Study Ireland – Stories & Guides from International Students

By Emma Craven and Wenyi Tang 

A PhD is a pretty huge deal (hoping someone catches our pun lol) and especially when you are just starting out, it can be incredible overwhelming. You’re adjusting to this huge responsibility, developing relationships with supervisor, and trying to juggle all of your different responsibilities. Here is our advice for brand new PhD Students!  

• Tip One: Have a Work life balance 

• Do not work 7 days a week, enjoy your weekends as much as you can! 

• Tip Two: Be your own boss  

• This is YOUR PhD! You are the leader of your PhD, and you should know what you want from it! 

• Tip Three: Your Health is incredibly important 

• Mind your health—both physical and mental. 

• Tip Four: Persistence is Key  

• You can overcome challenges and seek support; persistence will get you through the PhD. 

• Tip Five: Enjoy it 

• Enjoy being a PhD student; it is a tough experience and a unique and exciting journey of growth and discovery. 

• Tip Six: Challenges shape you 

• Every challenge you face will make you stronger and shape who you are. 

• Tip Seven: Setbacks are normal 

• Everyone has setbacks, you may not see others’ setbacks, but everyone does have them, and they are completely normal. 

• Tip Eight: Use the resources 

• Use all the available resources you can in UL, the library, writing center, UL Globe, The Doctoral College, and a few other support services can help. 

• Tip Nine: Enjoy the little things  

• Celebrate the small wins, everything is a step forward 

• Tip Ten: Ignore Imposter Syndrome  

• You are running your own race, stop looking at the other runners. You can do this!