Pursuing a PhD as an older student - is it too late? - PhD Talk

foreign [Music] hello my name is Adrian Dara and I'm a doctoral candidate in the Penn State belsara College of communications I'm also teaching faculty in the Penn State College of liberal arts as an older doctoral student I want to share some advice with those of you who might be questioning whether or not to pursue a doctorate or for those of you who are questioning whether or not to stay in your doctoral programs first it is never too late to begin we all have our own paths and while your path may not be reflective of your

classmates you still belong in the room you should own that your age does not bring with it any deficiencies in fact you'll find your life experiences will help you immensely through your doctoral program second understand that your experiences are going to be different from your classmates and this goes for everyone not just older students there's this tendency to compare ourselves with our classmates which is a very slippery and also depressing and downright and healthy slope your benchmarks are your own you come into the program with your own experiences with which automatically set you apart from

your classmates so if you didn't come into the program with a strong research background don't begin to hyperventilate when your classmates who are in their first months of their doctoral program are being published I have two professional Masters and while I did not focus on Research when I was in my Master's programs um like my classmates who did it was a learning experience for me not to have those moments of self-defeat because I wasn't capable of publishing six months into my program keep in mind that at every turn someone will want to give you advice

take this video for example if you haven't already done so take a look at academic Twitter at the end of the day remember no matter who you are or what your goals are you must do what's right for you if you're pushed into doing something you find you have no interest in it will make an already difficult experience that much more miserable and horrid along the same vein if you have a plan or goal going into your doctoral program don't let anybody vary you from that goal no matter how well intentioned they may be may

be it's great to hear from people who have been in this role before and to hear their experiences and to weigh their opinions but at the end of the day the experience is yours and you came into it with a plan when I started my PhD program I knew that I did not want to pursue a tenure track position I wanted to teach I didn't want to do research I had no interest in research but I knew that research was part of the process and along the way I've had a few professors and a few

peers try to change my mind on pursuing a 10-year position once I graduated but I knew what I wanted I recently accepted a teaching faculty position exactly when I came into my program to pursue and I have absolutely no regrets it's fine to have moments of doubt it's even perfectly acceptable to question whether or not you want to continue to pursue your degree I have moments where I'm like that's it I'm done no more but it's important to understand that you earned your place in the program and if you're considering dropping out or not applying

because you think you're not good enough or you never will be you have to let that go and I know personally that is easier said than done for those of you with families and this is going to be really hard to hear you need to understand that there will be give and take between your program and your family you simply do not have the time to do it all it's just not humanly possible so if that means you missed your child's soccer game or you do not put as much effort into an assignment that you

normally would that's a choice you're going to have to make and you're gonna have to make it regularly and you're not you're gonna have to not feel guilty about it time can always be made for the really important things but understand that you'll perpetually be deciding what takes priority and what does not and if you if you can't spend time with your family or on as much research as you like that's fine there's no harm in that you will be fine publishing it's the Beast um it is something that you will have to do um

some of you will have to publish multiple times during your program that's just the reality especially if you want to pursue a tenure track position in these instances it helps to find classmates peers and professors to work with as this will help cut down the amount of work that you are directly responsible for and increase your number of Publications finally and this is the most important point that I must remind myself of on an almost a daily basis when you're stressed and it seems like everything is awful and you're never going to succeed remember that

this is a choice you made this choice and nobody's forcing you to pursue this doctorate this is not intended to make you feel bad or guilty but a reminder to regularly recall all the optimism and hope that you had going into your doctoral program SPS for your own sanity ignore the negative video on social media every field and every sector has its pros and cons but it seems as if Academia gets unfairly skewered online you will eventually figure out if you've made the right choice and if Academia is the place for you if it's not

that's fine you'll find your place good luck if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more acne related content then please subscribe to the pH someplace YouTube channel [Music]