8 Proven Strategies to Ace Your Science or Engineering PhD

If you're looking for strategies to help you succeed in your engineering or science PhD, Caroline Boudoux's It Goes without Saying: Taking the Guesswork Out of Your PhD in Engineering has you covered. A professor of engineering physics at Polytechnique Montréal, Dr. Boudoux wrote the book she wished she could have read when she began her PhD. Here are eight key steps that drive her strategy.

1. Choose Your Thesis Supervisor Carefully

The quality of your relationship with your thesis supervisor is a good predictor of your success as a PhD student. Are they internationally renowned but rarely available? Are they the type who points out every mistake without suggesting solutions? Completing an internship or spending a few days in your prospective supervisor's lab before starting your degree is a great way to discover if their management style aligns with your needs. At the very least, meet the members of their team. If that's not an option, sit down together to lay out your expectations. If you're not making progress, consider suggesting co-supervision.

2. Put Some Thought into Your Career Goals

Before diving into your PhD, consider your career options. Since nine out of 10 people who complete their PhD don't become university professors, it's important to explore other paths. Pay attention to the work of PhDs you meet and ask them questions: How did they get their position? What do they wish they'd learned during their PhD? Which skills made them the best person for the job? Make a list of five or six skills to develop during your degree, such as leadership, management, and communication. Work toward them by teaching a course, working on a grant proposal, or taking an internship.

3. Write Yourself a Letter About Why You're Doing This

The discovery phase during the first year of your PhD can feel like a honeymoon period, but it doesn't last. Take the opportunity to write yourself a letter about why you're doing this. Maybe you want to invent a tool that will change the world. You can inject a sense of meaning back into what you're doing by rereading the letter during hard times.

4. Take Care of Your Mental Health

Pursuing a PhD can be very isolating, especially if you move abroad. Add other life stresses like a breakup or a sick parent, and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Meanwhile, your colleagues from undergrad might be landing good jobs or buying a house. Prioritize your mental health from the outset. PhD studies are intense, and it's hard to switch off. If you find yourself struggling, read your letter of motivation, but also talk to your thesis supervisor. They can direct you to the university's mental health resources.

5. Throw Yourself into Your Thesis Proposal

In your first year, you have to prepare a thesis proposal. This is when you really explore your topic and make it your own. Read everything that's been written on the subject, understand what different research groups are doing worldwide, and pinpoint what interests and skills you can bring to the topic.

6. Avoid Predatory Journals

Publishing your research findings is part of being a scientist. Make sure to submit to reputable journals. Reading multiple papers to grasp a journal's style will help with the writing process. Your paper may get rejected; it happens to everyone. But for a PhD student used to being at the top of their class, encountering failure can be challenging. It can be tempting to submit to a "predatory" journal with an expedited peer review process. These journals often reach out directly, but they create more trash than treasure. To identify reputable journals, ask your university librarians.

7. Create a Flexible Plan for Your Research Project

Set yourself up for success by planning out your work for the next five years — then adjust as you go. The first year is all about your thesis proposal, but still go to the lab and get up to speed on the research infrastructure. Ideally, obtain preliminary findings to integrate into your proposal. Plan to publish approximately three articles between years two and four. If your research runs aground, your thesis committee can help you pivot.

8. Write Your Chapters Around Your Articles

After four years, you'll have published a few articles. The final months will be spent writing the surrounding chapters: introduction, literature review, general discussion, and conclusion. Incorporate much of the work from your thesis proposal and scientific articles, but check out anything published since. The most challenging part is writing the articles themselves — that's the core of your thesis, your unique contribution to science.