PhD Students Lose the Will to Keep Researching
28 posts across 6 communities in the last 60 days; 64% from r/PhD.
“I am starting my second year, and I am starting to struggle a bit with my PhD, I managed to submit a proof of concept to a conference in which I went, but I have some recurring sensations: - In conferences or whatever meeting, I feel like I cannot pay attention, and not only it…”
“I’ve recently started my third year as a PhD student in a pretty well known lab and I have almost no data to show for it. I work hard, I am there before anyone else and am usually the last one to leave but I feel like none of the experiments I have been doing have been working…”
“Hello! I've just started my 2nd year of PhD (studying statistics) and I am really struggling to do my job, start working. Maybe, just maybe, I can find someone who is or has been in a similar boat! I'll start with saying that i have the best supervisors and the best group I work…”
Many PhD students are experiencing significant challenges, including health problems impacting their ability to complete work, concerns about the quality of their research, and questioning the value of their chosen field. The pressure and demands of doctoral studies appear to be taking a toll on well-being and productivity.
SOURCES (45)
“Everyone please keep me in your prayers. I am a PhD student who is not comfortable with some of the practices in the lab which are ruining my mental peace and am planning to take advice on my next steps. Feeling very scared!! submitted by…”
“Honestly it is the worst time in human history to do a PhD and I say this with full sincerity . And of course you will get people in the comments saying how it doesn't matter as long as you are singularity focused on pursuing your passion. That passion is not going to get you anywhere afterwards. You will literally be back at where you started as a Bachelor's graduate the moment you get your PhD and confront the reality that is the job market, either in industry or academia. You will be”
“Hey guys, greetings of the day. I am currently in my final year of PhD and my motivation is at it lowest. I have data, but I dont want to write a manuscript. The realization that academic research is filled with fake data and networking rather than hard work and capabilities is rather discouraging. I would really like to move to the industry but m getting overwhelmed by the pile of things I have to learn before attempting an interview. I am working in electronics and semiconductor domain. I am t”
“I'm eight months into my PhD in AI (computer vision) and struggling to get good experimental results for my first paper. I know research takes time and failure is part of the process, but my supervisor keeps comparing me to labmates who started after me and have already published. submitted by /u/SilverMine8642 [link] [comments]”
“I am starting my second year, and I am starting to struggle a bit with my PhD, I managed to submit a proof of concept to a conference in which I went, but I have some recurring sensations: - In conferences or whatever meeting, I feel like I cannot pay attention, and not only it is a matter of attention but I feel like I cannot really follow, at some point I lose the point. I cannot participate in an active way, empty mind. - I supervised two students, and I had struggles finding the next steps,”
“Hello everyone, I recently started my PhD degree. In the university I am in, each professor propose several projects, then we are given the chance to choose most relevant project to our expertise and interest. After reviewing the projects related to my field, the novelty in all of them seems limited, with only geographic research gaps. In contrast, all data are openly available, (but needs significant time to collect) with well-defined methodologies implemented in the literature. As the professo”
“In my country we can do PhD in STEM without getting paid for it and actually that's the case most of the time. I'm 6 months in my PhD and I love doing science, the only reason why I'm doing it is just my passion. But I'm literally unemployed, it's so HARD to get a job with my degree here. All I get is a very very little pay just to cover my rent. It has been 6 months and I feel so little and so exhausted because of this submitted by /u/Ok_Job4856 [link] [com”
“I’ve recently started my third year as a PhD student in a pretty well known lab and I have almost no data to show for it. I work hard, I am there before anyone else and am usually the last one to leave but I feel like none of the experiments I have been doing have been working. I follow other people around to shadow, try to do the methods in a similar way (because none of the projects are exactly like mine) and nothing seems to help. I’ve tried taking a break to reset myself and coming back, as”
“Hello everyone, I am a third-year PhD student in Germany. My field is STEM. I had several publications before starting my PhD and only one during my time here so far. I have several ongoing projects right now, but the main one is stalled. The political situation in my country is very complicated, so I am glad that I have this opportunity here in Germany. Because of this, I am learning the language (quite successfully) and trying my best to integrate into society. I visited my family in my home c”
“(throwaway account) In my STEM theoretical/computational field, many problems that would previously have constituted a large part of a very decent PhD can now be solved within a week. Basically, almost all the theoretical/computational PhD theses I am on the commitee recently are like that, they were done in 4 years but now could be done in half a year or less. This semester, I was to teach some very small elective grad course no one cares about. I consider replacing most of it by just giving th”
“Hello, I am 23, Male, graduated with BS-MS from India and recently moved to germany for my phd. Although I have the motivation, I initiallz lack the effort needed to start something. I dont know whats causing this reduction in productivity, because as a Master's students, I used to do work more than an average PhD does in India, with an independent research project. Lot of my time goes in figuring out what to cook, clean, do the dishes, get ready etc. Yeah getting ready is also a pain the as”
“I'm asking the question in the title because I want to know if this is common throughout graduate programs in general, or if it's just my university that seems to defer research skill development. I recently started a chem PhD at a mid-tier university in the US. We don't sign with a research advisor until 3/4 of the way through our first semester. In the first three semesters we take classes. Going into the program, I thought that my classes would expose me to applications of the tit”
“Hello! I've just started my 2nd year of PhD (studying statistics) and I am really struggling to do my job, start working. Maybe, just maybe, I can find someone who is or has been in a similar boat! I'll start with saying that i have the best supervisors and the best group I work in. So I cannot blame anyone but myself. I used to be good at studying. Grades 1-12, excellent. Bachelor's degree, still good, grades dropped a bit. During studying, I always did everything in the last minute”
“Hi everyone! I just started my PhD in humanties social/sciences (interdisplianry but focusing on philosophy most) at the top school for my prorgam in the US. I am finding myself in a completley hopeless situation. I don't even know how I got in. I had good grades and steller recommendations from certain work expereinces and professors I worked with. But tbh I spent much of my life in survival and I was studying for good grades and not learning per se. And now I am finding myself at such a di”
“Hey, I(28F) am a second-year PhD student. I have made very little progress in terms of my PhD work. My supervisors and resource support are fine. At this point, the main problem is that I just cannot bring myself into work mode. I can do everything apart from my PhD work. A few reasons that I have identified could be the following, to give you some background: I am a severe procrastinator. For the last five to six months, I have literally done nothing. I always do the bare minimum just to look o”
“Hi there, I don’t know if I am writing this to be heard or to receive feedback, but I am a second year PhD student in the social sciences currently finishing up my masters…after will be qualifying exam prep. I am struggling heavily with everything. The constant expectations, the reading, the department atmosphere, getting along with my colleagues. Everything is a lot for me right now. Little things feel like monumental tasks. I don’t enjoy reading and actually am starting to dread it. My mental”
“This is a post about me. I'm struggling and failing to write my dissertation. That's not accurate--I'm struggling and failing to write my dissertation proposal. I passed my comps with flying colors. My methodologist said that she rarely gives students 4's on their rubric and that I had multiple. They praised my in-depth knowledge of the field and my strong understanding and application of theory. During my exam defense, all three professors were complimentary of my work and excit”
“So here's the timeline: I started over a year ago working on the project of a PhD student and we gathered the data then Last year in August something difficult happened and I struggled mentally for the second half of last year and first half on this year, only recently getting back in my feet Had to change my topic slightly as my contributions were no longer needed for the PhD project but I could still use the topic and data. I struggled with this a lot because it brings back memories of my”
“As far as I see, some programs admit a large number of students but fail to assign them advisors or deliberately fail them in their courses. Have you witnessed such situations? submitted by /u/Simple_Air_9520 [link] [comments]”
“Hi, so I started my PhD in UK in a mediocre university. My supervisor does check on me but doesn't give me that guidelines. I do everything. I'm have my assessment coming in November and I'm literally lost what to do. Most of the work is done..I don't understand experiments sometimes..I have no clue what I'm doing just reading and building stuff. There's little guide my gave me. What I'm doing wrong? I use AI to get know concepts and find paper. But I don't feel l”
“It's taken about 8 years for me to finish. My entire research group has published only 1 paper (a very small/insignificant one) during my time. It just seems like my PI doesn't have a clear direction with this project on top of us constantly running into issues, whereas other research groups are pumping a few papers a year on average. I've been given a project the last 1.5 years that I built up, in which I'm not going to even get first author in due to technical issues and gradua”
“I'm a 2nd year humanities PhD student in the UK. My field is struggling right now, its departments around the world are being routinely shut down, positions are becoming harder and harder to come by, so I understand that this environment would breed a healthy amount of competition amongst those hopeful for an academic career. Saying that, I feel like I haven't got a single friend within my field because of this. I've had a few minor successes so far (funding, publication, conferences”
“I’ve switched research directions three times during my PhD, and the beginning is always the hardest part. There are tons of papers and surveys, but as a beginner, you don’t even know what matters yet. What are the core problems? What is SOTA? What is outdated? What should you read first? It feels like a chicken-and-egg problem: You need to understand the field to know what to read, but you need to read to understand the field. How do you usually get up to speed in a completely new research area”
“Hello everyone! I’m a PhD student in math. My field is currently facing some major disruption and I’m hoping to get some help from people in other fields! Both humanities and STEM. Currently, math journals are being flooded by AI generated results and I don’t know how we should adapt. I know there have been a lot of issues with AI causing hallucinated references and such but this is quite different. Over the past couple of months AI has become very good at producing proofs for mathematical probl”
“Title. Maybe I'm super jaded, but I think I need to vent somewhere. Hopefully this resonates with people and deters others from making the same mistakes I've made. I'll share my experience of why I think a PhD is worthless and completely detrimental to both career and mental health. The PhD is a large undertaking where you learn a lot of good skills. Usually by yourself with no help. But these skills could be learned by actually working somewhere and making money at the same time. I”
“As some of us are beginning to embark on this journey in the fall, it would be nice to hear some positive stories about your experience getting a PhD. Obviously the process is not without its struggles but often times the negative stories out shadow the happy stories. So share your experience! submitted by /u/hubble3908 [link] [comments]”
“I am half way through a phd program (3.5-4 years) and really struggling with my topic, my supervisors, and the whole intellectual environment at my university. How did you refine your phd project in the absence of good guidance and experience on the specific, intimate knowledge of the geography/area being studied but also its history, politics and particularities? I am tempted to just run away and start somewhere else with people who actually know their shit but that would mean I start over beca”
“I'm a Mat Sci PhD candidate in the US and for my field that basically means that I should be living in the lab doing work. I want to be in the lab doing work. Especially during the summer since I teach full time (12 credit hours) during the school year. I know that I'm burnt out. I like the work, but I can't get the energy/ motivation to even get out of bed. At this point, the only thing that I have been able to get up for is if I have to meet someone for a meeting or appointment. I”
“I joined this sub recently and saw that most of the posts are about struggles of phd life, the survival, poverity, underpaid etc etc. I agreed with almost all of them and felt relevant. And, in last few hours, i saw some posts from sub "physics" where the high school students and first year undergrads are asking about physics concepts, who are trying to learn physics with so much passion, and are looking forward to make career in physics and be scientist. I was also one of them when i”
“I'm not even talking from a financial or job-seeking point of view, because a PhD is obviously a terrible choice in that regard (honestly, everything is nowadays). I mean the research itself, do you see any tangible achievement coming from it? Something that'll actually improve the world in a meaningful way, even if that happens way down the line. I feel like I'm chasing publications that will be read in its entirety by a couple dozen people at best. In most cases they will focus on”
“I completely understand that people do phd for various reasons. Some do it for passion, some do it cause they don't know what else to do, some do it to get an edge iver others in specific job markets, etc. Do you ever feel like you are in the middle of something and can't go back and the end is far away so you are just draggibg yourself through it? submitted by /u/Quordlewebster [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone, I’ve noticed a pattern in my PhD journey: when I read other people’s journal articles, my mind instantly fills with ideas—how the methodology could be improved, how the analysis could be structured differently, even how I’d design the whole study if it were mine. The ideas feel clear and “brilliant” in my head. But when I sit down to write my own dissertation, I struggle to get those ideas onto the page. It feels like there’s a gap between: • “I can see it clearly in my mind” and •”