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Waiting to Get Your Dissertation Accepted?
Last Updated on: 12th June 2024, 03:22 am
The dissertation is one of the longest and most difficult projects you will ever undertake.
In a perfect world, the dissertation committee that you are working with should be able to fulfill all of your doctoral needs. Whether you need help with motivation, career guidance, working out methodology questions, or finalizing your research questions, ideally you would be able to turn to your chair or another committee member. However, as the ChronicalVitae points out, this does not always happen.
Why?
There can be a number of reasons why you are not getting the support you’re seeking. It can be as simple as your committee members being overloaded. Committee members have little control over when students send them questions or materials to review, and often they’re bombarded at semester deadlines. If you’re needing help at these times, your professors may simply be buried under all that paperwork.
Some colleges pay their professors in ways that incentivize interaction with students, and others don’t. A professor who feels underpaid and receives no real compensation for answering students’ questions or reviewing their work may eventually feel resentful and therefore slowly become less available for these tasks.
For some professors, answering too many student questions or offering motivational support can feel like a disservice. Some faculty consider it their duty to encourage students to “go it alone” and figure out their own problems, as an initiation into independent scholarship.
A Remedy
There are practical reasons to use a dissertation coach. Advice from someone who’s helped dozens of students through the process, and who knows the requirements and “language of academia,” will save you time and wasted effort.
There are psychic and emotional reasons to use a dissertation coach too. Being supported through this lonely process can be a wonderful thing. Many people go down a rabbit hole of despair or experience impostor syndrome. A good dissertation coach can help with these feelings.
However, there are also purely economic reasons to hire a dissertation coach.
Namely: a dissertation coach can help you finish faster, saving you valuable tuition money. This also allows you to start your postdoctoral career sooner.
Here’s why a dissertation coach can help save you money.
Students Get Lost
The huge issue faced by most doctoral students has to do with an understanding of the process. This is almost everyone’s first time writing a dissertation, and it is a very involved process. It’s easy to get lost in the process and lose your way. When that happens, it can be difficult to get back on track.
A good dissertation coach can help you find your way back out of the weeds. You’ll have someone to tell you whether your research question matches your study design, how to round out your literature review, and when to use which methodology.
These conversations prevent the “piling on” effect of multiple problems that can lead to frustration and overwhelm: the culprits that prevent many candidates from graduating.
Efficiency
One of the perils of working alone doing something that you have never done before is that you can create practices and systems that are inefficient. A good coach can help you set up ways of working that support rapid progress and quickly clarify areas of confusion so that you can do the work you signed up to do.
Committee Relations
A good coach should have experience serving on a number of different dissertation committees. Such a coach will quickly discern the dynamics among your committee members, based on your report and their comments on your submissions. Together, you and your coach can then devise a strategy for effective communication with your chair and each committee member.
Having a guide/partner on your side during this process can be quite comforting. In addition to providing support, your coach, having been there before, should be able to help you navigate the turgid waters of committee member relations and (at times) the posturing that can come with them.
Safety
With a good coach, you’ll feel comfortable saying anything or asking any question without fear of reprisal. Many students have been “burned” by asking a question they were told was stupid or inappropriate. A good coach accepts you where you are and helps you move forward.
It can also be nice just to vent to your coach. Everyone understands how difficult it is to be in your position, with so many people holding your future in their hands. A good coach will be a good and empathetic listener when you’re feeling frustrated.
Dollars and Cents
All of the previous reasons can be translated into you moving forward faster. Having someone on your side who helps you through the process can definitely save you money and time. For example, if you work with a coach for 6 months who charges you $250 per month, that is $1,500. If that work saves you just one term that costs $3,000, you have saved $1,500. If it saves you two terms, your savings doubles to $3,000.
Your savings can be much higher than that even, as your coach can also help with publishing, job searches, interview protocols, and presentation practice sessions, all of which add to your value as a future employee.
Don’t forget that half of all PhD students fail to complete their degree. Think of all the money wasted if you can’t stay motivated or if your proposal meets denial after denial. Having a coach can prevent a colossal waste of time and money by mentoring you through this very arduous process.
Conclusion
If you have found a highly involved chair and committee, consider yourself lucky. If you are looking for additional support, an experienced dissertation coach can help you clear the hurdles, stay on track, complete your degree, and save you money in the process.
