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What to expect from a phd schedule.

Take a look at a current student’s schedule and get the insider perspective from doctoral students and coordinators on what to expect from a PhD schedule.

The life of a PhD candidate can be stressful as you adjust to a rigorous academic and research schedule. Penn and Wharton offer a variety of resources to help support you in the transition to PhD life.

Wharton’s sense of community offers a level of comfort when reaching out to faculty as well as fellow students to help solve problems. Doctoral students and coordinators give the insider view on what to expect from a PhD schedule.

Class and Research First

The first two years of a PhD program are mainly made up of classes and the beginning stages of research. Deborah Small , the doctoral coordinator for the Marketing program , said, “It starts with heavy duty coursework and a lot of specific requirements. At the end of your first year, there are qualifying exams on all the core marketing courses. Second year they still have a lot of coursework to do, but more of that is elective with a focus more on their interests. During those years they’re expected to get started on research.”

In addition to taking classes and getting started with research, the Marketing program requires students to write two papers. The first research paper is due at the end of the second year, the other is due at the end of the third year.

The Real Estate and Business Economics and Public Policy programs run like the Marketing program. Fernando Ferreira , coordinator for the programs, said, “During the first year they complete six core courses. In the second year, the focus shifts to field courses and to independent research. They have two professors advising them in that year.”

After completing the main courses, students shift to conducting independent research. For REAL and BEPP students this means writing three dissertation chapters during the third and fourth years.

Time for Conferences and Seminars

Because coursework is usually completed by the second half of the program, there’s time for students to attend lectures and seminars. Andrea Contigiani , a fifth year student in the Management program, said, “In my fourth year, I usually attended a seminar around lunchtime. Wharton has an incredible seminar series throughout the year, with a good seminar happening almost everyday. Occasionally, I attended other events, like MBA events or speaker series. I then go back to research for most of the afternoon.”

Prof. Small said, “Students are expected to actively participate in seminars and activities. They’re also encouraged to go to academic conferences and try to present their work at those conferences. It is similar to the expectations of being a faculty member, minus teaching.”

Classes take up the majority of the first two years of the programs. When the focus then switches to research, you’re expected to work independently. Sometimes that can be intimidating. You become your own boss, which is an adjustment from being told what to do and when to do it.

So how do you manage it? Get advice from students and coordinators.

Posted: August 4, 2017

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Doctoral Programs

Matthew caulfield.

Hometown Ocean City, New Jersey

Concentration Management and Legal Studies & Business Ethics

Doctoral Stage Second Year

Typical Day at a Glance

8:30 am Wake up and get ready for the day

9:15 am Get to PhD Offices, respond to emails, check philosophy blogs and read news

10:30 am Journal article readings

11:30 am Meet with advisor

12:00 pm Attend departmental seminar speaker and lunch

1:30 pm Attend Wharton Social Impact Doctoral Community meeting

3:00 pm Attend business ethics seminar

5:00 pm Read for class

7:00 pm Meet with nonparametric statistics study group

8:00 pm Complete homework

12:00 am Go home

1:00 am Bedtime

What is your favorite part about Wharton?

First, the faculty are excellent. They are often leading experts in their fields, and they can offer advice that would be hard to find elsewhere.

Second, the other PhD students are just as passionate about research as you would hope. A huge part of my scholarly development has been due to the discussions I have had with other graduate students.

Third, the Wharton name can offer you serious advantages. In the course of research, I think industry practitioners as well as other academics have been more willing to talk or correspond with me because I am a graduate student at Wharton.

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How the PhD Program Works

Program Overview

Completing your doctorate at Wharton requires 5 years of full-time study. The first 2 years in the program prepare you for admission to candidacy by taking courses, qualifying exams, and starting research projects. In the last few years, you are primarily conducting research full-time including writing and defending your doctoral dissertation.

Admission to candidacy.

You begin by taking courses required for your program of study. All programs requires a preliminary exam, which may be either oral or written.

Some programs may have further requirements, such as an additional exam or research paper. If you enter with a master’s degree or other transfer credit, you may satisfy the formal course requirements more quickly.

Beginning the Wharton PhD Curriculum How the first two years of the Wharton program helped students discover their interests, learn the tools of the profession, and fuel their passion for teaching.

The Doctoral Dissertation

Upon successful completion of coursework and passing a preliminary examination, you are admitted to candidacy for the dissertation phase of your studies.

Your doctoral dissertation should contain original research that meets standards for published scholarship in your field. You are expected to be an expert in the topic you choose to research.

You are admitted to candidacy for the dissertation phase of your studies upon successful completion of coursework and passing a preliminary examination, but you can start thinking about and working on research of relevance at any time.

The dissertation process culminates with a “defense,” in which you defend the proposal orally before your dissertation committee.

While working on your dissertation, you interact extensively with Wharton faculty. Together with interested faculty, you create your own research community that includes your dissertation advisor and dissertation committee.

Policies and Procedures

Get more detailed explanation of course requirements, academic standards, the Teacher Development Program, time limits, and dissertation procedures and requirements.

Sample Program Sequence

Years 1 & 2.

Coursework Examination Research Papers Research Activities Field-Specific Requirements

Directed Reading & Research Admission to Candidacy Formulation of Research Topic

Years 4 & 5

Continued Research Oral Examination Dissertation

Hear From Our Doctoral Community

Conducting ground-breaking research at wharton, the diverse skill set you need to become a professor, faculty expertise in housing economics attracted this phd student to wharton.

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Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples

Published on September 9, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

It can be difficult to know where to start when writing your thesis or dissertation . One way to come up with some ideas or maybe even combat writer’s block is to check out previous work done by other students on a similar thesis or dissertation topic to yours.

This article collects a list of undergraduate, master’s, and PhD theses and dissertations that have won prizes for their high-quality research.

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Table of contents

Award-winning undergraduate theses, award-winning master’s theses, award-winning ph.d. dissertations, other interesting articles.

University : University of Pennsylvania Faculty : History Author : Suchait Kahlon Award : 2021 Hilary Conroy Prize for Best Honors Thesis in World History Title : “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the “Noble Savage” on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807”

University : Columbia University Faculty : History Author : Julien Saint Reiman Award : 2018 Charles A. Beard Senior Thesis Prize Title : “A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man”: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947

University: University College London Faculty: Geography Author: Anna Knowles-Smith Award:  2017 Royal Geographical Society Undergraduate Dissertation Prize Title:  Refugees and theatre: an exploration of the basis of self-representation

University: University of Washington Faculty:  Computer Science & Engineering Author: Nick J. Martindell Award: 2014 Best Senior Thesis Award Title:  DCDN: Distributed content delivery for the modern web

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University:  University of Edinburgh Faculty:  Informatics Author:  Christopher Sipola Award:  2018 Social Responsibility & Sustainability Dissertation Prize Title:  Summarizing electricity usage with a neural network

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Education Author:  Matthew Brillinger Award:  2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Humanities Prize Title:  Educational Park Planning in Berkeley, California, 1965-1968

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty: Social Sciences Author:  Heather Martin Award:  2015 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  An Analysis of Sexual Assault Support Services for Women who have a Developmental Disability

University : University of Ottawa Faculty : Physics Author : Guillaume Thekkadath Award : 2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Sciences Prize Title : Joint measurements of complementary properties of quantum systems

University:  London School of Economics Faculty: International Development Author: Lajos Kossuth Award:  2016 Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Title:  Shiny Happy People: A study of the effects income relative to a reference group exerts on life satisfaction

University : Stanford University Faculty : English Author : Nathan Wainstein Award : 2021 Alden Prize Title : “Unformed Art: Bad Writing in the Modernist Novel”

University : University of Massachusetts at Amherst Faculty : Molecular and Cellular Biology Author : Nils Pilotte Award : 2021 Byron Prize for Best Ph.D. Dissertation Title : “Improved Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Helminths”

University:  Utrecht University Faculty:  Linguistics Author:  Hans Rutger Bosker Award: 2014 AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize Title:  The processing and evaluation of fluency in native and non-native speech

University: California Institute of Technology Faculty: Physics Author: Michael P. Mendenhall Award: 2015 Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics Title: Measurement of the neutron beta decay asymmetry using ultracold neutrons

University:  Stanford University Faculty: Management Science and Engineering Author:  Shayan O. Gharan Award:  Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013 Title:   New Rounding Techniques for the Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms

University: University of Minnesota Faculty: Chemical Engineering Author: Eric A. Vandre Award:  2014 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics Title: Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement

University: Erasmus University Rotterdam Faculty: Marketing Author: Ezgi Akpinar Award: McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Award 2014 Title: Consumer Information Sharing: Understanding Psychological Drivers of Social Transmission

University: University of Washington Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering Author: Keith N. Snavely Award:  2009 Doctoral Dissertation Award Title: Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Social Work Author:  Susannah Taylor Award: 2018 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  Effacing and Obscuring Autonomy: the Effects of Structural Violence on the Transition to Adulthood of Street Involved Youth

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Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

*The Caveat *

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings? In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

Psst… there’s more (for free)

This post is part of our dissertation mini-course, which covers everything you need to get started with your dissertation, thesis or research project. 

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36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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The Savvy Scientist

Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

PhD FAQs – A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Doctoral Study

Tempted to do a PhD but have lots of questions? Hopefully this collection of popular PhD FAQs will help you to tick a few off the list!

Note – If you’re already sure that you want to do a PhD, and are looking for guidance on the applications process, check out my post on How to apply for a PhD which includes advice from successful PhD applicants. My post-PhD reflections on the things I regretted from my own PhD may be useful for you too, you can find that post here .

Let’s start with the absolute basics of PhDs!

What does PhD stand for?

PhD stands for Doctor of Philosophy. Doctor of Philosophy ? No matter which subject area your PhD is in you’ll become a Doctor of Philosophy because philosophy derives from Greek to mean “Love of wisdom” which make a bit more sense.

What is a PhD?

A PhD is a type of research degree classified as a doctorate. You get a PhD by doing original research into a topic, typically for at least three years.

There are loads of other types of doctorate and a PhD is simply the most common. EngD is another which is relatively common for industry-funded engineering students here in the UK.

PhD & DPhil what’s the difference?

There is no real difference between a PhD and DPhil, they’re both Doctor of Philosophy qualifications. A small number of historic institutions in the UK such as Oxford and York offer DPhils but the degree itself is equivalent.

How common are PhDs amongst the population?

Approximately 1% of the working population (25-64 years old) have a PhD. This varies a lot by country:

Can you call yourself Doctor with a PhD?

Yes you can. Though to avoid confusion with medical doctors, rarely will PhD-holders use the “Dr” title outside of their workplace.

Sometimes PhD-holders will add the abbreviation PhD after their name if they want to make it clear they are a non-medical doctor, for example “Jeff Clark PhD”.

What have I done about my title since getting my PhD? Nothing so far!

Why do a PhD?

Unlike a lot of other degrees, most PhD students get paid to study . Read more in the finances section below.

There are lots of potential reasons to want to do a PhD. The PhD students from our monthly PhD Profiles series said the following:

Sara found research the most enjoyable part of her undergraduate degree and a PhD was a way to carry on with research.

Ornob wants to pursue a career in evolutionary biology so began with a PhD in the field.

Vivienne has aspirations to be a professor so a PhD is a job requirement to progress in academia.

Jeff (me!) had an interest in the field and enjoyed research. I wrote a whole post with a deep dive on why I decided to do a PhD here .

Floor had enjoyed research during her Masters and didn’t think that she wanted a career in industry, so decided to do a PhD.

It’s important to mention that you don’t need to have a desire to stay in academia to do a PhD. In fact, even if you do want to go into academia afterwards, it’s probably good to know early on just how competitive it can be. Many people sadly cannot make a career out of academia long term.

Enjoy the subject matter and want to spend a few years researching it? That is reason enough to do a PhD. I’ve also now written a whole post about the benefits of having a PhD .

Applying for a PhD

Do you need a masters degree to do a phd.

No you don’t necessarily need a Masters degree to do a PhD as long as you can demonstrate you’d be suitable for a PhD without it.

For a more in-depth answer see the separate post here :

Can You Get a PhD Without a Master’s?

If you don’t have a Masters, I’d recommend checking out Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) which offer combined Masters + PhD courses. We have discussed CDTs with a graduate in Floor’s post here .

What grades do you need to do a PhD?

Entry requirements for PhDs can vary. In regards to the UK system usually you’d generally be expected to have at least a 2:1 from your undergraduate degree, plus some research experience.

My experience : I (narrowly) got first class honours in my undergrad (MEng) which certainly does help. But if you can demonstrate aptitude in research you usually don’t need a 1:1. It would be expected for you to have done well in any research projects. If you can get your name on a publication then even better!

The easiest way to find out what is expected is to check the PhD advert for entry requirements. For details on applying for a PhD, including how to find PhD adverts, check out my guide here :

How to apply for a PhD

I work in industry, can I come back and do a PhD?

Absolutely! I worked for almost four years between finishing my first degree and starting my PhD.

A PhD is more similar to a job than any other point in your education, so if you’ve spent time in a structured role it can provide you with a good work ethic. If your time in industry adds relevant skills and experience to your application, even better!

I’ve met loads of people older than me who are pursuing PhDs. If it’s your dream, it’s never too late to start a PhD!

What is the social life of a PhD student like?

Let me get this out the way first: PhD students should be able to have a life outside of the lab! If a PhD student has no time away from research I would personally suggest that they were doing things wrong.

Even if you really enjoy your project, it is good for your mental health to have a social life!

No matter the size of your research group there are often departmental and university-wide events. Plus, besides everyone you may meet through your research and department, PhD students can still join societies and sports clubs through the students’ union. I spent one of my birthdays during my PhD on the beach in Morocco with the surf club, don’t let being a PhD student put your off getting involved!

Check out the full post I’ve written: Do PhD Students Have a Social Life? Sharing My Experiences Making Friends and Avoiding PhD Loneliness

If you do go on to do a PhD, make sure to make the most of all the opportunities ! Your time as a PhD student is fantastic for personal growth.

How much holiday do PhD students get?

Sadly unlike undergraduates, PhD students don’t follow fixed semesters. This means no more three month long summer holiday, sorry!

However most departments recommend PhD students take 7-8 weeks of holiday a year , which is more than practically any job outside of academia.

I kept track of all the time off I took during my PhD and you can find the details here , including a month by month breakdown:

Do PhD Students Get Holidays? Sharing How Much Annual Leave I Take

Getting a PhD

How much work is a phd.

For a month I tracked how many hours I was working and what I was working on, so you can see a breakdown of my calendar here . I found I was working for roughly 40 hours a week. Now that I’ve recently finished my PhD, I’d say that that amount of hours was pretty representative of the whole PhD.

How Much Work is a PhD?

I do of course know some people who worked much longer hours, but most PhD students were on a similar schedule to me. Working roughly 9-5 on weekdays. Treat it like a job and you’ll be fine. PhD students don’t need to be slaving away long hours.

I managed to be strict with my time, largely avoiding work late nights or going in at the weekends. One of the main perks of doing a PhD is that you have autonomy and can be flexible with when you work. As long as you get the work done, any reasonable supervisor won’t mind when you’re there.

Yes I’ve heard stories of PhD students having to clock in and out with an expectation that they spend a certain number of hours in the office. I personally think this is stupid and doesn’t build trust. Try to speak to current PhD students from the group when choosing a supervisor .

How is a PhD assessed?

What you submit at the end of your research varies between universities and countries. Sometimes it’s a thesis and other times it can be a bunch of published papers. In all situations you give some kind of presentation and answer questions about your work.

In the UK you usually submit a thesis in preparation for a viva voce . The viva is an oral exam where you discuss your research with several academics and at least one will be an expert in your field. My viva wasn’t as scary as I thought it might be, but nonetheless it was five hours ( FIVE HOURS! ) long. At the end of your viva you’ll get told the outcome of your PhD with any changes to be made to your thesis.

There is often no requirement , to publish your work in journals during a PhD in the UK but it does help.

In other countries you may have to publish a certain number to pass your PhD and effectively these can be submitted instead of the thesis. This approach makes much more sense to me.

How long does it take to get a PhD?

In the UK, typically between three and four years to complete your research and submit the thesis. It can then take a few months for the exam (viva voce) to take place and then for any corrections to the thesis to be made.

Nosey about my PhD? For me personally, I started the PhD on 1st October 2016, submitted my thesis on 17th February 2020, had the viva on 25th March, submitted my minor corrections on 30th March and had the email to say it was officiated on 1st April 2020. Yep, April Fool’s Day…

When you realise your degree certificate will forever say your PhD was awarded on April Fools Day! #academiclife @imperialcollege pic.twitter.com/hKsGFyuc0x — Jeff Clark (@savvy_scientist) April 14, 2020

We cover all the stages of a PhD here, including putting the length of a PhD in the perspective of a whole career:

How Long Does It Take To Get A PhD?

Are PhDs really difficult?

No, well not how you might think.

You don’t need to be a genius, but you do have to be smart with how you work. Here I go into how a PhD is pretty different to all the prior years spent in education:

How Hard is a PhD?

Check out my new post covering academic challenges and failures relating to my own PhD: Overcoming Academic Challenges and Failure During a PhD

Money-Related Questions

How much does a phd cost.

If you have funding, which is explained below, all your fees are paid for by the funding source. If you are looking to self-fund, then you’ll have to pay bench-fees/tuition fees, which are usually approximately £4,000 a year for home students in the UK.

Fees vary massively depending on both the country the PhD work takes place in and where you’re from. For example, I believe Australian universities charge around $100,000 in fees to overseas PhD students. Of course ideally you have funding which covers both this and pays a stipend!

Do PhD students pay taxes?

In the UK, PhD students do not pay income tax, national insurance, council tax and student loan repayments. This means that if you can secure funding, even though you may earn less than friends in typical jobs, you get to keep all your earnings!

Do PhD students get paid?

Most PhDs, at least in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) get a stipend: basically a tax-free salary.

How much do PhD students get paid?

At the time of writing, most PhD students in the UK get around £16,000 a year . Doesn’t sound like a lot, but:

• As mentioned above, you don’t pay income tax, national insurance, council tax or make any student loan repayments. My most popular post is this one , comparing the income of PhD students vs grad jobs and the difference really isn’t that big. Plus it’s only for 3 to 3.5 years!
• You’re getting paid to learn science, working on something you’re really interested in. It’s amazing.
• You have a lot more freedom than practically any “proper job”.
• You’re getting paid, to be a student…

PhD Salary UK: How Much Do PhD Students Get Paid?

In summary, PhD stipends are really not that different to grad starting salaries. Please don’t be put off from a PhD simply because for a few years you might be earning a bit less than if you were working in another job.

Depending on what you want to do with your career, having a CV may lead to higher salaries. What is 3 years of lower wages out of a 40+ year career? The answer: nothing!

Where do I find PhD funding?

Getting funding will likely be the biggest hurdle for you to secure a PhD. I have a post here detailing the different types of funding and how you can find a project with funding attached.

How to Find PhD Funding in the UK

Can you self-fund a PhD?

Yes you can self-fund a PhD, and some students are in a position to do so. Just be careful that you account for university fees and not just your living costs.

Are you allowed to have another job at the same time?

Most universities encourage you to get involved with work within your department as a graduate teaching assistant (GTA). Some countries even insist that you work a certain number of hours as part of a contract for your monthly stipend.

Working as a GTA you might be invigilating exams, helping in tutorials, marking coursework etc and at Imperial you usually earn around £15-£26 an hour.

If you’re looking to work a full time job in tandem with your PhD (and doing the PhD full time), it is best checking your university’s policy. Some may have regulations against you working over a certain number of hours which could impede you from concentrating on the PhD.

There are extra ways to make money on the side which I address here :

How to Earn Money Online for Students

Can you get a mortgage as a PhD student?

Since I did my PhD in London I didn’t even consider buying somewhere during my PhD. I’m not interested in being tied into a massive mortgage for 25 years to buy a shoebox!

If I’d accepted my PhD offer for a CDT at Leeds I certainly would have tried to buy somewhere with my partner. I found this page useful when doing research. Buying a property with a partner who has a normal job would definitely make the mortgage application a whole lot more successful.

Will a PhD help your career?

This depends on what you want to do with your career. Some example scenarios:

• Staying in academia – a PhD is usually required
• Certain technical jobs in industry – a PhD may be required or a big bonus
• Non-technical jobs – a bonus

I do not imagine any scenarios where having a PhD is worse than not having one. It is true though that for certain careers there may be other things you could do which would be a better use of your time, for example gaining more direct work experience.

If you want to do a PhD that shouldn’t stop you though, and considering the length of your career taking a few years out for a PhD is inconsequential.

Whichever career path you fancy taking, if you are at all interested in doing a PhD I think you should at least apply.

PhDs in London

Can someone afford to live in london as a phd student.

Yes! I lived in London for my PhD and actually was able to save money every single month while taking many holidays and not living in a tent.

I have a few posts sharing my experiences living in London which you may find useful:

For a month last year I tracked all my expenses to get an idea of my costs living in London as a student, you can find it here .

Sharing my monthly living expenses as a student in London: September 2019

Related to reducing costs, I learned to cycle in London and loved it. It saved me about £100 a month too!

Learning to cycle in London: my first 1000 miles

On top of that, for the whole of 2019 (third year PhD) I tracked my money, and the report is here :

My personal finances report for 2019

Where is good to live in London?

I’ve lived in three different houses during my PhD in London and have a pretty good idea now of good places to live in London. You can read this whole post talking about living in London as a student and the associated costs including a breakdown of rent :

London student accommodation: Breaking down the cost of living in London for students

Bonus: Read the journeys of PhD students

Before I started my PhD I had a ton of questions and nobody who I could ask about their experience. The reality is that many of these PhD FAQs have a variety of answers as everyone’s PhD story is different. Therefore if you’d like to hear first hand from people who are going through the journey check out my series of PhD profiles , with a new profile every month. You can also discover some of their top tips for applying!

If you’d like personalised help with your PhD application I am now starting to offer a small number of one-to-one sessions. Please contact me to find out more or click here to book a call.

Is there anything else you’d like to know to help with a potential PhD application? Let me know and I’ll write about it! You can subscribe to stay up to date here:

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Related Posts

PhD Salary UK: How Much Do PhD Students Get Paid Compared to Graduates?

5th February 2024 5th February 2024

The Benefits of Having a PhD

7th September 2022 30th January 2024

My top PhD regrets: 10 lessons learned by a PhD grad

21st April 2022 25th September 2023

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A guide for first year PhD students: Expectations, responsibilities, advice

The first year of a PhD can feel like a rollercoaster ride. First-year PhD students are ambitious and want to fulfil expectations. At the same time, they may be unsure of what these expectations and their responsibilities are. This guide aims to provide first-year PhD students with some directions and advice.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase using the links below at  no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products or services that I truly believe can benefit my audience. As always, my opinions are my own.

The first year as a PhD student: Excitement, ambition, overwhelm

What to expect as a first-year phd student, responsibilities of a first-year phd student, a supervisor’s expectations of a first-year phd student, thesis/dissertation, academic skills, relationships and networking, health and well-being.

Starting a PhD is exciting. Securing a PhD position is a major life event, and often something that first-year year PhD students have been working towards for a long time.

Many PhD students cannot wait to start. They already want to prepare in the weeks and months leading up to their new positions. And once they do start, they are full of energy, ambitions and plans.

First-year PhD students want to do well, make progress with their projects and meet their supervisors’ expectations. However, it is not always clear what that means.

“Am I doing enough? Do I make enough progress? Am I smart enough? Did I bite off more than I can chew?”

Questions like these, and insecurities, often develop early on in a PhD journey.

Furthermore, starting in a new environment can also be draining. There are new colleagues, new processes, and many unwritten rules in academia. Coupled with open questions about the direction of one’s PhD research, the first year can feel overwhelming.

To avoid overwhelm, it helps to know that the first year of a PhD involves much more than just figuring out one’s research. And absolutely normal to feel lost from time to time.

Succeeding in academia has many facets, including your thesis or dissertation, but also learning new skills, and developing relationships with supervisors, colleagues and scholars in your field. All of that takes energy.

Set realistic expectations for yourself in the first year of your PhD. Not everything will work out as planned. Research takes time, and setbacks are inevitable.

Doing a PhD is often experienced as very stressful : many PhD students are perfectionists, and a PhD requires a lot of self-responsibility. Consequently, PhD work tends to feel very personal, and criticism can sting.

First-year PhD students can deal with ‘failures’ more constructively by realizing that failures are an inevitable part of academic work, and by adopting a more welcoming attitude to criticism and feedback.

First-year PhD students can also expect to read and explore a lot. At times, this involves going down the rabbit hole of academic literature: processing new information, frameworks and perspectives before discarding them again.

Thinking, researching, experimenting, writing and editing are not straightforward processes, and a lot of learning takes place along the way.

Specific requirements and responsibilities of a first-year PhD student differ from programme to programme.

However, frequently a key responsibility of a PhD student is to develop a firm research proposal in the first year, which is often coupled with an extensive literature review.

This requires first-year PhD students to immerse themselves in the relevant literature. However, it is also recommended to read a bit outside of your field or discipline to gain new perspectives.

If a PhD programme involves course work, as is for instance the case in North America much more than in Europe, then planning and starting coursework is also often a responsibility during the first year.

All in all, a first-year PhD student is responsible to get organised and create a feasible plan for the coming years. The first year is meant to set the foundation for the PhD trajectory .

Unless the PhD programme is followed online, and unless there is a pandemic raging, first-year PhD students are additionally often expected to actively participate in the research group, lab or department in which they are based.

Active participation can range from simply showing up regularly, to attending lunches with colleagues, attending research events or presenting preliminary findings.

The internet is full of horror stories of PhD supervisors having extremely unrealistic expectations of first-year PhD students. For instance, several publications in the first year.

While this can certainly happen, I dare to say that this is not the norm.

Again, specific expectations or requirements in terms of performance and output of first-year PhD students can differ from university to university, and from supervisor to supervisor.

Beyond that, however, there are several expectations that many PhD supervisors have of first-year PhD students.

For instance, PhD supervisors tend to appreciate some levels of regularity and consistency. While it is absolutely normal to have periods where you make more progress (for instance in writing) than in others, it is not good to contact your supervisor every day for a month, and then fall off the earth for half a year.

Consistency goes hand in hand with good communication. Communication, respect and openness are fundamental elements in a good supervisor-supervisee relationship.

Many supervisors prefer first-year PhD students to ask for help and support if they experience roadblocks of any kind, instead of finding out that after a year no progress was made.

Lastly, supervisors often expect PhD students to take matters into their own hands. Instead of simply waiting for instruction, this means that first-year PhD students should be in the driver’s seat of their journey. Therefore, it is no surprise that proactiveness is one of the 10 qualities of successful PhD students.

25 things every first year PhD student should do

To turn the more abstract discussion on expectations and responsibilities into more concrete advice, the following list includes 25 things (divided into five categories) that every first-year PhD student should do.

• Read as much as you can. Write down your thoughts and observations.
• Develop a system to keep track of the literature you are reading (for instance through an excel file, notebooks, or a reference manager like Zotero ).
• Develop a literature review on your research topic.
• Familiarise yourself with your university’s PhD requirements (such as length, number of publications, required coursework, etc.).
• Read a few PhD theses from your field and university to understand what is ultimately expected from you.
• Get into the habit of writing . It does not have to be purely academic text. Write down your observations, write blog posts, and write a research diary. The more you write, the easier it gets.
• Develop a good system of communication and effective supervision meetings with your PhD supervisor/s.
• Get into the habit of talking about your research. Speak to your friends about your work, and discuss some readings with your colleagues. Try to formulate your thoughts in an accessible way. The more you do this, the easier it gets.
• Present something in a friendly environment (such as your research group) to practice public speaking .
• Learn how to prioritise tasks . Sometimes, prioritising one task means ruthlessly dropping others. Get comfortable with it. No one can do it all.
• Get to know your supervisor/s . Learn about their research and activities, their preferences and things like their preferred way of communicating. Don’t just expect your supervisor/s to adjust to your preferences, also adjust to theirs.
• Be present in your department, lab or research group. Chat with colleagues, exchange information, support each other and socialise. Collaboration is always better than competition.
• Develop a good support network outside of work. Even the nicest PhD trajectory can be stressful and frustrating from time to time. Know who has your back and can provide support and/or distraction when needed.
• Get to know the administrators and secretaries of your university. They hold a lot of power and you want them on your side!
• Start your online presence by filling out your university profile page, and setting up a professional Twitter account or a LinkedIn profile. You want people to be able to find information about you and your research online.
• Observe your energy levels and find your rhythm. Some people concentrate better in the morning, others late at night. Figure out when to tackle difficult tasks, when to schedule meetings, and when to take breaks. A PhD is not a regular 9 to 5 job. If you have flexibility in your time planning, optimise your routine so that it fits you .
• Be kind to yourself. When having negative thoughts, speak them out loud. Would you talk to your friends or colleagues the same way you talk to yourself? Probably not. Be forgiving and compassionate if you have a bad day.
• Foster an identity outside of your PhD by taking time for instance for hobbies, family and friends. It will help you to separate your self-worth from your PhD work.
• Prioritise your health and well-being . This involves for example getting proper sleep , exercising and eating healthily. Not only will you feel better, but your work will also benefit.
• Take proper breaks. Getting burnout is not a badge of honour or testimony to your dedication. Work smarter, not harder.

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The best answers to “What are your plans for the future?”

How hard is it to get a PhD? Definitely not easy!

Ten reasons NOT to pursue an academic career

Why do you deserve a scholarship? 10 outstanding justifications

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The Anatomy of a First Class Thesis Proposal

3-minute read

• 18th July 2016

So, you’ve decided to do a PhD . That’s good. But before you get stuck into research, you’ll need to prove that your idea is worth pursuing and that you’ll produce a first class thesis at the end of it.

To do this, you’ll have to write a thesis proposal outlining your research interests, what you intend to argue, and how this will add to the knowledge in your subject area.

It’s therefore important that your thesis proposal includes the following…

1. A Working Title

There’s time to change this later, but you need to have a working title early on. This should be clear, memorable and informative, telling your reader what your research is about from the outset.

2. An Introduction

Every thesis proposal should start with an introduction that outlines the problem you’re addressing and why it justifies investigation. You may also want to give a little background information.

You don’t have to go into a vast amount of detail at this point. The introduction is simply there to prepare your reader for the rest of your proposal. It may even help to write this last.

3. Research Aims

As well as a clear statement of your research question, you should explain exactly what you hope to achieve from your PhD project. This includes your research aims and objectives, hypotheses and any predicted results or applications.

4. Methodology

Just as important as explaining what you’re researching is setting out how you intend to conduct your research. This is particularly true if you’re doing experimental research.

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Provide as much descriptive detail as possible, as this will show that you’ve considered the practical side of your study.

5. Literature Review

It isn’t always necessary to include a full literature review in a thesis proposal – sometimes a bibliography is enough – but it makes sense to outline related research in your subject area.

As well as setting your work in context, this demonstrates how your study will build upon existing research and shows you have a strong understanding of your field.

6. Scope and Constraints

One common pitfall of PhD research is trying to do too much with limited time and resources. It’s therefore essential to consider the scope and constraints of your project.

This means being realistic about what you can achieve with your research and acknowledging any related issues that you might need to leave aside. Attempts to find the answer to life, the universe and everything will likely prove overambitious.

7. Chapter Outline and Timetable

Finally, a thesis proposal should include a chapter breakdown (i.e. how you intend to structure your final thesis) and a timetable (i.e. a step-by-step plan for when each stage of your research will be complete).

As with the methodology, this makes your proposal convincing by showing that you’ve given due thought to the practical side of undertaking a PhD.

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How to Get a First Class Postgraduate Degree

Find your perfect postgrad program search our database of 30,000 courses.

• by Charlotte King
• In Study Advice

A first class postgraduate degree is every student's dream. If you're hoping for a magic formula or step-by-step guide to achieving a first class postgraduate degree then we're sorry to disappoint! What we can offer you though, is some useful, actionable advice and guidance that will certainly help you along the path.

Work, Work, Work Postgraduate degrees are intense. You may think you are well prepared after your undergraduate study, but in reality postgraduate study is a whole different ball game. Your workload will build up very quickly, and there is nothing worse than running out of time to complete a task that you know you would have otherwise aced. Be prepared to work long and work hard. Start early, finish late and don't ever hand anything in that you feel is substandard. Study Smart Not Hard Blindly plodding on through lectures, readings, past exam papers and exercise questions will not guarantee you a first class postgraduate degree. All that stuff, whilst good, cannot be substituted for  understanding,  digesting and developing feeling and intuition with the material. You won't learn anything by osmosis. As noble as it may be to stay locked to the library  every day  until closing time, you need to ensure you are making the most effective use of your time. Know What Is Being Asked Of You Determining what is really being asked of you is essential. It's so easy to jump in head first and focus on the completion of the task rather than the process. This is a mistake. You need to demonstrate that you understand the course content, can expand upon your existing knowledge and go above and beyond the expected standard. Master this and you're work will always be high quality, relevant and most of all worthy of a first class postgraduate degree. Make Time To Relax Earlier we talked about the importance of working hard, but it is equally as important not to go overboard and become obsessive. Stress is a real concentration killer, which is why you need to make time to relax and wind down every now and then. By no means are we encouraging you to get out there and party more, but we are recommended that you re-energise to stay at the top of your game. Eliminating unwanted stress from your life will help to keep you motivated, enthusiastic and focused. Always Give 100% Treat every assignment as though it is the only one you will ever get graded on. By putting 100% into everything you do you will develop key habits that will aid you well after you've hung up your gown and cap. Do whatever it takes to overcome the challenges that your postgraduate degree throws at you. Embrace the difficulty and counter it with hard work - that's the key to success. Have you got any advice on how to get a first class postgraduate degree for future students?  We'd love to hear from you.  

11 comments

Oliver ogutu nov. 24, 2016, 10:49 a.m..

I loved this and commit to adhere to the guidelines to the letter. Thanks

Charlotte King Nov. 28, 2016, 11:43 a.m.

That's great - good luck!

parimala hansoge Feb. 27, 2017, 10:56 a.m.

I loved your advice..will work smart for my next module. thanks.

Beth Thomas May 2, 2017, 11:35 a.m.

This is good advice. I would also add that if you're doing an MRes, it's good to note down your assessment deadlines and plan your empirical work around them. I was too keen and ploughed straight in to my case studies without thinking about how that would affect my ability to meet all my deadlines and give the essays the attention they needed. I've learnt my lesson now though, with substandard grades despite 100% effort, just because I'm stretching myself too thinly during this assessment period.

Boubai joseph jackson May 11, 2017, 9:31 a.m.

This is great! I am extremely motivated to be at the top. Thanks

Charlotte King May 14, 2017, 4:19 p.m.

Hi Beth - that's really good advice to make a note of your assessment deadlines - and advice that has obviously come from experience. Thanks for sharing it - and good luck with your MRes. Kind Regards - Charlotte

Charlotte King May 14, 2017, 4:20 p.m.

Hi Boubai - It's great to hear that you're feeling motivated. Hope you get the results that you deserve and stay at the top. Kind Regards, Charlotte

Busayo Ajayi June 6, 2017, 10:21 a.m.

Thanks for this great piece. I'm starting my masters degree in September. I'm planning on giving this one year my all, praying and hoping for the best.

Charlotte King June 14, 2017, 9:37 a.m.

Busayo - we have some great advice here on how to succeed as a postgraduate student which you may find helpful: https://www.postgrad.com/study-in-uk/uk-student-life/succeed_as_a_postgraduate_student/ Good luck with your studies!

Ada Aug. 14, 2017, 12:17 p.m.

Hi, I'm a mature student and I just got back my postgraduate LLM module results. I'm gutted I made only 2 distinction grades at 70 and 74%, and 67 an 64%. But I have a gut feeling that the awarded mark of 67% was actually a distinction grade - core module. The 70% grade also is surprising as I achieved 67% in one component out of the 3 components and high merits in the other 2 - core. Does it matter that I achieved low grades in my core modules? - 70% and 64%?! Sorry I know some students may think I'm bonkers for thinking this, but I started on this degree aiming for a distinction, so in my books I didn't quite achieve what I wanted. Firstly, can I request for an administrative check of this grade? I can't be bothered to check the 64% grade, as I was hoping I would obtain an average of 70+ in the 3 modules. I did a sum of the average, and have 68.75% on the modules, minus the dissertation which is due in September. Finally, is it possible to boost the overall grade to a distinction with a very high grade in the dissertation which is the crux of the Master's qualification? I am now writing my final dissertation and hope that I can achieve a very high grade, 80% may be a bit too ambitious! But I need this for a PhD scholarship. Please advise. Thanks.

Charlotte King Aug. 30, 2017, 1:08 p.m.

Hi Ada, I think the best thing is for you to do is to contact your university tutor's directly and ask them where you can go from here. They will know whether you can request an administrative check and also how well you need to perform in your dissertation. Good luck. Charlotte

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First-Class Honours Degree: What Does it (Actually) Mean?

In University by Think Student Editor June 11, 2021 Leave a Comment

First-Class honours degrees are widely regarded as a respectable, impressive, and advantageous achievement to acquire. However, what is a 1st class honours degree? How can you acquire one? What does it really mean? All of these questions are answered in the paragraphs below!

A First-C lass Honours Degree is awarded to a student who has accumulated an average percentage grade of 70% or above during their years at university.  A 1 st class honours degree takes 3 years to complete as a full-time student, and 6 years to complete as a part-time student. Getting a First-Class Honours Degree effectively means a student has achieved the highest grade possible for their university course.

This article will answer all your questions surrounding the topic of a 1st class honours degree. Let’s begin!

Table of Contents

What is an Honours Degree?

Prior to attending university in the UK, you are obligated to select which degree you will study during your time there. There are multiple different classes of degree available, however this article is going to focus mainly on a normal degree and an honours degree (plus the various types shortly!).

An honours degree has an amplified difficultly level – the coursework is more demanding than a normal degree.  It is worth 360 credits as an oppose to the 300 credits that come with a normal degree  (each credit is worth an estimated 10 hours of learning, meaning that an honours degree comes with an extra 600 hours of education!).

At the end of your honours course,  you will be assigned a special project or dissertation, which is excluded from the normal degree,  which further adds to the challenge of the honours degree!

Honour’s degrees are not available everywhere; however, it is very rare to come across a university that does not offer this type of degree.  Honours degrees are generally perceived as customary at universities across the UK, which is why it is uncommon to see a university without them.

What Are the Different Types of Honours Degree?

There are a multitude of honours degrees one can achieve. Below is an explanation of each individual honours degree you could receive once you graduate:

Third-Class Degree

A Third-Class degree is the lowest honours degree someone can attain. To be given this degree a student will have had to accumulate a percentage between 40 and 50%.  They can also be referred to as a 3rd or ‘third’.  People with a Third-Class degree are at a disadvantage when it comes to employability, as most employers are looking for someone with a higher degree, as they are more likely to do the job better.

Second-Class Degree

A Second-Class degree can be split into two main sections: lower Second-Class honours and upper Second-Class honours. 

A lower Second-Class honours degree is achieved by students with a final percentage of between 50-60%.  They are also known as a 2:2, or ‘two-two’. This is the lower of the two Second-Class degrees. You are also at a disadvantage with this degree, although not as much of a disadvantage as people with a Third-Class degree.

An upper Second-Class honours degree can also be referred to as a 2:1, or ‘two-one’.  This is the higher of the two Second-Class degrees and is awarded to those who gained a final percentage of between 60-70%.  People with this type of degree are at more of an advantage when it comes to job interviews, as this is the type of degree many employers are looking for.

First-Class Degree

Finally, a First-Class degree. A First-Class degree, commonly known as a ‘first’ or 1st, is  the highest honours degree achievable , and is well respected by employers.  Students must get a percentage above 70% to be awarded this degree , thus it is very challenging indeed. This degree is widely respected in the working world and puts you at a great advantage in job interviews, as you are more likely to be prioritised for the role.

How Do You Achieve a First-Class Honours Degree?

To be awarded a 1 st  class honours degree, you must accumulate a percentage of 70% or above . To a student who is not in university currently, this may not seem to difficult, however when you take into accord that the average student scores between 50 and 60%, it suddenly becomes a more challenging goal to complete.

How Long Does It Take to Get a First-Class Honours Degree?

The majority of individuals go to university for years, and this applies to those aiming for a First-Class degree too. If you are aspiring to acquire a First-Class degree,  you do not need to go to university for any longer than any other bachelor or honours student .

Since you don’t apply for a First-Class honours degree (it depends on your grades whether you are given one) it means you have to be at university for the same amount of time.

If studying full-time (estimated at around 32-36 hours per week studying and learning),  gaining a bachelors or honours degree will take you 3 years, click  here  to find out more.  If studying part-time (an estimated 16-18 hours of studying and learning per week)  it will take you a total of 6 years to complete- this is double the amount of time. Check  this  article to find out more.

How Common is a First-Class-Honours Degree?

Receiving a First-C lass honours degree is a relatively rare thing to achieve . In 2018 and 2019, only 18% of students received a First-Class honours degree. This is a number that has been gradually increasing since 2015. See this  link for more details. 20% of females received a First-Class honours degree, whereas only 16% of males did in 2018/19.

The leading university is  Royal Academy of Music ,  as 70.6% of their students qualified for a First-C lass honour’s degree .

Second is  Imperial College London , with 44.7% of their students receiving First-Class honours.

They are followed by:  University of Surrey  (44.4%),  Royal College of Music  (42.1%),  University College London  (39.5%) and  Conservatoire for Dance and Drama  (38.3%). The statistics mentioned are cited from  this website .

Law is the hardest subject to receive 1 st  class honours in , as this degree is already notorious for its extremely difficult coursework and heavy workload. Only 6% of graduates graduate with a 1st class degree. Subjects following Law are Mass Communications and Documentation (9.6% achieved 1st class honours), Business and Administrative Studies (10.3%) and Education (10.6%).

Mathematics is the easiest degree to get First-Class honours in statistically, as 30% of students achieved this. Mathematics is followed by Engineering and Technology (21.6% achieved First-Class honours), Physical Sciences (20.3%) and Computer Science (18.4%).

What Are the Advantages of a First-Class Honours Degree?

Achieving a First-Class honours degree requires ample hard-work, time, and effort, but is all this exertion worth it in the long run? What are the advantages of this type of degree?

The most prominent advantage of a First-Class degree is employability . Attaining one gives you a higher chance of success at job interviews. Employers are searching for the best workers to fulfil the available role, and someone with First-Class honours is definite to outshine someone with a lower qualification, such as a 2nd or Third-Class degree.

If you are looking to enter into a highly competitive work industry, such as Hospitability or Law, gaining First-Class honours does put you at a higher advantage and develop a higher likelihood of acceptance.  A First-Class honours degree puts you one step ahead of the game and means you have more priority for a role in the workplace.

What Are the Disadvantages of First-Class Honours Degree?

The main disadvantage of a First-Class honours degree is that although you are most likely to be given higher priority when it comes to being employed, it is not always a certainty the company will employ you.

Various people with a First-Class honours degree have struggled to find a job despite their achievements- it just depends on the circumstances at the time.  The employer may not feel you are well-suited for the role, or maybe they are looking for someone similar, but just not quite you. These are issues you cannot control but unfortunately will most likely come across in your life, regardless of whether you have obtained a First-Class honours degree or not.

Can You Fail Your Honours Degree?

The short answer is, unfortunately yes .  If you did not attain the minimum percentage needed (40%) you will most likely be awarded a degree without honours . Although this will not be perceived as a failure by employers, it can be disappointing for those who aspired to graduate with honours.

You can also fail completely and not achieve a degree at all, if your percentage was too low to be considered for a normal degree. If you want to find out more about your options if you fail your degree then check out this student article here .

Can You Do a Master’s Degree Without First-Class Honours?

A master’s degree is the next step up from a bachelor’s degree and is the succeeding stage for those who have finished their undergraduate course and would like to further continue their higher education.

Are you eligible for a master’s degree if you didn’t get First-Class honours?  The short answer is yes!  Anyone with a degree is eligible for a master’s.

However,  if you do not have an honours degree, you may still be eligible for a master’s degree, although you may have to have attained a higher percentage than those who graduated with honours .

On rare occasions, you may be accepted to do a master’s degree without attaining a bachelor’s previously, however this circumstance is extremely uncommon .

Can You Still Get a First-Class Honours Degree If You Drop Out?

Unfortunately, no.  Achieving a First-C lass honours degree, or any honours degree at that, means staying at university for the entirety of the course. 

If you drop out after your first year of study as a full-time student, you will be awarded a Certificate of Higher Education, and 120 credits . If you drop out after your first year as a part-time student however, you will not be awarded anything as you haven’t accumulated enough hours of study and credits to be awarded this certificate.

If you drop out after your second year as a full-time student, you will be awarded the Diploma of Higher Education and 240 credits . If you drop out after your second year as a part-time student you will be awarded a Certificate of Higher Education, which is explained above.

By your third year as a full-time student, you will have finished the course and been awarded your bachelors/honours degree . As a part-time student, you will have to complete 4 years of university to be awarded the diploma of higher education, and then a further 2 years to amount to 6 years when you will be awarded your final degree.

Dropping out in the middle of the school year before the school year has ended means you will not qualify for the certificate you would have been awarded at the end of that year.  For example, if you were a full-time student who dropped out in December of their second year, you would be awarded the Certificate of Higher Education instead of the Diploma as you haven’t accumulated enough credits.

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Us news & world report ranks iowa audiology, speech-language pathology among the top in the nation.

Two UIowa programs in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) are once again recognized among the best in their field according to the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings for 2024 .  

Iowa’s audiology program is again ranked second best in the nation and remains the top public institution training audiologists. The speech-language pathology program climbed in the rankings to fifth and is now the third-ranked public institution. CSD is housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.   

New rankings of nation-wide  Audiology and  Speech-Language Pathology graduate programs is available on the USNWR website.

“We are focused on training outstanding audiologists and speech-language pathologists,” said Eric Hunter , DEO and Harriet B. and Harold S. Brady Chair in Liberal Arts and Sciences. “These rankings recognize the daily efforts of our remarkable faculty and staff, who consistently strive to provide exceptional education to our students.”  

“Together, we are shaping the future of audiology and speech-language pathology, and we will continue to lead the way in delivering excellence,” Hunter added.  

Hunter, who has been at Iowa since August 2023 and is a nationally recognized expert in the field, was the first hire under the University of Iowa’s Transformational Faculty Hiring Program, which is aimed at attracting world-class faculty to strategic programs and areas of excellence. He received a PhD from Iowa’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders program in 2001.  

Iowa has long been a leader in communication sciences and disorders dating back to 1897, when the university, led by Carl Seashore’s pioneering work, developed speech pathology as a discipline of study.  

“CLAS is proud of our faculty and staff who continue to guide this storied program into the future,” said Dean Sara Sanders. “Because of their tremendous talent and dedication to their research and teaching, CSD continues to be at the forefront of audiology and speech-language pathology.”   

The university, college, and department continue to lead, ensuring students access to unparalleled opportunities. Construction has started on a new $249 million building that will provide a state-of-the-art learning space for Iowa students studying in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Department of Health and Human Physiology, and the Carver College of Medicine’s Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science.  

Substantial completion of the building is anticipated in 2025.  

NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

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Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in Rankings

Ranked 20th in the whole of russia, ranked 400th in the world., tuition and scholarships at moscow institute of physics and technology (mipt).

The university provides funding to international students through several schemes designed to reduce the cost of tuition or to cover the student’s expenses while studying there, funding at the university are both internal and external and happen and all foreign students at the university are eligible to receive some sort of financial assistance during the course of their program at MIPT.

MIPT Scholarship: The university awards a special scholarship to foreign understudies who show dynamic academic qualities, or students who have strong academic backgrounds and can replicate this while studying at MIPT. This scholarship is highly coveted and is awarded competitively.

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About moscow institute of physics and technology (mipt).

The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology is one of the top five universities in Russia and is well known all over the world, since its inception in 1946 as a department of Moscow State University and later as an independent organization in 1951, MIPT is has been highly regarded by scientists, engineers, and students alike.

The MIPT university-industry partnership system was introduced by its first professors, the Nobel Prize winners L.D Landau, P.L Kapitsa, and N.N Semenov. It selects talented students and provides them with a top-class education and an early entry into industrial research.

MIPT scientists perform cutting-edge research in the fields of fundamental science and push the boundaries of human understanding, creating new technologies and contributing to global development.

The university explores neural and aerospace engineering, biophysics and nuclear science, quantum optics and aeromechanics. The university research center devices mathematical models to account for all of the diversity in nature.

MIPT research labs feature international teams driven by professors with global credentials and aspirations. Nobel Laureates Andre Gain and Constantin Navoselov who won a prize in physics in 2010 are MIPT alumni.

The university is tailoring and determining the success of society and humanity through science, and introducing excellent ways to look into the future. To date, MIPT pushes the boundary of human understanding with scientific principles and learning modules that are unrivaled anywhere in the world.

Some of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) Achievements.

• MIPT has ranked in the top 100 spots in world university reputation ranking in the last two years by Times Higher Education (THE)
• MIPT ranks in the top 100 world universities for subjects like Physical Science and Computer Science and ranks in the top 300 world universities for Engineering, Technology, and Life Science by Times Higher Education (2020)
• MIPT is among the topmost reputable universities in Russia, presently rated as at the top 3 higher education institutions in the country.
• In Russia, MIPT stands as the most award-winning university, bagging several industries and scientific awards throughout its history. Ten professors from Phystech are Nobel Laureates winning prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Peace, and Astrophysics. Also, many of MIPT’s research specialists and doctors have been awarded Dirac medals, BBVA Foundation awards, and prizes in Fundamental Physics both in Russia and internationally.

Student Life at MIPT

Academics: MIPT is a leading research center with about 79 well-equipped laboratories for experiments and research. The major fields are biomaterials and microelectronics, energetics and specialized machine engineering, universal and specialized quantum computers, quantum cryptography, mechanisms of aging, genomic engineering, optogenetics, biomedical cell products, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, expert systems, cybersecurity, technical vision, space technology.

Phystech Start-Up: MIPT designed a project to support and develop student ideas and projects, students join mentoring educational programs to receive knowledge, advice, and recommendation on the development of projects from successful entrepreneurs, graduates of MIPT, and experts of tech companies.

Internships: In MIPT students have the possibility to secure internships at the best Russian and international companies. The experience gained contributes largely to the success of many of its student's careers after they graduate.

Campus Life at MIPT

MIPT has a very conducive and up-to-date campus that is very comfortable for life and study at the university. Present on campus are more than 15 buildings comprising of administrative buildings, academic buildings, medical centers, dormitories, cafeterias, and the other facilities, the university campus also has 24/hours security and surveillance. Phystech’s campus is located 20 minutes from Moscow, the heart of Russia.

Social Activities at MIPT

There are more than 50 student activities and clubs that cater to several student interests, MIPT students can participate actively in any of these clubs or societies and can even carve out their own in their own area of interest with approval from the university.

Student clubs are a brilliant way to interact, socialize and build social skills that resonate with the outside world. Examples of such clubs at MIPT include;

• History Club
• Intellectual Games Club
• Painting Club
• Literature Club
• Robotics Technology Club
• Artic Projects Club and many more

MIPT has strong partnerships with many leading universities, organizations and industrial companies both locally and internationally. Many global centers of research are also affiliated with the university, with remote research units on MIPT’s campus enabling student exchange and work and study opportunities on a global platform.

Similarly, a long list of industry companies and corporate organizations have ties with Phystech, fostering internship and job opportunities for MIPT students. Some of MIPT’S partner institutions include;

• Berkely University of California
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Ecole Polytechnique
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• McGill University

Some of MIPT’S partner research centers and companies include;

• Schlumberger Research & Development
• Hitachi and GE

In MIPT, there is a unique educational ecosystem based on a 70-year history of development. MIPT’s system of instruction called the ‘Phystech System’ was proposed by its founders. The key principles were outlined from the beginning, which entails;

• First students are trained by researchers of leading scientific and technological institutions with modern technical equipment.
• Secondly, students have individual works with the university,
• Thirdly each student begins their research from their second or third year of education and
• Lastly, upon graduation, the students have great knowledge of the modern methods of theoretical and experimental research and necessary engineering knowledge to solve technical problems.

The strong teaching of fundamental knowledge and extensive practical work in partner research institutions allow MIPT graduates to build a career in any field of professional activity.

The link between study and practice means students learn to apply their theoretical knowledge in the real world.

A Forbes 2019 rating on university graduates shows that MIPT is one of the top 3 universities with the most popular graduates, taking into consideration factors like average salary, presence of billionaires, membership in boards of directors of the largest Russian and international companies.

Noteworthy is that ten of Phystech alumni are amongst the top 200 entrepreneurs in Russia, and many of its graduates have gone on to found successful start-ups and tech companies.

Why Study at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)

Accommodation moscow institute of physics and technology (mipt), on campus accomodation at moscow institute of physics and technology (mipt).

MIPT provides student housing at both its Dolgoprudny and Zhukovsky locations, as of now there are 14 student halls of residence owned and managed by the university and housing the majority of its students.

The dormitories come in different types and different specifications but they are all adequately maintained and equipped with all the necessary facilities.

Some of them are student dormitories with one or two bedrooms, a central kitchen space, and bathroom area, while the others are apartment-style rooms with kitchen and bathroom ensuite.

Every room at every dormitory has 24/hours electricity, heating, and wireless internet, similarly, all dorms are guarded full-time. Amenities refrigerator, washing machine, and microwave are also provided to students in the dormitory.

The type of campus housing that a student will get is contingent on their department and level of study as dormitories are separated int different spectrums to create a more relatable atmosphere for its students.

Accommodation price at MIPT can cost somewhere between 1,000 RUB to 2,000 RUB.

Off Campus Accomodation at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)

Typically, some students opt to live in separate accommodations outside the university campus where there are many private houses and apartments that cater to various student budgets and need.

There are also several dormitories and private out-of-school lofts and pads that have different costs. The expense of leasing off-campus apartments changes from area to area in proximity to the city square and they have different conditions for rent.

Commonly, the cost of leasing a one-room condo is around 1,500 to 2,000 RUB per month and it depends on how extravagant the building is and the services they offer.

Renting an apartment out of campus usually means that utilities such as electricity, water, heating, cable tv, and internet all come separate from the rent and students would have to shoulder the bills per usage.

Sports at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)

The sports and recreational facilities at MIPT’s campus help develop the competing spirit of its students and staff. The university has  3 sports centers, a Phystech stadium, and an Olympic standard swimming pool. The most anticipated sporting event at the university is the 24 hours traditional football contest amongst departments of MIPT, fondly dubbed as the ‘Match of the century’.

Phystech students, staff, and alumni actively participate in this 50-year long tradition that is one of the points of pride for the institution. In recent years, the university started the same event for swimming games called ‘Swimming of the century’.

At MIPT there are over 15 sports clubs and athletic activities such as Basketball, Water Polo, Table Tennis, Alpine Skiing, Mountain Climbing, Crossfit, Athletics, Yoga, Lawn Tennis, Fitness Aerobics, Football, Chess, Dancing, and many others. MIPT prioritizes its students' fitness and physical well-being as they contribute to healthy student life.

Food at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)

Available on campus are several canteens and cafeteria that serve various meals to students and staff at different hours of the day. Students who take up residence in any of MIPT’s dormitories have access to the free canteen and buffet-style service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The university also has a break area where other external restaurant chains have taken up space serving a variety of fast food and continental meals to students. The price of feeding at the university costs about 30 RUB to 50  RUB per person depending on their food choices. 

Testimonials

About moscow.

Moscow is the capital and the largest city in Russia with a population of more than 12 million people located in the Moskva River in the west of the country. Moscow for Russians is the center of everything, and everything is centered here where all the headquarters of major Russian cooperations are located.

Moscow contributes the largest to the country’s economy both in industry and influence. Although the weather in Russia is believed to be quite severe, Moscow’s weather is milder than in other parts of the country. Moscow has the best university’s in Russia, one of which is the Moscow institute of physics and technology (MIPT).

Moscow enjoys a much higher standard of living compared to other cities and has one of the highest amounts of billionaires topping cities like London and Paris. Moscow is home to all the federal authorities of the country from federal to state levels and is heralded as a city of status.

Moscow also has the largest amount of English speakers and international residents that any other city in the country, the city is also very green with more green areas than New York or London.

The city center is a serene getaway with one of the largest parks where residents come to relax and unwind at the end of the day. The social life in Moscow is one of the best in the world, with a vast array of bars, pubs, and restaurants that serve all types of cuisine to suit most budgets. 

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