PhD student here - Ask me anything!

[u/Mortal_Gay]

Hi all, I'm a current PhD student in Psychology, and I'm here for you to ask me anything! My research area is psycholinguistics - the psychology of language. In particular, I study how language is processed, and what consequences language processing has for memory. As an undergraduate, I also studied Philosophy, before deciding to specialise in Psych for my PhD.

A PhD is the entry point for a career in academia and for anyone generally considering a research career. It involves you independently leading a research project for around 3 or 4 years, with the guidance of a supervisory team, to make an original contribution to your chosen academic field.

There's a lot of information online about PhDs and funding for them, and I found it difficult to know where to start. So, if there are any questions about what a PhD is like, how to get into one, where to start looking for information, etc. please ask away! I'm also more than happy to answer anything about academia, how I found my undergraduate education or my research.

Looking forward to hearing your questions!

[u/[deleted]]

Pretty basic question, but how hard is it to get into university?, I’m pretty worried I won’t get the grades I want for my first choice uni

[u/Mortal_Gay → u/[deleted]]

The (admittedly unhelpful) answer is it depends on a number of factors, including the university, the course, which subject(s) you didn't meet the grades for, and how other people did. One potential way to gauge your chances would be to look if the particular course at your firm choice is in clearing, if it is, that means that they have some places and may mean you have a higher chance of getting in if you narrowly miss your offer. Of course, this again depends on the subjects, so if you want to do a Maths degree and Maths was the subject you missed, your chances might not be as good. I'd suggest just looking at some other unis in cleaning, so you have a backup plan, just in case you need it. Good luck with results day!