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“How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

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Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#21

Post by dfit99 »

bshep wrote: post #8
tomohelix wrote: post #2

I think the only reason I was able to get through my PhD was because I am used to the work culture and expectations. After going into the industry in a relatively healthy and good company, I realized just how much stress I had and how bad it was in academia. In a way, the grinder serves as a test of willpower and discipline and those who could persevere through it can say they have the mental fortitude to handle stre…

So i did a masters in engineering(3yrs), worked for 2 years then went into med school (4yrs) and finished residency (3yrs) in the same time a friend of mine did a PHD in engineering… I was shocked when i found out he had just finished the PHD when i was graduating residency.

Just curious, what inspired you to pursue medicine. I have been a SDE at a FAANG with 7 years of experience, but I am curious in maybe pivoting into medicine or at least combining the two fields.

I have been feeling extreme boredom and dissatisfaction and was hoping pursuing medicine would give me some renewed passion.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#22

Post by dan-robertson »

mshockwave wrote: post #16
georgeburdell wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the biggest drawback was doing all of the life things later. I graduated at 27, which is on the earlier end, then met my partner a year later, got married 2 years after that, bought a house 2 years after that, and then 2 years after that finally felt settled enough to have our first child (second was born 3 years later). Money was usually gating each step. We’re going to be pushing 70 before our children have…

getting phd at 27 is suuuper early. Granted, friends might start to work at 23 or 25-ish but we're talking about a doctoral degree, which makes a visible difference on job hunting in the field of computer science I'm in.

I don’t know if jobs ‘in the field of computer science’ are the same as jobs as a programmer but I think there exist plenty of very good programming jobs for which a phd doesn’t particularly matter, at least where I live. The people I know who got phds finished around 26/27 so I think it depends on the country/system.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#23

Post by TotalCrackpot »

HDMI_Cable wrote: post #13
georgeburdell wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the biggest drawback was doing all of the life things later. I graduated at 27, which is on the earlier end, then met my partner a year later, got married 2 years after that, bought a house 2 years after that, and then 2 years after that finally felt settled enough to have our first child (second was born 3 years later). Money was usually gating each step. We’re going to be pushing 70 before our children have…

One way to look at it is that with increasing life expectanties, 70 will be the new 60 (or even 50). The probability that you'll see your kids have kids is going to get higher and higher. Also, it may be better that you had kids later because they'll grow up in a more financially comfortable situation with more aged and experienced parents. Think of age as a fine wine, not milk :)

If something drastically changes with climate change then maybe you are right, if not then life expectancy will fall.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#24

Post by dan-robertson »

georgeburdell wrote: post #5
tomohelix wrote: post #2

I think the only reason I was able to get through my PhD was because I am used to the work culture and expectations. After going into the industry in a relatively healthy and good company, I realized just how much stress I had and how bad it was in academia. In a way, the grinder serves as a test of willpower and discipline and those who could persevere through it can say they have the mental fortitude to handle stre…

For me, the biggest drawback was doing all of the life things later. I graduated at 27, which is on the earlier end, then met my partner a year later, got married 2 years after that, bought a house 2 years after that, and then 2 years after that finally felt settled enough to have our first child (second was born 3 years later). Money was usually gating each step. We’re going to be pushing 70 before our children have…

First kid at ~33 doesn’t strike me as particularly unusual for reasonably well off professionals where I live, but maybe I’m biased by how my parents went through life and you yours.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#25

Post by 2snakes »

dfit99 wrote: post #21
bshep wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So i did a masters in engineering(3yrs), worked for 2 years then went into med school (4yrs) and finished residency (3yrs) in the same time a friend of mine did a PHD in engineering… I was shocked when i found out he had just finished the PHD when i was graduating residency.

Just curious, what inspired you to pursue medicine. I have been a SDE at a FAANG with 7 years of experience, but I am curious in maybe pivoting into medicine or at least combining the two fields. I have been feeling extreme boredom and dissatisfaction and was hoping pursuing medicine would give me some renewed passion.

You'll need to exhibit character like servant leadership to do well as a doctor.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#26

Post by ModernMech »

peachypeach wrote: post #3

Honestly it really just seems like the world’s PhD programs are designed to ritually haze students and sort them into academic society based on unsustainable and barely acceptable expectations. I do not have a PhD but all my friends who do (save one) have expressed that they would rather have done something else with the time and resources it took to get theirs. Really sad. My cousin is a Psych professor at an Ivy Le…

> Chilling honestly.

There are a couple ways of looking at this, yours is one take.

We can look at it another way. The kind of people with the intelligence and persistence to successfully complete a Ph.D. are disproportionately neurodivergent, IME. You’ll find a lot of people on the spectrum at the upper ranks of academia. Such people lack in dopamine production, and may end up taking medication to deal with that as they are diagnosed during the course of their graduate education, which typically provides access to healthcare and therapy.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#27

Post by shikshake »

TotalCrackpot wrote: post #6

Imagine that students used to be very active in various grassroot political movements, and these days they cannot organize themselves to do some huge protest, stall every university lesson, not grade papers and finally get some huge reforms that would help them and the rest of the faculty. Unfortunate, this probably happens because people who do PhD are not actually very assertive on their own and they have very impa…

> people who do PhD are not actually very assertive on their own and they have very impaired cooperation skills

Where exactly are you pulling this from? That has not been my experience, both from my research lab and from other students I've met at a variety of conferences.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#28

Post by latency-guy2 »

lumiukko wrote: post #9
georgeburdell wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the biggest drawback was doing all of the life things later. I graduated at 27, which is on the earlier end, then met my partner a year later, got married 2 years after that, bought a house 2 years after that, and then 2 years after that finally felt settled enough to have our first child (second was born 3 years later). Money was usually gating each step. We’re going to be pushing 70 before our children have…

Are you aware of how privileged you are?

Do you have anything specific to add to the conversation? Immediately starting off taking away things is a not so good start.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#29

Post by 2snakes »

78124781 wrote: post #17
peachypeach wrote: post #3

Honestly it really just seems like the world’s PhD programs are designed to ritually haze students and sort them into academic society based on unsustainable and barely acceptable expectations. I do not have a PhD but all my friends who do (save one) have expressed that they would rather have done something else with the time and resources it took to get theirs. Really sad. My cousin is a Psych professor at an Ivy Le…

"Honestly it really just seems like the world’s PhD programs are designed to ritually haze students and sort them into academic society based on unsustainable and barely acceptable expectations." This is accurate. It's very hard to explain to people who haven't been through a PhD program the kinds of expectations that are placed on students (example: highly influential profs telling an incoming cohort that their expe…

Yeah, such is the effect of "jigsaw puzzling" hundreds of papers to get a feel for a field. One had better be really interested to come into dialogue with others' observations, and not have it be trite. Philosophically, scientific idealism instead of materialism is one possible way forward as the sense/relationship of self-other evolves.

Re: “How is your thesis going?” Students’ perspectives on mental health and stress

#30

Post by [deleted] »

georgeburdell wrote: post #5
tomohelix wrote: post #2

I think the only reason I was able to get through my PhD was because I am used to the work culture and expectations. After going into the industry in a relatively healthy and good company, I realized just how much stress I had and how bad it was in academia. In a way, the grinder serves as a test of willpower and discipline and those who could persevere through it can say they have the mental fortitude to handle stre…

For me, the biggest drawback was doing all of the life things later. I graduated at 27, which is on the earlier end, then met my partner a year later, got married 2 years after that, bought a house 2 years after that, and then 2 years after that finally felt settled enough to have our first child (second was born 3 years later). Money was usually gating each step. We’re going to be pushing 70 before our children have…

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