The REAL PhD Experience - 177 PhD Students Expose the Hidden Truths

Embarking on the PhD journey is a massive decision, and understanding the true PhD experience is crucial for anyone wondering, "Should I do a PhD?" This comprehensive overview draws from insights shared by 177 PhD students, offering unvarnished truths and essential PhD advice to guide prospective candidates.
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The PhD experience is multifaceted. It's not just about advancing knowledge in your chosen field but also about developing resilience, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. The journey is characterized by highs of discovery and lows of frustration, making it a unique personal and professional adventure.
Navigating the PhD landscape means weighing the PhD pros and cons. On the plus side, pursuing a PhD allows for deep engagement with a subject you are passionate about. It offers the freedom to explore questions at the cutting edge of knowledge and to contribute meaningfully to your discipline. Many PhD students relish the autonomy in their research schedule, the intellectual stimulation, and the opportunity to collaborate with leading experts.
However, the cons are significant and deserve attention. The journey can be isolating, with long hours spent on research leading to a work-life imbalance. Financial strain is common, as funding is competitive and often insufficient to cover living expenses. The pressure to publish, secure grants, and the uncertainty of academic job markets add to the stress. Moreover, the supervisor-student relationship is pivotal and can greatly influence your experience and success. A supportive supervisor can be a mentor and advocate, while a mismatch can lead to conflicts and hinder progress.
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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:53 Best Parts Of Doing A PhD
02:46 Marker 2
04:22 The Bad Side of PhD
08:51 PhD Schedule
10:42 Quick Fire Results
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[@DrAndyStapleton]

Discover why many PhDs are second-guessing their career in science and learn what they wish they knew before diving in, in my eye-opening video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHyyY2uQqN9sjbM

[@Danilio.]

👑🎗️

[@eli_here]

A bit off topic, but that's a very nice T-Shirt Andy!

[@cyrilio]

Even if you don't do a PhD.. Learning new things (after your 25) increases life expectancy and make life more fun.

[@AK-cj9ec]

10x this comment

[@apattys]

Watching your channel has convinced me that not completing my PhD was a blessing in disguise. I’ve taken away many valuable lessons from my experience, but realized that I went into the program blindly and was soooo naive about what I thought I would get out of it and where it would lead me in my career.

[@Arven8]

I did a PhD in clinical psychology. My experience was a bit different from this sample, which seems to be drawn from the hard sciences (?). I had a lot of struggles with issues unique to specializing in psychopathology -- professors critiquing my interpersonal style, very "cliquish" dynamics among the students, the pressure to appear psychologically healthy even if you were struggling, the presence of psychological/emotional problems in the students themselves (no surprise, but it gets amplified when that is your area of study). If you have any sort of emotional or interpersonal problems, be sure that they will come right up in your face in a program like that. We had the same time and study pressure that other PhDs have -- I can relate to that -- but there was also a level of psychological pressure ("dealing with your own issues") that existed on top of that, which added additional stress. I found it quite challenging at times. We didn't have the "publish or perish" mentality that the hard sciences deal with, because 90% of our students were going straight into clinical practice -- their main interest was working with people, not doing research. I was a bit different in that regard. I was mostly interested in psychotherapy research when I entered the program. That interest died along the way, though, and I ended up going into clinical practice myself rather than academia.

[@ElijahHunter77]

Hi there! Here's the text with some relevant emojis added: 👋 Andy! My Ph.D. was in social science (2013-2028), heavily research-oriented (with "human subjects"💡)I loved the research part (although I was 44-49 y.o.). The tip I'd give is to find, select, and choose the major professor who is on a research grant to join his publication pipeline; all else is equal.

[@orkboy59]

New challenge. Incorporate "a whole doughnut of flavors" into my thesis.

[@bernardofitzpatrick5403]

Great shirt ! Your vids are very informative and helpful. 🎉 Flearning👍

[@abundance_crystal698]

I really like this guy😂 hilarious lol. This just inspired me to get a PhD lol 😅get paid to study ❤ how cool is that!

[@tombarnes1871]

I always enjoy your comments on stiff academic’s!

[@Ken-er9cq]

The university at which I did my PhD and ended up as an academic, wanted academics to have postgrad students. The problem was that most of the prospective students were pretty awful. So I was going to have to do a reasonable amount of work to make sure they finished. I've seen postgrads with awful programs and they were wandering around trying to find someone to suggest what would fix it. In one case I told them that the method they had been trying to make work for the last 3 months was never going to work.

[@prince.c8458]

Flearning! I love it

[@studentaccount4354]

❤❤❤TYVM🎉

[@robsawyer2081]

Finish work at 5PM. LOL that’s funny.

[@DrJTPhysio]

Throw in teaching undergrad courses to the daily schedule, and that was pretty much my life.

[@drjahanzeb1135]

Doing PhD was a great experience. But after this you hace to chose either to run for publication race to get out from the race, which led you to get out of research. Then start searching industrial or corporate jobs for breadn butter. It is good that now students don't fantasize their future after PhD or Postdoc. Publication is also a business, now. Take huge money from writers n don't give a penny to reviewers. Who is taking all of this money? MDPI is an example. Very few good IF journals with reasonable publication fee. It is business now.

[@SamirOrujovZ]

In math, most journals are free and we are lucky.

[@spencerbirungi4466]

Thank you prof for the down-to-earth presentation. Currently undertaking my PhD, but still finding challenges with work-study balance, This continues to slow down my progress. Could you share specifically your experiences on this issue? How do other PhD in similar circumstances deal with this huddle

[@dalystamayo5067]

❤❤love it!

[@dankchan420]

Those planners look full on. Are people really that productive and timely all the time? My daily schedule is deep work and prioritising deadlines. Keep going to get it done. Some days might be a few hours and others 8-10. Working from home. About sporadic 2am here and there. 11am elsewhere

[@monochromios]

Failures are learning opportunities. A failure remains a failure if you cannot learn anything from it.

[@kourtneyalbert2937]

Looking the pursue my PhD. In industrial and systems engineering.

[@vasilivanov1951]

I like your tshirt how is the design called?

[@MissAsdfb99]

We are already earning so less and your PhD kickstart guide is so expensive 😔😔

[@yrcanlitprof1144]

This is pretty much focused on Science/social science students. Humanities students do Phds too.

[@gronagor]

Hmmm. How is it different?

[@mickeykozzi]

You should have asked me too lol

[@sebastianbetancourt52]

these videos are very cringe

[@ImThatAuntie]

Stop watching them

[@developerdeveloper67]

Putting "skills" and "phds" in the same phrase is quite hilarious since they don't have any.