One thing people don't realize is that there's no training for advising Ph.D. students. Or, if there is, it's very rudimentary. Compare this with how much trai

One thing people don't realize is that there's no training for advising Ph.D. students. Or, if there is, it's very rudimentary. Compare this with how much training there is for K-12 education, or for teaching undergraduate courses. So, people who start a Ph.D. face the brutal switch from getting very well polished education to getting to be advised "by the ear". Many advisors are just naturals. Guess what, students flock to them, so when it's your turn, it's likely that they already have 6 or maybe 8 or 10 Ph.D. students. Some advisors are just really bad, and people avoid them. But most advisors are in between. The experience of being their student will be so-so. But more generally, the experience of doing a PhD will be very different from undergrad. The pattern I noticed is plenty of introductory courses (i.e. upper undergrad level), and plenty of very advanced (or "Topics") courses. Very few intermediate courses. So, a lot of your education will be self-provided. In the end, that's good, you can't expect to be spoon-fed all your life. But many students find this experience quite difficult. Well, who said a PhD is a walk in the park? You need to work hard. Your advisor is not perfect? Or maybe is the opposite of perfect? Welcome to the party. Lots and lots of other PhD students have the same problem. Some quit, but most don't. You can switch your advisor. You can talk to other PhD students and postdocs, and see what they work on, maybe you can realign your research topic. You can even switch departments. Now, about quantum computation. It's the first course I took when I started my PhD more than 20 years ago. It was just as promising at the time as it is now. My conclusion: quantum computation will be just like nuclear fusion, 20 or 30 years in the future. But if you decided you want to pursue research in quantum computation, presumably you went beyond an introductory course, and you came to the conclusion that there's something worth pursuing. If only now you find out that the emperor has no clothes, then maybe it's your fault too for not paying attention during those introductory classes. So, sorry for what you've been through. You're not the only one who finds the PhD experience a tough one. Thrown in water and asked to swim is how many others find the experience. Most do not drown. As others have said it in this thread, outing your advisor is not that cool. I'm happy you decided to pull down the post. Good luck in your future endeavors.