I can tell if you will fail your PhD...The #1 Predictor

In his video, I share with you the number one predictor of failure during a PhD that I have seen throughout my time in academia.

▼ ▽ Sign up for my FREE newsletter
Join 19,000+ email subscribers receiving the free tools and academic tips directly from me:

................................................

▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – introduction
0:32 – methodology
1:39 – time
2:44 – data
3:38 – equipment
4:39 – financial
5:20 – ethical
6:03 – feedback
6:58 – skill gap

................................................

▼ ▽ RECOMMENDED ACADEMIC TOOLS AND SERVICES

AI TOOLS

▼ ▽ Socials for shorts and reels

[PatrickWPhillips]

Managing methodology risk is key. I was fortunate enough to have a university, department, and advisers that told me, "Don't reinvent the wheel; finish your dissertation and get out of here." I found a previous dissertation examining the exact same thing I wanted to explore (cybersecurity compliance frameworks) and I simply reused the methodology and applied it to a different framework (NIST CSF vs NIST SP 800-171). I got written permission from the other researcher to use her methodology. I also made sure to clear this with my advisor, dean, and IRB and to cite the heck out of the previous research, and I wrote my dissertation in four semesters. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[bhangrafan]

Wise and true words. I think I have written on this channel before about things that make a well-structured PhD project. Best is to have lots of little sub-goals so that if the overall project fails you still have a lot to write up and possibly to publish. The worst kind of PhD is the over-ambitious grand slam big thing, where you only get results at the end.

[ron]

This is gold! I work in risk managment and i acctualy think that Andrew presented a very good risk-based approach here. Should be seen by each and every PhD candidate. Open an word/excel file, summarize each risk in a table, and make a risk assesment for each one. It will save you so much pain along the way. Thank you Andy and please keep up the great work!

[swathimenon]

I am so happy about the risked being talked about. I am in the last third of my PhD and trying to decide whether some projects are worth pursuing anymore.

[kanina]

Only hope I have seen this earlier! I'm on my final year PhD in Chem and I have met like 90% of these risks. Thanks for letting me know that some choices I made during the journey wasn't because I was lazy to confront issues, but actually made a reasonable choice that helped me reaching the finish line.

[lcbetmbin]

Thank you Andy! I'm enjoying my masters degree journey because of support and awareness from your channel.

[spuriustadius]

They're all important, but a big one that wasn't mentioned is "motivation". Getting through 5+ years in grad school will take A LOT of motivation. If it starts to run dry, you're in trouble and at great risk unplugging completely.
"feedback" is also critical, it's adjacent to mentorship, which is something that graduate students need to seek out actively.

[Heyuher]

Mental health foremost -- then also the methodology risk & skills gap -- are what's taking me a while...

[sharkmug]

A fascinating watch. Having completed my Master's and commonly asked about doing a PhD, I have never been shown just how much goes into it, the path often perceived as just prolongation of Master's work...

[femtogab]

I wish I had known about feedback risk before my masters... My defense was postponed by six months because of something that I could have finished way earlier if I had got in touch with the right people before

[bhangrafan]

When I worked as an SO and as an RA I always got regular weekly meetings with my boss. When I was working towards a PhD, I could never get my supervisor to agree to, or stick to regular meetings to oversee what was going on and the problems.

[pivu]

These risks are also great to discuss in grant applications!

[harriehausenman]

Quite "in your face". And what a huge one! 😆
"Talking head" would be such an understatement here.

[iannaborloti]

Hey Andy,
I intend to apply for a PhD in the UK, however I am from Brazil and I always think about the cultural barriers. I’m confident about the knowledge required to do the research, but I also have impostor syndrome especially because it's another culture. Could you please make a video addressed to international students and the problems that they could face during a PhD in a whole new culture. Thanks, I love your videos!

[stevo]

So a Phd isn't really about discovery. It's about impressing someone else to get a tick in a box.

[studio_DATA]

So true. My PhD was too risky, that's why to took much longer than expected.

[jeffreybarker]

I’m studying literature. Equipment? You mean a cheap computer and the internet? 😆 Ethics? You mean will it hurt someone’s opinion if I argue an author is talking about X vs Y? 😆

Kudos to you all studying the hard sciences. You’re working a lot harder than some others! And thanks, Andy. Glad I found your channel.

[annevanderlaan]

If I could only find someone to edit my papers. I was told by the school to do that. The school was taken over and all the full time professors are gone. They hire whom ever that has their finished their Phd. There is no more teaching going on.
This is my second Phd I promised my husband before he died I would complete another. Trying to finish my last course before writing my dissertation.

[willboler]

I feel like you just systematically destroyed my whole lab lmao

[bhangrafan]

You remind me of Edison, who it is said, would give an existing product to one of his engineers and say - "Make it better".