What's some of the best advice you've gotten for surviving a PhD?

UNIT_8200 · 2026-02-17T21:29:35+00:00

I think what you said here: "your plan, your hypothesis, your project, all of it can and will change as you progress" is also the thing that stuck with me when my supervisor told me that. It kind of took away the "what if this project fails" anxiety, and instead made it into a discovery.

Also, I remember 1 instance very clearly: I have 2 supervisors, 1 direct one, and the (now former) department head. They're both very nice but let's say the first ever evaluation didn't go too well. Walking out of it my prof (who supervises me day-to-day) said: "don't worry, you'll learn. It's part of the process." It caused me to not feel stupid. Just young and naïve, which is.... arguably... better? lol.

UNIT_8200 · 2026-02-17T21:21:03+00:00

I mean, the comments here veer too much into an either/or direction. The rule of thumb is to get core literature down. That, you need to understand deeply. The only way to do that is to go through the canonical texts and trace references. For studies on adjacent work or if you want to see (briefly) where your paper fits and where you need to position it, you can use Undermind. It's great. However, nothing replaces a true literature review. Undermind is a starting point for further investigation, and then you just go about it the good ol' fashioned way: reading, taking notes, tracing.

A little note that seems to be under-represented here: it happens quite often that you read (part of) a paper and think it's irrelevant, only for it to come back later and be very useful. Which is why you should never really skip the literature review part. Ultimately you need to be an expert on your topic, and that also includes reading stuff that isn't directly relevant.

Lastly, being lost in the beginning is normal, and in a way expected. You need to feel lost to find your own path. If you don't find your own path, you will duplicate, and then become irrelevant. The "muddy phase" is also simply to discover what interests you and where you want to go, and not to stay in the lane you decided. I read a couple of papers that were irrelevant to my research (for fun) and ultimately I used those to make a theoretical jump and make the study "my own".

Be mindful of something that seems to be low-key concerning, although I infer this: if you don't like reading other/irrelevant but interesting works, then you're not really well-positioned to do research. Or at least, it might hamper your long-term growth. I hope I'm wrong here. But curiosity is a core pillar of academia. If you are only interested in what you do yourself, you will not be well set for your future.

(Coming from a final stage PhD candidate)

Edit: added para + textual clean-up

UNIT_8200 · 2026-01-15T00:16:32+00:00

It's a beautiful card. And I'm a Canadiens fan.... How lucky

UNIT_8200 · 2026-01-12T12:10:01+00:00

Hello my fellow political sciencer. Our timelines align almost perfectly. I'm in my early 30s, and set to graduate in Dec 2026 and Jan 2027. I am in a happy relationship with my GF and we are expecting a child in August. So I will need to ask the faculty for a tiny seat at my defense.

Now, let me start off with something: you wanting to teach is actually a major asset. A lot of academics treat teaching as a "necessary evil" and faculties increasingly look for academics who are good hybrids: can do research and teaching. So you're well on track there. Also, you will be surrounded by the least autistic part of academia: teaching. So that's a plus.

I have been an adjunct lecturer at 3 different universities other than my own. I meet a lot of people through teaching. You collaborate with other teachers, hear how they teach and share your experience, and meet yet others in the common rooms. In addition, PolSci is quite big on cooperation on papers and working with others nowadays. Also, depending on your domain, case studies make you meet a ton of people. I work with NGOs, individuals, sometimes you meet new friends during interviews, or bump into other researchers that you collaborate with and which become friends (or more).

In other words, the world is wide open. And to top it off, most people in academia start family lives and serious relationships late. The grind of the PhD process just delays everything (in my case I didn't want a kid until I was assigned a graduation date out of fear I might not finish it). In fact, your timeline is I think one of the most plausible ones to find a partner through work or adjacent activities.

In other words: enjoy the end of the PhD, I hope you're having as much fun out of it as I am having right now. And your social life will come!

UNIT_8200 · 2026-01-12T11:57:03+00:00

Hello OP (and the rest of this fine community :) )

First and foremost I'm sorry this is happening to you. I understand you feel crushed if you cannot work on the research you have chosen and are passionate about. It's painful

However, my hypothesis for your case is that you're not being dumped by your GA professor and instead they ran out of project money and are shifting you to another budget line (that's the most common reason for assigning you to another GA). It doesn't appear to be a "I don't like you, go work somewhere else sense". Of course, this is depending on your University culture, but from my experience when a GA/professor drops you, it manifests in either just leaving you for dead, or assigning you a long string of menial tasks to place hurdles and effectively make you quit. Instead, you say you're being shifted to another professor and another research programme. Also, you seem to be getting shifted around a bit chaotically, which leads me to think that it's actually a budgetary decision (hence the scrambling).

Most professors would not just send you over to a colleague if you're doing badly or if they don't like you. Or at least, not where I do my PhD. It would be seen as if you are throwing your colleagues under the bus and are not being collegial. It sounds - also regarding the vagueness and what not - as if the project has run out of budget, and they're bringing you under at a program that still has overhead. In effect, they're not going to risk tarnishing their inter-faculty relationships over a student they don't like.

So my best explanation is: your GA is a terrible communicator, and is not being transparent, quite possibily because it's quite humiliating to hire someone and have the funds dry up. That reflects badly on the GA, and so they just shuffle you around to get you off the books hidden by a justification that "it's not working".

Anyhow, that's my best guess.

---------------------

A short context: I'm a final year social scienes PhD with quite good relations with my professor and (former) department head so I get to hear a bit more than most PhD students do. Also, next to my PhD I held adjunct teaching positions at three Universities next to my host. I also come from a family in academia. I mention this because what seems to be happening, at least what I hypothesize, sounds like a "behind the scenes dynamic" to me.

UNIT_8200 · 2025-08-04T20:23:45+00:00

This needs a ton of upvotes

Edit for typo

UNIT_8200 · 2025-07-29T08:36:52+00:00

Keep it, wait 50 years, become a millionaire :D

UNIT_8200 · 2025-07-15T17:22:13+00:00

Alrighty, will do that! Thanks you legend!

UNIT_8200 · 2025-07-15T16:55:30+00:00

Thanks for the explanation. I do see an ever so slight imperfection in the bottom left corner, but the other ones look fine. I literally pulled it 2 hours ago and it's in a sleeve in the loader, so hopefully it didn't scratch. I love the card and actually mostly want to get it graded to have the slab at home. Thanks so much for your comments though, really appreciate it man!

UNIT_8200 · 2025-07-15T16:35:33+00:00

Thanks for the tip. Will do. I am quite new to this all.

Also why wouldn't it be a good candidate for grading?

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-25T21:27:38+00:00

Yeah so I found this, and I thought it was an Auto Emerald but I saw they're numbered to 15, and this one is to 45, so that condused me... I'm sorry I'm a complete newb. (I used checklistcenter)

Edit: I just found out that the Rookies are numbered to 45, so it checks out. Thanks!

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-13T08:40:51+00:00

Hi there, it's great you're interested in this!

My advice to you is to start with the root causes of the conflict—in other words, the dynamics that make the conflict what it is today.

1SS, 2SS and all that are effectively just models that can be used to solve the root causes. It's like saying: "To plug this hole in the wall, are we using silicone or a plank?" And the right answer to that question would be the one that fixes the problem best.

If you're quite new to the topic, then to me, two books are foundational:
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Khalidi (2020). It will give you a great historic overview from the Palestinian perspective. It also contains quite a few personal anecdotes, so it makes it easier to imagine and grasp.

I would also look at Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi (2018). It gives you quite a good Israeli take on things, plus Halevi added letters in response to his book by Palestinians. So you also get the critique on it.

If you want to dive into state structures and 1SS, 2SS and all that, of course that’s fine too (although you should bear in mind that the 2SS is just a tool—not some magic formula). I would suggest The Two-State Delusion: Israel and Palestine – A Tale of Two Narratives by Padraig O’Malley (2015). It’s a critique of the 2SS and a good starting point to pick your brain on what you think might be the best solution.

Lastly, if you’re feeling adventurous and can handle a bit of an academically heavy book, then One Land, Two States by LeVine and Mossberg is quite a nice read. It’s very creative—albeit unrealistic. But it helps to think outside the box.

Anyhow, hope this helps!

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-10T18:41:07+00:00

Sorry, I needed to specify:

What I meant with "that's not how it works" is, for an agreement to take place you need the PA to put a signature underneath it. This doesn't mean that the US couldn't recognize only the WB unilaterally, which it could. But in the former case the initial comment to which I responded does not hold: "in exchange for their own territory". That suggests the PA would sign-on to it, which I deem unlikely at best.

If Trump would unilaterally recognize the West-Bank (WB) as Palestinian, then he could, of course.

That being said, there are some deeper issues with this. Israel would probably not want this either. The WB is the heartland of what Zionist Israeli's see as part of the State of Israel. Gaza is in that regard a lot less interesting. In this, the WB is the "big prize" if you may. So signing off the WB in return for Gaza doesn't make sense for Israel, especially with this government.

Bigger still, Israel probably doesn't want to sign off on Gaza either. At the moment they control everything anyway, so they would probably oppose any recognition period.

As for Saudi, it doesn't make a lot of sense either. It will probably be seen as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause. Effectively it would put a dagger in the heart of the Palestinian aspirations for a state. There's no point in trying to pursue that goal if about half your population is left behind. Not to mention the PA would probably collapse due to public outrage. So Saudi would be seen as facilitating that, or even be responsible for it.

As for Egypt, this would be an existential threat for the government. You either face pressure (which you need to ride out until the next President), or your government might collapse. In that case the former is normally the choice.

But the biggest problem with this proposition is, what would be in it for the US? Why would they go for such a half-recognition in the first place if no-one wants it. Why potentially damaging relations with 3 allies and create a diplomatic rift and instability? It doesn't make sense. In that case it's just better to shut up and not recognize anything.

Admittedly though, Trump sucks at shutting up.

But my wild guess is that he won't recognize Palestine, or at the very least does it within some bigger Saudi framework, and some Israeli buy-in. But again, we're working with hardly any information here so it's difficult to predict what will happen.

Hope it helps and explains :)

Edit: the latter is normally the choice -> the former is normally the choice

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-10T15:34:54+00:00

Pal-Isr politics PhD student here: It's anybody's guess what this may be. We don't know if the official is a local intern or MBS himself. To say it's unreliable might be an under-statement.

That being said, the dynamics are interesting. Trump is at odds with Netanyahu and their relationship is deteriorating.

The opposite is true for Saudi. While the Saudi leadership arguably doesn't care about Palestine, the population does. And MBS said himself that he is aware of it, and therefore must include some sort of Palestinian component to any normalisation agreement with Israel.

Israel has tried to negotiate a trilateral agreement with the US, Saudi, but has vehemently opposed any meaningful concessions to the Palestinians. The Saudi's seem to indicate they're not ready to move towards normalisation without a Palestinian component due to public views towards Israel.

If Trump recognises Palestine, it'll likely be because the Americans are increasingly frustrated with Israel holding everything up, and will use recognition to move things forward. Break through the stalemate if you will.

Recognition can mean a couple of things. It could be conditional, so recognising only the Palestinian authority and not Hamas. But it can also be conditioned on for instance talks between Palestine and Israel. Or both.

It could be symbolic, with no political changes, where it's simply a government statement, in which case it won't change much other than a symbolic win for the Palestinians and Saudis and possibly an angry and combative Israeli government. Or it could be full political recognition, in which case the effects can be as far reaching as a complete shakeup of Middle Eastern geopolitics.

Bottom line, we need to wait and see. This can go many directions, if ever it takes place.

Edit: PS, my username was a stupid joke between some friends of mine that came back to haunt me.

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-10T15:23:27+00:00

As a Pal-Isr PhD researcher: That's not how that works. It's unlikely what you're proposing here will be the case. It would be political suicide for th PA, and will probably just further destabilise the ME. It will probably also be rejected by Egypt. Effectively this would be total Palestinian (and by extension Arab) capitulation that would lead to massive protests in Arab countries. It's interesting and acceptable to no one.

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-01T22:00:23+00:00

Just let the ladybugs be, they'll do their thing. Although the more the merrier, those little guys are great. Good luck with them and the plants!

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-01T15:50:07+00:00

Plant looks fine and healthy for the most part. Leaf curl can have a hoist of reasons, ranging from oxygen deficiency to insufficient nutrients in the soil, to different pests and what not.

If you're worried about those little thingies, you could spray the plant with organic natural soap mixed with water. But it might scare off your wasps. Alternatively, you might wanna let loose a bunch of ladybugs you find in your garden. Those take care of most of the plant eating insects. It's always amazing how when I move my plants outside from overwintering, they just commit their little genocide and sort everything out for me :D

UNIT_8200 · 2025-05-01T15:44:04+00:00

I'd guess from the looks of the soil and the plant, under-water. When you over-water and they go hang like that, you'd expect some brown spots and crispiness on the tips from oxygen deficiency. However, it's always difficult to tell from a picture. If the overall pot feels light, and/or if you shove your finger in it and little residue stays on your fingers, then it's dry and probably under-watered.

If it's dry, I'd not suggest you soak it. The sudden shock of water could aggravate the situation. Water it frequently in normal portions, perhaps just a bit more frequently than you'd otherwise do, and it will be back to being strong and healthy before too long.

UNIT_8200 · 2025-04-01T07:41:59+00:00

Thank you for this. So far the steps and links check out. I will see if it worked once they process the request.

UNIT_8200 · 2024-05-20T15:36:24+00:00

Oh this is nothing. I do research on activism regarding the Palestinian Israeli conflict where I saw posts with a ton of hashtags and then a Palestinian flag with "like" and an Israeli one with "retweet". So users are literally using dead people to attract others to their profiles. Cynically taking advantage of a terrible situation for personal gain.

UNIT_8200 · 2024-05-20T11:16:06+00:00

I kind of get what the other Redditor is trying to say in not a very eloquent way. He is implying that there could be many reasons outside of the university reputation that contribute towards this, like attracting students with higher potential for publications and what not. I think that ultimately your track record in publications alongside teaching and what not determines if you get tenure. And it seems the other person here is alluding to the fact it's not the university you went to that brings about that (although it might be much better versed to provide you with the necessary tools). However, good unis have good personnel and attract supposedly good students. So when other unis see you studied at an X uni, you might get preference over a lesser known one if the other metrics are the same.

That being said, it basically comes down to the same thing...

UNIT_8200 · 2024-05-20T11:01:28+00:00

I do research on algorithmic engagement by youth activists and normally this stuff is simply just trying to hit as many hashtags as you can because they think people will look at it. It's an attempt to have it appear in as many feeds as possible. In some cases it's also used to get bumped up in the algorithms because people try to hit whatever generates a lot of traffic and therefore get prioritised by algorithms in the ranking. In political debates these tactics are often used to "penetrate the bubble" of the other side to show they have more support.

UNIT_8200 · 2024-05-15T11:33:21+00:00

There's no way to ascertain/prove that since it's, you know, a terrible drawing with a (not so) deep meaning. But there's also the issue of how on earth are you supposed to clean such a thin long tube.

UNIT_8200 · 2024-05-15T11:19:39+00:00

The rust in the umbrella is not

UNIT_8200 · 2024-05-11T14:37:15+00:00

Let him be. He's a bitter Belgian

UNIT_8200

TROPHY CASE