my grad school experience so far
got asked by @delaneystudying (thank you! i apologize for taking so long!) and thought i’d make a post bc a) in case anyone else was interested, b) for future reference if asked again, and c) maybe one day when i’m 90 yrs old i’ll look back at this and think about the good ol days.. well, maybe.
in general
it’s been great so far. i’m really having the time of my life doing what i love
and i think a huge part of that is i’m surrounded by support--from my PI, to my lab members, my program and university, my friends and family, the gradblr community here :)
it is hard though. lots of learning, lots of adapting, lots of constant stress. it’s a 24/7 job.
year 1
continuously filled with the thought: “holy crap, i’m here??”
quickly learned that even within the first few weeks of starting, every grad student--even the newbies--already had a reputation. science is a small world, and even smaller are schools and programs. have one person call you lazy, and that’s it. that’s your label for a long time.
a few classes: seminar, journal club, and 2 actual “classes” that have lectures, exams, etc. you can see my class schedule here. i didn’t think the classes were that bad at all. it was everything i’m interested in, so studying never felt like “work”. they were time consuming and intense though, and sometimes it did feel like drinking water from a firehose.
3 lab rotations (mine were 8 weeks each) to figure out which lab will be your home away from home aka thesis lab. this was definitely THE most stressful thing i experienced as a 1st year. some labs don’t have funding, some labs don’t have physical room, some labs are awesome on paper but then your personality doesn’t match with the PI/lab members, etc etc.
i chose to join my 2nd rotation lab bc i loved the research, the lab atmosphere, and the PI. and that was probably one of the best decisions of my life; i love my lab so much. there was a slight issue on funding (the PI had just taken on another grad student, and wasn’t sure there was going to be enough money for me) but thankfully my program stepped in and agreed to pay the remainder
i knew generally what my project was going to be on, but i was still trying to dust off and put together puzzle pieces (aka optimizing/learning protocols and getting preliminary data)
first time i cried because of grad school (i gave a less-than-stellar journal club presentation and was immensely disappointed in myself when i got home)
1st year was when i realized just how much i didn’t know i didn’t know. ya know. but then i learned so much.
spent the entire summer between 1st and 2nd year doing nothing but research. it’s just so nice to not have any classes interrupt your experiments.
picked out my committee members, figured out date for 1st meeting, found out that getting 5 PI’s in one room at the same time is pretty much herding cats
year 2
more classes!
really starting to get serious about what my thesis project will be, because this is when i started preparing for my comprehensive/qualifying exams
met with committee members (very nerve-wracking to be alone with so many PIs! but they’re all really fun and supportive people so it turned out fine)
2nd year was probably the.. calmest year out of them all in my opinion. sure, you had classes and exams to study for, but you’re snug in your thesis lab, and the sheer anxiety of comprehensive exams hasn’t hit yet (most students take then end of 2nd year/beginning of 3rd year).
i had the awesome opportunity to go to a national science conference in the spring to present my research, so that was so cool. my program graciously paid for the majority of it too (they have special money set aside for students to attend conferences)
also spent the entire summer doing research, and working on the written portion of my comps exams (which was writing an NIH-style research proposal of my project).
got my own undergrad to mentor during the summer (i technically have 2, but i’m 100% in charge of only one of them)
year 3
currently what i’m going through right now (at least i’m halfway done)
i was a little behind on my classes (i chose to take a bunch of extra non-required ones because i like being well-rounded in my studies), so i had one required class this semester (along with seminar and student colloquium). started to feel that weird “3rd year-ness” where you actually have to set alarms in your phone to remind yourself to go to class. idk why that happens. probably bc we get so into our research-oriented schedule over the summer. i did accidentally miss a class bc i got super excited about eating mashed potatoes for lunch.
studied for, took, and passed my comprehensive exam and advanced onto candidacy! yay! most stressful event of my life so far was OVER. basically an entire month before my exam i didn’t do any lab work; it was nothing but studying and reading and grooming my research proposal and practicing my oral defense.
also 2nd time i cried bc of grad school but they were happy tears due to finally realizing i had passed my comps!!!!
celebrations were short-lived however as i started working on cleaning up my research proposal/working on the other components for an NIH F31 fellowship application due in a less than 2 weeks..
going to another national conference this december to present a poster! i hope to keep up this trend of at least 1 national conferences a year
starting to draft my 1st first-author manuscript
year 4+
haven’t experienced this yet, but the average time it takes phd students in my program is 5 years, so year 4 and 5 will just be me finishing my dissertation research/writing it
i also still plan to take some more supplementary classes (this time focusing on business, since i am sorely lacking in that area and i think any independent researcher, regardless of what institution, should have some basic business background)
also planning on giving more oral presentations (at either local or national meetings)
lots o networking
hoping to land a sweet grad internship at a local cancer diagnostics company (bc those are usually the grad students they hire later, and i do plan on going into a career in industry)
day in the life/misc
my day starts at 6:30 am when i wake up, and it keeps going until 11 pm when i go to bed. if i’m not in class i’m in the lab; if i’m not in the lab i’m writing or reading or doing data analyses or making presentations; if i’m not doing that at the university, then i’m working at home (like in the evenings). it really is practically a 24/7 job.
but my schedule can really vary day by day. some days can be 8 hours of straight lab work; some days 8 hours of straight writing/editing/reading. some days i get in at 7 am; some days i sleep in and work from home. it’s very much up to me and it’s great.
actual lab-bench work maybe only takes up 50% of my time--i honestly spend sooooo much time writing, analyzing data, making figures, making presentations or posters, sending emails, reading emails, going to seminars, going to meetings.. and i’m lucky in that my program doesn’t require us to be TA’s.
i will say it is MUCH easier than undergrad.. for one, more flexible schedule that i (more or less) have control over. as a result, i actually get 7 hours of sleep every night :O! furthermore, since everything i’m doing--from the classes i take to the research i’m conducting--is what i have a genuine passion for. sure, i’m exhausted to my bones at the end of the day, but i feel so happy and fulfilled.
there’s a lot of failure involved in research, as well as harsh but constructive criticism. grad school definitely requires a certain level of emotional and mental resilience.
we have so much fun too though, outside of work. i still get to hang out with friends, enjoy my hobbies, take time to relax, go travel.. life still happens, and grad school is only part of my life, so i definitely make time for everything else.
my program’s stipend to cost-of-living ratio is quite decent. we’re all doing well.
phew! i think that’s all the main points i can think off the top of my head right now.. if you have any specific questions i’m always more than happy to help!
