[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":88},["ShallowReactive",2],{"answers-\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life":3,"answers-cluster-phd-life":42,"answers-related-\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life":87},{"id":4,"title":5,"answer":6,"body":7,"cluster":23,"description":24,"extension":25,"faq":26,"heading":27,"intro":28,"kind":29,"meta":30,"navigation":31,"order":32,"outbound":33,"path":34,"primaryQuery":6,"product":35,"related":36,"seo":37,"sources":38,"stem":39,"updated":40,"__hash__":41},"answers\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life.md","Surviving and Finishing the PhD","",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":20},"minimark",[10,14,17],[11,12,13],"p",{},"A doctorate is a long project run by one person with very little feedback, which is a structure almost guaranteed to produce isolation, drift, and the suspicion that everyone else has understood something you have not.",[11,15,16],{},"The pages in this cluster carry no product pitch, because a page about imposter syndrome that ends in a sales note would deserve to be closed. They cover what a supervision relationship should look like and what to do when it does not, how research procrastination differs from ordinary procrastination, how to plan a timeline that survives contact with reality, and how to recover one that has already slipped.",[11,18,19],{},"The viva pages are the practical ones. What examiners are actually testing, the questions that come up in almost every viva, how to defend a methodological choice you would now make differently, and what the outcome categories mean, including the one everyone fears and few experience.",{"title":6,"searchDepth":21,"depth":21,"links":22},4,[],"phd-life","Supervision that is not working, procrastination, imposter syndrome, a timeline that has slipped, the viva itself, and deciding what comes after.","md",[],"Surviving and finishing the PhD","These questions get typed late at night and answered badly by the internet, usually with encouragement instead of information. Here you get the information first.","cluster",{},true,0,[],"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life",null,[],{"title":5,"description":24},[],"answers\u002Fphd-life","2026-08-06","Up4bDp5KGurtmNSjfnTORccBAXtB6WIL-6e8b2D86qc",[43,48,53,58,62,67,72,77,82],{"path":44,"heading":45,"description":46,"order":47},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fprepare-for-a-phd-viva","How do I prepare for a PhD viva?","What to do in the weeks before a PhD viva, the questions that come up in almost every one, how long a viva lasts, and what to take into the room.",1,{"path":49,"heading":50,"description":51,"order":52},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fdefend-your-methodology-in-a-viva","How do I defend my methodology in a viva?","How to defend methodological choices under examination, what to say about a decision you would now make differently, and how to handle a question you cannot answer.",2,{"path":54,"heading":55,"description":56,"order":57},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fwhat-happens-if-a-viva-goes-badly","What happens if you fail a PhD viva?","What the possible outcomes of a PhD viva actually mean, how common major corrections are, and what happens in the rare case of an outright fail.",3,{"path":59,"heading":60,"description":61,"order":21},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fimposter-syndrome-in-a-phd","How do I deal with imposter syndrome during a PhD?","Why imposter feelings are so common in doctoral study, whether feeling like a fraud is normal, and which responses actually reduce it rather than feeding it.",{"path":63,"heading":64,"description":65,"order":66},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fstop-procrastinating-on-your-phd","How do I stop procrastinating on my PhD?","Why research procrastination is different from ordinary procrastination, what usually causes it, and the smallest useful way to restart when nothing is moving.",5,{"path":68,"heading":69,"description":70,"order":71},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fwhen-your-supervisor-is-not-supportive","What do I do when my PhD supervisor is not supportive?","What to do when supervision is not working, how to run a supervision meeting that produces something, and when changing supervisor is the right decision.",6,{"path":73,"heading":74,"description":75,"order":76},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fplan-a-realistic-phd-timeline","How do I plan a realistic PhD timeline?","How to build a doctoral timeline you can actually keep, which stages reliably take longer than planned, and how to recover a schedule that has already slipped.",7,{"path":78,"heading":79,"description":80,"order":81},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fwrite-an-academic-cv","How do I write an academic CV for a postdoc application?","What belongs in an academic CV for a postdoc application, what order the sections go in, and how to handle a thin publication list without apologizing for it.",8,{"path":83,"heading":84,"description":85,"order":86},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fpostdoc-or-industry","Should I do a postdoc or go to industry after my PhD?","How to decide between a postdoc and an industry role after a doctorate, what the decision actually hinges on, and whether you can return to academia later.",9,[],1786014765368]