Around
this time last year, I had accepted the job offer with University of
Richmond, took a very much needed break over the holidays, and returned
to grad school at Indiana University ready to wrap things up for my
PhD.
Since I had not made a great deal of progress on my dissertation
while on the job market, simply “wrapping things up” entailed starting,
finishing, and defending my dissertation. And then moving. Yep.
Throughout the semester, I found myself thinking, “Why didn’t anyone
tell me?!” So, I share this advice for graduate students who will finish
their dissertations this semester and move to begin a new job - or to
look for one - over/after the summer.
Preparing
“Oh my gosh, the job market is so stressful.” It certainly was. But
there was one thing I found substantially more stressful: the semester
after, when I actually finished my dissertation.
So, to work in a timely manner, you should (yes, strong words!) take
note of your university’s deadlines for filing a dissertation and
graduating. It is your responsibility to figure out what your university
requires and by what date.
At least at my graduate institution, there
were complex instructions - certain things were due on certain days if
you finished in May, or had to be formatted in certain ways if
submitting your dissertation electronically.
A second suggestion is to create a work schedule. Finishing will take
a great deal of discipline. I set for myself 12-hour work days, but
taking the evenings and weekends off was non-negotiable. So I had my
butt in my home office chair at 6am to start working.
I strongly
recommend eliminating or at least temporarily suspending any other
professional activities. Drop out of committees, suspend community
service, put co-authored projects on hold, and stop publishing. If you
can afford to (I know, I know - that’s why I said "if"), get out of
teaching this semester.
You have one job this semester: to finish a
dissertation - one that four or five experts will be willing to sign
their name to as sufficient for a doctorate. I will touch more on that
later, but I want to emphasize that you need to minimize other
distractions.
Another strategy that helped me was to create an outline of analyses
that I would run, including supplemental analyses, to minimize data
exploration. And I created an outline of what I would write in each
literature review to minimize brainstorming before I had to write, and
exploring existing literature. Of course, this was not a perfect
strategy.
But I could afford to revise models, or even change how
certain variables were measured, and look up more references for a
literature review, because I went in with most of these parts already
decided.
Yes, the strategy to determine my analyses in advance may not
work for qualitative or other methodological approaches; however, if you
can, do some of the analytical preparation and work in advance!
Working
Decide up front what will be the best way to work, including editing
what you are writing. I found warming up mentally each morning was
easiest if I continued to work on one empirical chapter at a time.
I
started with the chapter that was closest to completion - the one for
which I had already results because I used it as my job talk. Once that
one was finished, I sent it to my chair for feedback.
The unspoken
agreement was that he had to approve a chapter before any other
committee member could see it. But, as the semester unfolded, I would
have to wait a very long time to receive feedback from other committee
members.
So, I decided to seek out fellow students’ feedback - some
because they do similar work, and others could comb my writing for
clarity and grammatical errors. While I awaited feedback for one
chapter, I moved on to the next. I left writing the conclusion for
last, and drew heavily from my dissertation proposal for the
introductory chapter.
I have heard of others who join a writing group, something that
proves particularly useful at this last, hyper-independent stage. I
considered the idea. But I thought about reading pages and pages of
another student’s dissertation-in-progress - I did not have the time or
energy.
This stage proved to be the most selfish and self-serving. I
asked others to read my work and provide feedback, but I could not offer
anything in return. But, once they reach that stage in future years, I
can finally offer help in return. I suspect a writing group can help if
you have already established one. I would advise against starting
anything new at this point.
I strongly recommend isolating yourself to finish.
Fortunately/unfortunately, the department automatically backs away from
you. But other students may not know to leave you be.
If you can, work
at home or the library. But you have to counterbalance this self-imposed
isolation by taking care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally,
and socially.
If you do not have friends or colleagues checking up on
you, reach out to someone. Go out every once in a while. Leave the house
every other day. Go for walks. Have some regularly scheduled time that
is a non-negotiable break (you know, like “weekends”), and take part or
all of spring break off. Seriously! Your brain will need to recharge.
A Note On a “Done Dissertation”
The most helpful advice I received to finish my dissertation was that
“a good dissertation is a done dissertation.” While my committee
expressed concern that one year to finish grad school and secure a job
was not enough time to write a “great” dissertation, I scoffed because
it would sit on a shelf alongside everyone else’s good, but completed
dissertation.
And when the time finally came just to write the darn
thing, perfection as the primary goal gave way to completion. If you
have not heard this before, know that finishing does not mean by your
standards (per se), by a journal editor’s or book publisher’s standards,
or even your discipline’s standards.
You are finished with your
dissertation when your dissertation committee has decided it is
finished; they are the sole gatekeepers whom you must satisfy at this
stage. If they say to add something you do not agree with, add it - you
can quickly remove it when you go to publish from your dissertation
research (or, if it’s a secondary committee member, ask your chair if
she thinks you need to add it. If yes, than do so and eliminate it
post-dissertation).
Hopefully, you will publish something from your dissertation research
later on. So I want to suggest that having something a little more than
a “done dissertation” may prove beneficial down the road.
I pushed back
against my committee’s suggestion to produce a traditional, seamless
dissertation, instead opting for an overarching introduction and
conclusion, but otherwise distinct empirical chapters.
I followed what
some call the “three paper/chapter model,” meaning each chapter was
written as a distinct, self-contained manuscript. At the start of my new
job, I was able to send these chapters out with very little editing. If
all that I had were empirical chapters that reviewed results with
little front end and conclusion, it would have taken much more time to
extract these as distinct manuscripts.
Fortunately, my committee came
around to the idea, as it was not the department’s norm. If they do not
allow you to take this approach, do as much as you can to make the
chapters distinct to minimize work later on. By today’s high standards
for productivity, you cannot afford to waste time writing a magnum opus
of a dissertation that does not easily translate into a book or a set of
published articles!
Finishing
Your committee, department, and/or university may have a set amount
of time to send your committee your final draft before you defend. I
have heard two weeks is minimal, so I aimed for one month to be
generous.
This is the first (or second) and last time you will have four
or five experts sitting before to give feedback to improve your work
and set your future research agenda. You definitely want to give them
enough time, considering their busy schedules, to thoroughly read your
200- to 500-page “baby.”
For me, the one-month window coincided with how
far in advance I had to announce my upcoming dissertation defense.
Also, if I were behind schedule, I would still be giving my committee a
generous three-week window.
Be sure to have factored in time to actually proofread your work! And create a plan for printing and delivering your dissertation to each
committee member in advance. Having a mini-panic attack at the local
Kinko’s as you try to get copies to your committee before the department
closes at 4pm, and being told, “That’s $170″ to print five copies,
is not fun.
During the time leading up to your dissertation defense, I advise one
of two things. Leave this time to take care of the tedious formatting
that your university requires for filed dissertations.
Or, if you have
already done this, work on a project you have neglected over the
semester, only returning to your dissertation the day before your
defense. Do not revise the content of your dissertation during this
time!
After your (successful!) defense, you will have tons of changes to
make before you can file your dissertation with the college - and, your
chair may want to approve the final document, too. Give yourself this
time to take a bit of a break, at least to do mindless things or turn
your attention to other projects.
Looking Ahead
I had family fly in for graduation in early May, including a family
dinner. But it did not feel “real” just yet because I had not even
defended my dissertation yet. By the time I filed and moved for my new
job, I was ready to move on - or so I thought.
I declined my mother’s
repeated request to have a big family celebration. I was one of few in
the family to get a master’s degree, and the first to get a PhD on her
side of the family (and one of very few on my father’s side, too). “I
don’t need all of this fuss about me; we already celebrated,” I
insisted.
But, in finding no fanfare for this major achievement as I
started my new job, it became clear that I had not properly celebrated. A
few weeks in, saying, “You know, I’m proud of myself” out loud brought
out an ugly cry that let me know I needed to do something to celebrate.
This is trickier than college, which ends with graduation and a
graduation party with family and/or friends, because graduation precedes
actually finishing your dissertation and having your degree conferred
by the college. So make sure you celebrate at some point, if not every
point!
Leave yourself enough time to properly move. Set a deadline to file
your dissertation and wrap up any other loose ends, and then turn your
attention fully to moving. And, once moved, give yourself time to
explore your new home.
Sure, you should make an effort to hit the ground
running at your new job. But you will benefit from having roots
settled when the semester picks up. Get a driver’s license, update
mailing addresses, register to vote, find a new doctor and dentist - all
of those things that become annoyances later on when you are very busy!
Once you do officially start your new job, which I recommend comes a
couple of weeks (even a month or so) before the semester starts, take
the time to prep your courses and get research moving. Your first
semester will be a busy, stressful time of adjustment.
If you start
getting your ducks in a row early, you can coast a bit when the semester
starts to overwhelm you. By the latter half of the semester, you will
thank yourself for your late summer productivity.
Please read this! Of all of the things I wish I had known going into
the final semester of graduate school, the most regrettable was not
thinking ahead financially. Your meager stipend or fellowship will
likely run out by the end of this semester, and then you will have no
income until September or even October. That means living and moving on
zero income over the summer!
As much as you can, try to save beginning
today! Hopefully, you negotiated with your new job for some sort of
compensation for moving. If not, ask about it immediately. I suppose
there are many things you will not know, but the financial crunch at
this stage seems too pressing of an issue to (unintentionally) keep
quiet.
Recap
So, here are the deadlines you will either need to set, self-impose, or for which to account in your scheduling:
-
How long you will give yourself to write, revise, and complete each chapter.
-
When to factor in soliciting and incorporating feedback from your
chair, other committee members, and/or friends and other colleagues.
-
How far in advance you need to apply for graduation, book travel and
hotel for visiting family and friends, and rent or purchase graduation
regalia.
-
Allowing yourself enough time to coordinate each committee member’s
schedule. Keep in mind that some professors leave on the first flight
after their last class of the spring semester!
-
How far in advance you must provide your committee with the final draft of your dissertation for your defense
-
How far in advance you must officially announce your dissertation defense.
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Time to go through the detailed instructions for properly formatting your dissertation before filing.
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How far in advance you must file your dissertation, and if there are special circumstances.
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Time to house-hunt and then move.
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Time to properly recover, relax, and recharge before beginning your new job
And, the expenses - some (or all!) of which come right out of your own pocket:
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Typical living expenses.
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Graduation regalia, transportation and lodging for visiting family, graduation dinner.
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Printing drafts of your dissertation (unless you can print for free on campus).
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Submitting, binding, and printing your final dissertation.
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Transportation and lodging for a house-hunting trip, if you make one before moving.
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Rental truck, boxes, storage, and other costs associated with moving.
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Security deposit, first month’s rent, and any other initial expenses
once you have moved (e.g., turning on power, groceries, driver’s
license).
