I find this highly unrealistic. Advisors do not notice nor care for your mental health. Breaks and rest are not offered nor advised. Back to the lab!
Claim your free time. No sane advisor would ever say no.
PhD Simulator
61–70 of 285 posts
Re: PhD Simulator
#62I'm interested in how specific this PhD experience is to the US, certain subjects or recent times. My own experience doing a maths PhD in the UK in the mid-2000s was not like this at all (but had a different set of challenges for sure).
I'm about to wrap up my PhD in a few months here in the US, I find that while it's kind of close, it's a bit on the cynical side, as is most of the HN discussion about PhDs.
Yes, my advisor emphasizes papers a lot, but there aren't any requirements for number of papers for graduation. While there are extremely busy periods of forgoing sleep to work (eg right before a major deadline), my advisor also constantly reminds us to take breaks and enjoy life. There was also the anxiety about graduating on time, but that too was sorted out by just having a meeting with my advisor and understanding how things work.
On the other hand, the situation with the qualifying exam was the opposite, I had to constantly remind my advisor that I needed to get that done. It involved a 50 page report on the current status of my research and a thesis defense style presentation to my committee, so that was a bit of a challenge to make time for between normal research. Passing it didn't feel like much of a challenge, just meeting the 50 page requirement did. I had enough data, but it was still a lot of writing.
Re: PhD Simulator
#63This 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 cam…
One dynamic I experienced that also isn't in the simulation: if you focus too much on classwork early on in order to pass your RPE, it can actually be hard to find an advisor. Classwork is basically dead-end work and the more you focus on it the less you have to show for yourself when trying to convince an advisor to work with you. Your goal should be to optimize for doing just well enough to pass your classwork. Als…
Or your advisor retiring in year 2...
Re: PhD Simulator
#64As a current 4th year graduate student, I opened the link and found the choice to accept or decline the admission offer, I don't know why I clicked decline without thinking.
I was secretly hoping it will tell me "you win" when I clicked decline.
Re: PhD Simulator
#65I notice a lot of negativity and "do not recommend" regarding pursuing a PhD on HN recently. That raises the question: Why would you go for it?
A PhD is one of those rare periods of life where you are completely on your own, navigating unknown territories without anybody telling you what you should or should not do, where your professional success depends entirely on your own ideas and decisions. The reason to try a PhD is that you are truly free to test your limits. It can be liberating, but also daunting. And definitely humbling.
In some ways, it is not so different from being an entrepreneur, as in both cases you are forging your own path trying to do something new that a certain community likes.
Re: PhD Simulator
#66I find one month per turn quite coarse: much more fine-grained misery could be added with variable-length activities, waiting anxiously for something, real life commitments, or randomly wasting time.
For example, 2d4 days to read some papers, 1d6+1 consecutive days to think about a new idea, a 50% chance per day of being busy teaching, resource contention with colleagues running their simulations, etc.
Re: PhD Simulator
#67Re: PhD Simulator
#68I slacked off until I failed the first year exam. I escaped a PhD program and was left full of hope. I consider that a win.
Re: PhD Simulator
#69That 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, conduc…
> Whenever I get the "ask my advisor for a break?" say yes. I thought that was a trap, and I was surprised my initial strategy of "say no but then slack off" didn't work
That depends on how good your advisor is and whether they understand mental health.
Re: PhD Simulator
#70In the sim, at "Year 3 Month 9" I apparently "lost all hope and quitted your PhD".
In my real one (20+ years ago), I submitted my thesis after 3 years and 6 months, by which point I was no longer on speaking terms with my supervisor and was hanging on to my sanity by the skin of my teeth.
My viva went surprisingly well, after which I did the minor corrections that were requested, handed in a copy of my thesis, packed up my stuff and left that hateful group behind me.