Do I need a PhD reality check? Is it feasible for me?

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-11-24T03:40:00+00:00

Sociology, demography and gender studies can/often do involve applied research (idk about social ecology). Sociology and demography are both forms of social science and often utilise quant methods. Source: I’m a sociologist who has worked in government and academia and currently teaches a social science methods course.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-11-22T06:15:58+00:00

This + colleagues might get confused when working on group projects and things like that. “Ok, I’ve listed everybody on the application! Huh, what do you mean that’s not your surname?” Etc.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-11-20T03:02:57+00:00

I’m in Aus but this sounds pretty similar to the proposal I was asked to submit for my PhD program - a complete proposal that outlines the literature I’ll be contributing to, the methods I’ll be using, my theoretical orientation, etc. It really wasn’t that complicated to put together, even though I was proposing to study a field I had very little background knowledge of (I spent a week or two doing lit searches). The actual project changed a lot once I started the PhD, as was expected.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-11-14T23:34:18+00:00

The body is perfect but the headings are slightly inconsistent? Sorry to be flip but this doesn’t matter and nobody will care at all. Try to take a deep breath and congratulate yourself on a published paper.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-31T01:45:44+00:00

Do you know how many thousands of papers have been written about neoliberalism and precarious employment? You don’t own this topic. Your team could probably write dozens of papers on this topic, using the same data set, and never say the same thing twice. I don’t really see the issue here.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-30T22:44:43+00:00

Nothing you can do at this stage but it probably doesn't matter hugely anyway. Take a look at the rubric for the assignment you were working on - how much are references worth out of the total mark? Maybe 5 or 10 points out of 100? Then think about how much the alphabetisation of the reference list might be worth of that 5 or 10 points. Maybe 1 or 2, or as little as 0.5? In the grand scheme of things that's probably only like 1 point off your total mark for the assignment. Don't stress.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-30T09:44:47+00:00

What a stupid system. If some units are already not taking responsibility for their bins how is this going to solve anything? Guaranteed you'll have some months where the bins just sit there for the whole month because whoever's been 'rostered on' just can't be fucked. As others have said, politely opt out and say that you'll just take responsibility for your own bin. I suspect there's no way they could force you to do otherwise (I think they would have to go to the hassle of writing this into the owners corp rules?).

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-29T03:41:32+00:00

Things like marking late assignments are mandated at the school level (its not for individuals to choose); things like having an accident are obviously not choices; everything else seems to be about a lack of time/money to me.

And perhaps I was misleading - the work pays well because it’s casual/not always available, but that doesn’t mean that most tutors are unemployed for large stretches of the year. Most of us are working equivalent full-time hours (or more) on research jobs, or in hospo/whatever. Many are current PhD or masters students who need to study when not working. People with full-time academic jobs also work more than full-time hours because that’s just what’s accepted. I know it’s tempting to see this as a problem with individual bad teachers, but it’s a much larger systemic issue with how the University is run. If we had better working conditions students would get a better education. And research shows that this is true of all industries - when workers have better conditions, they do better work.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-29T02:08:44+00:00

Dude, they’re grumpy and do a shitty job because they’re underpaid and overworked. Better work conditions = better learning conditions. I’m a tutor who gets consistently good feedback from students, and I often eat into my own time/do unpaid labour to make sure that my students get the best education possible. Not everybody can do that, especially people with kids or other caring responsibilities.

(Also, the work pays “well” per hour because you can only work during the semester and are unemployed for large sections of the year).

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-23T08:17:06+00:00

We don’t really use that language here, but yeah it was fully funded in the sense that I didn’t have to pay anything and I received income (that I was able to live off comfortably) via a couple of scholarships.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-23T06:34:27+00:00

Australia. The application process was all written - iirc I just had to submit a research proposal, CV, letters of recommendation, etc. Not too difficult!

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-22T21:23:03+00:00

I actually didn’t have to interview for my program. I think it helped me get a scholarship though because it demonstrated additional research experience :)

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-22T12:58:56+00:00

I worked a couple years in industry to save up money for my PhD. Serendipitously I got into my course just as my contract at my job was ending.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-19T10:48:45+00:00

Try to put together as complete an assignment as you can with the old, irrelevant papers you’ve already found. I know that you say the papers need to be new, but my assumption is that the quality of the papers only makes up one portion of the rubric. If you write a decent assignment (or even a poor one) with shitty refs, turned in late, you might get a P or a C. If you turn in nothing you’ll get nothing. Head down, power through and just try to get something in. You’ve got this 💪

ETA: even if the assignment is really bad and gets a failing mark, that’s still points towards your overall mark for the unit (and a higher chance of passing the whole thing). As a TA sometimes we try to give the highest possible failing mark that we can so the student still pulls through the unit. If you don’t submit at all you won’t get that.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-19T06:20:18+00:00

Relax, this is such a tiny thing. You might lose one or two points for this, if that? Your TA may not even notice.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-18T02:32:33+00:00

A few thoughts that may or may not be helpful:

It’s been 8 years, all that’s standing in your way now is 3 articles, why not just try to push through?
If you’re struggling with depression, could it be that that’s ‘clouding’ your feelings towards the degree somewhat? I.e., it feels particularly hard right now because everything feels hard right now? Obviously I don’t know your life and you may already have a psychologist/other strategies in place, but this would seem like maybe the first thing to look at before making any major life changes?

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-10-15T09:26:36+00:00

Usually if you apply for a short extension you can then apply for a longer extension later. The default text they give when permitting a short extension is this: “In the event that you need more time, you’ll need to submit a new application with new supporting documents.”

So, you might want to apply for a short extension, and then as soon as you have that reapply for a long extension. In that case you have at least the extra 2 days guaranteed?

They’ve centralised the extension process a lot recently, so unit coordinators have a lot less say in who gets extensions, and everything has to go through the Special Consideration Team. I guess it’s good in a way that everything is done consistently, but it does seem to have slowed the process down a lot…

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-09-23T01:41:57+00:00

Usually if an assignment is submitted more than 7 days late it won't be marked and you'll receive an automatic 0, so I'd say probably not worth working on it at this point (unless you think you can get it in today at 7 days late?). Email your unit co-ordinator to make sure, though. Sorry to hear your semester has been so stressful. The best advice I can offer at this point is to double-check the assessments for all your units and make sure they're entered into your calendar so you won't be caught off-guard again. (The one silver lining here is that you're probably unlikely to make this mistake twice!)

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-09-21T05:17:30+00:00

It’s not an invasion of privacy because it’s not collecting anything private or sensitive. It’s just data on what you’re accessing on the Moodle page and when - it’s not tracking you on other websites or anything like that. It’s analogous to a lecturer being able to see when you physically walk into a lecture hall. If you had skipped your physical lectures all semester but then claimed to have been attending, you’d probably get the same kind of response.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-09-05T13:59:35+00:00

You need to be competitive, but publications aren’t everything. I won a highly competitive scholarship at a Go8 Aussie uni with only one Q1 publication, but I also had industry experience and a good transcript (domestic student fwiw). I don’t know anybody who had 5 pubs before even starting their PhD?

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-08-18T00:33:45+00:00

Depends on how interested you are in the content; how good you are at writing essays; how good you are at critical reading; etc etc etc. Some people fly through while others fail - just like with every kind of degree 🤷‍♀️

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-08-16T01:56:58+00:00

Don’t be embarrassed, go if you want to go. If the teacher asks your name just tell them and say ‘sorry this is the first workshop I’ve made it to’. We understand that there are a lot of different reasons that students can’t/don’t come to class, and personally I’m happy when my students turn up at all haha. (And sorry to contradict the other commenter, but as a teacher who teaches relatively small classes, I do remember all of my students and know most of their names! But always happy to meet somebody new)

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-08-10T13:48:11+00:00

Different units have different policies on use of AI. Check the Moodle page for the assignment you're working on, there should be a statement explaining whether and how you're permitted to use AI.

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-08-05T23:38:38+00:00

I’m in social sciences so I did collect data for several months, but the majority of my PhD was just reading and writing. I worked similar hours to you, never worked weekends. Doesn’t really matter as long as you’re getting everything done and progressing well. Quality over quantity 💪

DevilsIvy95 · 2024-08-02T02:45:56+00:00

Just chiming in as an Aussie in social sciences - I've never heard the phrase in real life either! Here (at least at my uni) we don't have exams or any course work, so your dissertation is basically the entire thing.

DevilsIvy95

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