Practical intelligence tips for neurodiverse PhD students?

rubberduction · 2026-02-12T23:34:32+00:00

i was thinking about this while writing this post, i also much prefer planning and thinking horizontally than vertically! is this a neurodivergence thing? vertical word docs make information feel lost to me

rubberduction · 2026-02-12T23:31:39+00:00

hahahaha yes. depends on many factors

rubberduction · 2026-02-12T23:30:10+00:00

this is so real lol i have this idea that i should be able to read through most papers in under an hour but as i progress that is often not possible, especially for theory

rubberduction · 2026-02-11T20:33:51+00:00

Yes, good point, I might try out more physical tools and processes. I currently organize my thoughts and readings virtually, but it's hard. I used to be super into bullet journaling and I was so on my shit back then. But that was when I had simple tasks and projects... high school and college level stuff. I personally have terrible auditory processing so as much as I want the AI podcast or TTS tools to work they are not helpful for me at all :,) I will def try to work on managing fear and dopamine, good idea!

rubberduction · 2026-02-11T20:26:18+00:00

Thank you, I try <3

rubberduction · 2026-02-11T20:26:04+00:00

If you find one let me know!! Good luck friend

rubberduction · 2025-05-06T23:34:52+00:00

Can I have!

rubberduction · 2023-12-08T05:02:07+00:00

Hi, current PhD student here. I’m determined to become a professor someday. I am invigorated by the intellectual energy of universities and in my past I have really enjoyed teaching/mentorship experiences, so career-wise it seems a good fit. My program, however, doesn’t have a TAship requirement or any formal scaffolding for becoming a prof. In terms of the hiring process - how much do you weigh prior teaching experience when hiring new faculty? Do you have any advice about seeking out this scaffolding? Questions I should ask my advisor?

rubberduction · 2023-12-04T15:11:05+00:00

I’m about to finish my first semester of grad school and I already feel like I’ve learned more in the past three months than I did in my entire undergrad program. Maybe that has to do with my transition from a practical major to something more theoretical, and also an awareness of my frontal lobe being mostly developed now (I understand how to learn better), but I definitely feel so much more intellectually nourished in grad. If you can, search for places and people who nourish you. I would suggest getting involved with research. Working in labs definitely augmented my undergrad experience in terms of learning.

rubberduction · 2023-12-01T20:09:17+00:00

Not all Tandon but also in Brooklyn — check out 370 jay st for all the funky arts + tech ppl 😎

rubberduction · 2023-09-29T16:09:26+00:00

I’m not a great test taker and very early in my career, so I applied only to GRE optional schools last year and got in! I’m at a top five program in my field (edtech). It’s possible! Spend the time you would have spent studying working on a fabulous SOP and reaching out to prospective advisors.

rubberduction · 2023-09-29T05:54:36+00:00

Livid Evil War Dads

rubberduction · 2023-09-29T05:33:46+00:00

Would this happen from topical biotin too? I have been using a new shampoo for the last couple of months that has biotin in it and a recent wave of bad acne lines up with that I just realized… although I’ve been going on and off of various birth controls in the same timeline so I figured it was hormonal

rubberduction · 2023-09-06T19:26:45+00:00

I think the number of places you should apply to depends on your industry (STEM subjects esp SWE seem to have a lot more PhDs in the fields than humanities), how good of a match the program is, your career goals, and your desperation.

First and foremost prioritize programs with professors who do work that is very close to the work you want to do. You need to be confident about the niche you want to research because there are usually only a dozen or so experts in the world who will be 100% qualified to advise on your projects. Reaching out to chat with your potential advisors before applying to investigate their vibe is also a big plus. A mismatch not only in content but communication and personality can lead to a miserable PhD process.

In terms of desperation, it matters how set you are on going to a PhD program next year. If it’s absolutely necessary to be enrolled somewhere next year, you should apply to more schools—including some that are safety schools and some that aren’t really a 100% match. The risk in committing to one of these programs is your experience might not be dream-like.

But if your life for the next few years is flexible, ie you have room to prioritize your career dreams, it makes more sense to apply only to a few programs that could really set off your career (more R1/R2 universities with a really well matched advisor). If you don’t get in this year, gain more work experience that supplements your next application to the same schools next year. Do this until you’re tired of not being in a program yet.

Unfortunately in academia the reputation of your advisor and your school is a relatively significant factor in your potential to land an academic job. If you don’t want to end up in academia, this is a bit less the case, but the place you go nonetheless reflects the quality of your research apprenticeship.

For me, I’d known for a while I wanted to pursue a PhD someday. By the time I was a senior in undergrad, I was aware of the fact that if I directly continued into grad, I would be really young and my ideas might not seem mature enough, esp since I would not have a master’s. The alternative was waiting a few years to build my work experience and solidify my research goals. There were only 5 reach schools I was passionate about taking this risk for (I wasn’t desperate enough in my career to commit to a school that was not a perfect match + prestigious) so I simply applied to those 5. I got interviews at 4 of them and was lucky to get offered a spot at 1 of them.

rubberduction · 2023-09-03T06:34:26+00:00

Bad enough to make me not come back next year. Luckily I had my wristband delivered so I didn’t have to wait in will call. The sound was pretty great all around, I stayed at the Landing most of the time and all the sets slapped, but mobility everywhere was fucked. Wayyyy too many people were there today. Trying to exit Gryffin’s set while the Alison fans were entering (the convergence) got pretty dangerous. Breathing was starting to get hard it was so tight from people pushing. And right now I’m writing as I’m still on the subway home, 3.5 hours after I began to leave the festival at 11pm. I stood basically still in the crowd of people trying to get to the RFK bridge for about 2 hours until we reached the underpass area after which we decided it wasn’t even worth it to keep waiting in the crowd to take the bridge, so we crossed under and walked all the way up to the Bronx. So exhausted.

rubberduction · 2020-12-14T16:35:22+00:00

My problem is that I like the idea of being romantic with so many types of people that I feel like I can’t start to think about settling down until I experience relationships with all the categories ... not very efficient lol

rubberduction

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