of topic would influence my long term career.
Lesson learned: Of course, put thought in to your choice of topic but realise that the perfect project may not exist. Projects can evolve a lot and usually you’ll have control over the direction it goes in. Finally, know that you can change fields after your PhD easily enough and in fact often being able to combine skills across disciplines is very appealing to employers.
During-the-PhD Regrets
3. Not using my academic freedom better
I was lucky to have a PhD scholarship which in theory gave me more freedom to explore topics than other types of PhD funding. However I stuck pretty much exactly to the proposal I initially submitted. Although I’m happy with how it went it could have been interesting to make slightly better use of the freedom which comes with having your own money and not needing to stick to specific research project (like with many PhD grants). If you’re interested, I’ve previously written posts detailing the different types of PhD funding available, and how much money PhD students earn.
Lesson learned: No matter how your PhD is funded, consider taking on mini side-projects. In particular try to collaborate with other researchers. Working with other people was one of the highlights of my own PhD. Not only does this make for a more interesting PhD experience, it is fun to explore research topics without the pressure of them being your main project focus.
4. Not trying to publish sooner
Writing your first paper can be daunting and laced with doubts. Am I ready? How much data is needed? Is my work good enough? Once you’ve got your first paper under your belt you realise that it really isn’t all you built it up to be in your head.
Lesson learned: Write your first paper sooner than you might think to. Even if your experiments get held up for some reason and you’re not ready to publish any of your own research: write a review article covering your research topic. In one lab I collaborated with during my own PhD, it was standard practice for first year PhD students to write review papers and I think it makes so much sense. You gain an understanding of the publishing process, learn more deeply about the topic you’ll spend the next few years on, you’re inadvertently writing up the literature review section of thesis, oh and getting an extra paper!
5. No research visits / secondments / internships
Whether or not the possibility of spending time in another lab or working in industry during a PhD is even on your radar varies a lot. It will vary by research area and the culture of your group and university. For one group I work in now it is common for students to spend a bit of time in industry or at another university. It wasn’t on my radar at all though and looking back it could have been a good thing to do.
Lesson learned: If like me you feel like you overlooked the possibility of doing a whole PhD abroad then perhaps a spending time with a supervisor’s collaborator would suit you. There are sometimes pots of money available to pay for trips like this. Someone I worked with closely during my own PhD got a travel grant and spent a few months in Chile visiting a research group she met at a conference. Jumping across to industry to do an internship doesn’t seem to be all that common, at least in the UK, but I have heard of people doing them. If you’re interested in doing one, ask!
6. Not going to more conferences
Considering my PhD was almost all pre-COVID, I only went to four conferences: one international and three in the UK. One of those three was even at my own university! Conferences can be a great experience, for so many reasons including learning, building confidence and making connections. Not to forget that even for us shy introverts they can actually be a lot of fun if you’re willing to put yourself out there.
Lesson learned: Push yourself out of your comfort zone. If you can get funding to go to conferences I can almost guarantee they’ll be worth going to. If you do go to a conference and give a presentation, I suggest reading my post about maintaining audience interest: no one benefits from a boring presentation!
End-of-PhD Regrets
7. Not spending more time thinking about my PhD thesis title and not pushing back on my supervisor’s suggestions
When it came to the point in my project to commit to a final title for my thesis my primary supervisor warned me to choose carefully. He told me that once the document was submitted to the university you couldn’t change it. This was accurate and great advice.
Even so, I didn’t put too much thought into my title.
Even worse, after coming up with a title I was happy with I sent a copy around to my supervisors. One of them gave a bit of feedback and I instinctively changed the title as they suggested. They had suggested watering down the claims a little to hopefully get an easier ride in the viva. I now regret changing it. By the end of the PhD I should have known to trust my own thoughts!
Lesson learned: Put more than a few minutes thought into your PhD title. It will forever appear on your CV. First and foremost make sure that you’re happy with how it conveys what you spent years researching. Beyond that, have a think about any career moves you want to make and if giving your work a certain spin could help. For instance, near the end of my PhD I became very interested in imaging and machine learning and knew that framing my work around the more computational components could be useful.
Common PhD Regrets I Avoided
8. Spending too long on my thesis
Having to compile and create a narrative out of three or more years worth of full-time work is understandably a big task. Even so, I would urge you to not spend longer than necessary on it. There should be no reason to spend six months full-time on your thesis. Use some of that time either to do more lab work or write up some work into a paper.
Lesson learned: Ideally write up research as papers during your PhD. These papers can form the basis of chapters in your thesis. Plus, having had your research peer-reviewed and accepted at journals can make for an easier ride once you get to the viva.
Personally I spent time I could have spend writing thesis chapters on writing papers instead. Although I only had one paper published by my viva, having three papers drafted meant I had a solid backbone of my thesis put together quickly.
In terms of how much I spent working on the thesis itself? Less than four weeks, working normal hours. The results chapters (formed from papers) are the bulk of the work in your thesis. Once you have your results chapters the rest can come together very quickly.
9. Not working a sensible number of hours
You should take your PhD seriously but I strongly urge you to have a life outside of the lab (see the next point in the list). In many research groups there is an unhealthy culture of overworking. Yes, there may be short bursts of time where you have to work evenings or weekends to meet a deadline but this should not become the norm.
Lesson learned: Treat your PhD like a full time job. Working 40 hours per week (at most) Monday-Friday worked well for me and many of the people I worked with. I wrote a whole post sharing how many hours I worked during my PhD. A perk of working in research should be flexibility in how you spend your time, so if you’re not a morning person don’t feel bad if you prefer starting work at 11am and staying on after other people leave. You do you, but please don’t feel pressure to spend all of your waking hours on your project.
Bonus advice: you also don’t need caffeine to survive a PhD.
10. Not making the most of opportunities outside of the lab
There is more to PhD life than being in the lab and writing papers. Yes, PhD students do have time for a social life. In the last bullet point we covered how you should make time to have a life outside of your PhD. As well as however you normally relax, I suggest that good uses of your time are also things like:
- hanging out with you lab mates
- making time to go to departmental events and seminars
- making use of the opportunities that come from still being a student at a university: full post here and linked below.
All of these things can make for a much more interesting and fulfilling PhD experience.
Lesson learned: You’re a grad student and have full access to all of the events going on around the university, including student clubs and societies. Even if you just go along once to something you’ll have at least given it a go. Personally I tried out gliding, scuba diving and surfing during my PhD as well as getting involved with running the university’s environmental club. If you’ve got an interest in something don’t let anything hold you back. I guarantee you’ll have a much more fulfilling PhD experience because of it.
This post is a little different to most of the ones I write. Let me know in the comments if you found it useful or if you have any PhD regrets of your own.
