The 5 types of PhD student - Which one are YOU?

In this video I talk about the five types of PhD student that I have encountered throughout my years in academia. Which one are you?
Link to newsletter: andrewstapleton.com.au/newsle...
0:00 - introduction
0:41 - introduction to the types
1:36 - work hard play hard
3:20 - the gamester
4:53 - the procrastinator
6:37 - the obsessor
8:58 - the yeti
12:23 - summary
Which one would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments.

[@uMONTYu]

“Papers are the currency of the academic market” That’s poetry.

[@LuckySunbear]

... just facts, actually (and sadly)

[@alojesuis]

lol, factual fact does sound poetic

[@gracez2723]

I don’t necessarily know which type I am but I definitely know I can never be the “work hard, play hard” type. They are legends

[@diegoegarcia4439]

True 🤣🤣🤣

[@claudiaborzea1386]

Haha that is me, hell of a perfectionist and a lot of work. Full time research engineer job plus doctorate in parallel... I work at weekends too, write research papers. My supervisors are also mad, they call me at weekend sometimes so I also call them on Saturdays and Sundays at 8 PM 🤣 (I have two guys on my head, my favourite professor from Mechatronics - leads from the dark as specialist in my thesis topic, and my actual supervisor from Electrical Engineering. They both want me to do extra things, each with their own). It's getting very tiring in third year...

[@Kracki88]

@@claudiaborzea1386 So you just work hard? Where is the "play" part

[@claudiaborzea1386]

@@Kracki88 I am on holidays now lol at the seaside. No work. But I am kind of workaholic. Probably also due to some issues I had at home... found my refuge in work to cope. But now I have my fiance who doesn't let me stay too much at work. Last year of PhD now... have to prepare a few more articles and thesis. I am fun to hang out with and joke all the time. Goofy most of the time when no seriousness required. Work hard play hard type indeed. Thank you for your comment. You also doctoral student? 😊

[@Kracki88]

@@claudiaborzea1386 I am a soon-to-be doctoral student. I am currently in the end phase of my master thesis in an abroad country. I will defend in September and start my PhD in the same research group, as my supervisor is very happy with my work ethic and attitude. I have had loads of failings since I am working on carbon nanotubes and there is no expert on that topic at my university. I essentially had to start from zero. But I have always shown tenacity and just had the next experiments in mind.

[@mau345]

The gamester supervisor x obssessor advisee is the worst combination. Caused me to resign and swore to lay expectations for my next supervisor.

[@thedantmtour-beststreetfoo4081]

To be frankly, I'm in the category 3 and 4. I try to get out of the box and jump into the first one. I really appreciate your time and effort to help us, Andy!

[@makaghaniashvili8274]

Hello Andy, I am glad to find your channel. I am a PhD student from Georgia 🇬🇪 (country :) ) I have just submitted my PhD thesis and waiting for defense. Defence is two steps proces at our University. The firs one is coming in a few weeks and after that the finale will one in a few month. Your videos are very helpful for me right now, thank you for all great advices

[@user-jp6xb6ju2k]

Well explained thank you

[@hoangcamhuongpham8431]

thanks for your insightful video, I reckon myself as a combination of a procrastinator and an obsessor.

[@clouDndsky]

Hi Andy, that makes so much sense. I am something of a procarstinator and observer. I work a part time job while I work on my dissertation in detail. I really enjoy this combination, but it also brings obstacles, so my life is not boring :)

[@Konsul135]

Similar to you I am mostly a procrastinator, though I HATE it. Hoping to get myself to be more of an obsessor through better planning and then actually sticking to the plan!

[@Laura-cv4ey]

I'm definitely a combination of obsessor/procrastinator. Sometimes wish I could approach the PhD with a more businesslike gamester approach to just get things done and feel better about my progress though..

[@yasmiiineee]

God I'm the same and it's so frustrating but at the same time i'm kinda relieved to see i'm not the only one like that

[@mateuszhess4549]

I'm a type of Ph.D. student procrastinator, who watches your videos while procrastinating... Also, I signed up for your newsletter, yet haven't received anything yet!

[@funkygenesis]

Ah classic newsletter syndrome... Ones you want you never get while your inbox gets inundated with the utmost useless nonsense found in the milky way.

[@richardthegingerbo909]

@@funkygenesis LOL, sounds like the newsletter is the procrastinator

[@user-oy4ht7oc7w]

OMG there was a yeti in my MA program!! She disappeared after year one, didn’t show up to a lot of classes, and ended up dropping out LOL. Truly a mythical legend.

[@LuckySunbear]

Hey Andy, love your content and recently joined the newsletter. A thought: you refer a lot to and make most examples about natural sciences (e.g. "do experiments", laboratories, etc.). A lot of us out here in PhD-Land are social scientists, and it would be cool if you acknowledged the plurality of knowledge production. Obviously, natural science is your wheelhouse, and you do as like. I'll keep watching either way. But remember, representation is important. Us social scientists want to feel seen!

[@farinadewaard5870]

Today with Corona, I feel like we are all in danger of becoming yetis xD But seriously, this is interesting. I would love to know how to kind of transform into a gamester. Also: Andy, I am not sure if you have done videos about (probably yes), but could you do some tips and recommendations on how to get into publishing? It starts feeling weird to be a PhD student but to not have any published papers yet. I know, this can be normal and I do know others that are in the same situation. But I do feel the envy when I meet some other PhD student and he's all like "yeah, I have 2 papers published already, because in my masters, we worked on a project that lead to a publication" ...

[@MohammadHassan-ud8iq]

I'm starting a physics PhD in the fall, but based on my undergrad research experiences, I would definitely say that I'm a procrastinator and obsessor. I have a hard time working on a project when I feel that I don't know everything that there is to know about the project. When I do go into detail and try to learn everything, I become overwhelmed by the massive amount of knowledge that there is, and the task becomes so monumental that I easily fall into procrastination. I've learned that an important skill to have as a researcher is knowing when to slow down on reading papers and textbooks, and start working on the project, although I don't yet know how to implement this skill. How do I know when to stop reading and to start doing?

[@deconfinedQPT]

Dude, been there done that. Never ending cycles of reading and deriving. I would say that the implementation part depends on the project at hand but here my unsolicited advice. You need to take granted a few results from related studies to your research question and add things on top of them. For instance, in terms of numerical calculations it is sometimes better to code first blindly then go deep into the nitty gritty details. I found reproducing same results in previous papers quite helpful in terms of getting a feel of the physics, I later then appreciated as to why what I've coded generated such physics and modified the method to my own interest to attack the problem at hand. I truly feel for you man believe me. I also would suggest talking to other PhD students in the group or post docs, never ever be a loner. At the same time you need to get a habit of showing the middle finger to the impostor syndrome. I wish you the best in your scientific endeavours.

[@MohammadHassan-ud8iq]

@@deconfinedQPT Wow thank you. This is some great advice. Trying to reproduce the results of a paper is definitely a great step. I've tried this in past research experiences, but it's sometimes painful when the authors leave out important information for the simulations (such as parameters used and other things). You've probably experienced the same. Thank you also for the well wishes. How did your PhD go (if you don't mind me asking), and what did you work on? I'm very interested in computational physics and it's probably where I'll go.

[@MohammadHassan-ud8iq]

@@chrysakik It's good to know that I'm not alone in this, but I suppose it's also not good since you also have to suffer this.

[@mau345]

Same. And you start to feel guilty when you dont go too in depth.

[@mohitanand3781]

Absolutely in the same position, I am about to start my PhD in the fall(got accepted in one, waiting for other results). I am currently in my last sem of dual degree program and I have fumbled a lot in my projects. Some months I feel like I am doing so good (in terms of delving into detail), and the very next month I procrastinate a lot. That's why I always feel like a mix of procrastinator & obsessor. Also, I think after seeing this video, I need to be a combination of Gamester & Obsessor ;)

[@reijiriho]

10:42 New word of the day, "yetify" 🤣i've just started but I'm think i'm the obsessor/procrasinator type... or maybe i just have a newbie syndrome of some sort... I feel like I have to know everything and bury myself in piles of materials and get so stressed out then i would procrastinate and doing nothing for the rest of the day only to start working at like 12 midnight until sunrise... Also, thanks for the daily planner, hopefully it would help me to plan my day better, though somehow the email ended up in the spam folder of my gmail inbox 🤔

[@deconfinedQPT]

I had the same thing in the beginning of master's. We just need to grasp from one branch and hang in there to explore the whole tree, just accept that you cannot progress with this linear fashion where you know everything about the tree and modify a branch. It's more like back and forth between the chapters of a thick text book. I wish you the best in your studies.

[@tagelayalew6753]

Wow you are amazing , it is like a mirror image ! the obsess er looks close to me; So many foundational staffs executed in the mind. At the end you suddenly start to put it on the ground as if someone is chasing. Isn't it ?

[@richardthegingerbo909]

LOL, the description of the yeti type of student was funny.

[@minminspace1096]

Being the procrastinator has brought me to this video. But headed towards the direction of the yeti because it’s just so overwhelming now to go into the lab. Hard rules and routine it is then :(

[@sammienguyen3758]

I'm defo an obsessor who procrastinates a lot. LOL. Being an obsessor makes me so much behind my initial plan for the PhD because I always want to know EVERYTHING about my subfield before I move to the next step. I was super stressed when I realised how slow I am, but at the same time, I still believe that "Haste makes waste". Anw, I'm also a procrastinator so I shouldn't complain about the slow progress tho. I shouldn't be here watching youtube tho. I'll be back to work now. haha.

[@alexanderberyozkin]

Thank you for this typology. I am definitely type 3 and 1 sometimes:)

[@micaelneves91]

My supervisor is the yeti type... I´m mixe of obessed and procrastinator.

[@tonysegadelli9421]

Based on my Master's Research Paper I'd call myself The Plodder. I started preparing for the RP by reading papers far ahead of schedule. I started the actual RP early and kept submitting updates to my supervisor on a regular basis but it was slow iterative progress

[@DrAndyStapleton]

This sounds like the perfect way to progress - plod away! Great addition.

[@diegoegarcia4439]

I'm starting my PhD in Microbiology on August and I am a bit nervous. Your videos helped me understand the essential things to keep on mind before, during and after de PhD. Thank you, continue making videos of this type.

[@xaharxeruji3441]

I think I got all the first four of the the types in the list. Just hope to get into 'genius Yeti' type within the next three years... hehehe

[@blanquitoloco92]

Hey Andy! Entering into my 4th year in Human Geography in Canada. just wanted to add something here that might be missing: The Parent! Those are the PhDs, like me, that have kids. I feel that we often are a combination of these five tropes generally, but I do want to bring up the experience both parenting and doing the PhD, its something very unique, hard, and really really special and rewarding. I've got my 4 year old heading into JK right now, been working at course work, research, and TAing, with him playing under my desk and asking for me read him a book/sing songs with him. Great times :)

[@PsycomanCX]

May i ask, in which year of your PhD you managed to get your daily schedule together? I feel, that i am somewhere between the procrastinator and obsessor type. However, i somehow dont get anything done since the pandemic happened. Though i actually can use my laboratory...

[@TheYgds]

Yikes, I've been all of them, except a gamester. I started as an obsessor, went to the "work hard, play hard" stage for a good while, then became a bit of a procrastinator for a few months, then after COVID hit, a yeti. However, the yeti event really hit because several parts of my life blew up, and my health took an enormous downturn. I've finally got most of my health back, and I'm looking to finish with a lackluster PhD thesis, a single "middle author" paper, and a lot of regret. I was so confident I could do well in my PhD because I'd published 2 first author papers from a Masters, in a lab that hadn't published in years, and got a Patent and a Book Chapter. My first 3 years of PhD went relatively well. Then everything went to crap. My career is essentially over, since I am not desirable even for a Postdoc, and I won't be able to get a job in industry. It sucks, since I've wanted to be a scientist since I was 8, but that's the breaks. I'm in my late 30s now and I never took a break from post-secondary. I've been a student for 16 years straight. I should have realized I wasn't smart enough to hack it when I barely got out of undergrad with good enough grades to do a Masters. I'm too old now, and I feel used up. There's nothing left in the tank. I frequently work 24-30 hrs straight and I can't get ahead, none of my experiments work in a way that can get me published. I lack the brain power. I recommend people think very hard about their own faculties before starting a PhD. It is a lot of hard work, but work alone won't get you there, you need to have the raw cognitive insight and stamina to produce quality publishable data.

[@nadinebest8481]

I guess I mainly would appear in the category of an obsessor. Since the thinking work took up quite some time

[@annulla3812]

I'm definitely an obsessor! So much that I decided to start a bachelor buying my PhD because I want to know everything about my field! 😂

[@stefanoverton4354]

Can you do one on part time students and potential pit falls. Most seem to be aimed at those with student ships

[@sanaem3846]

I am definitely number 3 😔😔😔😔 Can one of your next videos please share how you got out of procrastination ☹️☹️☹️ please please!

[@adrianpena4064]

I'm studying Physics engineering, I hope be able to make a PhD in the future. Meanwhile I'll watching your videos

[@deezombiedude]

I guess I was a procrastinator myself. My past experience with a master's research degree had me being distracted a lot since I wasn't really passionate about what I was researching in - I was only in it because apparently going into academia was "the only right way" if I wanted to pursue teaching. Right after my first flop in my first progress presentation, I became a mental mess. Every single checklist item to be done from literature review to later attempting to complete my project became an anxiety trigger that would spiral me for weeks... it turned into months as soon as Covid hit. I still don't know how I managed to clear my proposal defense with minor corrections, a significant part of it felt like regurgitating what I had written in my exam prep notes from my undergrad days and didn't hold water. Instead of the two months I was given to make my minor corrections, I took a full year - by that time I had already fallen into a deep depression stage. My family obsessing about death or "the infected" counts didn't help, nor did their insistence to be present as a family member to get involved in such negative talk. I went in willing to take on whatever hit me during then, only to feel absolutely defeated, crushed, and battered down after 3 years (this was definitely not GOT and I had a year left for a master's degree, not good). I dropped out eventually. I had an excellent supervisor, and the fact that me being his first postgraduate student was nothing short of a failure still haunts me along with whatever I'm trying to sort out with trips to see psychologists today. I did eventually go for a coursework-based masters and completed it (pending final results), but now the thought of going through this whole ordeal one more time, this time being a PhD, scares me to death. As always with a petty dad who happens to be playing chess with me as a pawn piece, I wish I could just end myself. I don't want to return unless I get myself fully sorted with a game plan and a renewed mental state.

[@n00bowser]

I'm definitively an obsessor, with some shades of work hard, play hard and a bit of procastrinator in the sense that I can't help myself from juggling multiple projects at the time. I also happen to be fortunate enough to have done my Bachelor and Master in a university system with loose time limits, so I was able to start the obsessing during my master and finishing a bit slower. I'm curretly reaping the benefits of that. A coworker who started his PhD two years earlier used to tell me "You can't aim to perfectly understand the theory behind every method we use. There isn't enough time!" when I started my PhD. Now he and my supervisor have gotten used to the fact that I do really know what I'm doing if I'm given enough time.

[@megha2319]

I'm a combination of Gamester & Obsessor!

[@Neo-vz8nh]

I think i a little bit of all. It took me 6 year to finish, so i'm definetly a procastanetor, however in my country and in my field, 6 year is pretty standard. I never heard of anyone who finished in 3 years. I was a work hard before PhD, i even completed my grad before time, and worked along with the Uni. But it was hard, and i dont wanted it anymore. So in the PhD, my first article took years. I thought i was definetly a procastanation, however since its release it took a quite some reference, so maybe it was more likely an obsession. After that i become gamester, and my second article released in a year. I also a YETI because i often work remotly (especially since COVID). So the types are changed during the years.

[@agggggg1916]

I was like an obsessor and work hard play hard. I didn't party excessively, but weekends were free time.

[@Immudzen]

I was the kind that never cared about the academic game at all. I was purely working on an industrial application and only did the bare minimum number of papers for graduation. All my work was published as free software as I worked on it and all of that stuff about being first, not helping others, etc. didn't matter to me.

[@jamesjackson5351]

One's psychology and mental capacities determine the type of PhD student you become. Work hard/play hard derives from being energetic and extroverted; you need the hard playing to tolerate the compulsive work schedule. A gamester is likely to have either a strategic overview of a research with which to plan how to maximize the number of papers, or like me just has a lot of creative research ideas, each of which after a single publication can be better left to others to pursue so that this kind of gamester can go off on a different tangent. Unlike the second type of gamester, the obsessor had a deeply reductionist mindset. The procrastinator loves ideas so much that he can't be faithful to only one, unless he trains himself to do so.

[@user-oy4ht7oc7w]

I’m probably the gamester😂 the gamester and the career planner.

[@thedoggedscientist]

I am an obsessor for sure. I used by PhD to learn a lot of skills.

[@alojesuis]

I would see myself as mostly observer and a grain of salt of work hard-play hard but I would rather put myself as "learner". I enjoy preparing for my experiments but most of the time the experiments require more of trial than knowledge and I enjoy discussing our respective projects with my co-workers. I enjoy absord the knowledge from my preparations, experiments and those of the others, I expand so much of my labs tricks and knowledge by talking with people about their projects and mine. I guess these discussions are what I miss the most from labs, some of the labs and people I worked with talked about very narrow topics or not at all about chemistry, sadness

[@justindie7543]

I'm a gamester. I knew it a few months into my first lab job, we would get two 15 minute breaks per shift, and I was able to give myself longer breaks by popping in my headphones to listen to my audiobook, and slowly walk to the breakroom at the other end of the building, where break time started as soon as I entered the room, extending my 15 minute breaks into 25 minute breaks.

[@honjokun0615]

You're everywhere!!

[@user-oy4ht7oc7w]

Same LOL, gotta game the rules somehow. We rock!

[@witkac87]

I was Yeti, since i saw my research results on my colleague Ph.D defence presentation. However, she even couldn't described my experiment properly. We had the same supervisor... He said: it hapens, you can always write and research something new. Then, i did my job, mostly at night and on the last day at the university I packed all my stuff, remove all data files form pc's and servers, took all documents and left. Supervisor begged me for 4 years just for sharing my research results. He stopped when i send him a quote for it.

[@jinshanapraemcheun3812]

Wow that's such a badass move. Will remember in case I encounter the situation

[@littlekelley98]

I was a procrastinator in my first year, and then I decided to stop bullsh*tting myself and just get to work. Went from one project to five. Definitely working on being a gamester

[@wanyuhuang8802]

I honestly think I am closest to the 1st category (but nevertheless not completely). Used to be closest to an obsessor.

[@deconfinedQPT]

Stick to the obsessor mindset without going bankrupt, just swinging between obsessor and gamester could be the way i think; various superposition of the two...

[@docsmellyfella]

I was definitely a procrastinator back in the day. Instead of social media the main distraction was the pub.

[@fightwithbiomechanix663]

Obsessor & Work Hard Play Hard

[@aditisiddharth6472]

I need to be a gamester and obsesser combined!

[@hkicgh7277]

I'm definitely the Obcessor.

[@hephaistion3]

I am an introvert Phd student!

[@mrinaliniroy8496]

Definitely the obsessor. And my supervisor is the gamester.ughhhh

[@Trailblazers323]

Gamester/obsessor

[@tomasdetres1990]

100% a gamester. I have 2 kids and a wife who works 50+ hrs, so i was primary parent, so i had no time for BS. No side projects, bare minimum conferences. 3 experiments, 4 journal papers, out.

[@LilBigDude28]

obsessor-procrastinator

[@zigzaglychee7324]

Oh no...im starting a PhD and i could see myself becoming a yeti :/ a year ago maybe not so, but I've been falling to bits lately...

[@kevinjohnsamuel3383]

The Obsessor

[@uMONTYu]

Yetified, yetiBYE!

[@A_Box]

Quick question if there are issues with quality and reproducibility, how do they get away with it? How should one act if one is aware of someone bs-ing their way through publications and getting published??????

[@DrAndyStapleton]

I know of a load of papers which are unable to be reproduced. It's an unfortunate result of the publish or perish mindset and system. If you are aware of someone that is not able to reproduce the work you can get in contact with the editor of a journal. Check out this story where they managed to find loads of doctored images onezero.medium.com/this-science-vigilante-calls-out-bogus-results-in-prestigious-journals-eb5a414c7f76

[@DrMartinObrien]

Many do get away with it but some eventually do get caught further along in their careers. Check out the website retraction watch for some juicy examples!

[@RocioGonzalezMeza]

I’m the obsessed one hahaha

[@MoisesSolisLordOfAll]

Same ...

[@nonphenomenon4862]

I'm a gamester with obsessor qualities, but now that the game is boring me, I've become a a bit of a procrastinator. I refuse to be a Yeti!

[@Mohabpiano]

Just started a phd last month in photonics. With so many different devices etc. it's hard for me to not exit the paper i'm reading 20 times to search for different things mentioned and understand them on a fundamental level. I guess that makes me an obsessor (?)

[@funkygenesis]

You're on the right track if you're doing that.

[@gaozhou4222]

I may will become type 2

[@peronkop]

I am watching this while I am trying to compose my literature review. Guess I am the procrastinator.

[@zena3413]

I am also a procrastinator

[@robertnewell5057]

Oh dear, oh dear! You missed the most difficult of the lot: the hard of hearing. When I was a supervisor I used to say right up front 'there may come a time when I say to you - if you don't do X you won't get you PhD'. However, some students won't take criticism. The rest you know. Luckily I never had a flat fail, but I had a few who had to do a heck of a lot of extra work which they could have avoided.

[@LavenderTheArj]

The yeti guy's supervisor watching this video: 👁️👄👁️

[@meowthesis1729]

3rd year of my PhD, I actually never meet a play hard work hard one....

[@dimitriskokoretsis3195]

You can cross over types too. I started out being what you describe as an obsessor (which is basically my personality), turned into a procrastinator after slowly realizing "the game" and its futility (for me at least), took an unpaid leave to try to get my shit together (yeti), until I realized I needed to get out of there, so I quit the PhD and academia altogether :)

[@stdev.]

Ah, of course I was not alone :)

[@ezgi6392]

May I ask in which country are you studying?

[@dimitriskokoretsis3195]

@@ezgi6392 I'm in Sweden, but not studying anymore.

[@pl5094]

I am more like an obsessor and want to become a gamester. I am always blamed to be inefficient.

[@artygunnar]

I'm definitely a Yeti

[@dassustephen5391]

Iam an obssessor.

[@Wlovez]

I feel like I am a genius but hope to be the obsessive one.

[@mapeauxnoire]

I am defo number 3.. spend more time day dreaming about stuff and a career in the industry and admiring people like Elon Musk than my academic work ,,

[@souzanebouf7952]

The procrastinator

[@iyrw21]

The yeti is so creepy student hahaha

[@nissemabdeljelil]

Hahaha so real 🤣🤣🤣 I'm the 2nd type

[@railzip]

I’m the procrastinator! Sucks lol

[@stampederealty]

I'm a yeti 😂

[@lindsay3917]

Thanks for using gender-neutral language! :) It's a small thing but really helpful for who we imagine as scientists. I would be a gamester if I could but it's too hard to write math papers! lol. Not sure if I'm the obsessor or the procrastinator yet, guess I'll find out next year

[@Spaski1234]

You’re so right Andy, it ain’t pretty! 🥴

[@mytyhekiller4]

"There may be a little bit of an issue with reproductibility" the reddest flag of all

[@gavinritz6981]

Lol

[@cameronbaird5658]

The impostor

[@cameronbaird5658]

After actually watching the video: obsessor + procrastinator :)

[@khantk2732]

3

[@vanessaescolanomaso9409]

I am definitely the obsessor kkkk. But then my advisor comes, pressures me and turns me in gamester kkkkkkk