How does a PhD work? The FULL guide!

So what does a PhD look like and how does a PhD work? In this video we are going to go over how a PhD works and the steps that are required to get through a PhD.

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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 – introduction
1:35 – 3 to 4 years of full-time research study
3:58 – original research
6:07 – the production of research papers or a research thesis
8:16 – examiner reports
11:47 – viva or oral presentation defence with PhD examiners
15:19 – What it really looks like for students
16:11 – Outro

[Empathogenesis]

Australian here! Passed today after minor corrections! Best of luck to all of you, ya sweethearts.

[LAXMASTER]

Got my PhD recently (isotope geochemistry), and I went through the publication route. Strangely at my institution I still needed to produce a thesis, which to be fair was basically compiling my papers with an intro and conclusion. I found it quite funny that one of my four examiners wanted to fail me despite the fact I had four papers from that PhD published in various journals even before submitting the thesis.

[frostdesigns]

Still an undergraduate. Will be saving this video for the next 6 years.

[pacalvotan]

I just had an argument with someone over an honorary PhD...which was awarded for nothing academic. I'm against honorary degrees as they typically slap the faces of those who have spent years working on their research. Most honorary degrees I seen awarded are typically not for anything original either, although I'm sure there are occasions where some of those awarded have contributed original work over time.

[innjfdddgjb]

I have a masters in physics, and I’m looking into maybe getting a PHD. But I’m just a little confused on how it works and what exactly I’m going to be doing. Thanks this video helps a lot.

[jimmorrisonever]

I have my master's degree and it was a lot of work already. I thought briefly about doing a PhD but the stress on my mind from continuously working my brain's muscle in research and paper writing at the graduate level was driving me a bit crazy. After eight years of education, I found it difficult to have conversations with people who didn't have any education background at all.

[mambonero]

I am starting my PhD this October and I have no masters course under my belt as I am just graduating from my undergrads this year. it is quite scary but my name was put forward by my final year project supervisor. I feel a bit reassured after watching this video as I am really passionate about synthetic and medicinal chemistry. Hopefully everything will go according to plan.

[Drganguli]

Great job in explaining the PhD program for prospective students

[phogbinh]

Thank you. I’m beginning my Master’s and didn’t expect the thesis review to last 6-8 months. I am informed to plan ahead now xD

[bubblesish]

I have always wanted to do a PhD but know that it is a major undertaking. I took an industry job after my undergraduate to give myself some space from academia to re-evaluate after being in a different environment. Logically staying in industry appears to be the best move but I keep being drawn back. Then I find myself subscribed to your channel 😅

[iyrw]

Actually I am preparing for my Master and PhD. This vlog really like a guide for me.

[tanned]

This video is best to describe how a typical PhD program in Australia and UK works, not so much how it works with similar program in the US, Canada and other countries using a similar model of the American system where almost half of the program was dedicated to a significant component of coursework and comprehensive exams.

[firefoxmetzger]

I think that monograph ("traditional" thesis) vs comprehensive summary (PhD by publications) is a field-specific thing. Our group (computer science/robotics) exclusively does comprehensive summaries. The group to our right (ethics and human-computer interaction) tends to do monographs whereas the group to our left (deep learning for medical images) is doing comprehensive summaries as well. For my girlfriend (biology) it depends on if (and how much) they manage to publish during their time.

[andrelacommare]

Currently applying and making my way through your vids. Tried to be your 7, 000th sub today

[fahdhallak]

Original Research, novel research, filling gaps, done enough to satisfy phd qualification, supervisor should not allow sending thesis with major correction, pass without correction, novelty and well explained, presented well, you need to explain the fundamental.

[cleetussmith]

Your video, while interesting, is not a comprehensive guide for the Ph.D. in that your experience only applies to your efforts in Australia and possibly the UK. I earned my Ph.D. in Chemistry in America around 40 years ago. The school I went to offered the MS as well as the Ph.D., but all students entered graduate school as a Masters student. Your first year involved nothing more than taking 3 or so classes each semester while you figured out who you wanted as your advisor and which four other professors you wanted on your committee. In your second year you started your research while continuing to take more courses. Towards the end of your second or third year you would then take your qualifying examinations that would make you qualified to study for your Ph.D. There are five major divisions in Chemistry so you had to pass the exams in three of the five and you were allowed three attempts for each exam. While this sound easy, it wasn't. Sixteen students, for example, took the exam in Organic Chemistry and three passed. Overall, about a third of those wanting to pass their qualifiers eventually did. At some point after you finish your course work you would take your comprehensive exams with some taking them immediately and others putting this off until the the last minute while they were writing their dissertation. For your comprehensive exams each of your committee and your advisor would create a written exam tailored to you. To give you an example of what they were like, I started an exam in Biochemistry at 7:00AM, took twenty minutes for lunch, and, when the professor asked how I was doing around 6:30 that evening, I told him I needed another several hours to complete the exam. He took the exam right then despite my request after nearly 11 hours of nonstop writing. When you finish your five written exams, you are given your graded exams back and then appear in front of your committee for your oral exam. The first questions they ask in the oral exam are the ones you missed on the written exams and from there they get more complex and difficult. The oral exam can last anywhere from a few hours to an entire day. Once the oral exam is over your committee votes to determine if you pass or fail. The catch is that all the written exams and the oral exam together must be completed within thirty days. Once these are passed, the only remaining task is to finish your research, write your dissertation, and ensure that some part of your research gets published. Oh, I almost forgot that once your dissertation is finished, you must present on it and then answer all questions to anyone present for a final defense, but this effort is actually trivial compared to everything that occurred prior.

The difference between Ph.D. preparation and requirements among various nations is due to how each nation views the purpose of the degree. Most nations view the degree as a research degree and see your preparation as nothing more than teaching a person how to perform research, publish, write grants, etc., so this is what they emphasize. In America, the Ph.D. is viewed as an academic exercise that confers advanced knowledge in your area of specialty. While you do learn the rudimentaries of research and such, the postdoctoral study position is where research, writing papers, writing grants, reviewing grants/papers, etc., are taught in a very intense atmosphere. It would be interesting to compare programs from other countries to see more of the differences and similarities among the various programs.

As an aside, I see many people talking about quitting their Ph.D. program. Most of these people quitting are doing so because they entered the program for the wrong reason. If one enters a Ph.D. program for the express purpose of getting the degree, then their chances of failure are quite high. Those who enter the program because they love the subject and simply cannot learn enough about it are the ones who skate through with little problem. The reason why I earned my Ph.D. was because it never occurred to me that I could quit. It was all so fascinating that I simply could not stop and I ended up getting my MS (Organic Chemistry emphasis) and Ph.D. Biochemistry emphasis) in a bit under 5 years.

[DaRk_UbIqUiTy]

I will begin pursuing my PhD in Applied Clinical Research in 2 months! I’m excited and nervous at the same time! My goal is to study neurological movement disorders in the context of clinical translational research.

[aLCnR]

I am currently working on my Bachelor's research, watching videos about PhD just to ease my situation xD. Good luck everyone!

[soulsbane]

Herm. American PhD basically requires both publications and a thesis. Don't remember how many were in my thesis. Five, I think?

The defense has fallen out of style. How it worked at my R1 school: PhD candidates get their PI approval, then draft their thesis and sit on it while they job hunt. No-showing a defense still doesn't cancel the work performed or the prestige added to the university from quality research. In addition, if the research was published, it already went through peer review so the defense is redundant. I had a pre-defense style oral exam at the end of my second year, the second half of which was proving I could ace every test from my B.S. classes while being able to teach an undergrad class in my discipline (the rare Inorganic Chem. PhD). Own your research (no matter if it was directed) and become the expert on it that you should be if you are publishing, and the Orals/Defense stage should be pretty easy.

Not all doctorates are created equal, and the quality of a PhD is strongly dependent upon the effort put into it. Once you have it, people care about three things: School prestige, your PI's prestige, and your publication history.

[jonathanyuanyt]

I just started my PhD in Canada 2 months ago. Tough journey