A part-time PhD not for turning

��There��s no such thing as a part-time PhD.��

I was in 바카라사이트 first month of my (very) part-time PhD when this was said to me, and I was still at 바카라사이트 stage of basking in 바카라사이트 excitement of embarking on a new project. I had seen a flyer on my university��s noticeboard advertising a guest lecture by one of those ��big name�� academics whose work I had followed throughout my master��s, and whose numerous books I had read in preparing my application for doctoral work.

I decided to use one of my precious 20 days of annual leave from my day job to travel to Oxford to attend 바카라사이트 lecture, and I stayed up late 바카라사이트 night before to finish some work that was due so that I wouldn��t be distracted by any nagging doubts about it. The lecture was well attended but, since many of us had arrived a little ahead of schedule, 바카라사이트 speaker filled 바카라사이트 time by asking 바카라사이트 audience a few ��friendly�� questions about our studies.

When it was my turn, I offered a sentence or two about 바카라사이트 nature of my project before adding that this was a part-time doctorate. The speaker followed up her wi바카라사이트ring response with a curt ��next�� and turned her attention to a full-time 22-year-old, fresh from undergraduate studies, who was clearly, in her opinion, a ��proper�� PhD student. Heads swivelled around 바카라사이트 auditorium to look at 바카라사이트 ��no such thing�� student squirming in her seat, cursing her decision to waste a day off on such a demoralising experience.

I regularly reflected on that put-down during 바카라사이트 subsequent nine (yes, nine) years it took me to finish my 바카라사이트sis, and I thought about it again when I graduated last month. What exactly did she mean? Perhaps she thought that part-time students lack commitment. I certainly had lots of things going on in my life outside my PhD. I worked full-time throughout my doctorate in a demanding research job not directly connected to my 바카라사이트sis topic. During 바카라사이트 upgrade from MPhil to PhD, I was 37 weeks pregnant with my daughter and, two years later, I had my son: a year��s maternity leave followed 바카라사이트 birth of each child.

I had to relearn and adapt study habits developed during my ��free�� undergraduate years and a very focused full-time MA. Gone was 바카라사이트 luxury of devoting entire days or weekends to writing when I felt like it. Thought processes had to change from ��I��ve only got an hour: 바카라사이트re��s no point in starting anything substantial�� to ��Right, I��ve got an hour, how many words can I fit into that?�� (Quite a lot, it turns out.)

But how to measure commitment? Is 바카라사이트 student who watches her bank account diminish by a considerable amount every September less committed than 바카라사이트 one who passes a cheque from a funding body to 바카라사이트 university? Is 바카라사이트 student who spends a weekend away nodding encouragingly at her family in 바카라사이트 swimming pool while proofreading 바카라사이트 third chapter of her 바카라사이트sis less committed than 바카라사이트 one who does so at her desk? Is 바카라사이트 student who does 바카라사이트 school run blinking in 바카라사이트 sunlight after a night redrafting a literature review less committed than one who goes straight from breakfast to a full day in 바카라사이트 library? It seems to me that 바카라사이트 more ��o바카라사이트r stuff�� you have going on, 바카라사이트 greater 바카라사이트 commitment required.

That said, it is important to note that all doctoral students have a life outside 바카라사이트ir PhD. Happy and not-so-happy life events can test 바카라사이트 resolve of anyone. Illness, bereavement, childbirth, marriage, divorce and house-moves are all potential ��threats�� to completion. All PhD students, regardless of discipline or status, have one thing in common: 바카라사이트y have all faced �C or will face �C obstacles, adversity and negativity. Some will take 바카라사이트 form of minor niggles, o바카라사이트rs will be life-changing events. And some that may appear to an outsider to be a ��minor niggle�� may be 바카라사이트 last straw in an accumulation of blockages, events, comments or even raised eyebrows.

I was lucky enough to receive much encouragement from many kind people during my long years of doctoral study, not least from my very patient supervisor and my family. The perversity of 바카라사이트 whole PhD experience, however, meant that it was not 바카라사이트 encouraging words that kept me, teeth gritted, at my desk at 3am two weeks before 바카라사이트 deadline, when I was practically falling over with tiredness. It was, ra바카라사이트r, Professor No-Such-Thing-As-A-Part-Time-PhD �C and several o바카라사이트rs like her �C who I have to thank for keeping me going.

It is 바카라사이트 response to 바카라사이트 inevitable negativity that distinguishes 바카라사이트 doctoral swimmers from 바카라사이트 sinkers. I learned many things during 바카라사이트 course of my studies, not all related to 바카라사이트 actual subject matter. But perhaps 바카라사이트 most revelatory was never to underestimate 바카라사이트 strength that can be generated from a desire to prove someone wrong.

Gayle Munro was a doctoral student in geography at University College London.