Since this is around the 1 year anniversary of my exiting #phdlife, I've got some stuff on my mind about what getting a PhD is like and maybe some stuff that could be useful to prospective PhD folks [A Thread]

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First thing I'd like to say is that a lot of people have a rough time during their PhD, probably a majority. Even under the best of circumstances PhDs are grueling and intellectually challenging. Having a hard time doesn't reflect on you as a person.

I have personally seen people drop out of programs because of what I'd probably call emotional abuse. They were just as smart as me, just as hard working, and at least as kind and generous (if not more). It wasn't their 'fault' that they left or had a hard time.

Simultaneously, I think there is an idea out there that PhDs MUST be VERY hard. I do not agree with this idea about the inevitability of PhDs being some trial by fire that sucks universally. I think there are a lot of things that people in charge can do to improve conditions.

But I also think there are things people can do heading in to a PhD to try to tilt things in their favor. I think that environment is crucial to a fun PhD. Even if you manage to stake out some work/life balance (you should try!), you're still going to be spending time in lab.

40 hrs a week with people is a considerable amount of time. Your PI, your lab mates -- having a supportive group can help so much when it comes to mental health (and certainly can help with the science side too). Your PI is a manager AND a mentor, those are two hats to wear

Picking a PI isn't just some reverse-witch hunt to find 'good' ones. Certainly there are some PIs that are not good mentors. But there are also many styles of mentoring and management. Even very nice, kind, gracious people might not be a good fit for you.

This takes a little self reflection and preferably some experience in mentoring. Do you like someone checking over your shoulder often to keep you motivated and on track? Do you prefer to be off in the weeds on your own for a while? Do you want flexibility to do both?

I advocate for choosing programs that allow for rotations in a number of labs before settling down. I think many people will have precious few opportunities to sample different labs otherwise -- and sampling is IMO super important to finding a good fit.

Over the course of your PhD you'll run into situations of interpersonal conflict. Maybe it is about authorship on a paper, or getting acknowledgement to work you did, or someone 'scooping' your idea. These are all problems that can come up even if your lab/cohort is awesome.

It can't fix everything, but communication is probably your best way out of the situations that are fixable. Communicate early about how you want to contribute to a collaboration, what you expect out of it. Communicate about what ideas you consider yours as part of your work.

You can't really affect the existence of bad actors. But IMO a lot of people in your program aren't bad people, they're just people like you. I think a good fraction of dust ups are because of poorly communicated intents and personal beliefs/ideas.

On mental health, I think it is practically silly to say it at this point, but PhDs take a mental toll on you. Resilience where you can develop it is good. Acceptance and self-love for when you can't be resilient is good too.

There are many advocates for mental health in academia here on twitter that talk about it a lot better than I do (like @xiaofei_lin). But just know you aren't alone!

This thread was long and likely filled with suggestions that aren't unique, but hopefully it has been useful!