kinhluan Milestone Tracker
Plan and track your PhD/Master's journey from start to defense.
Master's Thesis Timeline (2 years)
Year 1, Semester 1 (Months 1-6)
├── Month 1-2: Literature review + SOTA survey
├── Month 2-3: Research question formulation
├── Month 3-4: Proposal writing + advisor alignment
├── Month 4: Proposal defense / committee approval ← GATE 1
├── Month 4-6: Research design + preliminary experiments
└── Month 6: Progress report to committee
Year 1, Semester 2 (Months 7-12)
├── Month 7-9: Main experiments
├── Month 9-10: Paper writing (conference target)
├── Month 10: Submit to conference ← GATE 2 (optional)
├── Month 10-12: Refine results, start thesis
└── Month 12: End-of-year committee review
Year 2, Semester 1 (Months 13-18)
├── Month 13-15: Complete all experiments
├── Month 15-17: Write thesis chapters
├── Month 17: Submit thesis draft to advisor ← GATE 3
└── Month 18: Incorporate advisor feedback
Year 2, Semester 2 (Months 19-24)
├── Month 19-21: Revise thesis
├── Month 21: Submit to committee (4-6 weeks before defense)
├── Month 22: Defense preparation
├── Month 23: THESIS DEFENSE ← GATE 4
└── Month 24: Post-defense corrections + submission
PhD Timeline (3-5 years, CS)
Year 1: Coursework + Literature
Year 2: Research design + first paper
Year 3: Main contributions + 2-3 papers
Year 4: Thesis writing + additional papers (if needed)
Year 5: Defense + job market
Current Status Check
When asked "am I on track?", run this assessment:
## PhD Progress Check — [Date]
**Program:** [Master's / PhD]
**Start date:** [date]
**Expected end:** [date]
**Current month:** [N of total]
### Milestones Status
| Milestone | Target date | Status | Notes |
|-----------|-------------|--------|-------|
| Proposal approved | Month 4 | ✅/⏳/❌ | |
| First paper submitted | Month 10 | ✅/⏳/❌ | |
| All experiments complete | Month 15 | ✅/⏳/❌ | |
| Thesis draft to advisor | Month 17 | ✅/⏳/❌ | |
| Defense | Month 23 | ✅/⏳/❌ | |
### Current Blockers
1. [What is blocking progress?]
2. ...
### Risk Assessment
- On track / Slightly behind (1-2 months) / Significantly behind (3+ months)
- Mitigation: [specific action]
Publication Deadline Calendar
Build this at start of Year 1:
## 2026 Submission Calendar
| Venue | Deadline | Notification | Status |
|-------|----------|--------------|--------|
| ICLR 2027 | Oct 2026 | Jan 2027 | Planning |
| NeurIPS 2026 | May 2026 | Sep 2026 | Target |
| ICML 2026 | Feb 2026 | Jun 2026 | Missed |
Committee Meeting Prep
Before each committee meeting, prepare 1-page update:
## Committee Update — [Date]
**Since last meeting ([date]):**
- Completed: [list]
- Submitted/published: [list]
**Current work:**
- [What I'm working on now]
**Results so far:**
- [Key numbers, figures]
**Challenges:**
- [What's hard, where I need guidance]
**Plan until next meeting:**
- [Concrete deliverables with dates]
**Questions for committee:**
1. [Decision needed from them]
2. ...
When Behind Schedule
Red flags and responses:
| Situation | Response |
|---|---|
| No results after 3 months of experiments | Talk to advisor immediately. Pivot or simplify. |
| Paper rejected twice | Assess: is the problem or execution? Consider journal. |
| Writing blocked | Time-box: 2 hours/day, any output. Show advisor weekly. |
| Advisor unavailable | Email with specific questions. Keep paper trail. |
| Lost motivation | Normal. Talk to peers, counselor. Take 1 real week off. |
Gantt Template
Task | M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M6 | M7 | M8 | ...
Literature review | ██ | ██ | | | | | | |
RQ formulation | | ██ | ██ | | | | | |
Proposal writing | | | ██ | ██ | | | | |
Proposal defense | | | | ◆ | | | | |
Research design | | | | ██ | ██ | | | |
Experiments | | | | | ██ | ██ | ██ | ██ |
Paper writing | | | | | | | ██ | ██ |
Links to Other Skills
- Integrates with → all other research skills (timeline for each)
- Feeds into →
defense-prep(schedules defense prep window) - Feeds into →
publication-strategy(tracks submission deadlines)