by Ndidi Ngwuluka

Created on: January 26, 2009

Taking a PhD is a step many desire but only a few take the plunge. Many go through undergraduate programs, some do get to masters' degree while a fewer number complete the programme. Then much less pursue a PhD programme out of which some do not finish in record time and some abandon the programme.

Depending on the school, you may spend the first year writing a research proposal. The time frame for writing proposal and research wok depends on the student and supervisor. You may be motivated to get proposal ready early enough but your supervisor may be too busy to give you the required attention. So you may find yourself spending the whole year just writing proposal.

However, before registration and proposal, there is the challenge of funding. If you are like me who initially felt she had to be certain of funding before taking the plunge, then you would spend some years searching for full sponsorship. Funding is indeed an issue especially when you have laboratory work to do apart from the literature research and writing. You would be concerned not just for tuition, accommodation and maintenance but also bench fee (money to purchase materials for laboratory work) which can be a lot depending on your research topic and area. Perhaps you may decide to take the plunge after you have gotten tuition fee and luckily, your supervisor has offered to fund the running cost of the research.

Then you register and start the writing of proposal which would be submitted for approval. If you were unlucky, your supervisor was too busy to ensure a proper write up, you submit, only for the postgraduate committee to reject your proposal and you start all over again. Or you may find out that you have a difficult supervisor and at some point you begin to consider quitting. Also if you are married, the battle of trying to strike a balance between your family and research becomes overwhelming and you consider giving up. If you are working on a relatively new topic, availability of enough literature to work with becomes a challenge. Sometimes, in the course of the laboratory work you encounter break down of equipment and lack of necessary materials. There certainly will be diverse kinds of challenges.

However, remember, whatever may be your challenges in the course of your study, there is a light at the end of the tunnel so don't give up but hang in there. It may take a while before you see the light but you will surely see it.

Firstly, have a mindset that the road may be rough but you will

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