PhD Candidates Fear Academic Career Uncertainty

“Hello, So I started a PhD programme in the UK where I had to choose the project. Now for some context the project is 80% dry lab and 20% wet lab, I was meant to get acess on a previous application for data that one of my supervisors had access, that's what was advertised and that's what was initially discussed with them in which based on those findings the rest of objectives where gonna be build around. When i started the PhD (now) i found out we don't have access and that i need to”

“Hello all, I am looking for some advice as to how to navigate my career. I have started an unfunded PhD position at a university in Germany as a doctoral student. It's not like a structured PhD position but rather I am a registered PhD student with a particular professor as my supervisor. I am directly working on my final PhD thesis. My partner earns enough to support us both so money is not really a problem. But, doing an unfunded PhD also means that you don't have an RA or a TA positio”

“I started my PhD with so many hopes and dreams. I was new to the country, and this felt like such a big opportunity for me. I’ve lived and worked in Asia and Europe, and moving to North America had always been a dream. I was genuinely excited about this new chapter of my life. But honestly, my experience has been nothing like what I imagined. I was the only PhD student in my lab. We had no postdocs, no senior students, nobody I could really learn from. My PI was also not very helpful, and I slow”

“Hi everyone! I’ll be starting my PhD soon and I have a preliminary meeting coming up with my supervisor to figure out where I’ll fit into their lab and research directions. To give some context, I went through a centralised admission process and was assigned a supervisor later. I had to submit a broad research proposal for the application, but the official call for admissions states that our actual thesis topic can be completely different and will be finalized with the PI. Anyone who has been th”

“I did a math/physics PhD and am now working for about €50.000 a year. I was always "promised" big bucks, but with this economy and job market I'd be lucky to even keep this job for longer than 2 years. I have the same salary as my non-PhD counterparts. My question is, what is the point where I will notice those hard years pay off? My supervisor said I will not notice for at least 10 years, and that maybe my pay at age 50 will be slightly better, but I also have former coworkers wor”

“So I’m in almost end of 3rd year of my PhD of a 4 year program. My funding was only for 3 years and 4th year is still unclear and after 4 years it’s clear that I will not be funded. I joined PhD only to see how far I can push my knowledge and for the love of the subject. Not for academic career or research based jobs(I wouldn’t say no to one though). As most PhD students, the topic/subject also changed and i accepted my fate and worked on it. Mental health went shit and figured it out. Now I’m c”

“I’m currently a 5th-year experimental immunology PhD student in Europe, and I am completely exhausted by my project/lab situation. When I joined, the lab was brand new. My PI had moved from another country and we basically started with nothing - not even basic infrastructure like a proper refrigerator, PCR machine, etc. Instead of hiring an experienced technician to establish the lab, he hired five fresh PhD students. My entire first year basically disappeared into establishing mouse lines, re-d”

“Dear fellow PhDs, We, in this field, are in constant discussion, and it is normal to be challenged on our thoughts- pretty much everything that comes out of our mouths, in extreme cases. I am extremely curious: how do you go about it? I have two specific scenarios and wanted to see if you can resonate and if you have any tips for me to follow, please. (1) With my PI : I am too respectful of them and treat them as an authority. Whenever they say something, even though it is far-fetched and shooti”

“This is partially a vent, but I genuinely feel like my PhD would be so much easier if there wasn't a constant money anxiety over my head. We didn't get a pay raise this year but everything around us has gone up in cost. Gas is pushing $5 a gallon, the grocery budget I used to have doesn't feed me for the whole month, but I can't afford to expand it, so I'm going to food banks. I live in the literal cheapest apartment in town, on a bad side of town, so my rent is cheaper than”

“Hello! I’m an MS student in my last year with an absolutely incredible PI. I’m passionate about our work and we’ve started laying the groundwork for a dissertation project which would be pretty high-impact. Unfortunately, she’s moving institutions to Hawai’i, and I just can’t make that large relocation work due to a variety of interfering factors, and thus I’m looking into other programs within our niche. I’m wondering if folks here have had experience with somehow continuing their line of work”

“I am graduating from Research Master in Psychology next year and am very confused about what to do next. I think I want to do PhD but I also don’t feel ready for it and the pressure it comes with it. Do you ever feel ready? Were you hesitant too? Is there something you now wish you considered before starting your PhD? I don’t know if I really want to start it next year or if I am just confused about my other options submitted by /u/Electrical-Cut2390 [link] [comments]”

“Hi guys, I am a third year PhD, and I found out I was pregnant about 2 months back. (For context, I am in the US and study neuroscience.) I had to tell my PI pretty much immediately because I work with hazardous chemicals. He has been fairly supportive, but during my first trimester, he told me he was afraid “I am losing my spark for science”. Since then, he has told me he was proud of me for not getting discouraged that I am pregnant and coming back to the lab (that was once I was in the second”

“hi everyone, looking for some advice from the PhD community. I understand I’m in an extremely lucky position to even be weighing these options but wanted to reach out because I’m struggling to weigh the options myself. I'm an electrical engineer who has worked at battery startups for a few years now. I really love this space. I’ve deployed some really cool alternative battery tech and I love being in this niche field. My last company started running low on runway, so I began looking around a”

“PHD students please help! i'd love to get ur input on my current situation: i've been invited to sit in on a lab meeting at prospective PI's lab tomorrow. super thankful for this opportunity + i really want to make a good impression. i've been sent the paper that is going to be discussed and have made notes on it. i'm curious as to how much of an active participant i should be. i'm not a formal member of the lab and don't want to overstep but i also don't want to”

“If you could gift yourself a commemorative ring that you would wear always or a dream bag as a post phd gift, which one would you choose? submitted by /u/Clear_Data4821 [link] [comments]”

“Hey everyone, I wanted to ask some advices. I recently accepted a fully funded MSCA PhD position. I turned down other good offers because I was genuinely excited about this project. However, the administrative side has been an absolute nightmare from day one, and now that I’ve actually started, things have only gotten worse. To give you some context: It took the HR department over 4 months to get my visa documents ready. I had to constantly push and fight for 3 weeks just to get them to use the”

“Hello everyone, I am a first year PhD student in a Biomed field and I wanted to seek some advice from you guys regarding how I can make an educated decision when choosing a permanent lab and a PhD advisor. I am currently going through rotations, and there are essentially two PIs whose research really interest me: PI A is a well-established and highly regarded scholar in the field with a very strong publication/citation record. He is incredibly intelligent and clearly very good at what he does, a”

“Hello, I am a second year master's student ( thesis-based) in Canada. I absolutely love my current PI. He's literally one of a kind. I am also in love with my project and the love has gone to an extent where it makes me teary when I think about someone else overtaking my work in a year or so. The project seems like my first child and I am emotionally attached. The reason for saying this is that, in spite of the current attachment to my current lab/project, I will just have to master out”

“I joined my current PhD program last spring and I really liked the vibe I had with my PI prior to joining and the collaborations he had with his previous work. Also I was super interested in his research and eager to learn more and make contributions and very excited due to the fact that the research area is very niche and I thought to myself I’ll be an expert by the time I’m done. Fast forward to now and heck the exuberance is just leaving me and I’m considering starting all over joining a new”

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about finances during a PhD and I’m really curious where people are actually at financially. Obviously everyone’s situation is completely different depending on country, family support, stipend, previous jobs, cost of living, etc., so this isn’t meant to be a competition. I just feel like people rarely talk openly about actual numbers. If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d be interested in: Age: Country/region: Annual stipend or income: Cash savings: Investments (sto”

“Hello everyone, I feel anxious about posting this, but I would need advice on how to navigate this situation. I am a MSc student majoring in chemistry/biochemistry, and I have been offered a PhD position in Ireland (bioorganic chemistry/biochemistry) around June, which I accepted. I really like the subject, the lab seems great, the PI is very friendly and I have already met the other students. However, the stipend is quite low for Dublin (25k/year for 4 years). It has been very stressful to comp”

“So this is kind of a weird post, I am sorry, but I am just having trouble trying to manage this. So I play in a band, something I started a little before I started my PhD, and we are starting to build up traction in the local music scene. We get asked to play shows a lot, a couple times a month, and for the most part this has been going quite well. However, I have been feeling quite uncomfortable with how much I involve my cohort with this aspect of my life. Part of me wants to keep my music and”

“Starting my PhD soon at 23 after recently finishing my MSc, and honestly feeling a bit confused but also excited. Any advice from current , former PhD students? What do you wish you knew before starting? Im a psychology student btw. submitted by /u/Puzzleheaded-Bit7867 [link] [comments]”

“Currently preparing to defend Msc by the end of this year and doing the last bit of statistical analysis for the thesis. About the stipend, the department knows it at all, had meetings with everyone I could and no help on that front. My PI has become passive aggressive but has been sending me reviews about the analysis I do, which sounds good until I read it. He has been sending the reviews written by AI and the sheer irrelevance and that robotic superficial language is just not helping me in an”

“I’d also like to hear about other PhD students’ milestones and timelines by year, just to get a general roadmap for my own PhD. Mine is in the EU, so it will likely take around 4–5 years. Also, when did you start your own project? Did you spend the first year mainly on co-author/collaborative projects before moving on to your own project, or did you work on both simultaneously? I’m asking because my PI wants me to join a joint project that another PhD student has already been working on since th”

“Hey, I just started my PhD and I will be probably be given a decent macbook for work that I intend to use in the lab and leave it there so that I'm pushed to come to the lab everyday and work as much as I can. However, I want to log into my youtube premium or apple music to listen to songs or watch videos. Would this be a strong no-no on the lab issued devices? I plan to just get my ipad to the lab everyday as my side-station media device if its unsafe to log in on the labtop (geddit?) Would”

“Hi everyone :) I wanted to share how my PhD has gone, partly to hear from people who've been somewhere similar. I'm a final year PhD in STEM. I joined straight from my undergraduate, into a field I knew nothing about, and it's been a strange 4 years. The project I applied for turned out to have no ethical approval in place, and getting it took 2.5 years. So in my first year I had to find a new research question. Neither of my supervisors works in the area I moved into, so there was n”

“I’m currently in the early stage of a PhD in a biology-related wet lab field. I continued into the PhD after my master’s, and for almost a year now I’ve been questioning whether this is really the path I want to stay on. Objectively, I’m actually in a fairly well-supported position. I have about two more years of scholarship support left, and my monthly stipend is roughly comparable to what someone my age might earn in an entry-level job. I also have very few restrictions when it comes to resear”

“Don’t do a PhD if earning is your goal. It’s not economically advantageous. Do it because you love your research”

“I am an Indian student, doing PhD from an R and D institute. Completed my 1 year and 1 month. But now I am rethinking if this lab is worth staying. The lab has no funds. Things like tissue and general stationary we have to buy ourselves. Sometimes have to buy things related to experiment also. Borrowing things are the norm. No new project is here. My work has not even started yet. The supervisor is so toxic. Always wants meeting but nothing fruitful comes out of it. He is self centred narcissist”

I know multiple people with PhDs, making between $50k and $600k per year.

Phds in what? I'm assuming it's cs, physics, maths/stats

“Just bored, I know PhD should not be done with economics or job prospects in mind submitted by /u/Specific-Base-9017 [link] [comments]”

“TL;DR I’m concerned about my job prospects, however my PI is dismissive and calls my concerns a pessimistic outlook. I’m 7year PhD candidate in biomedical research. I just feel realistically I’m not a good applicant for a post doc position (preferred) And probably not super ideal for industry either. My expertise is kind of broad. I’ve super basic technical skills. 0 first author publications 0 contributing authors publications I have just a few connections myself and my PI seemingly has no conn”

“So it is a phd position at this lab, and the project aim is already decided its really cool and am so very much interested in this proejct. however I have so many doubts I have worked on 5 research projects since my bachelors, I also have internships in the same field which is clinical and child rehabilitation. My masters dissertation n two other paper were on parasocial bonds and this project studies atachment style, Stress, resillience. I want to study how paracoail bonds or rather parasocial”

“I’m starting my PhD program in chemistry in a couple days and while I’m extremely excited, I’m also starting to get a bit nervous about not being fully ready for this. For reference, my program is direct-entry to PhD so I don’t have a masters degree, but I somewhat know what to expect as I’ve done a lot of -mostly-independent research during my undergraduate years. If you were in my position or if you could go back to the start of your PhD, what would you have done differently? What habits would”

“Hi! I’m a PhD student (27) at the moment in the UK. I get £5141 every three months tax free as part of my stipend. I’m living in a shared house paying £650 a month all bills included. I was with my ex partner for 8 years in an abusive relationship and got the courage to leave a few months ago, however my ex partner had previously paid £7500 for my rent in a one off payment early when we got together (I was leaving an abusive family home with an alcoholic) which at the time had been a generous of”

“Hi all, I’m starting my (UK uni) PhD in a couple weeks with a bioeng based project and was looking for some advice. How social is a lab environment for a mid-large sized bio group? My MSc and BSc project supervisors didn’t have groups so I don’t know how sociable labs typically are during the PhD or how easy it is to make friends in the programme. I think the work I’ll be fine with, I have a real interest in the research area and am looking forward to the work… I am worried about all other aspec”

“Hi! I am applying to a PhD program as well as the GRFP and I’m in the very beginning stages. I’ve talked to my advisor i want to work with and have my idea ready. She really likes my idea but i need to get more information to expand my question. I need to have 3 chapter ideas for my PhD. How do you stay organize and get a good outline ready? What was everyone’s strategy? I’m feeling a little bit all over the place. I have so many ideas but just don’t know where to start. submitted by”

“Hi everyone, I wanted to ask the general positive outcome of a meeting with a prospective supervisor. I had a professor respond to my cold email, and although he mentioned that the process for a PhD is central application and rotations, he said it was worth us having a chat. I was under the impression that he would either refer me or provide guidance with my application. But he just asked me to proceed with the application so I’m not sure if he just wasn’t impressed with me, or it’s just genuine”

“I am planning to start my PhD in EECS at MIT this fall at 30 years old; however, I don't feel very excited about it. If I am honest, it is more so a feeling of dread. I don't want to make the whole post about this, but my head space is fairly poor at the moment with doctors strongly suggesting that I be hospitalized. I live on the west coast, so the reality of having to pick up my entire life to start a program I feel a sense of apathy towards is making me quite anxious. It is hard for m”

“I am planning to start my PhD in EECS at MIT this fall at 30 years old; however, I don't feel very excited about it. If I am honest, it is more so a feeling of dread. I live on the west coast, so the reality of having to pick up my entire life to start a program I feel a sense of apathy towards is making me quite anxious. It is hard for me to discern if me applying for a PhD was just a forcing function to leave my cushy tech job that did not fulfill me or if I genuinely wanted the PhD. For c”

“I have an upcoming interview for a fully funded MSCA Doctoral Network PhD position at the University of Surrey. It’s a panel interview, and they’ve asked me to prepare a strictly 5 minute presentation about my previous research experience and the skills I’ve developed...... I’ve read about the supervisor, gone through his papers, and even looked into the work of the other panel members....... Still, I’m honestly really nervous about it The 5 minute presentation is stressing me out the most becau”

“I have an upcoming interview for a fully funded PhD position at the University of Surrey. It’s a panel interview, and they’ve asked me to prepare a strictly 5 minute presentation about my previous research experience and the skills I’ve developed...... I’ve read about the supervisor, gone through his papers, and even looked into the work of the other panel members....... Still, I’m honestly really nervous about it The 5 minute presentation is stressing me out the most because I had a si”

“I’m one year into my PhD and honestly, I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. I’m incredibly grateful to be here. Doing a PhD has been a dream of mine, and I genuinely love my life here. But being an international student brings another layer of uncertainty with visas, finances, work experience, and not knowing where I’ll be able to build a life after graduating. I keep reminding myself that I still have three years to go, but seeing people around me already thinking about jobs and postdocs”

“Hi guys, I am one year into my PhD program. I work as a teaching assistant, so this year was mainly about getting to know my teaching tasks. I got a chance to work a little on my research (in STEM) during breaks, but I am feeling really lost. I have two questions. I started a PhD after graduating as an engineer and I moved away from my home country. It seems that, while the PhD programs lead to the same capabilities, I am missing a few basic research skills that are usually taught during the fir”

“Hi everyone, two months ago I moved countries to start a PhD in protein research, so we are talking about standard wet lab biochem/biotech on here. Honestly I think I made the right call, got a nice salary, the lab is well equipped and my supervisor seems to be a kind person with lots of experience and realistic expectations (He told me to take vacation days and to have a work-life balance and he definietly takes it as well). So while in paper everything looks good I am feeling a bit anxious and”

“Honestly, I’m so annoyed. I came across a funded PhD project that I was genuinely interested in and spent weeks preparing my application, only to find out that the PhD is supposed to start this October. The application deadline hasn’t even passed yet, but apparently there’s barely a month between the deadline and the start date. As an international student, there is absolutely no way I can realistically sort out everything that quickly. The advert didn’t mention the start date or any timeline. I”

“Incoming PhD student. My stipend is 25k (it’s just me so like the money doesn’t go to save anyone else’s life but mine) but like genuinely how is it living 5-7 years on essentially poverty while also being super stressed about quals and grades, and also making sure you’re not pissing off your advisor and kinda being like an assistant prof to undergrad students that just need to pass the class for credit? I luckily found a place that’s only $930ish for rent per month but I feel like it will be to”

“Hello all. I’m Biomed Engineering PhD student going into my 5th year and I’m in the process of transitioning out of my current lab (see my post history) and wanted to get some advice. I’ve been preparing a slide deck for these meetings, just highlighting my skills and previous projects. My question is, is that too much when meeting with potential PIs? I have a meeting in a couple of days with a PI and I don’t want to mess up chances. Any advice would be helpful. Thank you. submitted by &#3”

“Hi all, I just finished my dissertation last week and I felt so disappointed. I just want to vent here about my time doing this Ph.D. I respect my PI but my Ph.D is a crappy and meaningless degree. Only one first author paper and equal contribution with my other 2 colleagues. We spent 4 years and a half to generate some BS data and put all of them together to get a paper. I wasted my first and second year on a project to be on hold, and it repeated all over again. We initiate something, do it fo”

“Hi all, I little while back I applied for and accepted a PhD position. I was initially very happy. It’s a fairly prestigious area (Aerospace in UK) - it’s exciting to be apart of something that’s the future in this way. I find the field really interesting and I love the idea of the up-skilling in areas like C++, HPC, ML etc. however, I’ve been focusing on my MSc dissertation for the last few months and it’s becoming more and more miserable. I have been loosely doing the same thing for 2-3 months”

“In less than one month, I will start my PhD in bioinformatics. I have recently graduated with my Master's, so I want to be as ready as possible to avoid any "shock". I am looking for the best advice you would give your first-year PhD selves, either something material or an attitude that can make a difference in living a PhD and not being subject to it. I have a tendency to go on autopilot and hyperfocus (once to the point of burnout), so anything that helped you maintain that work-”

“Hi all, interested in your perspectives on PhD mindset. I'm in the UK and should be finishing my PhD in 1-2 months (after 4 years total). It's in theoretical physics, in a field that I thought would be helpful towards combating climate change, but I am now disillusioned about. Since literally age 1, I have been madly passionate about nature and the environment. I have encyclopaedic knowledge of facts about species and ecosystems, I just am absolutely in love with the natural world and wa”

“I'm a fully funded PhD student on a scholarship at a RG University in UK without giving too much details but I wanted to know what the financial scope is for someone in a similar position to me after PhD? I see people pivoting into non-related roles all the time, and I don't really want to be one of those people as I already had to work a lot of random/ unrelated jobs to save up money for my master's degree and always saw it as a temporary stepping stone to get to where I want. That”

“Hey everyone, I hope this doesn't come across as venting, but honestly, it partly is. And I have a feeling I am not alone in this. I am a fresh PhD graduate in Physics (graduated May 2026) currently in the middle of what feels like the loneliest job search of my life. I have applied broadly across academia and research, faculty positions, postdocs, research scientist roles. I have reached final stages at multiple institutions. I have had teaching demonstrations, multiple interview rounds, me”

“I am starting a PhD in politics in September and I am terriiiified!!! I am just finishing off my masters right now and so will be going directly into my PhD and I honestly have no idea how to prepare and things I can do to mentally get ready for it (I have like 2 weeks between finishing my masters and starting my PhD). I’ve been at this uni since my undergrad since 2021 and have the same supervisor (+ new ones for the PhD but the primary supervisor is the same) but I am still so nervous because”

“Hello everyone! I have my first PhD interview coming up. Super nervous because this will be my first interview and I'd appreciate your experiences on how to navigate the conversation. This supervisor was the only one who responded for a call/meeting and I want to give my best and also this is at a top institute for my niche. Thank you in advance! 🤞🏻 PS: I'm from India and this is a German institute. submitted by /u/Familiar-Fox-7174 [link] [comments]”

“Hello everyone, I'm applying for a PhD program (supervisor-driven program) for the upcoming Winter intake. I'd love to get some realistic perspectives on my current situation from current PhD students or past applicants. I contacted a prospective PI regarding admission for next January and had my initial interview, which I feel went well. During the interview, the PI mentioned that my research background is very relevant to their ongoing projects and promised that once I submit an offici”