It’s fucking terrible. I was on something by year 2…
Having a PhD is awesome. Getting one is awful.
This just confirms what every young person in academia knows: gotta get on uppers to be competitive.
My partner is a PhD candidate and at a recent party a postdoc was telling us how he acquired a giant crack rock at the beginning of his grad career and whenever he needed to finish a big assignment or something he would lick it.
This definitely seems like the more likely explanation. There certainly is a mental/emotional hell you go through in academia, but with this y-axis being specifically about psychiatric medication… all I’m seeing is that grad students like/need Adderall.
I was thinking more antidepressants and less Adderall
Yeah my thought looking at this is that it’s my understanding that you basically need an extended hypomanic state to complete a PhD and if you’re not making that much dopamine at home, store bought is fine.
Are doctorate/grad school programs distinctly competitive? My impression was that they were more challenging but similar in nature to undergrad insofar as loads of coursework to stay on top of to complete courses and ensure you got some of the most expensive, “You endured it!” paperwork in the world.
I agree with other replies here with one addition. People who get into grad school are generally the high achievers from their high school and undergrad programs, so they are used to being the only or one of few star students. In PhD programs everyone is a star student, so it can be a bit jarring to folks used to being head of the class when they suddenly aren’t.
It can cause a bit of jealousy and competitive thinking but most of the time students get past it and focus simply on enduring the gauntlet.
Getting a. PhD isn’t super competitive (speaking from the US), but if you aim to get a professorship at an R1 it’s somewhat competitive across the board. The program coursework vs undergrad depends on the program too— I would say most differ somewhat substantially though. For most humanities degrees you’re doing coursework for 2-3 years and teaching undergrads while you prepare for qualifying exams, then you teach and write your thesis for a few more. The graduate courses are often in seminar (circle discussion) format rather than lecture.
Thanks for some detail! What you describe reassures me in my decision not to get further into it, particularly as a professor path seemed one of few traditional options with what I studied.
Yeah it’s not the best path for everyone, and some subject areas just don’t have enough teaching positions to reasonably expect to get one
Depends on the program. Diploma mills for graduate degrees absolutely exist but many are extremely competitive.
I’m staring at a PhD and genuinely considering it. I already have an M.S. and that was brutal. But my career stalled and nobody is hiring. Plus I hate myself. Should I do it?
I just want to do a cool project. I have no interest in academia, lol.
Is the paper itself product of a PhD study?
And they only managed to finish because of all the meds.
Sometimes you are forced to change the subject part way through a PhD, and this subject was already on the author’s mind.
The smarter you get the more you realize that the world is fucked up… But after the peek you learn that there are joys and that you just don’t geht children and hope to die before the worst happens.
I went the route of substance desensitisation and copious amounts of self delusion. I am doing super fine 🌈
The alcohol is actually so good because not only it makes you happier for a time but also makes you dumber
Stuck on peak, please send rescue.
Being dumb is being happy.
Ignorance is bliss
Link anyone?
https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/portalfiles/portal/194583123/WP24_5
The figure shown appears on page 9 (page 12 of the full document linked).
Well if it was fun everyone would do it
