How does a PhD change you? CONFESSION time!

How a PhD effects you is subtle but there is no doubt that it really changes some aspects of your personality for GOOD and BAD!
0:00 - Introduction
1:35 - It didn't make me bitter
2:56 - It makes you realize what you can do!
4:22 - Expert problem solver through resilience
5:59 - What Kate, my partner, noticed...
8:18 - Dangerous egos!
10:03 - Long term focus is better
12:10 - It makes you far more independent!
13:59 - Summary

[@jasoncyip]

I think a PhD changes what I’m willing to accept as “good” evidence for arguments. I’ve become more critical and less willing to accept what I think is authority. It can be a double edged sword. It’s good to be critical and engage in sources for evidence. It’s bad to be critical when the situation does not call for it, especially with family and friends.

[@OntologyofValue]

For me, the same thing that was the biggest problem during the PhD has turned into the biggest blessing after the PhD. Namely, I didn't have too supportive environment during my PhD and I got a research problem that was impossible to solve. Now I know that not every project is a good project, and I am picky with my business ventures. This knowledge saved me on so many occasions!

[@Emmashful]

I just finished my first semester after the PhD and as a postdoc. I certainly still feel weird and a little confused. I feel I’m healing from something and I need more recovery time. I know things will be better now.

[@janswanton3631]

I am 72 and in lockdown. I am starting a PhD next month in the hope it will absorb my interest enough to help me feel I'm not wasting what time I have left! First hurdle. Supervisor has 'no suggestion' as to how I can access books! So my impression of academia is not encouraging!!

[@sirmclovin9184]

You have a library? Many libraries also have online resources you can access with a student login. There is also the secret online library...

[@janswanton3631]

@@sirmclovin9184 I am in lockdown and cannot leave the house. Both my public library and local University library (as well as the University library where I am registered as a student) are all shut. The public library charges £15 to order books from The British Library, which is way too expensive for me. As lockdown is likely to last until March at the earliest, I think.I shall just have to use on line resources for now. What got me, was my supervisor hadn't even thought about it! But thank you for being kind enough to think of me and for trying to help. Stay Safe!

[@janswanton3631]

@Juliana Michelon I am well aware of these resources, but sadly the books I need aren't yet covered by these projects. But now the whole country is in lockdown, all students will have the same problem. I suspect all we can do is make do with what is on line and hope eventually to be able to get access to books. Thanks for thinking of me and for the information.

[@LeggattNZ]

@@janswanton3631 Hopefully they will do for you what they did for us in NZ. We were given extensions to our final submission date equal to the length of lockdowns. I'm 53 and into my 2nd year of my PhD here in New Zealand. I wish you all the best :) it is an amazing journey (so far!). May I ask what your topic is?

[@janswanton3631]

@@LeggattNZ Our government, true to form is still dithering about what to do re-University students. But they will come up with something half hearted, I'm sure. Thank you for your good wishes. I hope your research goes well and successfully. My topic? Lolol! The Monkees!!!! ...bet you didn't guess that one!!! What's yours?

[@Andrew-rc3vh]

I learnt to become a problem solver from a very early age. I wanted to learn electronics but the house I was brought up in had very few books and the library was pretty dumbed down and same with school libraries. My father was no help either, but little by little I solved these problems myself by experimentation. I learnt the hard way every step of the way. None of the teaches at school understood it, like no one to ask, the only way was to figure it out as if you were a researcher and the answers were unknown.

[@asangadealwis8024]

Finishing off my masters right now, and your content has been a great aid so far for me to plan my next step. Keep up the good work!

[@robyeee5358]

I am impressed how you can describe yourself by stepping back, thank you for sharing. Not in a PhD for now but projecting more and more, your videos help me

[@DrAndyStapleton]

You're so welcome!

[@Dre85651]

I am 40 and I’m starting a PhD so you are not alone.

[@robyeee5358]

@@Dre85651 I am very happy for you, what have motivated you to do it now and what will you study?

[@Dre85651]

@@robyeee5358 It’s just my time. I’ve worked in the field of social work for a number of years, and my experience in practice has informed my decision to pursue it at this time. Some life events kept me from starting the journey sooner, but now I’m ready to get started. I will be pursuing a PhD in Social Work.

[@user-cw9ej7jb5e]

The one difference is I did not feel independence in my program. I felt controlled and not in a good way. It led to a level of frustration that literally made me a crazy person. I now consider myself in dissertation recovery.

[@ronicholson]

Thank you for your honesty on the ego. I am also reading books about being more Stoic. Keep the videos coming Bro!

[@dr.bangura4722]

Fantastic! I am in love with your fifth point-ecstatic-when I did that!

[@falterd]

Really enjoyed this vlog (& the others that I've been watching). Thank you for your authentic sharing! :)

[@iris-fx3fq]

I think failure and success needs the same thing to sustain.. 'letting it get to our head' . If we work on our flaws.. we grow.. if we stop after becoming successful.. we fail.

[@RyanMacOfficial]

Loved this video! Not much to comment just wanted to help the algorithm recognize your videos!.

[@sirmclovin9184]

I love your videos, keep up the good work!

[@Lilliana1]

It tells you the value of a job. Most importantly it tells you the real value of money

[@petarjovanovic1481]

I would say that my PhD experience changed me but I would put the biggest weight on the fact that I did my PhD in a country where I did not know the language and where culture was significantly different from my home country. Therefore spending 6 years living 2000 km away from everybody and everything I knew changed me the most.

[@LuisGarcia-lj2bp]

Hey Andy, I'm going into a PhD program pretty soon, and your videos have been a wonderful resource. Professors I've talked to have noted how forward thinking I seem to be, and I have to thank you for that! Do you think you can talk a bit about how you handled socializing with people? Any tips on avoiding being a total hermit? How did you handle moving to a new country on top of the stresses of your program?

[@CynthiaBtst]

This is so inspiring! Thank you for this!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

You are so welcome!

[@Drestutoring]

Going for my masters very soon and still watching these PhD Videos lol

[@a.a.dagestani7620]

amazing, thanks

[@dr.emilyacevedo812]

I just found your channel and I love it. I agree with you. I recently finish my PHD program and everything you said I see in myself now. I catch myself thinking I’m always right because I have a PhD. I’m a work in progress lol.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Congratulations on finishing your PhD, Emily! Thanks for the comment and we are all a work in progress :)

[@mapeauxnoire]

My health and wellbeing first declined. However, it made me more resilient as I dealt with different deadlines and emotions. However, this is not the case for all.

[@jiberuba8856]

Please make a video how to apply for a grant ?

[@Kelvin-ed6ce]

I think the whole thing about academia being saturated is also pretty true for many jobs in the civilised world, because in a civilised world where you need to work by cracking your head in order to get somewhere (versus directly producing food for survival like in a farm or cheese production etc), you need to project far and solve problems through high level thinking, and that takes a lot of time to train, plus years of experience working in a niche field in a company. School systems are funded by the government and governments are controlled by the elite who own big companies and require people to do the dirty work, brainstorming and doing all that technical stuff for them. Then it's no surprise that school systems do not teach the basics of being able to make a living, the true basics, not the 'common options' that are regarded nowadays as the 'only options' for a graduate because he or she has spent all that effort in order to graduate in the first place, without realising capitalism is twiddling you around its little finger.

[@garrettsager804]

Would you ever do a Q&A with a panel of current grad students and have your subscribers submit questions?

[@LeggattNZ]

Great idea. I'd be happy to share my experience so far - I'm one year into a History PhD.

[@ninjagirl226]

So I think in general my PhD changed me for the worst. I wish I never did it; I wish I never even went to undergrad or chemistry. It’s a ball and chain I can’t get rid of and I feel it’s weight daily because a chemist isn’t supposed to be someone like me who struggles, is an athlete, and likes history more. I hate saying I have this degree or mentioning grad school cause it makes me feel more and more like a fraud even though yeah I did it all. But did I really deserve it or did I just get lucky or worse did they just mercy me through. These thoughts keep me up at night and cause so many break downs. Even though I’m in industry they look at me like I should have all the answers when I don’t think I’m any better than anyone it makes me feel more like a fraud. I also became a theme park/adrenaline junkie. No one quite understands how that one happened. As before grad school, I was terrified of roller coasters and now I’m riding my Kingda Ka and loving every second of it. My only thought is I needed something to distract me from my misery and give me some joy. It’s more evidence that I am not a real chemist like everyone else but it at least gives me a happy place.

[@flaguser4196]

Getting more used to the fact that all that high tech science stuff is made by people like myself instead of labeling them as impossible, and excluding myself from the people who can potentially create those stuff under the right conditions. It might take a lot of time and motivation, but I (perhaps naively) think I can wing my way through learning anything learnable that are known to have been learned by others. I no longer say something is difficult, but I will say if I don't know something or don't have the expertise, or if something is needlessly tedious or tiring.

[@LeggattNZ]

Yes, academia has flaws, but the negativity I see around academia online is overwhelming and I think it does no good for PhD students to bog themselves down with this. There is enough stress and worry without speculating on what your future experience in academia will be.

[@teabay8287]

You are 35? That's incredible!

[@emilyrawling695]

Jan did you manage to become more comfortable with online resources? I completed my Masters online and I did flounder during the first couple of months. I like you thought I had to read books but journals soon became my best friends. I attained a Distinction and start my PhD February. XXX

[@sarojstha44]

I am 35 years old! I have already been accepted for the Ph.D. Am I too old to start this journey!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

No, you are not too old. As long as you have the right attitude you can certainly do a PhD. In fact, your life experience may make you a better PhD student than a newly graduated person.

[@cmaxx8614]

Andy what do you think about Ph.D.'s in Business? I am in my master's but not sure if I should stop or continue.

[@C3yl0]

I am 38 and I am just heading towards my 3rd year of undergrad studies. Am I too old? Heheheh

[@C3yl0]

Thank for this video. Could you make a video on how to get a double PhD? I am not familiar with the Australian system but I have seen, here in the US, many Principal Investigators have double PhDs’ and I’m curious how they fo that. 👽♥️♥️♥️

[@Heyu7her3]

Likely through a joint PhD program, but that's not very typical.

[@CharlotteSimmons1]

so got to OT8

[@lauren8613]

My PhD will take 6-7 years in the US *cries

[@schiffelers3944]

I just wonder how your views are towards populations and people like me - non-academic & PhD? Because it sounds like there might have been changes you and your partner Kate both got a blind spot for, no? Or maybe that was there before? This is my second video and so far it only proves my views on the problems and brokenness of the systems. So many secrets in academia as well, part of the zeitgeist of the contemporary era it was in. Evolving and changing, revolving and devolving as well, like everything. And creating order in the chaos. From life, to language/linguistics and culture, humans in this case. Freedom, free men and having a voice, holding power, and the concept of this - democracy. Being educated vs non-educated, equality and equity aspects. How far have we come. I know of all the psychology that went into consumerism, one of my fields of studies. Making tech and games more "addictive" etc. I know of plenty of things - This world is the world created by the academia, and religious institutions that hold power, like old and new money, old and new powers. I'm 42 and constantly learning new things - why else would I be watching this video, and not some mindless garbage or escapism nonsense - but my life was less "blessed" or "privileged" - education social economic factors - and to me it sounds like you think you might think you are better - more successful in life by the social standards the upper social classes hold. You sound more "successful" in the social standards the society seems to value. (This might also just be my social neuro linguistical programming, and my personal feelings of inadequacy as a lower/middle class demographic.) To which the lower classes should aspire. To become as "good" as they are - let me tell you about failure, but having to persist in life, still kicking, lol. Short term problems messing up the long term goals, if the basics are not covered - you have to let go of higher needs than the basics - until the lower and basic needs are fulfilled one has time and energy to focus on the higher needs. As a person starting from poor-working class backgrounds with minimum wages - add that the town/location has been persistent in the top 10/top 3 of poorest and most dangerous/criminal places in my country. These are connected, the one thing feeding into the other. Social planning on long term and large scale - PhD levels one might suggest? There is not a lot of time left separate from the rat race, societal pressures and socializations. Keeping in touch with life and all that plays national and international up to globally. I am not saying it is impossible however I am not one of the 1-2% exceptions of this demographic. The PhD achievement taught you that your long term planning could succeed. If this is all just because of you, and your capabilities, or also your circumstances/environmental factors, we could debate? My educational trajectory is very diverse - and slowly working my way up. I had to do the differential predisposition test - which showed all the thing we learn was on the levels of the educations I followed, all the thing related to thinking capabilities were on the levels of higher and highest educations. This discrepancy did not make it easier, and was created in ways. I have done a lot of autodidactic studies in fields of things that got my interests and matter to me. Libraries and mostly the age of internet. People often perceive me as smart and clever if we talk (grammar is not my strong suit, neither in my own tongue, English is not my first language, etc.), also want to add - I am southern Dutch and as often in northern hemisphere cultures - my native tongue, accent is seen as lesser intelligent, no matter what I say - just by saying it with a Limburgs accent compared to the Hollands accent. Think of the Southern states accents, Y'all. Etiquette schools - create ladies, the proper way to speak and talk, sit, move and eat. Civil vs barbaric and uncivilized. And we still hold parts of these concepts to these days. The civilized Romans vs the "uncivilized" Germanic tribes. Roman class structures - city dwelling vs urban plebs. The social elite to the slaves - their system. And still slavery is not gone - numbers show it thriving in higher numbers than before slavery abolishment. Just with facts like these - what is cleverness - adapting to the dominant linguistics? Talking English on social media platforms (I only have YT, non of the others, no FB for a long time never linked in and twittered, but know of them and people & peers that do use/have them). I don't like communicating with officially educated people much, they often got problems thinking outside the box and seeing connections with things outside their "field" of knowledge. That was not how they had been taught. I remember being taught capitalism was the better system - Why, because they said so, etc. Americans also have this tendency to be in their own perspective bubble. For me both Belgium and Germany are like a 15-30 minute car drive away. German and Belgian education differs from Dutch educations in ways, and yet in higher educations foreign students are not a strange concept. There are loads of foreign students living in the Netherlands for their studies, also tied in to money making aspects - these students from foreign countries in Europe are often of more upper class structures in their home countries. Maastricht Universities and the provincial funding flowing towards the capitals of all provinces mostly - not that they lack the money - why there are these divisions in wealth - rural vs city life, and capital/metropolis lives. Wealth attracts wealth, knowledge is power and has been gatekept since ages. Internet did bring changes - and it was better once than it is now days. All the free educational books that could be downloaded as well, for instance. I could read the same information as educated people consumed, but was not tested and didn't get a paper granting me stuff afterwards. I might not be as polished and well "programmed" as the official educational systems would have liked - I am not a standard in their order of things.

[@youknow6968]

Does it also make you grow a beard? Lol