Top 10 Things Humphrey PhD Alumni Wish They Had Done More

Take more methods courses. Note that “more methods courses” does not mean more statistical or economics courses. It is about learning alternative ways of knowing, e.g., learning about more research tools such as survey design, participatory action research, and qualitative focus groups; more data analysis and visualization tools such as GIS, R, and Python.

Do more community-engaged work. Note that post-PhD work often goes beyond analyzing pre-existing secondary data. Trying to do more community-engaged work during PhD study would help with skill development.

Take more courses outside of the Humphrey School. Note that many employment opportunities exist outside the specific field of your PhD study. Having exposure to other course work will help you develop more interdisciplinary research skills that are needed for many job opportunities outside the specific field of your PhD study.

Make more professional connections and establish a larger support network. This can be done by attending academic conferences and actively identifying presentation opportunities at other events as well. It is important to make your work as visible as possible in professional networks.

Emphasize the practicality of the thesis work. It would be beneficial if the thesis work can readily generate publishable papers. It is highly recommended that you work with the committee members in the early stage of the thesis and plan out the papers to be generated by your thesis work.

Explore opportunities to join low-hanging projects. Although independent projects are important, joining low-hanging projects that students have opportunities to work within a large team means more opportunities to generate a large volume of research products. The joint work could make students more competitive on the job market.

Develop non-academic writing skills, e.g., skills to write high-impact tweets and blog pieces. These skills are important in post-PhD work as everyone needs to promote their own work and make the work more visible.

Make better notes for the readings you read. Often, your post-PhD work involves going back to the readings you read. If you had made good notes for these readings, you will not need to keep re-reading them after graduation.

Develop project management skills. With a PhD degree, you are more likely to manage a research team rather than working as a pure researcher after your graduation. It is highly recommended to identify resources (e.g., courses and workshops) at the University that could help you to develop project management skills.

Make time to socialize with your cohort. You will find that peer students in your cohort will be your lifelong supporters and cheerleaders. Do not miss out the opportunities to socialize during your PhD study.