Grad
school will suck some of the time, and it's not your fault:
Every Ph.D. student I know (including me) has had periods
where things feel terrible. Often, this takes the form of a year or so right in
the middle of grad school. When this happens to you, it doesn't mean that
you're doing anything wrong. A Ph.D. is intrinsically difficult
psychologically. Generally, it's the first time in your life when things with
deadlines, like courses, are not the most important. The important thing is
research, which is vast and amorphous and comes with a deadline of several
years. You are (hopefully) surrounded by people whose achievements and
abilities can easily make you feel small and incompetent. On top of that, the
time of life that many people pursue PhDs is often a time where other things
are also making you stressed. You will almost certainly have low points. People
around you will too, even if they don't show it.
Never
resign yourself:
Research
is not your life:
Especially in the US,
there is pressure to love your research so much that you neglect everything
else. That's dangerous. First, because you don't have to love your work - and
research is work like anything else. Second, because you have to take care of
yourself even if you do love your work.
Seek out,
mentors:
Role models and guidance are amazing and can be hard to
find. Your advisor may or may not end up being a mentor. Regardless, don't rely
on any single person, but try to find several people you respect who speak to
different aspects of you and understand what you want to become. Talk to them
when you need help and also when you don't; just like a friendship, a good
mentoring relationship takes time together to build.
Travel:
For those of you who
know me, I over did this one. But I think that travel has huge benefits for
research, and it's also just fun. Sometimes one needs the breath of fresh air
that comes from being in a different intellectual atmosphere - and also just a
different physical place. I'd recommend going to conferences as soon as
possible. Don't worry if you don't understand the talks (I still don't
understand many talks I go to). The important thing is talking with people.
Conferences are a great way to find friends who do similar things in other
places and to meet potential collaborators. If you are lucky enough to end up
with a collaborator who works somewhere else, then ask if you can visit them.
It's a chance to visit somewhere new and will probably strengthen the
collaboration and give you new ideas.
Communicate
your work:
Take every opportunity to talk (or write) about what you are
working on. I find that explaining my research to other people helps me
understand things more deeply myself. I also learn what my audience finds
confusing or interesting. Unfortunately, science or engineering PhD programs
generally don't teach you how to communicate your work. But regardless of what
you do with your PhD, it will involve explaining stuff to other people whether
through academic papers, internal corporate meetings, or public advocacy. Grad
school is a great time to practice these skills, and the stakes are probably
lower than they will be later on.
Build a
foundation for your dreams:
When you think big,
and the people around you think big, it's very easy to start working on a
glorious frontier like the neuroscience of art. Your advisor will probably have
dream problems that they've been waiting for someone to work on - they will be
happy to give them to you. Don't work on them right away though. I've seen many
excellent young researchers go all out for one of those problems and then be
disillusioned when the project crumbles because it was built on joy and
excitement and good but vague intuitions. You need a foundation to work on the
moonshots. Work on small, well-defined problems first. Remember your goals and
your dream problems. Remember them every day. Let them guide you in picking the
small, foundational problems. Once you've laid enough bricks in the foundation,
you'll find yourself seeing ways to the moonshots - and they won't be moonshots
anymore, because you'll have concrete ideas for how to get there.
credit: David Rolnick
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