1) Smarts and IQ don’t matter as much as everyone thinks and works hard for his goals. 2) Be optimistic in general but prepare for the worst. Your papers will get rejected, your advisor might change your project after you have spent several months on it, you may have financial or health troubles etc. Can you, in all this chaos, remain somewhat calm and get stuff done? That is what counts. 3) Self-care is cool. Can you take care of yourself? Can you take care of your physical and mental health, force yourself to exercise regularly, eat healthy food and have a social life out of the lab? When you are starting your PhD., these things may seem trivial. But, believe me, you will burn out and given the prevalence of mental health issues in academia, it will get to you. 4) The value of a PhD comes from the learning. Your PhD degree is not worth much if you did not learn the trappings of your field AND scientific publishing. Throughout your PhD, you should be learning new things (and getting papers outta them).
It took me over 7 years part time to complete my PhD. I learnt to be persistent, innovative and further developed my research skills and networking ability. It also taught me to manage my time around work and study, it was hard work but worth it in the end.
The question came to my mind ever after I completed my PhD was: apart from self care and financial goal, does my PhD offer a better world to atleast a single human other than me? In many aspects, it can be a yes. But an unsatisfied me' is still feeling something wrong with the system.
There are very many mental and physical health issues involved in the modern academic assembly and production line. I am in full agreement with your assessment that the real price of any formal education (Ph.D and higher levels included) comes from the applicable value of the learning process in science and life.
Honestly, my PhD taught me the fact that if i knew i will suffer this much to have it i wont do it... even it is a long way, it deserves all the hard work...
It took me over 7 years part time to complete my PhD. I learnt to be persistent, innovative and further developed my research skills and networking ability. It also taught me to manage my time around work and study, it was hard work but worth it in the end.
Ph.D. taught me preparation of a topic in concerned area for presentation, guidance to students, teaching lessons, preparing projects, working in a team, research behaviour with others, collaborative approaches, speaking clearly and promptly, taking assignments as and when necessary, whatever be the time, react immediately to the requirement starting from writing papers, erecting experimental set up etc.
I agree with orthers answers. I will like to add "The key skills PhD researchers have to develop is the ability to identify research gaps and generate research questions". We need to love and enjoy what we do. The more you love what you are doing in your PhD, chances are you would find more of those unanswered domains.
I think the PhD has taught me more lessons about life than about research and academics... (PhD students viewpoints) Here are a few:
1) Dealing with rejection:
Take a look at any top-tier research institution. The graduate student population will be filled with over-achievers who have hardly if ever, experienced real rejection. A PhD changes all that. Research, by definition, is risky. Doesn't matter how brilliant you are, but some of your ideas will work out, while some won't. Your research ideas get turned down by your advisor, papers get rejected, your results refuse to improve even after hours of work - these are all real and a PhD forces you to either deal with it - or quit.
2) Keeping expectations realistic:
This is related to my previous point on rejection. The problem with over-achievers is that their expectations are often sky-high. They expect things to work on their first try, papers to get in with ease, etc. While luck might give them company for a while, a couple of years down the line, when things don't quite go as planned, their expectations are brought in line with reality. I think this gives PhDs an edge (head-start rather) over other over-achievers.
3) Ability to work in a state of perpetual confusion/uncertainty:
This is a key skill that all scientists must have. Barring the rare moment, you often aren't sure if your brilliant new technique will work. Often, you don't even have a clue - or whether you even chose the right problem to solve in the first place. This ability to push on despite uncertainty and confusion is a useful skill to have.
4) Working on your own:
Once you reach the frontiers of human knowledge and start trying to extend the state of the art in your narrow area, you are already a world expert and nobody, not even your advisor, can give you a complete solution to your problem. You will learn how to work alone and come up with a working solution that is both novel and interesting to the community - and will also pick up a valuable life lesson along the way.
5) Communication skills:
This point has been belaboured in pretty much every article about graduate school so I won't go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that a PhD teaches you how to effectively communicate with others through multiple mediums (written, spoken, etc.).
Dear Dr. Pallab Bag
Welcome. Actually, I have shared the writing statements of other researchers which I found in a perfect match with my personal PhD research experience.
Thanks Dr Shahee for these points, those are reality and motivating. I would like to print it and paste near to my desk, hope I am not violating copyright.
Dear Dr Jasnamol Pezhumkattil Palakkal
Actually, most of these statements I have collected from the internet and all these statements were a perfect match with my personal PhD research experience. So if it will be violating of copyright than I will be the first. But I hope we are not violating copyright.
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