As a PhD, what I wish grad students knew [Grad School Advice]

In this video I share with you what I wish grad students new from the perspective of someone who has a PhD.

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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – winging it
1:39 – paper lies
3:30 – direction
5:03 – no one cares about your exam results
6:48 – data hoarding
8:16 – arseholes
9:53 – wrapping up

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▼ ▽ TOOLS

[tombirkland]

I love this. I've been a professor for over 25 years and am on the other side of 60 years old, and the other day I caught myself thinking "in another year or two I might have this academic thing figured out." I think it's OK to say that we have it figured out well enough to keep doing it, even if we don't have all the answers.

[babaksaatchi]

Hi Andy,
I have been following your videos now for almost two years, and I wanted to say a big thank you for all the time you spent on keeping graduate students informed about what is really going on in academia.
Now, I should admit I would not have been able to stay in my PhD program without the help I received by watching your fantastic videos. Thank you again and please keep making these videos! 👏😅🙏

[Bootus]

That bit about undergrad and grades being meaningless is really nice to hear right now. I'm in the middle of applying to grad school for my masters and I really didn't get my act together in my undergrad until the last year so my GPA was not exactly stellar. I've grown a lot as a person in the 5 years since I've graduated with my bachelor's and I think my work shows it, but I am just terrified that my grades won't let me get in the door with a 3.007 GPA.

[cameronbaird]

Thanks Dr. Stapleton, the section on arseholes popped up at a really good time for me 😀I spent my evening internalizing someone's comments and stumbled across this video. Almost to the end of my first semester!

[aurielwillette]

As a prof, this advice was fantastic. Academia is a beautiful, strange, and at times horrific thing that MS and PhD students need to intuit oft times from scratch. Y'all gives yourselves credit for the wonderful things you do. Keep at it!

[jaredgriffith]

Dr. Stapleton, you really are a God send! You’re one of the only channels that consistently can remotivate me! Even as a humanities major, you do an excellent job of offering advice that applies to all.

[nurulhasan]

Dr Stapleton, please keep maintaining quality academic-related contents. I'm much obliged for your endeavors. Your channel is my primary sources for my enrolment process.

[alexusandmichi]

Back at it with another great video! Been enjoying the consistent uploads these days 😊 You’re exactly right about professors and PhDs just winging it and having no idea what we are doing haha. You figure it out with time, but it’s what I wish I knew when starting my PhD! This is something I try to remember when imposter syndrome starts creeping up on me. Everyone’s just showing up each day and doing their best!

[asifjahan]

All your episodes are so informative and inspiring dear Andy sir! I'm literally getting obsessed about your channel!

[OntologyofValue]

Greta video! In a sense, this feeling of never ending chaos is what I experience in business as well. I guess academia or beyond, we are all bombed with more information and expectations than we can possibly handle.

[my_master]

Thank you for the vid 👍
Who else noticed the notes from the last seminar on the whiteboard? 😁

[heyho]

that point about papers is rly important. even in math

[Konan]

Hey! Im a Masters student and am doing my research in Immunology . I'm applying to PhD programs right now and it feels really forbidding, especially as an international student.
I was feeling down about my project because I don't feel confident that I'll be able to give it direction past what my supervisor thinks I should do and would be a good idea. I want to conduct research that is my own but am scared that I won't be able to bear the responsibility for the failures that will inevitably come from it.
The advice in this video hasn't fully sunken in yet, but I hope when it does it feel more comfortable taking the reigns with my project.
And though I know you said to be skeptical of everything, but I'll trust that its good advice for my Master's project!

[rnorm]

Loved your insights into the peer review process. It totally does not weed out all the rubbish

[steurtv]

A friend of mine worked in a reseachgroup of a hospital and he had one such assholes as head researcher, the dude basically exploited grads and undergrads by taking credit for all the work they did and presenting it as his own. At one point he decided to use some data that a grad was working on for a paper of his own without letting anyone know, . What he failed to check was the security level that was put on that data for various reasons, mostly privacy regulations. so long story short the data management team eventually found an very major data leak that was traced back to the asshole. Turned out he had "unknowingly" been leaking data for years undermining a substanclial amount of research that had been done. Which turned into a massive internal investigation. The dude was eventually fired for a number of reasons including privacy leaks, forgery of research data and a number of copyright and IP issues. safe to say he will not be working in hospitals for a good while. what goes around, comes around. xd

[omegab]

Dr. Stapleton, I have watched many of your videos and would like to thank you for your dedication to help us better prepare and succeed in graduate school. Having said that, I would like to hear your thoughts about the balance between intellectual enrichment and technical training in graduate school, especially PhD students.

[DSScully]

Can you please discuss the state of academia and disability issues. E.g. Neurodivergent, ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorders, (Yes, use the term Asperger's Syndrome specifically please, we still exist and acknowledging this is crucial to combating discrimination in academia and in the Autism community. I'd really appreciate it. )

Thank you for your content.

[octoberflower]

Thank you! I'm having panic attacks by the minute!!!!

[notequalto]

5:03 that made me chuckle. My undergrad was in informatics and I'm doing my PhD program in social psychology. Couldn't be more real.

[miguelsamudio]

I was going for my PhD after my Masters and this video made feel better about it because I was scared to go further.