Panicking PhD Student

Anonymous postgrad(s) doing a panic PhD in the UK. Tweets about the realities of PhD life 🎓. -SS for social scientist, -MM for mathematician.

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Does anyone else start looking at ‘real world’ job listings when your research hits a brick wall and you can’t seem to unpick the problem?

-MM #phdchat #research

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

The brain-fog of returning to your research post winter break is real. What was I doing again?

-MM #phdchat

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Mondays are for breaking your code beyond what seems reasonable, the rest of the week is for trying fix it. Friday is for bashing out the new solutions you were trying to get on Monday.

-MM

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

I relate to this so much - but only feel the guts to share it on an anonymous account. Is it normal to start a PhD with so much optimism, yet 1 year in feel so utterly defeated? - SS

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

One of the hardest parts of a PhD is making decisions - I surely can't be trusted with this responsibility 😅- SS #PhD #AcademicTwitter

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

One thing I wasn't prepared for post-Covid was having to do academia with social anxiety. Having to network/interact with people is EXHAUSTING. - SS

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

I'm on annual leave next week because I'm stubbornly going to make sure I use it up - but also am finding myself nervously wondering if I'll regret it because I have so much work to do 😅 - SS

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Is the exhaustion a vaccine side effect or a PhD side effect? Nobody knows, except I was definitely falling asleep at my desk in the office today... -SS

(The celebration about being fully jabbed will take place when I wake up! 😁)

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Another Dear Evan Hansen alternative:

"I don't know if you can tell,
But this is me just pretending to know"

#phdlife (literally my every meeting! -MM)

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

"I'm not falling behind or running late,
I'm not standing still, I am lying in wait" -
Finding reasons for my lack of PhD progress in Hamilton lyrics - SS
#phdlife

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Alternatively, a bit of Dear Evan Hansen is useful -
"Does anybody have a map? Anybody maybe happen to know how the hell to do this?" -SS

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Waiting for the paperwork, but I passed transfer! -MM

#phdlife

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Back working after a week of leave means spending the morning reading emails and trying remember how to actually do work - SS

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Additional panic gained when one of us got trapped in the gates entering the train station...

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Today the admins will be in the same room for the first time in 18 months to panic about PhDs together - its very exciting!

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

One of the hardest parts of a PhD is making decisions - have I read everything? Is there a better option? Do I actually understand what's going on? I have no idea, but can't afford to wait to find out and it is terrifying. - SS

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Would just appreciate realistic timelines from them to start with. -MM

#phdlife

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Not the one: your supervisor promising comments on a paper draft 'tomorrow or the day after' and finally returning them after 8 days. -MM

#phdlife

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Is it correct that "because my supervisor said so" is not a suitable justification for doing a method in a PhD? Asking for a friend - SS

[Panicking PhD Student @Panic_PhD]

Me reading a paper for the 17th time:

ok, but did they….? No.

Oh I see, they did…? Does maths even work like this? -MM

#phdchat #phdlife