A brief story of how I signed up for a fifth class... And a long update on the process itself

I really feel like I'm in the thick of things now. First I want to tell you an amusing story and then I want to highlight some of what it feels like to be taking these classes during this first semester. But as a quick prologue to both, I wanted to restate why I am writing this blog. I originally envisioned this blog as a way to fill a gap that I found when I was researching the idea of applying for PhD programs. I didn't find very many nursing PhD blogs. I found one, but it didn't seem to be near the beginning and navigating back to the start of the nurse-blogger's program was tricky on her site. Also, I found non-nurse PhD blogs, but I coudn't judge their applicability or similarity to our process. While this blog is at times personal, that is only because this process is personal and affects more than just me. So if you're here reading just for information on what it is to be a student, I want to give you as much of that as I can. And if you're here reading for personal stuff, like my sister or my husband, then I want to update you as well....

So now a little background on how I signed up for a fifth class... We are very lucky at our school because the university highly values collaboration in research. To this end, they offer many, many seminars and classes that are not core requirements but instead are opportunities to network and learn from experts in other fields. Also, if there is a class in another specialty that you want to take to learn, but don't really want to be tested on, etc, you can audit it or take it for fewer hours and opt out of a paper or two. This was explained to us as an overview, but it seemed weird to me. At my previous university you paid per semester hour, so any extra class might raise your tuition. Not so, here. One of the seminar classes looked interesting to me, so I went to it during my lunch. I thought that I would just sit in the back and get a feel for it... Only, that's not it works here. We had to introduce ourselves and sign-in. This "seminar" is a graded class (whoops!). BUT, the grade is only based on participation. As there were only 10 of us, it didn't seem like a good idea to just leave. And it is an interesting class...it is also, however, my fifth class. Yikes.

So here's some info. on what I've figured out so far about the PhD process, though, it is specific to my program. Our classes are on the quarter system versus the semester system. This means that we have approximately 10 weeks of classes, with finals for some classes being in an eleventh week. The semester system is usually 16 weeks. The pace feels fast. Thankfully, it is all very interesting and the professors seemed to have chosen good texts. I am expected to read around 100 pages of materiel for each class. There isn't much "homework" and what there is, isn't usually graded. The homework is to help each student develop their research goals in the long-term (to make you start thinking) and to be the basis of your papers for class. Most of the classes have a mid-term paper and a final paper. The grade for these classes is made up of 90% from the papers and 10% from participation. How long each paper is expected to be varies. Most of the midterm papers seem to be less than 10 pages, but the final papers are expected to be as long as 20 pages. Each student may take classes for approximately 2 years. After that, a student takes the classes that they need to learn and write about their topic. There are classes that are highly recommended for every student but there are no required classes at all. 

The whole program is not designed by chance. Each class is intended to build on the one before, marching us closer and closer to our study and making us experts (or as close as anyone can be without having years and years of research behind them) on research and our topic. I am trying for a PhD, not a DNP, so this is a research-focused degree. What that means is that I will need to write qualifying exams, if I pass, I will advance to candidacy and then I would need to design, implement and write a study that creates new nursing knowledge. Then I would need to finish my dissertation and defend it before I can achieve my degree. I am expected to keep making progress at all points along this plan; stalling out means that a student might be asked to leave. The time limit is 7 years.

I'm going to be honest and tell people out there that I did not have a clear idea of what was expected in this degree until the first day of orientation. I had a better idea than some people because I had gotten a book that was a general guide to PhDs from the bookstore, but I didn't know the specific process. There is a reason this is important! I want a research degree. This is the path that appeals to me most. But for many who are considering this path, they don't understand that a PhD doesn't have much to do with learning new clinical skills. We are not becoming mini-MDs. We are becoming researchers and educators, with the emphasis on researchers. We are trying to learn how new nursing knowledge is created. An article that I read once said that there is a high PhD failure rate because people have confused expectations, if you are considering this degree, you need to be very clear about your expectations and goals.

So I'm off to do my reading, work on the project I'm helping out with, and try to finish my non-graded homework! I hope that this post was helpful to some people. If anyone is actually out there reading this and considering a PhD, feel free to post a question about the process. I may not be far enough along to answer it fully, but I'll give you whatever knowledge I have!