PhD Simulator

#1

Post by Smith42 » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 8:39 AM UTC

Re: PhD Simulator

#2

Post by ketzu » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 11:59 AM UTC

> Your submission to [...] was REJECTED. The reviewers were not convinced of the significance your [preliminary!] results.

Thanks for the flashbacks. At least we didn't have any qualifying exams.

Re: PhD Simulator

#3

Post by JBorrow » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:00 PM UTC

This is great! The ending phase really gives you the same feeling of “screw everything else, I need to finish this paper” rushing to get the final stuff out.

Re: PhD Simulator

#4

Post by geigco » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:06 PM UTC

Confirmation that I was right not to get my PhD!

Re: PhD Simulator

#5

Post by lqet » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:09 PM UTC

This is great and exactly captures the PhD experience. Both in the simulator and in real life, I mostly survived until the end by slacking off frequently, and needed around 5 years.

Some highlights:

> INBOX: Based on the reviewers' comments, we regret to inform you that your manuscript has been REJECTED for publication. One of the reviewers pointed out that there is no comparison with a state-of-art method.

> You came up with a bunch of ideas. However, upon further searching, you found that they have already been done before.

> You found the missing piece during a shower. You develop one of your preliminary results into a major result.

> You found one of your ideas appears in a recently published paper. You can no longer work on it.

> Three years passed. You have witnessed many graduations. You began to worry about whether your can graduate on time.

> The simulation took a much longer time than you expected. The results are not available yet.

What was missing:

1.) Growing feeling of getting too old

2.) Growing family obligations (marriage, kids, trying to write a thesis at 3am with a crying baby next room)

3.) Questions asked by friends and relatives regarding progress

4.) Teaching obligations

Re: PhD Simulator

#6

Post by jmercan » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:13 PM UTC

Sounds like this is how my life will be like for a couple years if I get accepted :p

Re: PhD Simulator

#7

Post by lusus_naturae » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:15 PM UTC

Unrealistic because it doesn't have enough inter-dept. politics and other phd/msc students in-fighting.

Re: PhD Simulator

#8

Post by spacemanspiff01 » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:22 PM UTC

Wait... There was only one month where I was working on "finish your thesis"

Re: PhD Simulator

#9

Post by drdunce » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:24 PM UTC

lusus_naturae wrote: post #7

Unrealistic because it doesn't have enough inter-dept. politics and other phd/msc students in-fighting.

...and the final step where having succeeded no one actually cares and you are now unemployable.

Re: PhD Simulator

#10

Post by armchairhacker » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 12:26 PM UTC

That was...a lot more straightforward than I thought.

First try: Year 4 Month 5

Second try: a lot more things went wrong. Year 5 Month 11.

Third try: Year 5 Month 11.

I just followed these rules:

- Study for the qualifying exam until I'm "very confident"

- If I have no ideas, read papers

- If I have an idea, work on developing it. If I have a preliminary result, work on developing it. If I have a major result, conduct experiments etc...if I have a rejected paper, revise and resubmit. Prioritizing whichever option gets me closer to an accepted paper (because presumably the ideas get outdated quickly)

- Whenever I get the "ask my advisor for a break?" say yes. Whenever I get "I am tired" and no "ask my advisor", "Slack Off" for one month.

Fortunately I got no abusive advisor, rejected papers usually end up getting accepted later, no extreme life circumstances or cut funding. But my computer crashed way more often than I'd expect, especially since backups are so common nowadays.