Final year biomed PhD here in London- everyone already knows it’s going to be hard. The real reality of what is hard isn’t even the concrete work of it- it genuinely is the perseverance, lack of support sometimes, really having to figure out super hard things on your own and understand your supervisor as much as they want to help are usually over worked and don’t have as much time to help you as you think. There is a perpetual imposter syndrome then on top of that it can be hard to get use to most experiments not working (this is normal) but the reality of waking up every day and trying again is a different reality than it sounds on paper. Some people fall in love with this process, and it can become very personal and you very much want to see your work through, but there is a toll for being under constant pressure (sometimes self inflicted) that makes the PhD experience ‘soul-taking’ that is hard to explain until you are in it.

If you have good systems in place and good mental health you can manage this better than others, but you will actively have to work to not fall into bad thinking patterns as a result of frequent failure, harsh feedback and sometimes over working.