PhD Coaching Blog — Future Direction

I have a testimonials page, and I proudly share the kind words from the graduate students who achieve their goals with my help. But today I thought I'd share an entire email from a recent graduate (with his permission), to celebrate his achievements and my satisfaction in contributing to them.  I worked with this candidate for more than a year from early drafts of chapters to reviewing the entire thesis for submission.  His success in earning his PhD gives me great joy and I hope that his achievement encourages others to keep going and get it done.  This particular email...

In the 20th century, graduate students spent all their time at a university, learning how to conduct research and master academic writing.  In this 21st century, students have come to rely more on robot-supported aids, and AI, to try and improve their skills.  But now there is a move towards writing without AI. What does this mean for coaches like me?

This is the time to wish all graduate and doctoral students a very happy and successful time in 2025! Most of you have been working away at your dissertations for many years, and so if you're near the end, I hope this is the year you will finish your program and graduate.  However, if you're not at the end of the journey yet, I hope that 2025 is a year of great progress and positive results.    I haven't posted for a while because, frankly, the last six months of 2024 has been very stressful for me  personally, with a...

I keep this little statue on my book shelf, and as you can see she's looking out at the world in which I live.  I bought her many decades ago when I was making changes in my life and it suited my mood at the time. Contemplative. Today, I was looking at it again and realized that it's just as relevant now as it was earlier in my life and career.  So I moved it from a lower shelf to give it pride of place on the top shelf to help me focus on what I'm going to do next.  ...