To PhD, or not to PhD. That is the question.

I’ve recently been encouraged by a colleague and friend to apply for a funded PhD at his department. 

This is extremely exciting news, and it’s truly an honour to even be thought of, but I can’t help but feel a bit of apprehension. There’s my old friend, the Impostor Syndrome, and I often wonder how I even got as far as doing a masters (I suspect many of my A level teachers would be shocked to learn that out of my entire group of friends, I’m the one who’s been head-hunted for a funded doctorate!). I also wonder if I’d be able to handle 3.5 years of in-depth, solitary research. Having said that, I think one of the main problems I’ve encountered during my masters is the sheer amount of juggling I have to do with my subjects, writing essays on completely different topics at the same time, and fitting a part-time job in around it all. I suppose with a PhD I’d be studying broadly, but following my own interests and setting my own deadlines which I imagine would suit my learning style far better.

I won’t even go into the issue of finance and funding, because those are the woes of practically any archaeologist, but this is a very large factor in my considerations.

So I suppose I’m calling on people who are doing/have done PhDs and feel they have any advice. Is there such a thing as over-qualification? Do you think that doing a PhD could ever be a bad thing? Does anyone regret their decision? What would you say to your pre-PhD self, if you could?

 

Good news!

I’ve done it! I’m into York for the MSc in Digital Heritage! Hurrah et cetera.

However now I’ll be panicking about finding funding, accommodation and new friends, so maybe it’ll be writing on hold. I’ll blog if anything ever comes to mind; perhaps I’ll try and log my experiences at York. I think it would be interesting to look back on this blog in a years time and see what I’ve learned and how I’ve changed.

Now I must write a million letters to people begging for money, because I am so unable to fund this by myself. Even the biggest loan won’t cut it.

In the mean time, I’ll probably be drawing (something I possibly enjoy more than writing) in the name of procrastination.

in the name of jazzing up this post