When you are on the path for your doctorate degree, you already expect that you’ll have a lot of demands. The grueling courses, excessive studying hours, and dissertation planning are all part and parcel of the life of a PhD student. In fact, the many requirements of a doctorate degree go even further than your grades.

As a doctoral student, you’ll have a residency requirement, too. This part is important so you can learn in depth in your field of study, but it’s also a great opportunity for networking. When you take full advantage of your residency, you have a better chance for success in your future career. As you meet people and connect with them, you’re building a network that will come in handy, and you’ll also compound your knowledge with information that will aide you in the process of completing your dissertation and understanding your subject on a whole new level.

Why a PhD Comes With So Many Expectations

A PhD degree isn’t for everyone. It requires a full immersion into the life of an academic as you attempt to meet all of the expectations, starting with admission and ranging through post-graduation as you attempt to stay relevant in your field.

To start, the admission process for a Ph.D. is a formal one. Candidates have to be admitted to their degree program and accepted by a panel. Not every applicant is approved, so the admission procedures are often accompanied with stress and high pressure.

Once you are admitted, residency is a time-consuming requirement. During this period, an equivalent of three full-time academic years of study post-bachelor’s degree, you are taking courses and embarking on knowledge retention in your field of study. In some cases, those who come into their program with a master’s degree only have to go through two full-time academic years of study.

In order to advance to the candidacy stage, all of the institution’s requirements for the Ph.D. degree other than the dissertation must be completed. At that time, the department or program of study heads will approve or disapprove of the advancement. An approval has to be then certified by the Registrar. You will likely need a preliminary exam and a final exam or defense before you are approved.

The final step in obtaining your degree is your dissertation. This is based on a topic in your field of specialization and is the cumulative result of years of research. Through this final paper, you’ll show off your scholarship and knowledge of your subject. The dissertation has to be approved by the professor or the committee that directed you and then by the Graduate Council. Typically, this process takes five years or less after your advancement to candidacy. If it is longer than five years, your previous requirements may no longer be valid.

Because of the high expectations required to obtain your degree, it’s important to take advantage of your residency and use it to your best benefits.

The Purpose of Residencies in Networking

The two main types of residencies are first-year and second-year. Each stage is full of opportunities for you to take advantage of that will be essential in your future career, but the chance to build your network is one of the most important.

When you’re in a face-to-face residency beyond any courses, especially in the predominantly online education system of today, you have the chance to share ideas with others and interact professionally. With the doctoral residency, you build a connection between your peers, the community, and the faculty. These connections help you expand your network even beyond the immediate people you know. When you’re alumni of a school and participate in the institution’s events, you can speak with students and mentor and inspire them, but during your residency you get to be on the receiving end of this interaction, learning from those who have already become successful in your field.

Part of residencies is giving students the opportunity to learn more about their subject, but fostering the soft skills of intercommunication and network building is going to be, ultimately, one of the most important things you can learn.

Use Impactio to Maximize Your Scholarly Reputation

There are times when you will be on the receiving end of garnering information, and other times when you will be the expert tasked with explaining your subject. When you network well and have an impactful scholarly reputation, you will already have a following that sees you as knowledgeable. Another way to boost your ability to get published and improve your impact is to use Impactio to present your research.

Impactio’s all-in-one platform gives researchers the tools they need to put together their specialized knowledge into a professional submission. From drafting to revision, drag and dropping text into categories, using specialized terminology and visuals, and creating an optimized paper to be read in search engines, it’s all there for you to maximize your scholarly reputation and increase your network of peers and readers when you use Impactio.