Following advice was shared by Susan Banks in comments section at Life Of PhD Students In U.S. – Research Article
I am a student from Walden University working on my PhD in Human Services with an emphasis in criminal justice.
I have successfully completed three terms with them and will be starting a fourth soon.
My advice to anyone looking to begin the journey to a PhD is to first do the research on schools first.
- Check to see if they are accredited through the Department of Higher Education.
- Check to see if they have some kind of financial aid, college is not cheap.
Ask a lot of questions, call the school and speak with an admission adviser, better yet meet with them.
Begin to relearn how to write a good document for your future classes in a scholarly voice, making sure you give proper credit to your sources.
Leave out words like can’t, won’t and so on.
Take a statistics class you will need it in order to better understand quantitative research.
A PhD program is all about the research. Forget all you learned in your master degree program on research.
You will learn everything you need to know in your classes.
Lastly, have fun, it is a wild ride but one you will enjoy fully.
Some programs require a residency or two. Take fully advantage of them if they do.
Meet people and get to know them, they could be the key to your success.
Get to know the professors that teach you class, keep them on speed dial in your cell, home phones.
