10 Brutally Honest Lessons About Doing A PhD | Real PhD struggles and PhD Stress

Unlock the secret formula to thriving in your PhD: turn the toughest challenges into your biggest triumphs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tfEqh74BPY

I'm 6 months in - honestly, this should be required viewing for every new PhD student at about the 6 month mark. Thanks Andy!

This is great, and it is the same as my experience almost 50 years ago. The only thing I would add is to be open to the help that will come from an unexpected source. I was totally stuck on processing my data, due to the limited computing power available to me at the time, and then my advisor said “I am going to provide you with help from this guy who is an expert with minicomputers.” I provided the programs and the fellow recoded and ran them, and soon the data was analyzed, showing nearly all I expected, with some surprises of course. I had no reason to expect this help, as my advisor barely knew what I was doing, but it saved my four years of effort, and I dedicated my PhD to the programmer. It was a miracle, and I have learned to expect them, but mostly to be open to them.

A PhD is something one has to do for themselves as a further road towards edification

What you are saying is in an actual fact the reality of life!! You are in control of your own destiny.

Being your own cheerleader is great life advice in general

I was treated like crap by PhD candidates and professors. I was a nice person...and I was a naive person to boot. I saw how chronically exhausted PhD candidates always were, and it was always about kissing the butts, schmoozing the right people, cloistering themselves in their own little, self-centered worlds, stomping on and using other "lesser" people all in that holy quest of publishing and getting ahead, and spending years researching and working for a pittance of a stipend, only to get that PhD. Life is too short to slave away for a PhD for most people, at least it is for me anyway. I've got years of living and earning power over my former "colleagues" who had to pursue their PhDs.

I am just applying for a PhD and this feels important to know

I am in my second year of PhD, and only lately have I managed to learn and understand all these invaluable lessons. I am still stunned by the staggering difference between my experience as undergrad and master's, compared to that of a PhD student. I was convinced like many that the path before a PhD would serve as preparation to research, but my world was instead overthrown! Utterly flipped inside-out. Up was down, left was right. I am left now wondering why people are kept ignorant of such catastrophe, and are not educated and prepared accordingly (or at least, I wasn't). Secondly, although I am finally coming to terms with all these harsh truths, I can't but think that things could be better, and that a lot of all the struggle a PhD student has do endure could be alleviated. It really feels like it has to be this way and no other, and I fail to see the causal relations determining this conclusion.

I have a PhD and, in no small part due to bad advicing and other life choices, i am working an entry level job. Spare yourself the drama and think twice about it

Andy, thank you! At the end of my doctoral journey but just lost my daughter, so diving back in has been excruciating. “I am doing all right.” Thanks for the push

You are # 1 Andy! Recently got my doctorate, yes you're telling the brutal truth. Keep it up!

I can't help but be so disappointed by my supervisor's lack of support and guidance and it is definitely affecting my mental health.

PhD's might also get you turned away from many jobs because you are deemed way overqualified, its better to leave it off your resume if you really need the job you applied for.

Andy! you have helped me to see through some of the deep struggles I've had throughout my PhD so far. I'm indebted to your wisdom and your ability to empathise and be real about this journey. So much of what you preach goes beyond PhD to the wider sphere of life! Massive thanks always

Many PhD students think their thesis is a magnum opus. It only has to be defensible. It does not have to be 800 pages long. More than 95% of theses in the social sciences and humanities will never be published as a book. So just get it done. Write 1-2 pages a day and take weekends off.

going through my first month of PhD. Gonna binge your hold channel now Andy!

Hello Andy, I have been following your channel since around one year ago. In the beginning, I was intrigued by how you interpret and explain what PhD is, because at that time I just got my PhD offer from an international research center was was really excited about my future. Later on, I gradually lost the interest in watching your videos, because I couldn't relate to it anymore. I wondered perhaps I need more realistic PhD experience to really understand your point. Now it's one year into my PhD. All you said in this video totally match what I have been feeling in the past few months. I am developing a simulation tool in a team where 95% of people are experimentalist. I was jealous how "easy" it is for them to do experiments and generate papers, because those equipment is already set up completely and continuously maintained by vendors. As for my research, I have to code all by myself and no one in our team has any clue about what I am doing. It's like explaining calculus to normal people outside academia. But perhaps like you said everyone has their own difficulties. In addition, my relationship with supervisor is also interesting. He is really nice and kind, but I started to think he is not capable of supervising me, because he is not an expert in this field. This makes me doubt his profession and even start complaining him in my mind. But after watching this video, I realized he is just a human. Just like me, we don't know everything, so I shouldn't care that too much. Instead, I should take the ownership of my research. One thing that I've been thinking is what counts as a good Ph.D. student / researcher? Like you said, I set a really high expectation of me in the beginning, and after realizing the realities, I started losing my confidence, thinking perhaps I couldn't accomplish this and that. But then your words remind me that no one is perfect and we just need to follow some specific steps to get the PhD, and that is it. PhD is nothing more than some specific research and administrative steps. Don't set our expectations too high. Anyway, I just want to say your video really helps me a lot! Thank you so much for sharing these invaluable tips and advice! Sorry for my limited English.

I'm a big proponent of doing a PhD later in your career after you have some experience in your field and more financial ressources. You'll have a much clearer view of what you want to do.

I really value your content for bursting my illusory fantasy bubble of what I hoped a PhD would be for me. It’s really saving me from a lot of future heartache.