I’m actually a bit grateful that science twitter did not exist when I was undergrad because the advice my dear friends are constantly giving these days would NOT have worked for me.

Dear students,

You do you

Most of my gap years were spent playing music. Science was just the other rock n roll lifestyle that I fantasized about.

Once I got into a few grad programs, I ended up picking the “least prestigious” one.

I decided to skip doing rotations and went straight into a lab with an advisor I had barely met... because I didn’t pick a school... or an advisor... I just saw lots opportunities to do interesting stuff in a well funded lab with lots of toys

While in grad school I played around ALOT. Skiing and cycling all over the northwest with a fearless russian postdoc who later became my wife.

I did science to ALOT too because I was having the time of my fucking life . Yeah grad school is fun! Sue me.

Then I did a postdoc with a brilliant scientist who also had a reputation for being a difficult personality. It could have gone totally wrong.

Multiple days a week He would ask me meet him at nights and on weekends. He would often (multiple times a day) stop by my bench to bug me for results. This is what many would (understandably) regard as toxic behavior.

But I was loving science and I just did not care.

Maybe he wasn’t a good advisor by most standards but he was a good advisor FOR me

If I would have followed the standard advice I would not have done most of these things, which are experiences that I now cherish.

Survivor bias? Definitely. But my point is I wasn’t trying to “survive”. I was just following a passion. That’s all I will ever do until my luck finally runs out.

I think it’s clear that I am NOT advocating or glorifying workaholism (a skiing addiction I do endorse however). This would not work for everyone no doubt. Find what works for you.