In this solo episode, I talk about how I made a decision about what to do after my PhD program. I discuss how the end of a PhD is usually filled with a lot of uncertainty. I share how I learned about postdoc opportunities and found mine. I also provide some tips for PhD students as they approach the end of their own PhD journeys.
Episode Transcript
In this episode, I want to share a little bit about the end of my PhD journey. I think for most people the last 6 months to a year of the PhD is filled with a lot of uncertainty. You’ve been so focused on completing the many steps along the way-choosing your topic, forming your committee, defending your prospectus, writing your dissertation, that I remember it feeling a little surreal when the end was finally in sight.
My graduation date was originally planned for May 2019, but when I was able to conduct my last of three studies for my dissertation in the spring of 2018, I decided I wanted to shoot for a December 2018 graduation instead. There is usually some flexibility in PhD graduation dates, depending on the funding that you have or don’t have. It’s very common to add an extra semester or full year if your dissertation isn’t done in the allotted time period. At this point, since I had gone straight through from my bachelors to masters to PhD, I was very motivated to crank out my dissertation and start my next steps. So in the Spring of 2018, I finished my part-time CF in the schools, finally got my C’s, and conducted my final dissertation project in two public preschools.
At ASHA 2017, the one right before this hectic time period, I attended one of the round table discussions on postdoctoral fellowships, or postdocs. A postdoc is a position that you can pursue after receiving your PhD to gain additional research training before going into a faculty position. They are paid positions, but don’t pay as much as a faculty position. You work under a principal investigator in a lab that has funding to support your position, typically through grants. Postdoc positions vary from university to university, but most of them are 100% research or close to it. They are a time to work with someone else’s data to continue to refine your research skills, improve your academic writing, and/or learn a new skill or area of expertise. These positions are typically desirable if you are thinking about going into working at a research-intensive university. The extra time allows you to get your dissertation publications out as well as other publications using data from the new lab that you are in.
Before the ASHA round table, I had heard of postdocs, but at that point didn’t know much about them. Most of my committee members were encouraging me to apply for faculty positions instead of pursuing a postdoc. Postdoc positions are optional-you don’t need to do a postdoc to be successful in getting a faculty position in CSD, and it was their feeling that I was ready to go ahead and apply for a faculty position. Which I think was partly because I already taught a couple courses and had a few publications. I also wasn’t set on working at a research-intensive university, and was really enjoying both the teaching and research experiences that I was having during my PhD.
The roundtable was filled with lots of others that were in the same position as me, heading into their final phase of their PhD program. It was led by two CSD faculty members that had done postdocs and they were sharing their advice about whether or not it was worth doing one. They were very enthusiastic about the great opportunities that a postdoc provides. I left the roundtable feeling very much won over and was excited to start looking into postdoc opportunities after ASHA.
When I shared with my committee members that I wanted to apply to postdoc positions, they encouraged me to look for faculty members in CSD or education departments at various universities that were doing work that was interesting to me. And to send them an email asking if they had any postdoc positions available. At the time, there weren’t many postdoc positions posted, so I did a lot of cold emailing that Spring and wasn’t having much success. I was a little bit limited geographically which I think is an important thing to note because that’s the case for many people and can really play a factor in the decision to pursue a postdoc or not. Since postdoc positions are typically only for 1-3 years, I didn’t want my husband to have to get a new job for my postdoc period and then again shortly after when I moved on to my next position. So we agreed that I would only do a postdoc if we could find one within two hours of his current position. At the time we were living in between where his job was located in northern Virginia and where I was going to school in Harrisonburg, VA and thought we could make that work for a few more years if we needed to, depending on where the university would be. And then if I didn’t find a postdoc position over the summer or early fall, I planned to apply to faculty positions instead.
I met with my committee at the end of my Spring semester and shared that I hadn’t had any luck finding a lead on a postdoc position through my searches and cold emails. And one of my committee members at the meeting suggested a researcher that she knew that I should reach out to that had a large lab that may need a postdoc and was in the geographic area I was looking for. After the meeting I crafted an email to her contact and after sending my CV, was offered to come for a full-day interview at my current lab in the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.
The interview took place over the summer of 2018 and just a few weeks before our current lease was ending. Since I was done with classes and just writing my dissertation at this point, I didn’t need to travel down to Harrisonburg in the fall (which was an hour from my house), we were trying to decide where to move when the lease ended and needed to decide really soon.
I think postdoc interviews can vary in format, but I really did not know what to expect walking into mine. I received an agenda the week of the interview which detailed who I would meet with and what time. I also was asked to give a 45 minute talk about my research during the day to various clinicians and faculty at the center. Going into the interview, I didn’t know anything about the kinds of projects that I could work on because there wasn’t a postdoc position posted, so I mainly focused on reading some of the PI’s work, looking up the people on my agenda that I would meet with, researching the center, developing my talk, preparing for interview questions that I thought I could be asked, and creating a list of questions to ask while I was there.
The day before I drove up to the area to stay with a friend who lived outside of Baltimore. I remember being very nervous and staying up later than I should have going over my talk again and again. There was a big thunderstorm that night and the power went out. I remember having a huge headache, no doubt from the stress I was feeling, and barely slept at all. The next morning my agenda started with breakfast at a restaurant with the lab’s PI and I got stuck in traffic commuting into the city. I arrived a couple minutes late and was not happy that I wasn’t setting a positive first impression. However, we had a great conversation and things felt like they were off to a good start after that. I met with several different people throughout the day that told me about the various projects going on in the lab. I gave my talk in the afternoon after doing a few power poses in the bathroom and felt really good about it. There was a lot of community-based research going on in the lab which was work I really wanted more experience in and I felt like I could be a good fit for the position. Luckily, a week or so later I was offered the position and enthusiastically accepted. In the meantime, our landlord allowed us to extend our lease and things felt like they were looking up and getting a little more stable. I submitted my dissertation to my committee in September, defended in October, and graduated in December. Since I had a little bit of extra time, I also started working part-time at a pediatric private practice to get a little more clinical experience as well. I remember one of my committee members giving me advice to take at least a month off in-between graduation and starting my postdoc so I asked to start my postdoc 4 weeks after graduation. I was really grateful for that time, although I do remember getting a little stir crazy and making to-do lists for simple things like going to get the mail. It definitely was strange to go from such a fast-paced scramble to the finish line to having no work responsibilities at all.
I started my postdoc in the middle of January, the day after a large snow storm. I drove to work in Baltimore on a very pretty, snowy morning and felt like it was the sign of a new, fresh start. I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
I think everyone has their own set of personal factors that play into their decisions after graduation. And there’s really not one right choice to make about doing a postdoc or not. In certain fields, you really need to do one, but CSD isn’t one of them. When I’ve been asked if I think they should be required for CSD or if everyone should do one, I always say no. I don’t think they make sense for everyone. If your passion is teaching and you want to go to a teaching-intensive university, you probably won’t enjoy a postdoc at all because they often offer little-to-no teaching experiences. If you’ve had strong mentorship and writing experiences during your PhD, then you also probably don’t need one. And there aren’t a lot of these positions, so it’s just not practical for everyone to have to make the sacrifice of a big move for a lower paid, temporary position, depending on their personal and family situation.
For those that are in PhD programs, it’s never too early to start talking to your committee and mentors about your post-PhD plans. I found it really helpful to set up meetings with different faculty members in the department that pursued different paths after their PhDs (some postdoc, some that went straight into a faculty position). It was helpful to hear their reasoning for the decisions they made. I also recommend making an effort to network with people in the field outside of your program during your PhD program. I wish I had done more of that pre-PhD. I think it’s a great idea because you never know where those connections can lead or what opportunities they will lead to. One way to start doing this is to ask your mentors to introduce you to some of their colleagues at conferences. I always enjoy meeting more people in the field and think it’s a great thing to start doing as early as you can.
So, as a summary, the end of your PhD journey can be a stressful time. After having a very detailed plan for every semester of your PhD, this time can be filled with a lot of uncomfortable uncertainty. I think it’s never too early to start preparing for it and thinking about it. And I think it’s a time to try to stay open-minded about potential opportunities. Lean on your support system when you need them and know that all your hard work will pay off!
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