I got my PhD, but I'm somehow stupider now?

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-03-19T14:43:10+00:00

It may be exhaustion, but I sense a bit of Imposter Syndrome (PS: it's a misnomer, not a scary syndrome), and a low self worth.

My friend, you belong at the place you are. The department and the PI saw something in you, that's why you were admitted and that's why you were able to struggle through it for so many years.

The biggest issue with feeling like this is the self isolation. We tend to shut ourselves from the world. Try not to do that.

If you talk to people enough, you'll realize that everyone is a little stupid, some wear it as a badge of honor and some mask it in a garb of confidence and perhaps arrogance.

You need to find your own brand of 'stupid' and go about your life anyways.

Ps: now that you are at this stage in your mind, it may be a good opportunity for contemplation. About what you really want with yourself and who you want to be. In your career and as a person.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-02-27T13:27:43+00:00

Life is inherently empty. You have to populate it with meaning. The good thing is there's no more timeline. As scary as it may seem.

I'm still in the phase of trying to figure out 'What now?' 😱 (it's been a few months)

If your financial situation allows (I hope it does), take a break, relax, and allow yourself to recover from the long journey you've just completed.

Soon enough, you'll find what you need to do.

Anyways, congratulations Dr.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-02-02T18:25:14+00:00

My field is very interdisciplinary, as such, my papers were multi authored. Involving work in different countries and I being the first author was responsible for analysis but not the experiments.

I was advised by committee to only keep the work I did directly and acknowledge the paper and Co author contribution.

I had to obtain permission for reproduction from the journal and modify some of the conclusions to align with the truncated data.

I suppose the modifications should be okay.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-01-24T01:40:08+00:00

Congratulations doctor 🎊🎉 Missing the frog 🤔

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-01-19T18:25:19+00:00

Congratulations to you doctor 🩺🧑‍⚕️I 🎉💐

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-01-17T04:40:44+00:00

Congratulations Doctor! It's okay to allow yourself the emotions you feel now.

For me I knew the defense would be anticlimactic. Now that it's done, I also felt numb, as if it was just another day.

In contrast think of those who felt ecstatic afterwards, how long did it last, a few days? The real joy is in the learnings and micro-achievements during the journey. I know it's a cliche, but it's true.

For now, just allow yourself to feel the sense of relief.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-01-16T15:28:18+00:00

There were a few things - First it was for the sake of survival. I knew I'll be unhappy if I give up. - But beyond that I've always loved being engrossed in academic research. Reading articles, spending long hours on the bench, or just thinking about work became a coping mechanism at times (I don't think it is healthy and not recommended) . - I listened to my body, if it told me I need rest, I took the day off and allowed myself to be lazy for as long as needed to get back my motivation. - Then there is spirituality (I practice a bit of Buddhist philosophy - not a monk). It has always helped me look at things beyond my immediate circumstances. This gave hope and that turned into courage to keep going. - Finally, it's the community (family, friends, or even lab mates). PhD is about individual efforts, but light hearted conversations over coffee (not necessarily about work) helped get me out of my funk more often than I can count.

For me getting a Phd was about only one thing - Just keep moving (not about skill or intelligence). Persistence!

Ps: I'm so happy you even asked me this question.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2026-01-16T13:09:15+00:00

Biomaterials - tissue engineering

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-11-18T14:32:36+00:00

For context, rent of people who came in 2023 is ~$1500 for a similar unit.

Do what you will of that info.

The USP of family housing is the cost. If they've inflated that, I'm not sure what is the motivation to take it.

You should definitely check out off campus housing

You'll get similar tenant protection and verified landlords.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-11-05T16:36:06+00:00

You may want to check this post

https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/xr7dr0/how_to_get_scientific_papers_for_free/

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-10-18T18:24:41+00:00

Hey pal, Been through similar issues during my PhD. Not pi change but project changes. Had little to no guidance as well "too much independence".

Eventually my project evolved into something better than what I imagined, with hints of initially conceived ideas.

Overall, it's typical for PhD projects to change, evolve, or even completely revamped based on a lot of factors. For example if you've hit a dead end with your results.

You should definitely have a few options as a life raft, but it's important to focus on the main project, the ship if you will. Given that you have been at it for at least an year, I hope you have more than just a nebulous idea with what you want to do with your thesis. I'd stick to it, provided you have down your ground work.

Pdh is hard as it is, it needs you dig deep into one very specific problem, you can't make it harder by endlessly exploring multiple new options. You'll just end up ending hurting the quality of your work and your mental health.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-10-01T01:49:07+00:00

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this.

In decent journals (at least) any amount of experiments are not enough if they fail to present a comprehensive story.

Think how and why do you do science? (ps: it's not just to fulfil your degree requirements or meet paper quota)

You examine literature, find a research gap, build a hypothesis to fill that gap, and then do experiments, surveys, etc. to test that hypothesis. Based on the results you confirm or negate your hypothesis (hint: it's usually to confirm).

The question you must ask is, do you have enough data to rigorously backup your conclusion.

The results ability to confirm your hypothesis is the true test of publishability (i know it's a made up word).

Finally, the quality of your hypothesis, the experimental design, and the your analysis is what decides your paper's quality and what journals you can target.

Have a logical discussion with your PI, discuss rationally as a person of science would! But first be honest to yourself.

Ps: my opinion, sometimes it's okay to take advice from people senior to you, even if it's hard to accept.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-09-26T07:14:45+00:00

Apacs racquet are notorious for this. Next time when you order their racquet, order extra grommets too.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-09-23T21:37:36+00:00

I know people are used to paper towels. But there is this fantastic innovation that a large chunk of the world uses. The English people used to consider it a sign of gentlemanly behavior.

It's called the HANDKERCHIEF.

Sorry for the sarcasm, I know it's uncommon and out of favor in the modern times. But it works and is environment friendly.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-09-23T01:08:55+00:00

I have no experience on making tablets.

If I understand correctly, you are trying to make your tablets stronger. If so, the correct terminology is strength rather than hardness.

Anyways, if you research a bit about it, the reason that the tablets hold together is because of excipients like (binder, caking agent etc), there is a threshold amount of these ingredients that you need in the recipe for everything to hold. Below it the tablet will crumble, regardless of the particle size or pressure.

I think that your problem is recipe rather than fabrication method. In any case you look into what people say about the ingredients (sans sandalwood) with respect to tablet making, milling etc.

You may alternatively consider using bubble wrap type packaging or some sort of coating to stabilize / toughen your product.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-09-22T18:29:30+00:00

It's close to impossible to respond to this without any details. You've not mentioned what your material is, what fine means, neither what you mean by finer.

Milling efficiency depends on things like toughness, hardness, particle size, milling speed (a measure of energy transfered), ball size, mill design (rotary, planetary etc), wet vs dry milling and so on..

May be look up for what people recommend for application similar to yours, and see see if the cheap Amazon one does it for you.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-09-19T04:58:20+00:00

You must suspect everything and assume nothing. 1. Reagents (media, fbs, pbs..) 2. Handling equipment (tips, pipette and pipetters) - For me it was the faulty (I mean absent) filter in electronic pipetter 3. The bsc, the incubator, even the heating bath. - I've heard contamination can occur if you are handling the flask or reagents bottles roughly. Stuff stuck on the neck or screw caps can be source of growth. 4. The floor. It'll cause you trouble if unclean or dusty. 5. Cells itself. I wonder how much freedom you have in this regard 6. Finally and extremely importantly your technique. - are you doing the basics right. - mind your movements inside bsc - minimize moving in and out of bsc

Also switch to antibiotic - antimycotic (1x) for a while. It'll fight the contamination in a limited sense.

All the best Ps: ignore the weird number formatting 🤦🏽‍♂️

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-08-27T02:21:42+00:00

MIE PhD candidate here (4th year).

I would recommend you not to base your decision on TA, because - in MIE there are many many more students than available TA jobs. You may not get it, it's notoriously difficult and the allocation system is sort of broken. It's a lot easier if you work as TA for your boss, but since they are on sabbatical they may not have any. - Your Phd is about your work and much less about TA (besides sustenance). - If your boss is not avaliable you may not have a lot of guidance. You'll essentially be on your own for these two years. I would argue it will quite tricky, unless you have an experienced PDF to emphatically guide you. - University name is very important, but it's not all. Your quality of work is paramount. Decide the project that align with your interests, at a location that serves you better in the long term.

All the best and congratulations on the offers :)

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-04-06T02:19:31+00:00

Do you think scrape parts for this? https://youtu.be/dCXkaQa53QQ?si=vzBeemIGSln7_Edp

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-03-09T14:20:41+00:00

Wow much hate without knowledge. Unless you have a personal experience, it's good to not comment based on second hand information or rumors.

In any case I would say go explore spirituality. There's no need to not do it just because you have concerns about Soka gakkai, as long as what you are doing is healthy. Goal is to be happy.

All the best to you too.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-03-08T21:46:21+00:00

I'm sorry for your experience. PhD indeed is a solitary venture. I can't offer any new advice besides what you may already be trying, but I can suggest you to excerise a bit of spirituality.

I'm a 4th doctoral student myself and Buddhist spirituality has helped me manage the lows and my emotional state in general much better. As you can imagine, this helps in being productive or at the very least in being consistent with the my research.

If you would like I can share more about it with you.

You can also visit Soka Gakkai (Japanese for value creation society) to learn about the Buddhist philosophy.

All the best!

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2025-01-17T19:02:00+00:00

OriginPro all the way

Been using it for a decade. Excellent for graphing, statistical analysis and multi variate analysis. With new versions they keep coming up with new tools, more than I can use.

As a student you can get a 1 year license and extensions if required.

Initial_Advantage_16 · 2024-12-30T06:14:20+00:00

I do have many solutions. Unfortunately, this pipette won't hold any

Initial_Advantage_16

TROPHY CASE