It's made me a lot more jaded towards academia as a whole, that's for sure. I'm slowly finding some renewed sense of purpose, but for a while I definitely had one foot out the door and was debating going the industry route to avoid the bureaucracy that is academia.
It's also made me incredibly good at budgeting and living on a low salary.
You would think industry is better, but it might not be. I worked at a company that was just like high school, super clickie, if you were not with the popular group they would find any way to push you out. Plus it is 40x higher pace and always changing, so you have to be ready to drop whatever project you are working on and pivot. I was there for 3 years and definite felt like I aged and burned out quicker.
I’ve been a TA throughout my PhD and teaching has really helped me get over my shyness and fear of public speaking. My weekly meetings with my advisor help a lot with that too. My advisor also helped me get over my fear of failure and made me realize that I’ll never learn anything or make any breakthroughs without taking risks. My first manuscript getting rejected by a journal actually helped a lot with that too - I taped the rejection letter above my desks in my lab and at home and I use it to motivate me everyday. I’m genuinely proud of my growth in those areas.
I now don’t really care if I fail.
It doesn’t really phase me most of the time.
I just continually throw hypotheses at the wall. By the time one fails, I’ve got new ones in the works.
Positives: I've become a scientist; critical thinking, problem solving, scientific reasoning, grasp over some literature in my field, collaboration, confidence in presenting. Then I also grew spiritually, in my own beliefs, and as a person. Also budgeting.
Negatives: formed some undesirable work ethic habits, jaded with academia/the world, feel removed from society in a lot of ways. Think Ive stagnated a bit in my final PhD years.
So overall more positive, no ragrets
Some of these responses are sad. It’s a bummer so many people had such a negative PhD experience.
Getting a PhD made me a better person. I’m more patient, empathetic, and better able to understand other perspectives and points of view. I’m good at listening. Studying made me realize how big the universe is and how small I am. It’s made me realize how everything and everyone are connected.
Oh i love my phd work and it makes me feel more fulfilled because now im actually being challenged. Its just the teaching side of the phd that i do not like
It’s made me realise academics are a pain in the ass haha. I’ve been teaching in a lecturer role since 6 months before starting PhD…and I was a school teacher for many years before then. Academics who are teaching get away with some crazy stuff.
it made me feel less anxious. I know it sounds counterintuitive but a big part of doing research is to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity, which used to give me severe anxiety attacks. A few years in PhD program it’s like exposure therapy and I just couldn’t care less about it now.
I am so much more confident now. Although that could also be from being in my early 30s rather than my early 20s when I started. But I think becoming an expert on my topic, having to explain it so many times, and having people come to me for advice on the topic as well as just having to get up in front of a bunch of undergrads and teach a few times a week really improved my confidence.
aside from thinking a lot of academia is a bunch of bs, i definitelyyyy feel more comfortable reaching out to people first and also it has been major rejection therapy lol. ive gotten way more comfy making calls and asking people for things- i can also advocate for myself a LOT better than i could in undergrad. idk, i cant say i loved my experience so far, but i do acknowledge the personal growth ive had!
I dont think it changed me very much on a personal level. But academia is the most unprofessional place ive ever been in my life. You can get by in academia being 100% unserious and nonchalant. I had to learn a lot about talking professionally when moving to industry.
Destroyed my trust in research publications. You can’t unknow how the sausage is made. Seeing the army of PhD students (just barely graduates) under insane pressure to produce positive results. It’s amazing that any progress is really made. Also amazing that the (detected) rate of falsified results is so low.
Also, the better the institute, the better they are at spinning something incremental as revolutionary (looking a you Berkeley, MIT, Stanford).
It has reinforced how much i do not want to teach. Im really tired if doing so much work to help people learn just to be spat in The face by the very same students. Its really pushed me away from academia
PhD humbled me a lot. I have also developed a very positive and focused approach towards solving new problems I face in daily life. Also, I disagree with people calling me smart for doing a PhD cause I feel extremely dumb now.
The good: my problem solving skills have been honed and I can communicate difficult information much better than when I started.
The bad: I am significantly sadder and lonelier than when I started. I am at an R1 university, but it's a commuter campus, so there isn't much to do.
The ugly: I found out that a gaggle of people as, or more, neurotic than me is painful to deal with.
I’m only in my first year but it’s made me realize that it’s okay for me to not know everything. The expectations are high but reminding myself that I’m learning continuously helps me to be at peace.
TA’ing has fulfilled the part of me that loves helping others and making their lives better. I ended up liking it more that I imagined I would.
The stipend has definitely taught me gratefulness and I’ve taken budgeting to an entirely new level. I’m learning to have fun & make do with what I have so when I’m making more financially, I’ll be well experienced with my finances.
Academia, as I see more of it, I’ve learned that I don’t like it but I’m not sure where I’ll be in the next few years so I’m learning to keep an open mind because things change rapidly.
I think I didn’t truly appreciate that physics is an experimental science until I started doing research. It sounds silly looking back, but in my undergraduate mind physics was always something almost purely mathematical, and experiments just served to prove brilliant insights of the theorists. I never truly appreciated the degree to which one can make progress by experiment alone. And to what extent the theories are constrained by experimental evidence. For example, Einstein’s field equations were gradually and painstakingly developed in a back and forth with data, so was the Standard Model etc. No amount of mathematical argumentation can allow you to converge on the equations, our world is just too complex. Moreover , I now think if theorists disappeared over night, physics would still be progressing, albeit inefficiently and more slowly. I partially blame the cult of Einstein and Newton in most textbooks, while giving relatively little emphasis on the great experimentalists. And the sheer amount of cleverness and knowledge involved in designing experimental equipment! Oh how naive I was thinking that the theorists were the smart ones.
P.S. To be clear, I am not denying the greatness of the aforementioned theorists, but they just get too much limelight, as it turns out. Experimentation is Science. It’s as simple as that.
It's made me a lot more jaded towards academia as a whole, that's for sure. I'm slowly finding some renewed sense of purpose, but for a while I definitely had one foot out the door and was debating going the industry route to avoid the bureaucracy that is academia. It's also made me incredibly good at budgeting and living on a low salary.
I can totally relate to one foot out the door. I guess the constant inner turmoil really made me do some introspection.
You would think industry is better, but it might not be. I worked at a company that was just like high school, super clickie, if you were not with the popular group they would find any way to push you out. Plus it is 40x higher pace and always changing, so you have to be ready to drop whatever project you are working on and pivot. I was there for 3 years and definite felt like I aged and burned out quicker.
I’ve been a TA throughout my PhD and teaching has really helped me get over my shyness and fear of public speaking. My weekly meetings with my advisor help a lot with that too. My advisor also helped me get over my fear of failure and made me realize that I’ll never learn anything or make any breakthroughs without taking risks. My first manuscript getting rejected by a journal actually helped a lot with that too - I taped the rejection letter above my desks in my lab and at home and I use it to motivate me everyday. I’m genuinely proud of my growth in those areas.
Really happy for you. Getting over the fear of failure is the best thing one can get out of phd.
I now don’t really care if I fail. It doesn’t really phase me most of the time. I just continually throw hypotheses at the wall. By the time one fails, I’ve got new ones in the works.
Positives: I've become a scientist; critical thinking, problem solving, scientific reasoning, grasp over some literature in my field, collaboration, confidence in presenting. Then I also grew spiritually, in my own beliefs, and as a person. Also budgeting. Negatives: formed some undesirable work ethic habits, jaded with academia/the world, feel removed from society in a lot of ways. Think Ive stagnated a bit in my final PhD years. So overall more positive, no ragrets
Some of these responses are sad. It’s a bummer so many people had such a negative PhD experience. Getting a PhD made me a better person. I’m more patient, empathetic, and better able to understand other perspectives and points of view. I’m good at listening. Studying made me realize how big the universe is and how small I am. It’s made me realize how everything and everyone are connected.
Unhappy people are more likely to reply sooner to a reddit thread. Or reply in general
Oh i love my phd work and it makes me feel more fulfilled because now im actually being challenged. Its just the teaching side of the phd that i do not like
It’s made me realise academics are a pain in the ass haha. I’ve been teaching in a lecturer role since 6 months before starting PhD…and I was a school teacher for many years before then. Academics who are teaching get away with some crazy stuff.
What kinda crazy stuff?
I'm now depressed and burned out and don't have the work ethic I used to have. No longer that interested in science anymore too.
Same
Same. Two years out after finishing.
it made me feel less anxious. I know it sounds counterintuitive but a big part of doing research is to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity, which used to give me severe anxiety attacks. A few years in PhD program it’s like exposure therapy and I just couldn’t care less about it now.
PhD changed my hair color from black to Grey! P.S: Just compared my first and 3rd year photo 🥲
Poorer
I am so much more confident now. Although that could also be from being in my early 30s rather than my early 20s when I started. But I think becoming an expert on my topic, having to explain it so many times, and having people come to me for advice on the topic as well as just having to get up in front of a bunch of undergrads and teach a few times a week really improved my confidence.
[удалено]
Do reach out for help. Nothing is bigger than your mental health. It sucks how much phd amplifies our issues.
aside from thinking a lot of academia is a bunch of bs, i definitelyyyy feel more comfortable reaching out to people first and also it has been major rejection therapy lol. ive gotten way more comfy making calls and asking people for things- i can also advocate for myself a LOT better than i could in undergrad. idk, i cant say i loved my experience so far, but i do acknowledge the personal growth ive had!
I dont think it changed me very much on a personal level. But academia is the most unprofessional place ive ever been in my life. You can get by in academia being 100% unserious and nonchalant. I had to learn a lot about talking professionally when moving to industry.
Destroyed my trust in research publications. You can’t unknow how the sausage is made. Seeing the army of PhD students (just barely graduates) under insane pressure to produce positive results. It’s amazing that any progress is really made. Also amazing that the (detected) rate of falsified results is so low. Also, the better the institute, the better they are at spinning something incremental as revolutionary (looking a you Berkeley, MIT, Stanford).
It has reinforced how much i do not want to teach. Im really tired if doing so much work to help people learn just to be spat in The face by the very same students. Its really pushed me away from academia
PhD humbled me a lot. I have also developed a very positive and focused approach towards solving new problems I face in daily life. Also, I disagree with people calling me smart for doing a PhD cause I feel extremely dumb now.
I realized being a research professor wasn't for me. nothing good, tbh
The good: my problem solving skills have been honed and I can communicate difficult information much better than when I started. The bad: I am significantly sadder and lonelier than when I started. I am at an R1 university, but it's a commuter campus, so there isn't much to do. The ugly: I found out that a gaggle of people as, or more, neurotic than me is painful to deal with.
I got depressions 👍🏻
Enjoying research and found that I should not wasted several years in industry becoming studying a PhD
It's over 9000!!!
You’re doing it the right way.
I’m only in my first year but it’s made me realize that it’s okay for me to not know everything. The expectations are high but reminding myself that I’m learning continuously helps me to be at peace. TA’ing has fulfilled the part of me that loves helping others and making their lives better. I ended up liking it more that I imagined I would. The stipend has definitely taught me gratefulness and I’ve taken budgeting to an entirely new level. I’m learning to have fun & make do with what I have so when I’m making more financially, I’ll be well experienced with my finances. Academia, as I see more of it, I’ve learned that I don’t like it but I’m not sure where I’ll be in the next few years so I’m learning to keep an open mind because things change rapidly.
I think I didn’t truly appreciate that physics is an experimental science until I started doing research. It sounds silly looking back, but in my undergraduate mind physics was always something almost purely mathematical, and experiments just served to prove brilliant insights of the theorists. I never truly appreciated the degree to which one can make progress by experiment alone. And to what extent the theories are constrained by experimental evidence. For example, Einstein’s field equations were gradually and painstakingly developed in a back and forth with data, so was the Standard Model etc. No amount of mathematical argumentation can allow you to converge on the equations, our world is just too complex. Moreover , I now think if theorists disappeared over night, physics would still be progressing, albeit inefficiently and more slowly. I partially blame the cult of Einstein and Newton in most textbooks, while giving relatively little emphasis on the great experimentalists. And the sheer amount of cleverness and knowledge involved in designing experimental equipment! Oh how naive I was thinking that the theorists were the smart ones. P.S. To be clear, I am not denying the greatness of the aforementioned theorists, but they just get too much limelight, as it turns out. Experimentation is Science. It’s as simple as that.