Thread by @j_bertolotti, A few days ago I was asked by some last year students [...]

Jacopo Bertolotti

j_bertolotti

A few days ago I was asked by some last year students advice on how to decide whether doing a PhD is the right thing to do. I will put here a summary of what I told them, just in case it can be useful for someone else.

[Disclaimer: What follows are personal opinions based on STEM disciplines in Europe. So this is a partial and (by definition) incomplete picture.
Also, I am assuming you like the subject you want to do a PhD in, and that you can find a supervisor who is not a sociopath.]
2/

During a PhD you will tackle one or more problems/questions that no one has a answer for. This is dramatically different from what you have ever done at Uni, where all problems had a solution somewhere.
3/

Your supervisor probably has experience in the field, so might have some clue and have made some educated guesses. But they don't have an answer. They probably don't even truly understand the question. So this is going to be a learning experience for both of you.
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Nobody knows exactly what you should do to answer the question, so the vast majority of what you will try will turn out to be a dead end.
Doesn't matter how good/smart you are, you will spend the vast majority of your time failing to solve the problem.
5/

So the question you should ask yourself is: "do you like the process of learning from your mistakes?"
If you enjoy the process of discovery, then you are probably the right person for a PhD.
If failing frustrates the hell out of you, you are not.
6/

In the end it doesn't truly matter who you are, what your background is, how cool was the Uni you studied at etc.
If you have no problem accepting you don't know, and like learning a ton of new stuff from your failures, you are the right person for a PhD

7/7

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