3 ms·

I would also add that the hope trajectory is quite right in the simulation. You really should start quite high and it starts dropping until your first conferenc

• vibrio 3y ago
  The hope level can be lowest (and cynicism maximal) late and at then end when one is the senior student and the major (only?) contributor in the lab or key project with no one coming up behind. A weak thesis committee won’t stand up to the PI to drop the cycle of “just address this loose end” tasks. Meanwhile relatively non- or lowly- productive fellow grad students in the program are given quick PhDs in other labs because the labs are underfunded and those PIs don’t want the burden of retaining or the stigma of failing those students, and … Wow—-pardon the rant I’m having a flashback. I’m going to go exercise my anxiety away,
• tnecniv 3y ago
  Yeah that’s how it went for me. My confidence was very high until I finished my qualifying exam and just had to sit there trying to solve a novel problem for over a year. Eventually I learned enough through trial and error that I could work productively in that space, but doing well in classes often does not translate to immediate research success and there were dark days and many therapy appointments in the middle.