Here are the results of our poll:
The other responses were:
- all of the above + 10
- supervision problems
- impact on mental health
- problems with academic culture
- stressing over being good enough
- finding time to work on PhD when doing it part-time
- responding positively to challenging feedback
From this poll, it looks like, for a lot of people, the most challenging aspects of doing a PhD do not relate to the work itself. Instead, they relate to the process and mechanics of doing a PhD with all the additional stressors we have to expect nowadays: competitive post-PhD job market, funding and other financial issues, and the isolation of working on an idiosyncratic project. Timing and of course writing are next in line. Many of these things are out of our hands, yet we still need to face them to successfully complete our projects – with our health intact ideally! Our next poll will look at ways we can challenge and deal with these problems.
For now, thank you for getting involved, and we will use your input to think about events and blogs that might be useful for the PGR community. If you have any thoughts on the poll, leave a comment here, on Facebook or tweet us!
For anyone stressing about jumping into the job market in the immediate future, have a look at this blog!
This is the original poll, now closed:
BSA Postgraduate Forum 