Hey all! I’m still in undergraduate in the US (🫩) but I’m approaching those graduate school applications ever so quickly. I wrote a research proposal recently and the only edit my advisor made was to remove the “Dr.” before his name on the proposal. I replaced with “, PhD” at the end of his name and he said to remove that as well. Just bros name (he is a younger brand new prof if that changes things). He then explained that most people aren’t so formal in interdepartmental things (such as this research proposal for an in-house scholarship).

Hoping to hell that I ever even make it to the PhD program let alone finish it, what’s the culture of using the title(s) that comes with your PhD? My perspective is I’ve beat uncountable odds to reach that and will be the first in my entire family line to pursue such an education and career, so of course I’d like the titles accolades etc, although to be honest I care more about the work obviously and wouldn’t be bothered to just go by my name.

Just a naive undergrad looking for insight!

First year humanities PhD student here. A guy in my cohort thinks he’s written a draft of his dissertation despite not even being done with our first year of coursework. Dude is either a prophet or a quack, and after two quarters of coursework, I know where I’m putting my money

Description, not name, obviously, if you are comfortable sharing. Was talking today about this with a PhD friend, and we cracked up laughing over a professor we had in undergrad who is the strangest person I’ve met in my life. He was a theology professor who would yell at corners for no reason and go into theatrical like gestures when he talked. I was always concerned he was on something. He would also send absolutely unhinged emails in response to any question. My current instructors are some interesting people for sure. Was curious if anyone here had a funny story to swap.

i started my PhD this year at 23 (am now 24) and i swear, within these past nine months i have developed fine forehead lines that were NOT there before! it might just be ~my time~ and a total coincidence, but i really think my brows have been furrowed in distress too much lol 🫣 i’m gonna look halfway in the grave by the end of this thing!!!

Hello everyone,

I come with a very long depressing story (scroll for TLDR). I need to vent, but also need guidance and advice on what to do.

I studied abroad in a west asian country and went back home after graduation. After getting a job, I missed science and research and decided to go to school.so, I contacted one of my previous doctors and she informed me that they need a TA and RA. Told me to apply for masters and they will get me a full time job -she convinced me that its a guaranteed acceptance as I was the faculty's valedictorian and I have decent research and teaching experience-.

I apply, pay fees, left my job and left my home country. As soon as I landed here, she texted me: Unfortunately, they didn't accept the job application. However, they offered a PhD contract of 4 years with a stipend + 4 years of work.

At that point, all I was thinking of is I already left my job, paid for my travels and made (costly) accommodation arrangements (It’s 100% on me as I relied on their word and didn’t wait for the final job offer). I was left between a rock and hard place. I never planned to do my PhD in that specific discipline, and especially not in my undergraduate uni where I know funding is low.

Before rejecting that offer, I decided to sit down with the HOD and my potential supervisor. Thanks to this sub, I asked all the RIGHT questions.

I asked about meetings, research capabilities, funding, his communication style, his connections and everything related to my PhD.

He assured me that he doesn’t rely on university funding (+ he said uni is now giving proper funding for PhDs not like the old days) and that he is currently working w the dean to submit a huge project for a known funding body in a neighbouring country.

I know that he is an analytical chemist and checked his published work, most of his work was food and herbal analysis. I pointed out that I am more interested in Bio-and pharmaceutical analysis due to my background and I have specific interest in metabolomics. He got soo happy and excited. Told me he is switching into that direction as he started his job in faculty of pharmacy and that I should contact his last master student who did Calcium detection in blood serum. And that he has connections with a metabolomics lab in the UK that he was supposed to visit them this summer, but due to some issues he couldn’t go.

And soooo many other promises of how he will be able to assist and supervise me in my research interest.

First year, I was soo busy w the courses, he gave me a side quest (elemental analysis in herbal teas which i told him i didnt enjoy working on in my interview) that didnt end up working and during summer I started writing my first research proposal. I finished, he took it as it is and SUBMITTED IT. No feedback, no advice, no feasibility checking, not even a novelty check. Absolutely NOTHING.

I accepted all of that thinking at least i’ll get to work on smth I like in the end.

TILL TWO MONTHS AGO:) He scheduled a research meeting for the department (finally 🥳🥳🥳! it only took 1 and half years of me running after him that we should start having bi-weekly meetings LIKE HE PROMISED ME) to announce that he wants to go into the direction of SENSORS!1!1!1!!1!1!! and electroanalytical chemistry. And he wants our help to write a proposal to a verryyyy competitive funding scheme in THREE WEEKS! When I told him isnt that the one you told me you have experience in writing to with the dean, he said they ended up not doing it!11!!1!

I confronted him when we were alone that I dont want to work on this topic as I feel it’s far from my profession and I am not interested in electrical chemistry. He said it’s my responsibility to learn it even if it wasn’t covered by the courses. I replied, “learning isnt what I find hard as I am very much capable of learning by myself, I just dont wish to go in that direction.” He said I can always do the study we applied for internal funding (the one he applied without giving any feedback almost 7 months ago w no answer yet). I responded with but I need guidance. And he said yeah sure I will help.

Oh and to end this, HE SUDDENLY started complaining about biology and that he never liked biology. And when he was in uni he steered away from taking any electives related to biology and he “doesnt understand people that like biology” HE WORKS IN THE FACULTY OF PHARMACY!!!!!!!!1!!!1!1!1!

I don’t know what to do. My contract says that if I don’t complete my PhD, I will have to pay back the uni double my fees and stipend (stipend that I received for working my ass off -excuse my french- as a course instructor, academic advisor and administrator) I got screwed up and I don’t know what to do.

I know leaving will result in me never being able to come back, but I wont face any legal consequences outside that country (Due to geopolitical isolation of said country) However, every program now will ask for a recommendation letter from my “previous supervisor” who literally screwed me up, how can I overcome that?

TL;DR: I was convinced by a former doctor to leave my job and move back to my old university for what was supposed to be a TA/RA opportunity with masters, only to find out after arriving that the job was rejected and I was instead pushed into a 4-year PhD I never wanted. My supervisor promised funding, guidance, regular meetings, and research aligned with my interests in bio/pharma analysis and metabolomics, but none of that happened. He gave me irrelevant projects, submitted my proposal with zero feedback, and now suddenly wants to drag me into sensors/electrochemistry even though I clearly said I’m not interested. To make it worse, he openly says he hates biology despite working in a Faculty of Pharmacy. My contract says if I leave, I have to repay double the fees and stipend, so I feel trapped, and I’m scared future applications will require a recommendation from the same supervisor who got me into this mess.

I’m in a phase right now where I am productive, like every day has momentum and I should just keep going without slowing down. At the same time, a few people around me (some well-wishers and others I’ve been working with recently) have been warning me that burnout is real and that it tends to creep up quietly rather than hit all at once.

I’m trying to understand this before it becomes a problem. For those who have gone through burnout, what did the early stages actually feel like for you? Not just in obvious ways, but the subtle shifts,mentally/physically, that in hindsight were signs something was off. (I’m especially curious about the kind of things you don’t notice until later, and what you would watch out for if you were in a similar high-productivity phase again.)

I'm asking because I'm loving this phase of my life, but I also want to do everythign to protect myself from becoming a live tungsten filament immersed in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, (I am not able to get the metaphor correct), imploding.

So I am in third semester of my Ph.D. I joined my current lab in Fall 2025 and have been assigned a project since then.

My PI said in the past 3 months I haven't made much progress and haven't taken the ownership of my project, and my ASE evaluation is gonna be bad. He along with my student coordinator set up a surprise meeting to tell me this and asked me to Master out.

I haven't slacked and I had a really busy class/TA schedule that he is aware of. He still thinks I haven't given my all and he thinks since initially I wanted to do immuno-oncology, this lack of interest will create friction for me. He has a neurobehavioral science lab. He erroneously said that my last 2 ASE showed that I am slacking. However, the latest one was fantastic. Now he is saying he has given me an opportunity to improve, but I haven't improved.

Can you please suggest something? I

I recently got a fully funded PhD offer from a top US school but I feel nothing. I see people so happy about acceptances at far less prestigious programs, and I am here thinking about deferring.
My main doubt are:

1. Sometimes I felt bored in the lab during my MS.
2. My long-term goal is entrepreneurship, possibly not even in the same field as the PhD.
3. The international student visa rat race scares me. I don't want a decade of career decisions driven by immigration status.
4. I think the main pull toward the PhD is peer pressure and prestige, not genuine desire.

For those who did a PhD, were you certain going in?

And for those who skipped it, do you have any regret?

I am a PhD candidate at a R1 school and my advisor (who has only been slightly engaged in my education) asked for me to send her my dissertation proposal for feedback before sending it to the committee. I thought, holy crap she kind of wants to help! So, I sent her my 3 chapters at 10:00 pm and at 11:00 am I got 4 pages of very specific feedback. For example, an extra space at the end of a sentence, incorrect hyphens, etc. Even though I said i still needed to double check APA compliance.

I sent her 56 pages and she appears to have stayed up most of the night reading and giving feedback, or it is AI. It is obviously AI. If the time wasn’t even a thing, the way it is written and some of the words used are telling. I’m trying to figure out if I am justified in being pissed off that she didn’t even read it, or if I’m just at the end of my rope because she has been SO AWFUL. Oh, and I asked some questions when I sent it that she didn’t even answer. There was some helpful feedback, but a human perspective would have been cool, too. Maybe I should just accept it as the world we live in now??

If you talked to me even 2 months ago I would have been having the worst time, fighting for my life and my place in my program. But I have landed with the best advisor ever. He is an incredible human being and talking with him is the highlight of my week. On top of it all, I’m doing what I love. It wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t give up under immense pressure, was extremely persistent and specific, or look for opportunities outside the box.

I can’t imagine myself being happier doing anything else! I’m so excited to finally start the PhD :)

Don’t give up!!!! You never can predict what will change or opportunity will come tomorrow!

I am a hospitalist physician looking to do a PhD. Interested in social medicine / narrative medicine / medical humanities / bioethics / functional medicine / anything at the intersection of public health, sociology, ethics, and the liberal arts.

Deeply introverted and been hustling hard so not much of a social network beyond non-medic friends, colleagues (uninterested in PhD), and patients. Would appreciate sound advice / help / insights.

I am disillusioned with corporate medicine and want to pivot into something more meaningful that intersects with my prior training and interests and will be rewarding in its social impact.

P.S. : Would also appreciate insight on the pros and cons of applying for and doing a PhD at this age.

I am an aspiring undergrad researcher and recently started doing multiple research internships. I am really enjoying the experience, but I am also finding it quite overwhelming, especially when it comes to keeping track of concepts.

For context, I am currently working on two to three research projects in LLMs across different subdomains. Each project involves reading papers, identifying datasets, proposing ideas, and eventually running experiments. The challenge is that I tend to work on one project for a few days, then switch to another, and keep alternating like this.

When I come back to a previous project, I often feel like I have to spend a lot of time revising what I had done earlier before I can continue. This makes the process feel inefficient and not very scalable in the long run.

I feel like having a structured note taking system or workflow could help, but I am not sure what works best in a research setting.

How do you keep track of concepts, papers, and ideas across multiple projects without losing context? Are there specific tools, methods, or systems that have worked well for you?

This question is open to people from any field, not just CS, since I am interested in general research workflows as well.