After the summer break I found myself back at the same university, in the same department, but with some serious differences. There’s no doubt that it was a little strange going back to university without all my friends and as a member of the department, rather than just as an undergraduate student (oh yes I was even allowed in the staff room!) It took a little while to get used to my new status, but after a few weeks it felt as if it had always been that way. Well until I found myself standing at the front of a lecture theatre with all those pairs of eyes on me that is…
After the summer break I found myself back at the same university, in the same department, but with some serious differences
To supplement my studentship I started doing some teaching on the undergraduate course. The same undergraduate course I had been taking less than a year before. It was the most daunting thing I have ever done, but as my experience grew so did my confidence. I never imagined that I would be able to stand up in front of that many people and teach them about statistics (in fact I never imagined I could anybody statistics!), but being thrown in at the deep end worked for me. Over the course of the PhD I taught lectures, seminars and workshops, marked essays and provided feedback, got involved with the outreach programme, ran induction sessions for Freshers and supervised final year research projects – all on
top of carrying out my own research and writing up my thesis. At times it was completely exhausting, particularly in my final year when I was not only doing these things, but also planning my wedding (to my husband that I met at UEA while
While there’s no denying that studying for a Doctorate isn’t easy, the freedom to study whenever I liked (or in my pyjamas with unwashed hair if I so pleased) was something that I thrived on and this freedom outweighed all the cons for me. It made the late nights, the stress and inability to switch off from ‘work mode’ all worth it. I know for lots of people the need to work some evenings and weekends would be their idea of hell, but I loved this control that I could have over my working life more than anything at all.
I probably took this flexibility to more extreme levels than was strictly necessary, as in the December of my second year of my PhD I packed my bag and headed to Australia for six weeks with my best friend. I had just completed a mammoth chunk of data collection and needed to get away for a little bit. While this would be enough to induce a near heart attack in some supervisors, mine simply smiled and told me to have a good time (they really were the best supervisors I could have hoped for!) The fantastic working relationship I had with them both no doubt contributed to how much I enjoyed studying at this level.
Perhaps it’s because I did my PhD straight after my undergraduate studies that now the thought of doing an office-based 9-5 job fills me with horror. I can’t imagine being told when to be at work and what I should be working on at any given
It was the most daunting thing I have ever done, but as my experience grew so did my confidence. I never imagined
time - it just isn’t me at all. During the five months travelling that I did after finishing my Doctorate I had lots of time to think about what I want to do as a career. I was a little surprised to realise that the thing that I missed the most was the actual writing of my thesis. While for many this is the part that is the biggest struggle, for me it was the highlight of the entire process, and something that really appealed as a career. Although the prospect of getting into a whole new field (and one in which I have no experience) is daunting, the experiences I was exposed to during my PhD has given me the confidence to go for it. And for that reason alone if someone were to ask me whether or not they should do a PhD I would tell them: absolutely. Very little will challenge you more, but the rewards are more than worth it.
About the author
After graduating with a First class degree in Psychosocial Sciences from the University of East Anglia in 2007, Hollie Honeyman began a Doctorate in Psychology. During that time she worked as an ‘associate tutor’ teaching undergraduate and Masters level students. After graduating for the second time in July 2011, Hollie spent five months travelling with her husband and has recently started working as a freelance writer.
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