PHD Comics vs. Real Grad Life

[itscontrary]

Hi everyone! Prior to even applying to graduate programs, I've been following a comic series called Piled Higher and Deeper (Surely many of you know about it. If not, I recommend getting started - http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive_list.php. Quite a funny/great read with interesting videos about specific topics.) 

 

As a new graduate student as of Fall 2015, I was wondering whether your experiences either go hand-in-hand or absolutely deviate from what's presented here. Just a little nervous about graduate school right now and while I enjoy this particular comic series, the thought about staying in grad school for 10+ years or having a PI like Prof. Smith somewhat terrifies me! 

[iphi]

I think it depends a LOT on your field! But there are general experiences which I think most grad students in traditional programs go through - frustrations of writing, dealing with advisors, getting little sleep, and spending long hours at work, to name a few!

[fuzzylogician]

This one is completely true: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1047

Also, this one took me a very long time to figure out. When I did, that's when I felt that I was ready to graduate: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1518

 

Other than that, it depends. You go through all of the stages that are depicted in the PhD comics, but not all the time. There will be some friction with your advisor, frustrations with writing, sneaking into colloquia just for the food, etc. But unless you are in a toxic environment, it won't be what most of your time is like. 

[rising_star]

A lot of what happens in PhD Comics happens to grad students. After all, that's the point, right? There are quite a few about grading student work that are so, so true of TAing, for example (here's one: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=974 ). As are ones about working odd hours, getting frustrated by your advisor, and clamoring for free food. Is graduate school always difficult, aggravating, or no fun? Of course not! If it were, fewer people would be enrolled. But there are definitely frustrations that go with being in graduate school.

 

Do your best not to let this one be true: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=124. Or this one.

I've definitely done a version of this one: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=847

And this one is sadly true quite often: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1431

[husky]

I love PhD comics, and yes...it is pretty darn accurate for me. By the way, I'm a fifth year Phd student in electrical engineering and I find more to relate to in the comics each year. But yes, there's way more to grad life than just the frustrations...

[agrizz]

I discovered Piled Higher and Deeper when I was in a doctoral program a few years ago... at that point, there were a lot of physics comics coming out, but the themes were all-too-relevant for a neuroscience program.  I actually found some solace in realizing that many of my woes were depicted in these comic strips, and therefore I must not have been going through them alone.  

[dr. t]

They're less relevant to the humanities for obvious reasons, but all the stuff about grad student life is pretty much spot on.

[Catria]

#971, #1518 are definitely stuff I experienced, while #847 graces the door of my office (and 3 more pertaining to free food, alongside others).

[Eigen]

They're on often enough that my door is plastered with them. 

 

They're much more relevant for people in the physical/bench sciences as most of the characters are in those fields, but a lot of the more general ones are pretty widely accurate. 

 

A lot of them are caricatures of graduate school life, so not exact and maybe slightly exaggerated, but.... Pretty damn accurate nonetheless. 

[TMP]

This one is completely true: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1047

Also, this one took me a very long time to figure out. When I did, that's when I felt that I was ready to graduate: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1518

 

AGREED

 

I relate to a lot of the comics relating to the adviser (Jones or Smith) but these are my true-to-real-life:

My adviser gave me a similar conversation at the beginning of my second year: Here

My adviser and I have this conversation every once in a while (research or exam preparation) Here

(It's not to say that my adviser isn't great (she's amazing, really) but more to illustrate that what Smith and Jones do are fairly typical of many advisers and you'll understand why they do what they do over time.)

 

I can relate to dealing with Tajel (the anthropologist) and her desire to campaign on behalf of the "oppressed" as I know quite a few colleagues just like that.

[dr. t]

The links, they do not work.

[itscontrary]

This one is completely true: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1047

Also, this one took me a very long time to figure out. When I did, that's when I felt that I was ready to graduate: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1518

 

Other than that, it depends. You go through all of the stages that are depicted in the PhD comics, but not all the time. There will be some friction with your advisor, frustrations with writing, sneaking into colloquia just for the food, etc. But unless you are in a toxic environment, it won't be what most of your time is like. 

 

The email one feels true even as an undergrad. It would frustrate me when my PI would simply write "Fine," and leave it at that. I cannot tell if he's frustrated or just acknowledging my email. I have yet to experience the second one, but I'm sure it'll hit eventually.

 

A lot of what happens in PhD Comics happens to grad students. After all, that's the point, right? There are quite a few about grading student work that are so, so true of TAing, for example (here's one: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=974 ). As are ones about working odd hours, getting frustrated by your advisor, and clamoring for free food. Is graduate school always difficult, aggravating, or no fun? Of course not! If it were, fewer people would be enrolled. But there are definitely frustrations that go with being in graduate school.

 

Do your best not to let this one be true: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=124. Or this one.

I've definitely done a version of this one: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=847

And this one is sadly true quite often: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1431

 

Oi... I hope I don't rage as a TA. I feel relatively patient enough, but I wonder how far I can stretch my patience. I can only read so much here but I figure it's my own experience that counts. I don't know why but I'm excited to hunt for free food... 

 

We have the seminar bingo posted in our lab. While I haven't done one yet, I want to complete one for fun. As for the grant comic, that sounds pretty sad, but surprising. My PI would send me his grant proposals to projects that are relevant towards my research and I know that those particular projects haven't been completed/started yet. However, whatever funds were not used for that particular project are used for supplies for other projects. 

[ToomuchLes]

This one is completely true: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1047

 

 

SO TRUE!!

[mop]

Things like 10 years till graduation are a bit exagerated, but many of the advisor interaction ones can be spot on

 

I've certainly had this conversation before and will likely have it again

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1746

[TMP]

The links, they do not work.

http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1652 

 

And this

 

http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1673

 

Sorry, no idea what happened.

[itscontrary]

I've certainly had this conversation before and will likely have it again

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1746

 

This is going to be me in group meeting tomorrow. 

[Vene]

This is going to be me in group meeting tomorrow. 

Something I got from working in industry; it's not that my experiment failed, it's that I found out what not to do in the future. I was doing formulation chemistry and I discovered a lot of very undesirable formulas.

[Knox]

Yes, 90% of them are dead on. Dead. On.

[mandarin.orange]

They're less relevant to the humanities for obvious reasons...

 

To be fair, y'all DO have one resource available that tends to exclude STEM fields, so perhaps the universe balances out?

 

I'm talking about the amazing resource that is "The Chronicle of Higher Education"...   

[dr. t]

To be fair, y'all DO have one resource available that tends to exclude STEM fields, so perhaps the universe balances out?

 

I'm talking about the amazing resource that is "The Chronicle of Higher Education"...   

 

[wildviolet]

This is me this week: http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1778

[mandarin.orange]

Anyone seen the PhD Comics movie they made a few years back? This was screened at my institution like 1 or 2 days after I'd arrived in town, pre-orientation. It was like a premonition of so much that has come to pass... the rabble-rousing activist in my cohort, the lab's "golden boy"... and the "lab meeting" scene where labmates are trying to outdo each other on most-complex graphs and data, while the PI pompously holds court? OMG THAT HAS BECOME MY LIFE.

[mop]

A sequel is being filmed right now, I can't wait

[kyjin]

A sequel is being filmed right now, I can't wait

They're filming it at Caltech right now. I got to be an extra on set yesterday!

[mandarin.orange]

A sequel is being filmed right now, I can't wait

 

Anyone know when it's supposed to come out? If it's 2016, this will be close to me graduating. So, two PhD Comics movies will be bookends to my whole long, strange trip here.