This is so sad and pretty much captures the PhD experience.
PhD Simulator
151–160 of 285 posts
Re: PhD Simulator
#152[deleted]
Re: PhD Simulator
#153This 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…
This is also missing the part where your friend in your same class drops out for a startup, and you can choose to join him or stick with PhD.
Then give you the option a year later to congratulate him on the startup’s multi-billion exit.
Re: PhD Simulator
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> 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. nearly half of my year didn't get this and had to master out when we got to quals.
You mean they passed quals but couldn't get an advisor?
Or failed quals?
Re: PhD Simulator
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
This would be incredibly bad advice in half of Physics and most of Math. An adviser would simply not trust a graduate student with middling grades to be competent enough to work with.
I think this depends on the field. For example in CS, my advisor straight up told me multiple times to stop worry about class work. His exact statement is that "There isn't anything more that you will learn in classes that you won't learn in greater detail doing research". His logic is that when you are doing research, you are pushing the envelope into new territory that can't be taught in a classroom. When you are i…
I was thinking, this sounds very much like a person with a vested interest in getting you to do more research.
Re: PhD Simulator
#156Can’t get time any lower than 3 years and 12 months but it’s fun trying to speedrun this
Re: PhD Simulator
#157This 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…
> You found one of your ideas appears in a recently published paper. You can no longer work on it. This is one of the things I thought of right away when ChatGPT got released last year. "God, there's probably so many PhD candidates right now in NLP feeling despair like all their work was pointless ...as if million of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." It's hard in the moment to know whether what…
Math is pointless from start to finish, but that doesn't stop them.
PhD is granted for novelty, not practicality.
Re: PhD Simulator
#158This 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…
> You found one of your ideas appears in a recently published paper. You can no longer work on it. This is one of the things I thought of right away when ChatGPT got released last year. "God, there's probably so many PhD candidates right now in NLP feeling despair like all their work was pointless ...as if million of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." It's hard in the moment to know whether what…
Why is this the case? Wouldn’t having more than one paper proving/discovering the same thing be good for confidence in either of them?
Re: PhD Simulator
#159That was surprisingly stressful
Re: PhD Simulator
#160I've never gone for a PhD, so I can't relate to the experience of this simulation, but found this game was actually really easy. I completed my PhD in 4 years and 11 months, which feels quite reasonable. My "hope" never dropped below 45, and by the end, hope was 76. If anything, this simulation just made me think getting a PhD would be a fun opportunity to do a lot of study, and didn't put me off at all. EDIT: Why do…
My experience was: damn, I need to do tons of reading and research and writing. Like a full time job, not just chilling. Which is a bummer. I was hoping I could just chill.
If you just want to chill, you definitely don't need any of the phd stuff. Pretty much everyone chills occasionally.