What distinguishes a good PhD student from a bad one?

In this video, I am going to share with you the lesser-known features that distinguish a good PhD student from a bad one.

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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – perspective
2:44 – self-discipline
5:16 – fun to work with
0:50 – supervisor perspective

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▼ ▽ TOOLS

[knyc]

Yes, it's important to stay focused right from the beginning. It sets the precedent for the semester, the academic year, and the program.
It makes sense ' went scuba diving and never quite came back'.
Half the the battle of self discipline is, indeed, just showing up. This video is splendid reminder of that mentality.
Thank you for all your videos.

[MB-yniu]

This was a very helpful video for me. The last point of being fun to work with is something I hadn't really considered. I will try to incorporate some of those suggestions!

[hanshearth]

Andy doesn't waste time with patter, straight out of the bat we got #1. Thank you! you know your audience well

[ikramcad]

Thank you for all your hard work. It's very much appreciate it. 🙏😊

[shinra]

Another excellent video.

One thing to note - you talk about ‘the lab’ and ‘experiments’ as examples during your contributions. However many PhD candidates will never see inside the door of a lab. My own research was ‘out in the field’ and I employed oral history methods for example.

You draw from your own experience which is necessary but it might bring you in a broader audience and more video ideas if you incorporated alternatives forms of doctoral education too from time to time.

Keep up the great work. I enjoy all your uploads.

[saklainzaman]

Your contents are super helpful. Thanks a ton!! 😃

[johannamartinez]

What about the interaction good phd student, bad supervisor! A bad supervisor really can damage the motivation of the most self discipline person.

[alexandralongcake]

Thanks for the videos Andy, would you be able to do a video on how much work is required to pass a PhD? Not so much in terms of years of research, but more absolute volume of experiments or meaningful results etc. Is there an actual amount or is it very subjective depending on the research topic and group?

[TheChristianna]

I'm a little confused by the scuba-diving example in the "self discipline" section. Are you saying you can never relax/vacation at all while doing your PhD? Or did that person go at the wrong time?

Great video, as always! Watching your videos always gives me a nice boost of motivation when I'm staring down the wrong end of a long study/research session

[syedmohammadhamza]

I disagree with your idea of supervisor perspective and winning the game. I think understanding the supervisor's perspective is important but what needs to be done needs to done. Secondly, different niche & academic culture have this problem especially in applied sciences or maybe chemistry... but most engineering fields has so much depth that supervisors perspective is either lost (not followed) or both phD student & supervisor are on the same page!