By Elizabeth Horton @liz.thescientist
Your last term as a DPhil student can be hectic! During mine, I was finalising the last experiments, writing my thesis, attending presentation days, giving talks, going to weddings/hen weekends and fielding postdoctoral interviews.
My main advice for how to manage this busy time is timetabling. I block booked hours in my calendar for certain events: such as one hour dedicated to a certain experiment, a couple of hours for a literature search, a long weekend booked off for seeing friends. This really helped with time management and ensures you are able to juggle and manage all of your responsibilities.
It is also helpful to list priorities in order. For example, it might be important to finish a certain experiment before you can write up, or maybe writing a talk or making a poster has a high importance in your timeline. Writing numbered priorities keeps you on track, manages your goals and helps to prevent “productive procrastination”.
Lastly, don’t put too much pressure on yourself, as it is easy to become overwhelmed and burnt out! It is just as important to take some time off and schedule some recreational activities to refresh your mind and prevent burnout.
If you’re thinking about applying for a DPhil at Oxford or approaching your final terms – good luck!