<p>A lot of people assume that anyone with a certain level of intelligence is capable of getting a PhD, but there has to be more to it than that… So what are some of the necessary skills or qualities, aside from the ability to be admitted into a PhD program?
Conversely, what traits might hinder a person from completing their PhD? For example, shyness?</p>
<p>I’d say the biggest factor is self-motivation. If you don’t do it yourself, it’s not getting done. That means you have to figure out how to balance work and life, how to get the kind of advising you require, what you need to do to learn, etc. If there’s a major obstacle (there will be), you have to work it out yourself.</p>
<p>deferred gratification</p>
<p>I’d agree with the ability to delay gratification and definitely self-motivation. HUGE factors. You also need a strong sense of independence, a thick skin, a sense of personal balance (so you’re not either working 100% of the time or 0% of the time), some social support from family, friends, peers - or the ability to develop that support network. You do need a little gregariousness as networking is important for getting funding and jobs, but you don’t need to be the most outgoing person on the block. Also an ability to face adversity and come out on top, and a strong sense of optimism/positivity. Perseverance is another big one.</p>
<p>I don’t think shyness is a hindrance per se, unless you’re so shy that it prevents you from talking to people. The inability to rely on yourself and determine the best course of action can be a big hindrance, as doctoral students often have to figure out what to do on their own but your professors won’t necessarily tell you that explicitly. Also a strong sense of literalness - much of academic political language is coded, and you need to learn to talk the talk. Inability to work in an unstructured environment, or the personality trait of being a starter but not a finisher, will hurt you, too.</p>
<p>All the answers are good but I think that the most important thing is to have a passion for your subject as well as for research. If you don’t really know why you are getting a Ph.D. then your motivation may well suffer at some point when you are not earning as much as your friends in the workforce. Unless your career track requires a Ph.D. you won’t be doing it for the money…</p>
<p>I actually disagree with passion as a hard and fast rule. One of the most successful students in my program came in with the idea that he didn’t particularly care what his eventual thesis would be about, because he believes that once he starts digging in, he can develop a strong interest in anything. He was right! He’s working in an area that he had no background in or particular interest, but he’s killing it and professors value his opinion in the subject already. If you have that kind of a personality, you can go far without a specific passion for the subject, but you must be goal oriented to do so.</p>
<p>@rabbitstew - My point exactly, your colleague has a passion for doing research and his subject, he is simply able to have the same interest in a lot of things. I presume his choice was not between literature and engineering but different research subjects in a specific discipline. A good researcher often changes areas over the course of a career and can get interested in a lot of different things. However, if he/she is lukewarm about doing research then a Ph.D. is sort of pointless.</p>
<p>^Exactly what xraymancs said.</p>
<p>I think passion is a hard and fast rule, although you can think of passion more broadly. I don’t think you need to have passion in your specific sub-subfield - or passion for answering the small question you are answering at that particular time. But if you don’t have passion within your broader subarea, the motivation to work won’t stick around and you’ll get miserable. There are really tough times in graduate school during which motivation and passion are what’s going to carry you through.</p>
<p>It’s also just passion about research in general. If you’re just doing research because you can’t think of anything else to do - there are so many other interesting things that pay more and require fewer hours and much less work.</p>