Are You a Frustrated PhD Student? Read this Post.

Whenever I read in this subreddit stories about frustrated PhD students, I think of my own PhD program experience. My dissertation focused on the roles of literacy and literacy education in the antebellum autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Henry Bibb, and Harriet Jacobs. My research was interdisciplinary. I examined these autobiographies as works of literature, case studies in African American literacy and literacy education, and as historical and cultural artefacts.

My committee members were not experts on this topic. My chair was a children's literature expert. My co-chair specialized in disciplinary literacy and my methods person knew something about William Lloyd Garrison and the American abolitionist movement of the 1830s. In other words, my methods person know a bit about the historical context of my research.

In this situation, I became the expert who then had to display this expertise to my committee. I could not rely on my chair to steer me in the right direction. I had to connect the dots in my literature review. I had to decide on the theoretical framework that would describe the data and provide cohesion to the overall dissertation. I had to design and implement my own data collection and analysis method with no significant input from my chair and committee.

With no input from the chair and committee, I had to create, rehearse, and present my research. Having read dozens of previous dissertations and having attended at least 10 defenses, I choose to tell a compelling narrative that used my data as characters and plot points. During the defense, I explicitly defended my choice of topic, research questions, theoretical framework, and methods. My presentation lasted 25 minutes. The question and answer session lasted 10 minutes. My committee had few questions - because I had addressed most potential questions during my presentation.

Neither my chair nor my committee guided me through this process. I produced PhD level research independently. I often struggled as I learned. I struggled to the point that I tried to quit my program three times before I graduated in 2023. I doubted myself frequently because no one on the committee could guide me. Outside of proof-reading my dissertation, my chair provided no substantive feedback on dissertation structure and content. I went through frustrating trials and errors before I produced a tight and cohesive dissertation.

Having gone through this gauntlet to produce a tight and cohesive dissertation, I absolutely understand why PhD students quit their programs. I understand the need to apparently "scream into the void" of this subreddit. I've been there. I've had those sleepless nights. I had gone through some mental health issues. I've been there and done that.

I understand.

Seriously. I do.