Remember when you had just started university? The syllabus
was all laid out neatly at the start of the year. Pretty much everything was
guided or supervised. Help was always around the corner. And in most cases,
someone surely had the answers to any questions you had from the recommended
reading list. By no means am I implying that undergraduate studies are easy - they
have their own challenges. But taking up postgraduate studies made me realise
how much more challenging it can get.
It’s very different to undergraduate level. To start
with, a lot of it is not guided or supervised. The transition to master’s is
quite smooth, as it’s still partially guided. So for part of the course, help
is available, there’s a syllabus, and you will have a good idea of what you are
supposed to know by the end of it. The other part, however, is like stepping
into the unknown. This could be your dissertation or course project, or
additional modules. Though you will be fairly well supported throughout, so you’re
not roaming around an unknown terrain in absolute darkness!
Being a PhD student is a completely different experience.
The entire course is getting to know something which was previously unknown.
There is a high possibility that your research topic is as unknown to your
supervisor as it is to you. Although you get some help from them, it’s to guide
you rather than telling you exactly what to do. You may or may not be trained
enough to tackle all the problems that you’ll encounter throughout your
research. This is the crucial bit. You need the motivation to teach yourself
new skills and keep going in the face of the failure.
This is when you’ll realise that asking for help is
actually a skill. A lot of PhD students assume that they are expected to be completely
self-sufficient (they’re not!). When they cannot get enough resources to teach
themselves the skill, they feel hesitant to ask for help from the ‘experts’ in
the field because they feel inadequate. This is imposter syndrome, a major
antagonist in every PhD student’s life. Overcoming this fear and feeling of
inadequacy is as important as knowing what you are asking help for. The more
specific your question, the more likely you are to get an answer. The responses
may not always be helpful though. You will also learn that not knowing the
answer to something is actually alright – it’s all part of the learning
process. And at the end of the day, when nothing seems to work, having the support
of your friends, family and supervisor is the most important.
Pragya Chaube, PhD (Animal and Plant Sciences)
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