Day in the life: an MIT computer science PhD student

Typical day being a 2nd year computer science PhD student – 6 am routines, research meetings, and how I recharge.

IG: @eugeniesday

Music credit: Roa - Moonlight (Pt.2)

[SM]

I like this day in the life. Thanks. I'm very intrigued with the position you're in of being a PhD student at MIT. I hope to see more on what courses are taken and the projects you work on.

[yebjharsevran]

hard-alike live when you realise that work is the thing you most do every day, perhaps happy about where you are and where you will be.

[chernsimons]

Awesome, Eugenie! May I suggest you pick up a sport/hit the gym regularly (especially when the brain dead period starts) - for me they help a lot with boosting my mood and energy throughout the day :)

[noefernandez]

I am a PhD student in computer science. I've only had problems, I'm already tired of this shit. Nothing, absolutely nothing works for me. My main advisor is in another country because he left academia and now works in the industry, all meetings are by zoom. I've been there for two and a half years and I have nothing to publish, in one year I have like 100 nightmares. I work in an empty lab, it's always been that way since it started. I can't talk to my parents or siblings about this, they don't even know what a PhD is, my parents only have elementary education, they always had problems and got divorced, my close family doesn't understand what a PhD is either, for them, the Success is measured in the amount of land, houses and cars that a person accumulates. I have not made friends in graduate school because I worked in empty laboratories. All this has caused me to have terrible self-esteem, I have distanced myself from my family because I am in a bad mood and I don't want to be rude to them. I no longer enjoy anything, I don't care about everything, I no longer practice my hobbies because of the sadness of not getting results. I feel incompetent, I feel like human garbage. I am extremely discouraged, it seems that the PhD has awakened the worst version of me. Sometimes, I would like to quit and go to work at a physically demanding job, at least, at the end of my work day, I will surely have made a little progress: "today, as a waiter, I waited on 10 tables", "today, as a farm worker, I gathered corn from 4 grooves", "today, as a dishwasher, I washed 5 large containers of dirty dishes", "today, as a hand laborer, I carried 1000 bricks to the construction site", all this would be more satisfying than my doctorate, where I have months doing the same experiments and no progress at all. I no longer have feelings of joy or sadness, I no longer feel like I am a person, I am "something" that comes, sleeps and defecates, I have no desires or optimism in the future, I sleep poorly, sometimes I even feel dizzy and tingling in my body. head for sleeping so badly... if they kicked me out of the graduate program, I wouldn't care. My life is totally miserable.

[joenyc]

btw, for your keurig, i put a container of canned tuna below so that the coffee mug is closer to the dispenser and coffee does not splash out

[ryankbr]

love the videos!! they’re very well made and really help with prepping for the phd process 😊

[astro_penguin_]

amazing!! i'm still a senior in high school but... hope this can be me someday:) keep it up❤

[sergejjaps]

Hi Eugenie, thank your for your vlogs. As far as I understood, your passion is science. Maybe you can do some videos/vlogs on this? Greetings from Germany, Sergej Japs

[marwaou]

keep up the good work, you are amazing ❤

[dawnfire]

This schedule is moderately easier than mine was as an electrical engineering undergrad at Texas... my last year, I was in the lab six days a week, with working hrs from 0700 to 2100. Circuits, math, soldering/desoldering, math, prototyping, math, and homework.

An EE grad turned math PhD candidate I knew said that her time as an EE student was the busiest, hardest time of her life. Her work as a PhD was more complicated, but the workload wasn't anywhere near as bad.

[Philgob]

love your content! would love more info about your PhD studies

[maximlyons]

I love this video! I'm thinking about applying but I'm still debating if research is right for me. I'm doing a summer internship at a lab rn so let's see how this goes!

[uminhtetoo]

Thank you so much for sharing. Inspiration.

[lorenz]

Looks like a really realistic and therefore original day in the life video !!
Sad you're not talking though

[_CodeLife_]

It would be cool if you had time to make a video on your workload and research how-tos
Thanks for this video!
If I wanted to ask MIT related questions, how can I reach out?

[MarkisCouch_WhatJustHappened]

Your so cool! I wish the best for you. Great video! Columbus, Ohio❤

[zechenma]

no one mentions it so I will: you are really pretty!

[janakrajpathak]

1 for plant, 2 for bird and animal and 3 for human as body operators.Scientifically no dream but only neocartex gland aactivation.

[rolfw]

Well done on the “day in the life” style video! Btw, caff pills are not the answer though. I might suggest a healthier option.. maybe sliced oranges or other fruit?

[ryankbr]

would you have any advice or pointers for current undergraduates (current sophomores/juniors) hoping to start meaningful research and set themselves up to get into a top phd program?