I've also completed my 2 years in my PhD . My main mistake is doing everything but research. Your statement that I'm here for PhD and nothing else should jeopardize that, gave me a confidence and motivated me in order to stay in the right direction. Thanks a lot.
Top 3 mistakes: 1. Picking an advisor who barely advised and lacked being a good mentor 2. Continued in the lab after dissertation project was completely dropped and being forced into a new project that I realized I am not passionate about 3. Not writing short summary paper after competing each experiment. BUT I can see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel 😊
My biggest mistake was doubting myself when I was writing my first paper, it took me nearly 4 months to finally gather enough courage just to send the first draft to my supervisor. But again mistakes happen and we should learn from them so what I learned is that not everything has to be perfect the first time and it is ok if you get notes and feedback from your advisor on where you went wrong with your paper since that is his main job (to ADVISE you) so I'm never making that mistake again and as soon as I finish and revise something I will send it asap and be more open for criticism from my proffessor because that is what's going to help me improve.
My biggest mistake? Giving up. Went through my entire course work and boards and allowed my form of imposter syndrome to torpedo my dissertation process and gave up. But, I'm back and I think in a better place to finish.
Biggest mistake: applying, getting accepted, putting in 95% of the coursework, ending up short by 1 course and the oral exams - then leaving the program. I had 50% of the dissertation itself already done. Imposter syndrome consumed me. Being MUCH older than all of my classmates was an issue in and of itself. Becoming so isolated from most social interactions (all my work was by myself, no research partners, mentors or subject area advisors to speak of due to the specifics of my dissertation). Result: left my PhD program at age 46 and been unemployed/under-employed and/or unemployable since. Don't let it happen to you. Best of luck to you all.
Not advisors? That is madness! I'm like the only current grad student of my advisor, but he is well established, have connections to professors in other universities including overseas (and I've had the great privilege to travel abroad and work with them in a big campaign the past Summer), and have like three labs. He also has an office room for grad students and I have my own office. My struggle becomes which office room or lab do I want to work in today?
I failed my qualified exam today... Came to get my head around what went wrong and your comment hit me in the face as a mirror image... I am an introvert but never thought of myself from am imposter syndrome angle... Huh I wanna quit so badly
The biggest mistake of my PhD....was applying for one in the first place! I should say, applying when I was not ready or applying when I didn't fully understand exactly what it was that I would be undertaking. Thanks for the video Lucy!
Hannah K I agree with you! I took on a PhD right after my bachelor's just because the funding was available (and the opportunity was very exciting) but I figured I wasn't 💯 ready for it! But all good now and need to manage with what I am :D
did the same mistake, chose a heartless supervisor. published a lot in top journos and have few US patents too, but left that place as in three papers my name was moved from the first author to the third place (he put his name as first author for god sake!) . left that place after three years, worked for one year and NOW I AM BACK, I am more prepared and laser focused now as I have joined a top 50 uni.
I stuck with a failing study for 2 years and didn't have the courage to ask for my advisor's help because I was so afraid of being found out that I'm just not that good, that I'm an imposter. It took several nervous breakdowns in my 5th year that I finally got out of it and found a new study do to. Result: the shame of being in this program for the 9th year when others graduated in 5-7 years (par for the course in US STEM programs) consumes me on a daily basis...I feel like I'm doing less than everybody else, I faced my first paper rejection later than everybody else, being subtly and unsubtly told that I might be too old to be employed or get married, receiving less and less sympathy because "she should have quitted"...
My sympathies. Time gone is water under the bridge. Try to make best with what you've got. I'm sure a lot of the feelings of not being good enough are conjured up by imaginary scenarios. In reality you might just be worthy of all that you want to achieve ;)
I know this is an old video but I'm only stumbling upon your channel now and am already hooked. I love your content. I'm even going to turn on my notifications. Your mistakes are so relatable, especially, the last one about being discouraged by your supervisor to apply for something you really are interested in. I am still on the path of learning to differentiate between (a) just informing my supervisors that I'm applying for something, and (b) seeking their advice on whether they think an opportunity would be good for me or not, expecting them to discourage me from applying. In the past, I've only used the second approach and it's left me bitter and unhappy.
Love your channel! it is soo great to hear someone sharing their honest PhD experiences and as a fellow PhD student myself to know that you aren't alone!! Good luck with your project :)
I started my PhD in May of this year. I believe and strongly believe that my biggest mistake so far is selecting a research topic that I am 40% not excited about :(
that's where I am - I got shunted from my original proposal to the supervisor's pet area. I'm really unhappy at the moment and not making progress as simply not interested.
So far, the biggest one is during my experiment I accidentally dropped the sample, and it broke in to many shards. The worst thing was it is the main sample not the one I used to do rehearsals. Apart from that it took a lot of time and expense ($10000) to prepare that sample. So I have to repeat the experiment all over again but good thing is second time I was more careful and I invented new ways to protect the samples during experiments. All other mistakes you mentioned are happening to me including the one with internship thing. However I stood up for myself and I finally persuaded my advisor for the approval! and he agreed.
Well, I do too many things simultaneaslly with my phD. So, I finished my first year and I advanced everything but my project. So, I'm feeling very guilty right now. But I have to say that work without funding (you may be aware of the collapse of the Brazilian science.... ) is very dismotivating and the main part of my project is very expensive. So, I work more on other projects that don't need money and may generate papers. I think I'll lanch a crownfunding campaign because I can't find funding anywhere to do the laboratorial experiments I need. I'll spend the holidays (christmas and new year's eve) writing to compensate.
The biggest mistake so far : poor literature review in the first three semesters or terms. Sadly, there is no way the lost time can be brought back, so I guess I shall end up with a mediocre thesis. I feel sorry not for myself, but rather for that research topic which was really so interesting and could have amounted to much much more, had it not been for my callous attitude and lack of self discipline.
I do computational work. So, when I think finally I am done with analysis, I find a mistake. So my PhD life is always like asking my guide to give 2 or more weeks to redo the analysis.
My biggest mistake is not pushing for more supervision during my first year! Also trying to do a very broad literature review paper in my first year! Aaaaand not using proper reference management softwares...
Thanks Lucy! Your videos are inspirational, motivational, candid and refreshing all at once! I am in the process of considering a PhD (to the UK) and binge watching your videos has been most helpful. Take Care and stay awesome :)
Hi Lucy, thanks for sharing your experience, I have started my PhD in October this year in another country and because of all the hustle with a visa and other paper work I had absolutely no time to concentrate on my topic and the more time passes the worse I feel about it. Mainly I guess because the topic that I have chosen is a completely new area for me and I have no idea how do people do their PhD so I am sort of afraid to make mistakes. Once again thank you for your videos I find them very useful!
My biggest mistake so far is not being in touch with my supervisor constantly. I am in my first year of PhD and i feel awkward and shy in front of my supervisor. However, She is always ready to guide me and i am trying to overcome this awkwardness of mine.
That moment when you prep all your samples to perfection and proceed to mess up the 96 wells plating. GOD I HATE THOSE BLOODY WELLS. One mistake and is all over.
The biggest mistake is even though I had planned with supervisors how to approach my experiments, I didnt execute it in the way it had bee planned. I feel like I missed out on some potentialling interesting results.
my mistake, published few papers as a second author , my first paper is coming. i forgot to write my thesis, writing it now and needs to be submitted on 10th Jan under the Dean's mercy....
Mishaps, failures or 'learning opportunities' are all part of life and career. We should all be be more open, but human nature seems to trump logic. Thanks for sharing your experiences though! 😉
Can anybody tell me what documents are needed for applying, for structured phd.again repeating STRUCTURED..because in my masters publishing journal and writing research paper was not mandatory,so i dont have.my area of interest is social science..but i dont know the procedure of structured phd neuther having research paper.please tell me
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Indeed he is a hi-5 guy, I can just see how this took place. Not so hard to guess who your advisor is. Nice guy, however, his own PhD martian group -back in NY- would not have discouraged him to go for anything NASA-related. You should have listened to your own gut. My biggest mistake was attending the same department as him. Was in a different field but not all groups are as supportive as his was, despite being in the same department.
Go and be an astronaut F yea! Probably going to need flight experience and scuba qualification though, and ham radio and G-force tests, and the ability to not throw up.
Your eyes..yes, it's definitely your eyes, the ocean blue eyes, the 'I can see my own reflection' kind of eyes, which are so attractive that I totally forget what I learnt in the video..
I've also completed my 2 years in my PhD . My main mistake is doing everything but research. Your statement that I'm here for PhD and nothing else should jeopardize that, gave me a confidence and motivated me in order to stay in the right direction. Thanks a lot.
Top 3 mistakes: 1. Picking an advisor who barely advised and lacked being a good mentor 2. Continued in the lab after dissertation project was completely dropped and being forced into a new project that I realized I am not passionate about 3. Not writing short summary paper after competing each experiment. BUT I can see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel 😊
My biggest mistake was doubting myself when I was writing my first paper, it took me nearly 4 months to finally gather enough courage just to send the first draft to my supervisor. But again mistakes happen and we should learn from them so what I learned is that not everything has to be perfect the first time and it is ok if you get notes and feedback from your advisor on where you went wrong with your paper since that is his main job (to ADVISE you) so I'm never making that mistake again and as soon as I finish and revise something I will send it asap and be more open for criticism from my proffessor because that is what's going to help me improve.
My biggest mistake? Giving up. Went through my entire course work and boards and allowed my form of imposter syndrome to torpedo my dissertation process and gave up. But, I'm back and I think in a better place to finish.
good for you Jim - how's it going? I've just started and feel overwhelmed!
Biggest mistake: applying, getting accepted, putting in 95% of the coursework, ending up short by 1 course and the oral exams - then leaving the program. I had 50% of the dissertation itself already done. Imposter syndrome consumed me. Being MUCH older than all of my classmates was an issue in and of itself. Becoming so isolated from most social interactions (all my work was by myself, no research partners, mentors or subject area advisors to speak of due to the specifics of my dissertation). Result: left my PhD program at age 46 and been unemployed/under-employed and/or unemployable since.
Don't let it happen to you. Best of luck to you all.
Not advisors? That is madness! I'm like the only current grad student of my advisor, but he is well established, have connections to professors in other universities including overseas (and I've had the great privilege to travel abroad and work with them in a big campaign the past Summer), and have like three labs. He also has an office room for grad students and I have my own office. My struggle becomes which office room or lab do I want to work in today?
that's ageism and discriminatory John - you should not have been made to feel you didn't have sufficient support.
I failed my qualified exam today... Came to get my head around what went wrong and your comment hit me in the face as a mirror image... I am an introvert but never thought of myself from am imposter syndrome angle... Huh I wanna quit so badly
❤️❤️❤️
That's very sad...Hope you bounce back...best of luck
The biggest mistake of my PhD....was applying for one in the first place! I should say, applying when I was not ready or applying when I didn't fully understand exactly what it was that I would be undertaking. Thanks for the video Lucy!
Hannah K I agree with you! I took on a PhD right after my bachelor's just because the funding was available (and the opportunity was very exciting) but I figured I wasn't 💯 ready for it! But all good now and need to manage with what I am :D
@Angelina Thomas almost done with second year! pushing through :) what about you??
did the same mistake, chose a heartless supervisor. published a lot in top journos and have few US patents too, but left that place as in three papers my name was moved from the first author to the third place (he put his name as first author for god sake!) . left that place after three years, worked for one year and NOW I AM BACK, I am more prepared and laser focused now as I have joined a top 50 uni.
Mu biggest mistake was having chosen a supervisor that did not have experience about supervision.
My biggest mistake on my PhD so far is not writing enough notes or writing enough short papers at the end of my experiments
same here
I stuck with a failing study for 2 years and didn't have the courage to ask for my advisor's help because I was so afraid of being found out that I'm just not that good, that I'm an imposter. It took several nervous breakdowns in my 5th year that I finally got out of it and found a new study do to. Result: the shame of being in this program for the 9th year when others graduated in 5-7 years (par for the course in US STEM programs) consumes me on a daily basis...I feel like I'm doing less than everybody else, I faced my first paper rejection later than everybody else, being subtly and unsubtly told that I might be too old to be employed or get married, receiving less and less sympathy because "she should have quitted"...
My sympathies. Time gone is water under the bridge. Try to make best with what you've got. I'm sure a lot of the feelings of not being good enough are conjured up by imaginary scenarios. In reality you might just be worthy of all that you want to achieve ;)
I know this is an old video but I'm only stumbling upon your channel now and am already hooked. I love your content. I'm even going to turn on my notifications. Your mistakes are so relatable, especially, the last one about being discouraged by your supervisor to apply for something you really are interested in. I am still on the path of learning to differentiate between (a) just informing my supervisors that I'm applying for something, and (b) seeking their advice on whether they think an opportunity would be good for me or not, expecting them to discourage me from applying. In the past, I've only used the second approach and it's left me bitter and unhappy.
Love your channel! it is soo great to hear someone sharing their honest PhD experiences and as a fellow PhD student myself to know that you aren't alone!! Good luck with your project :)
I started my PhD in May of this year. I believe and strongly believe that my biggest mistake so far is selecting a research topic that I am 40% not excited about :(
that's where I am - I got shunted from my original proposal to the supervisor's pet area. I'm really unhappy at the moment and not making progress as simply not interested.
So far, the biggest one is during my experiment I accidentally dropped the sample, and it broke in to many shards. The worst thing was it is the main sample not the one I used to do rehearsals. Apart from that it took a lot of time and expense ($10000) to prepare that sample. So I have to repeat the experiment all over again but good thing is second time I was more careful and I invented new ways to protect the samples during experiments. All other mistakes you mentioned are happening to me including the one with internship thing. However I stood up for myself and I finally persuaded my advisor for the approval! and he agreed.
Well, I do too many things simultaneaslly with my phD. So, I finished my first year and I advanced everything but my project. So, I'm feeling very guilty right now. But I have to say that work without funding (you may be aware of the collapse of the Brazilian science.... ) is very dismotivating and the main part of my project is very expensive. So, I work more on other projects that don't need money and may generate papers. I think I'll lanch a crownfunding campaign because I can't find funding anywhere to do the laboratorial experiments I need. I'll spend the holidays (christmas and new year's eve) writing to compensate.
The biggest mistake so far : poor literature review in the first three semesters or terms. Sadly, there is no way the lost time can be brought back, so I guess I shall end up with a mediocre thesis. I feel sorry not for myself, but rather for that research topic which was really so interesting and could have amounted to much much more, had it not been for my callous attitude and lack of self discipline.
I fall into that mistake quite often
I do computational work. So, when I think finally I am done with analysis, I find a mistake. So my PhD life is always like asking my guide to give 2 or more weeks to redo the analysis.
My biggest mistake is not pushing for more supervision during my first year! Also trying to do a very broad literature review paper in my first year! Aaaaand not using proper reference management softwares...
Thanks Lucy! Your videos are inspirational, motivational, candid and refreshing all at once! I am in the process of considering a PhD (to the UK) and binge watching your videos has been most helpful. Take Care and stay awesome :)
Hi Lucy, thanks for sharing your experience, I have started my PhD in October this year in another country and because of all the hustle with a visa and other paper work I had absolutely no time to concentrate on my topic and the more time passes the worse I feel about it. Mainly I guess because the topic that I have chosen is a completely new area for me and I have no idea how do people do their PhD so I am sort of afraid to make mistakes. Once again thank you for your videos I find them very useful!
My biggest mistake so far is not being in touch with my supervisor constantly. I am in my first year of PhD and i feel awkward and shy in front of my supervisor. However, She is always ready to guide me and i am trying to overcome this awkwardness of mine.
i am in the same situation as you Sonia
@@lami7727 so how are you coping with this ?
That moment when you prep all your samples to perfection and proceed to mess up the 96 wells plating. GOD I HATE THOSE BLOODY WELLS. One mistake and is all over.
Thank you... just, thank you!
Thanks for sharing your mistakes! as someone who is about to start grad school, any tips help!
Currently my mistake seems to be thinking that taking on a PhD project would give me personal validation when that’s just not what it’s for.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! If I was to catalogue my mistakes so far in the PhD I might need to create a channel solely dedicated to it 🤣
The biggest mistake is even though I had planned with supervisors how to approach my experiments, I didnt execute it in the way it had bee planned. I feel like I missed out on some potentialling interesting results.
I wanna overcome procrastination and sometimes i feel i'm not grid enough to finish my article
biggest mistake so far was taking 4 classes instead of 3 in my first semester of my first year in the program. too much!
2nd year is over... my mistakes are...Discuss less with my guide... Ask less questions... Doubts piling up...
my mistake, published few papers as a second author , my first paper is coming. i forgot to write my thesis, writing it now and needs to be submitted on 10th Jan under the Dean's mercy....
Hi is anywhere here doing Phd in English Literature
Mishaps, failures or 'learning opportunities' are all part of life and career. We should all be be more open, but human nature seems to trump logic. Thanks for sharing your experiences though! 😉
arrogant tosser - you've obviously never done a PhD
Can anybody tell me what documents are needed for applying, for structured phd.again repeating STRUCTURED..because in my masters publishing journal and writing research paper was not mandatory,so i dont have.my area of interest is social science..but i dont know the procedure of structured phd neuther having research paper.please tell me
OMG those eyes :)
Misread V/cm as V/m and messed up around 2 months of work
Thanks for pointing towards this mistake. Can you please elaborate how did it affaect your work
refreshing, thank you ;)
Hello! How can I find your google scholar? Btw thanks for sharing your experience
Biggest mistake....not paying attention to paper formatting and defining my research questions
1:39 *I FEEL YA!* ;) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Indeed he is a hi-5 guy, I can just see how this took place. Not so hard to guess who your advisor is. Nice guy, however, his own PhD martian group -back in NY- would not have discouraged him to go for anything NASA-related. You should have listened to your own gut. My biggest mistake was attending the same department as him. Was in a different field but not all groups are as supportive as his was, despite being in the same department.
mistake is when i have to do research when i dont want to :(
Ma ku wasaa?
Don’t give up, you can try nasa after.
Yeah NASA!
Go and be an astronaut F yea! Probably going to need flight experience and scuba qualification though, and ham radio and G-force tests, and the ability to not throw up.
Please tell slowly
My biggest mistake of my PhD was paying for it.
You looks perfect combination of crazy and sweet 😍
Thank you for this video. please speak little slowly if possible. we can't understand your words due to the speed. waiting for your next video.
Well it's a vid, so you can rewind, not a live seminar lol.
alter the speed within the settings - simple to do
Your eyes..yes, it's definitely your eyes, the ocean blue eyes, the 'I can see my own reflection' kind of eyes, which are so attractive that I totally forget what I learnt in the video..
U r having beautiful eyes
that girl is literally all over the place ; rolling big eyes over and over 🙄 yeah some PhDs are cheap