{"id":583,"date":"2016-10-13T16:34:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T16:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/studentblogs\/victoria14\/?p=583"},"modified":"2016-10-13T16:34:39","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T16:34:39","slug":"throwback-thursday-eek-im-a-phd-student-october-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2016\/10\/13\/throwback-thursday-eek-im-a-phd-student-october-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday – Eek I\u2019m a PhD student! (October 2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This final #throwbackthursday looks back to the interview and application process for my PhD, I can hardly believe that is was two years ago and I am now a third year! #gulp<\/p>\n

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Well technically I\u2019m a MPhil student, since you first register fro that and then apply for an \u2018upgrade\u2019. Checking some old text messages I was amused to find how they tracked the ups and downs of my application, interview and offer and gave me some reflection on the journey before I turn and look towards the path ahead.<\/p>\n

Evidently I was very nervous about the interview:<\/p>\n

\"capture2\"<\/a> \"Capture\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But I wasn\u2019t alone:<\/p>\n

\"Capture4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t! In part because I\u2019d fallen into my old trap of \u201cignore it and hope it goes away\u201d but also because I had been distracted my a new job I had just started! Anyway after some interview advice \/ pep talk the next day was interview<\/a> time which was one of the most stressful things I have done so far. I was placed second, but to my delight the first choice candidate declined and a month later I received an email offering me the PhD scholarship:<\/p>\n

\"Capture3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So six months later I have started my PhD. Predictably I\u2019m stressed! It helps that I have some familiarity with both Imperial College and the Museum but the start of term at university is not an autism-friendly time, the campus was very busy with fresher\u2019s week stands, and I didn\u2019t feel up to looking around with all the crowds. However in the PREDICTS lab I feel I am settling in ok, I have attended lab meetings which are useful to hear what everyone has been up to and share recent papers. I am still feeling rather lost, but it is improving every day. I\u2019m trying to remember how I felt when I first started in the soil group, did I feel lost and like I didn\u2019t belong? I can\u2019t remember, but if I did it must have gotten better, so logically it will again.<\/p>\n

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It’s interesting looking back at this post because although I have made progress but I am still finding being away from home very difficult and I really hoped I would have settled by now. At least I am coping enough to make progress on my work. I have had a extra difficult time lately with illness in the family and having to rewrite part of my 18 month report in order to continue with my PhD, but I am still determined to be Dr Burton!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This final #throwbackthursday looks back to the interview and application process for my PhD, I can hardly believe that is was two years ago and I am now a third year! #gulp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1033,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96143,96598,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","category-throwback-thursday","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}