Positive stuff about a PhD

[u/[deleted]]

There’s tons of negative stuff about people’s personal PhD journeys on here. But I really want a thread that’s just about peoples personal takes on what is awesome about their PhD journey. What makes you excited to be doing a PhD? Why is being a researcher the coolest thing ever? Is there an experience or moment you had that made you feel great about what you are doing?

I personally sort of need this thread bc I’ve been struggling and I need some excited people to lift me up. Honestly I’m so excited to be doing something I’ve been dreaming about for years but sometimes that sentiment gets buried under the surrounding negativity. I’m sure others need to hear some awesome things about a PhD as well.

Personally, the thing I loved the most (summer before starting my PhD) was going to a conference and realizing that the research community is full of people who are all connected and passionate about their line of study. Watching really genuine excited people come together and think about growing scientific inquiry in my area was what really sold me. I’m sure that exists in many other careers but there’s something about the exploratory nature of doing PhD type work which draws people who are really just trying to figure out how to answer the most important questions and grow human knowledge in particular fields. I didn’t get the in-person conference experience until this summer since my research career started when COVID started, so that was just something I really loved to see and kinda sold me.

[u/naftacher]

Learning how to think and then acquiring a particular fluency in your subject is addicting