This is the 4th edition of a ‘day-to-day life of a Ph.D. student’. Time flies when you are having fun (or completing a Ph.D.!) This Monday was a little different as it was a public holiday, although I still ended up in my office. But, before you feel sorry for me- I am having two nights away this week. 8:31am- […]
This weeks (21st September- I have missed some weeks, oops!) Wednesday Word of the Week is: Phosphorescence- Which means light that is produced by a substance without combustion or noticeable heat #wedwordweek
Procrastination is a common element of many people’s days. I think even outside of work or study, we like to ‘put off’ the difficult or annoying things until tomorrow. Although Nike tries its damnedest to motivate us to “just do it”, it is often just not that easy. Although, we may never rid of procrastination completely, it is important to […]
Throughout high school and undergraduate university courses, we get told about the importance of planning before we start to write essays or reports (or any other type of writing for that matter). I used to think that we were just told this for the fun of it, kind of in the same way that you are told to read ALL […]
So this is the second installment of ‘day-to-day life of a PhD student’. This time, it is a run through of my day on the 1st of August 2016. 6:47am- Like last time I wrote this blog, I woke up to my boyfriend’s alarm after a much needed long sleep (I had very few hours on Saturday night!). 7:53am- I […]
I must admit, I was naïve when I first attended university. I listened to my high school teachers preach that year 12 was the hardest year of your life and that everything would get easier after that. I (not wanting to brag) got through year twelve with not as much stress as I expected and ended up with a higher score than I thought I could achieve. Do not get me wrong I worked hard, but I was in a good routine of studying before school, working hard during school hours and then studying after school (for a couple of hours each night). I did not work during year twelve and therefore was still able to enjoy some “me time” on the weekends. When being accepted into the Psychology (honours) degree, I was told that I would need to maintain a GPA of 5.5 (out of 7- for those unfamiliar with the Australian University grading system) in psychology related subjects to keep my spot in honours. I did not think this was going to be a challenge- as I said I got through year 12 “the hardest academic year of my life” fine… I remember getting my first grade at university back, for an elective subject and receiving a HD. My teachers were right- the next four years will be a breeze, I thought. In the very next class, on the same day I received my second grade. A P1! […]
You spend many hours at your desk so I believe having items on there that inspire you or make your day easier is important! Therefore, I thought it would be nice to show what is important on my desk and see if there are any similarities to other people’s work stations. “Ritzy” -The graduation puppy that my parents got me on […]
This weeks (13th) Wednesday Word of the Week is: extrapolate: Meaning to infer by using but not strictly deducing from known facts. #wedwordweek
The question “what do you want to be when you grow up” sends shivers down the spine of all senior high school students, as well as many, many adults! It is an important question and to answer it I think there are four things you need to do. 1) Really, really research your prospective career paths. This is particularly important if the jobs you are considering require courses (tafe, university etc.) which cost a lot of money and consume a lot of time. The type of questions you need to answer include; is there multiple job opportunities where you live (if you are not willing to travel), what do you actually have to do to get a job (for example to be a clinical psychologist in Australia you must complete a three year undergraduate degree, one honours year, two years of a masters degree + two years supervision- that is eight years of hard work and competition that many people are not aware of!), are there particular aspects of the job that will clash with your personality (for example academia research can be extremely critical, and if you are a person does not handle criticism well, that is something you would need to consider) and also what type of lifestyle does the job entail?… which leads me to my second point. 2) It is important to consider the type of lifestyle that you want. What I mean by this is your career has […]
This weeks (6th July) Wednesday Word of the Week is: Meretricious: Meaning flashy, gaudy, superficially attractive. #wedwordweek