10 things I learned in my first quarter as a PhD student

I am celebrating the completion of my first quarter as a PhD student! Looking back on the past 10 weeks, I can honestly say I learned a lot. As I think of all I had to learn to get to the end of the quarter, I am tempted to make statements such as, “If I knew then what I know now” or “Hindsight is 20/20.” To help others who are beginning or continuing their own academic journeys, I’ve compiled a list of 10 things I learned in those 10 weeks.

The admissions department did not make a mistake. I’ll be the first to admit that the imposter syndrome is real. It is not uncommon for new students to feel like imposters during the first few weeks on campus. We tend to believe someone “slipped up” and placed our application in the admission pile. This is not true! We have every intellectual capability that our classmates have and our admission to the school was not a mistake. Don’t allow yourself to feel like you don’t belong, because you do.

Quarters are not equal to semesters. Attending UCLA brought with it a huge change for me—the quarter system. Sitting in classes for a 16-week semester is much different than the 10-week quarter I quickly became acquainted with at UCLA. Classes on the quarter system don’t have the couple-week lag time I was accustomed to at the beginning of a term. We literally hit the ground running. By the time I felt I was finally in the groove for the quarter, it was over. Just like that, it was time for winter break. If you are going to a school that uses the quarter system and have never experienced these fast-moving terms, don’t allow yourself to relax. You must always maintain a sense of urgency. The quarter will be over before you know it.

Eureka moments are fleeting. As a doctoral student, you may come into the program thinking you know exactly what you want to study. Throw those thoughts out the window. You will begin to think in a way you have probably never been asked to think before. You will be educated in the philosophical and theoretical foundations of nursing research. You will be asked to defend your decision to select one philosophy over another. And, through it all, you may have several epiphanies that change the direction of your research. Don’t worry, no one really expects you to have a good idea of what you plan to study until the end of your first year in the program.

Take reading material everywhere you go. There is a lot of reading required of doctoral students, a lot! Any time you have a little downtime is an appropriate time to read. And truthfully, downtime can be found anywhere. If you are a passenger in a car, waiting for a medical appointment or getting your car’s oil changed, you have the opportunity to read. Taking one or two articles with you is not a bad idea. You never know when you’ll have 15 or 20 minutes to read. And don’t think you have to read the entire article or chapter to accomplish something. Every word you read is one more word than what you had already read.

Choose the best time to read or write. I found that I was more likely to concentrate on my readings during the afternoon and writing came easier in the morning and late at night. My best writing was accomplished between 6 a.m. and noon, or after dark. I found that I fall asleep if I try to read too early in the morning or too late at night, unless the material is exciting and intriguing. My methods may not work for you, but I encourage you to experiment a little to discover what time of day is best.

Take time for yourself. Although you may be a full-time student like me, it is important to take time away from school. I have two recommendations for managing time for schoolwork and “me time”: 1) Choose one day of the week during which you will not do any schoolwork, or 2) do schoolwork daily, but only between certain hours. Assuming you aren’t otherwise employed, if you devote every weekday between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. to school, you can get a lot done and still have afternoons and evenings to yourself. Whatever you decide, don’t neglect personal time to spend all of your time on schoolwork. It doesn’t work out well in the end. Trust me. If you don’t take time for relaxation and rejuvenation, you will tire yourself out.

Research your passion. You will spend all of your time planning your research study. You will eat, sleep and breathe this research. If you plan to study something about which you are not passionate, you will become bored and frustrated. You may not know exactly what you plan to study when you enter the program, but you should have a good idea of what it may be. Once you complete your doctoral degree, your research focus may change slightly but, while you are in school, that research focus will be the only thing you think about for years on end. Search your heart, discover your passion and build your research around it.

Literature reviews are not book reports. I had to tell myself this many times in the last few weeks of the quarter. Synthesizing information gathered for a literature review is much different than writing a paper in which you describe every aspect of one or two research studies. In a lit review, there is no need to go into detail on every single aspect of a study. The point is to review the literature and find common denominators. What themes are weaved throughout the literature as a whole? What are major findings of the overall literature, not each study? In the beginning, it was a difficult concept for me. I kept thinking, “How am I supposed to cover all of the literature in 15 pages?” Well, the point of a lit review isn’t to necessarily cover everything, just those things you choose to highlight. Remembering that I wasn’t being asked to do a book report was a great help in learning to write literature reviews.

There is no cohort; it’s your program. During my BSN and MSN programs, I became used to the idea of completing the program as a group, but doctoral studies are different. Although you may take classes with the same people for a year or two, you are all on very different trajectories. This past quarter, I took classes with second-year and third-year doctoral students. Students take classes in the order that works best for their situations. Although a course outline is provided, you are not required to stick to it verbatim. Doctoral studies are a lot more fluid than the static studies I was used to in my BSN and MSN programs. Moreover, not everyone will complete the doctoral program in the same amount of time. I’ve met PhD-prepared nurses who completed the degree in 2 1/2 years and those who took 6 to 7 years. A doctoral degree is a very personal journey. In PhD programs, the group concept is typically absent.

Things are always clearer in the morning. Whenever I began to feel frustrated or if I was unable to clearly comprehend the reading or relay my thoughts when writing, I would stop what I was doing and take a nap or go to bed for the night (depending on the time of day). I found that when I awoke, I was clear-minded and ready to begin again. Even a short 45-minute nap seemed to reset my mind and remove any anxiety.

Becoming aware of the aforementioned tips early on in my program helped me successfully complete my first quarter as a doctoral student. I hope you find success with these tips as well.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.