This four-year journey necessitates a high level of motivation. The voyage starts with a highly ambitious first year of ‘astonishing the world with novel ideas’ and  ends with an attitude geared towards survival in the final dissertation writing phase of the PhD. There are numerous reasons for a drop in motivation. The lack of a clear research direction and getting stuck during research at some point are two vital causes of this decay. In such situations, good and effective communication with supervisor(s) and colleagues often alleviates the pain and helps keeping up the pace.

Travelling for conferences is one of the best parts of doing a PhD. Conferences are not discussed in terms of the quality of research projects presented there, but it’s rather about the beautiful locations the conference is going to be held. After a very painful process of writing a research paper and submitting it (after tons of iterations with supervisors), I feel PhDs deserve this freedom.

Planning and organizing work, critical thinking, taking initiatives and working in a team are some virtues of a good PhD student. Everyone experiences this four-year journey differently. There are lucky ones those who enjoy a smooth ride, while others have some rough patches in between, and rest just has a bumpy ride.  Although research is a solitary work, it helps to consider that you are not the only one suffering: there are a whole lot of crazy people going through the same thing, Patiently Hoping for a Degree (PhD).