93: A Delay is Okay: 10 Reasons Your PhD Program May Take Longer Than Expected

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Welcome, everyone. I hope that this recording ends up going smoothly, because it's my second time- technically actually, my third time because as soon as I started my son walked in on me recording and I stopped. Then I started recording again, nd right in the middle of it- I don't know, ten, fifteen minutes in- my computer died. I should have had it plugged in- my bad. I guess the third time is the charm. Today I'm going to be talking to you about dissertation delays- ten reasons your PhD may take longer than expected.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I know that last week, I was a little bit out of it, because I think the nerves were getting to me with applying for a visa to hopefully get my family abroad. It was a combination of it being a difficult week and circumstances making it so that I wasn't able to have a guest speaker. Anyway, I got stuck and I decided to talk about that. This week, I'm not stuck. This week, I was thinking about how there are so many reasons someone might have a delay in completing their PhD. And these delays sometimes actually push people out, sometimes make it so that people don't finish their programs. I think it's really important- especially because a lot of y'all that listen to me, thankfully, have been able to successfully get into graduate school, and you're just starting grad school right now. I think it's important to know what are some of the things that might come up for you in your journey that could cause a delay. And to also remind you that a delay is okay. In fact, that was something I was thinking about titling this episode- a delay is okay, ten reasons your PhD may take longer than expected. I'm not sure if I'm gonna name it that or just dissertation delays.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

But long story short, your program might be publicized as being a five, six, seven year program, but in actuality, you may be finding that some folks take longer than that It's also useful to know what is the maximum amount of time that you could potentially stay in your program without jeopardizing your time there and without making it so that you could potentially be asked to leave because you take too long. Anyway, long story short. I want you to have an idea of some potential things that could come up for you. Then I also want to- after going through the ten things- share a couple of insights into things that you could do to be proactive about it and to potentially minimize delays for you in your timeline in the future.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So reason number one. This mostly applies to PhD programs- although for some of you and Master's programs, it could affect you too- is lack of funding, lack of fellowship years, which means you're having to pick up extra jobs. You're having to pick up extra TA-ships, RA-ships, part time jobs to make ends meet. You cannot dedicate your time solely to completing your research. That's a really, really common thing, especially I know of some folks who will get a full funding package for a PhD program. But the majority of their package includes TA ships. And one thing you may not realize if you haven't been a TA before is that when you're a TA, you may get a 25 percent time 10 hours a week, 50 percent time 20 hours a week TA-ship.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

But even though they're paying you for that amount of time, it's really easy for you to take a lot longer than that. You could potentially make your TA ship a full time job, especially if it's your first time TA-ing, your first time doing the curriculum development, your first time lesson planning, your first time holding office hours, your first time grading and giving feedback. It can be very time consuming, especially for those of us that care a lot about the content that we're teaching, the students that we're teaching about, to go out of your way and take extra time every week to serve the students that you're teaching. So lack of funding, lack of fellowship years, extra TA-ships or extra part time jobs of any kind- that takes away time from your research, which then could potentially lengthen the amount of time it takes you to finish your PhD.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Alright, reason number two has to do- and there are a couple of reasons I'm going to mention that have to do with your research, especially things that happen outside of your control when it comes to your research. The first one is if you're doing STEM based, lab based experimental type of research, experiments fail. What happens if your experiment fails?You got to start all over. And it fails again- you got to start all over. You see how every time you're setting up the experiments, setting up the procedures, getting all the materials you need, the supplies, the instruments, and machinery, etc. All of that takes time. You could run into delays in your experiment, delays in getting access to instruments, supplies, etc, getting the funding to be able to gather all of the materials too. And then also with COVID, there were delays in even getting access to labs. If don't have access to the lab, you can't do the research, which means you can't analyze the data. You can't gather the data to then analyze it to then write the dissertation. You see what I mean? These are all things outside of your control related to just an inability to get the research done the way that you imagined it would get done.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Reason number three- a couple of the reasons I'm gonna mention have to do with your research and things outside of your control. Other reasons I'm going to mention have to do with your advisor and the support that you get from them. This one- reason number three- is lack of supervision and hands on support from your advisor. This, unfortunately, is really common. And then kind of hand in hand with that is lack of clear communication with your advisor. I can imagine that this happens easily because professors are really busy. They've got their own lives. They've got their own requirements that they need to meet, whether they're trying to get tenure, they're trying to go up another step, they're trying to get promoted from associate professor to full professor and so on. They've got other grants they've got. They might be a director of a center. They might be the chair of a department. They have a lot going on.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So if they are the advisor on multiple different dissertations, it's easy for them to not always be hands on, not always be there to check up on you regularly, to communicate with you regularly. So it's really up to you to ensure that that's happening. If you don't have clear communication with your advisor, then that means that you're going to have lack of clarity- lack of clarity with your milestones, with deadlines, with your timeline. You could be feeling more isolated. The relationship that you have with your advisor is very important, and a lack of hands on support from them could cause delays for you.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Again, going back to the supervisors, sometimes supervisors take a while to give you feedback. If you get delays in receiving feedback from your advisor, delays in getting chapters greenlighted from your advisor, that is going to affect your timeline. Let me give you an example. Let's say you are in the quarter system in a PhD program, and you have this idea in your head that when you advance the candidacy and you're a PhD candidate, you finish your exams, all you have to do is write a dissertation. Pretty straightforward right? You think to yourself, I'm going to write one chapter per quarter and I'm going to have my dissertation done in - I don't know- two years. It's a chapter per quarter, so you're gonna write four or five chapters, and then you're done, right?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Well, what if your advisor takes a whole extra quarter to give you feedback. Maybe you send them the chapter draft at the end of the quarter, and then they don't get it to you until midterms the next quarter. And by the time you work on your revisions and get it green lighted by them, it's the end of the next quarter. So all of a sudden, it's taking you two and a half quarters to finish one chapter. Then a year is three quarters- fall, winter, spring. All of a sudden, you go from oh, I'll be done in two years to I'll be done in three, four or five years. You see what I mean? Your timeline can get delayed so easily if you don't get quick feedback, and if you're not quick to make the revisions that your advisor gives you.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

And sometimes you're having to get feedback from your committee members too. Some committee members are really active and want to help and support you and give you feedback- and care about what you write, what you say, and how it will reflect on them because they're signing off on your dissertation. Keep that in mind is. If you receive delays in feedback, .that could affect your timeline. And some of that is out of your hands. Focus on what is in your control, which is how quickly you can get revisions back to your advisor.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Reason number five- it's very near and dear to me. It's having dependents, whether it's having a baby, babies, having elders, parents, other individuals that you have to care for. That could affect your timeline. It could affect your timeline if- let's say we're just going through the pandemic, and a bunch of us had zero childcare. I still have zero childcare right now. It's so hard to get work done with no childcare. It's so hard to get work done- I was recently taking care of my mom, who just went through back surgery. It's a lot of work to take care of others. Just keep that in mind- if you have a dependent or multiple dependents, it may affect your timeline. A

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Reason number six is undergoing health issues, whether it's mental, physical health, any other kind of health issues. They might require you taking time, whether it's a little bit of time off, or taking an entire quarter, semester, year leave of absence. Life happens in grad school. I can't stress that enoug. Life happens in grad school, because you're going to be in your PhD program for five, six, seven plus years. You're going to be a completely different person from the moment you start your program to the moment you end. So don't be surprised if things come up.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Reason number seven is related to this. It's- you might have a major life event happen while in grad school. And there's all kinds of major life events- whether it's the whole dependent thing- you have a baby like I did- or maybe you're experiencing the death of a loved one, or maybe you are experiencing a sudden loss of income, or a separation with a romantic partner, or climate related disaster. Who knows what else could potentially happen? Hopefully, these things don't happen to you. But again, life happens in grad school. You never know what you might face. and that could cause a delay- understandably so.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Reason number eight- going back to your research- is if you your work involves fieldwork. Fieldwork could cause delays in your timeline, because what happens if you can't travel? What happens if there's delays in your travel? What happens if you have to completely switch your topic because you were relying on field work that you can no longer do? What if you go through delays in getting your human subjects approval, delays in getting your IRB approval? All of these things can delay your timeline.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Reason number nine- we're getting close to the last one. Reason number nine is a little bit on you and a little bit on your advisor and a little bit on your program. But it's unclear planning and no time management. Sometimes it's on you. You're struggling with your own time management, struggling with meeting deadlines and milestones. Sometimes it's not on you. Sometimes things come up for you in your program that you had no idea, nobody warned you about. You had no idea that something was going to take as long as it did. You had no idea about the writing process, and you didn't realize how long it would take to write a dissertation. You didn't plan for the revisions, or you didn't plan for the edits. You didn't plan for the delays in getting feedback. See what I mean? It's the planning and the time management that is getting in the way.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Reason number 10 - this one's really common and I don't think it's spoken about enough. It's not getting an academic job and needing to stay another year as a graduate student so that you can maintain your income as a student, whether it's as an RA, as a TA so that you can maintain your health insurance for another year. A big reason why people stay in the grad programs an extra year when they don't get an academic job is that they want to remain competitive. There is this hidden- what is it - expectation or realization that the longer it takes between the moment that you get your PhD and the moment that you get a tenure track job, the longer it takes, the less competitive you are. So if you're more far removed from having gotten your PhD to then getting a tenure track job, then your chances of getting it decrease.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

A lot of times individuals say or will encourage you to stay ABD, to stay as a doctoral candidate, to stay as a student, so that you can seem more competitive because you're still fresh. You're still going to be recently out of grad school with new ideas, etc. That is deemed more competitive. So a lot of folks stay as a student, because they want to have an extra year to then reapply for the academic job market, and hopefully get that coveted postdoc, tenure track job a year later. Or some folks, they don't land a full time job and they want the safety net- even though you don't make a lot of money as a grad student, just the safety net of keeping up with your health, having access to health insurance, and having access to some income through- like I said- TA-ships, RA-ships. That happens a lot. It comes up time and time again. I don't think it's spoken about enough, especially if you're early on in your grad program. You may not realize that this is happening, and this is why some folks haven't graduated yet in your program.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Now I'm going to talk about a couple of things that you could potentially do to help minimize delays. Again, if you take longer, there's no shame in that. I know I took longer to graduate in my program among my cohort. But if there are things you can do, why not, right? To try to get done and finish quicker and move on to the next thing in your life. The first thing is establishing good communication with your advisor right away. Why do I say this? Because the earlier you do this, the better off you'll be. Your relationship with your advisor can make or break your experience in grad school. So make sure that you establish clear lines of communication and expectations about how you're going to work together.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Another thing you can do is if you are realizing that this is not a good fit between your and your advisor, consider switching advisors early on. This will help avoid a lot of headaches in the future. If you already have an idea that it's not going to work out and you are struggling and again, no clear communication, you might be better off switching advisors. The longer you wait to switch advisors, the more complicated it can be, especially as you're navigating exams and other milestones. So consider switching your advisors early on if you think that it will benefit you and that there might be a person who is better for you in the way that you want to be supported in grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Another thing you can do is to try to create a realistic timeline. Sometimes the timelines that your grad program provide for you are a bit accelerated and not realistic for you. So if you can create a more realistic timeline- even if it means that you already know early on, you're going to take an extra year or two than other people. So long as you can justify it, have clear lines of communication with your advisor, have a very clear idea how long it's going to take you to complete your courses, your exams, gather your data, work on your dissertation, you should be able to get support on that. It'll make you feel a lot better to know what your own timeline is. Instead of feeling like you're always behind, you're right on track according to your timeline.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Next thing you can do is keep applying for fellowships. Why? Some folks- maybe they have full funding and they don't think they need to apply for fellowships. But the more funding that you can get, the more options to have a fellowship year and to not have to be working so much, so that you have more time to dedicate to your research. So don't forget to just keep applying for fellowships throughout your graduate program.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Another thing you can do- we've got a couple more things. I'm gonna say three more. The next thing you can do is make sure you identify resources and forms of structural support within your institution. What do I mean by that? I mean, say you're graduate student parent. Are their forms of child care available? Is there a childcare stipend available or scholarship available at your institution? If so, take advantage of it. Take advantage of subsidized daycare, of a scholarship to help you pay for a babysitter. Take advantage of access to mental health services, access to therapy, support groups. Maybe there's a writing center at your institution - working with a writing consultant for free, taking advantage of writing workshops. Basically figure out what is available to you as a student and take advantage of those resources to help you manage grad school and your grad school expectations.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

The second to last thing I'm going to say is- this is important actually, and it's important to find this out right away. You want to know what is the maximum amount of time allowed in your program? So at what point would your program ask you to leave because you've taken too long? Maybe it's at year eight, or year nine, or year ten. And then what are reasons that you can potentially petition to take extra time? Maybe it is eight, nine years, or maybe it's ten years. But maybe they make exceptions because of COVID, or because of having a baby, or because of whatever life event happened and they have a petition for it. It's just good to know your options. It's good to have this information. Not necessarily- that doesn't mean that you might need it, but it's just always good to know.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Then the last thing I want to remind you, especially if you're a more advanced graduate student struggling with getting to the finish line. A lot of us have heard this, but again, I want to stress it. It's reminding yourself that a good dissertation is a done dissertation. Sometimes we get bogged down with writing, and feeling like- my writing is terrible. My research is terrible. I am stuck. I don't know what to do. I'm ashamed of what I worked on, and I don't know how I'm gonna get this to the stage where I can finish and file. But just remind yourself that all it has to do is just be good enough. If it's good enough for your advisor, for your committee members- even if there's a lot of issues, but you can tackle them in whatever way is reasonable within your timeline. Again, it doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to necessarily be publishable quite yet. You'll publish it later. If you want to become a professor, publish it as a book, you can worry about that later.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

But for now figure out what is good enough to get you to finish and file. Alright, y'all. That is everything I have to say about dissertation delays. It's important to know the things that could get in the way, and it's important to normalize it, because not everybody finishes quote unquote on time according to what's expected. But if you determine what your own timeline is, make sure that it's within the parameters of what's allowed in your program, and you access support and help, you'll get it done. I'll talk to you all next time.