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GRAD SCHOOL SURVIVAL SKILLZ
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Daniel L. Gonzales, PhD
(I spent 6 yr here so just trust me)
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Daniel L. Gonzales, PhD
(I spent 6 yr here so just trust me)
1. Your advisor is likely super dependent on their calendar. If you add “Pub evening” to the calendar, like a programmed robot they will show up and start a tab.
2. If you get this email: “there are [pizza/cookies/muffins/etc] in the conference room”
it is ok to shamelessly drop everything to get in on the party
it is ok to shamelessly drop everything to get in on the party
3. “Lunch will be provided at this seminar/defense/workshop”
Don’t trust them. Have lunch fallback plans.
Don’t trust them. Have lunch fallback plans.
4. Related: Have a snack drawer.
5. Master the art of power naps at your desk.
6. Have a playlist for all the lab things: homework, writing, experiments, late nights etc
7. On your title slide for presentations, have a cool research picture in the background. It’s a fact that your talk is now 26% more cool.
8. Have a symbol that you use a lot during writing? You can customize symbol shortcuts in Word. Ex: “alt-u” gives me the the Greek letter “mu”
9. Have a long word that you type a lot? You can customize auto-correct in Word.
“ephys” gives me “electrophysiology”
“ephysl” gives me “electrophysiological”
“C.” gives me “C. elegans”
“ephys” gives me “electrophysiology”
“ephysl” gives me “electrophysiological”
“C.” gives me “C. elegans”
10. Hard-code your figures.
11. Being comfortable saying “I don’t know” in response to a question is not a flaw in knowledge but a skill that must be developed over time. Your PhD is not about having all the answers. Your goal should be “I don’t know, but here’s the experiment I would do...”
12. Few people will remember if you were “good” at research or “good” in the lab. But everyone will remember if you were kind.
13. Follow this innovative method for keeping your lab clean. Two steps:
1. Do your stuff
2. Clean up your stuff
[mind_blown.gif]
1. Do your stuff
2. Clean up your stuff
[mind_blown.gif]
14. If you celebrate every time you submit/re-submit a paper, then desk rejections are no longer so bad.
Rejections following review will always hurt like that time the girl you loved broke up with you but now she’s your wife so I guess it turned out good in the end
Rejections following review will always hurt like that time the girl you loved broke up with you but now she’s your wife so I guess it turned out good in the end
14-2. Clearly I am still a little bitter about the time my now-wife broke up with me while we were dating.
15. If you work after hours or weekends it is 1000% ok to simultaneously watch Netflix in the lab.
16. I think it takes two PhDs to learn how the “pen” tool in Illustrator works
[UPDATES!!!]
17. 1 yr into my postdoc and I actually feel pretty good with the Ai pen tool
17. 1 yr into my postdoc and I actually feel pretty good with the Ai pen tool
18. Idk how I left this one out of the original list 
https://twitter.com/dgonzales1990/status/1300886263600381953
https://twitter.com/dgonzales1990/status/1300886263600381953
