On the miseries of a graduate student

Human beings know a lot of things, some of which are true, and apply them. When we like the results, we call it wisdom. - Herbert Simon

One thing I know and that is that I know nothing. - Socrates

How the hell can a mathematical curve have a temperature? - Anonymous graduate student


It has been a daunting couple of months. Let me tell you why.

You know, when you make ridiculously big promises like coming up with novel and groundbreaking solutions to a tedious problem facing the human knowledge, in a given period of time, you better brace yourself for big disappointments. As time goes by, and that problem remains unsolved, you will have to sit and watch as your self-confidence, along with any shred of hope to a successful career and the happy life that comes with it flies out of the window.
(Somebody close that friggin’ window…)

Here is how the story goes: After a long struggle with yourself to decide whether you should do it or not, you start in a nice little PhD program, with a big grin on your face and a lot of air in your head.

You think the world’s long wait for a real genius to come along again is finally over and nothing will stop you now from becoming your university’s (if not the world’s) most accomplished scholar. You laugh at the older graduate students when they complain about their research and challenge your supervisor to give you any impossibly hard subject that they can think of for your thesis. You are a knight in your shining armor of blessed ignorance, just arriving at the town gates to kill the dragon. You are different from all the other stupid knight-wanna-be’s who came before you and turned to ash at the breath of the evil dragon, right? ..….Wrong!

I don’t want to scare anyone away. Just a look back at what happened to me and many other poor souls that I know. Just a warning, if you decide to go in this way, please, do yourself a favor and start small. Test the waters with your toe before you cannonball into the pool of unsolved mysteries of research problems. Like it or not, you are expected to do some extraordinary, state-of-the-art, never-before-seen discoveries. You may get lucky and pass through the committees and graduate without any of that, but if you want to ever use your degree, you better stand out. So little job options, and so many PhDs, chances are, you might have to end up either sitting home watching TV, or resign yourself to a job that only needs a 3-year college training and never mention that you have a doctorate in job interviews for the fear of being “over-qualified” for the job.

Whatever your area is, take a very basic and trivial problem, no matter how childishly simple it looks at first, and tackle that. If you managed to learn the background and reach an answer in a short period of time, and actually enjoyed doing it, take another baby step forward and add a little spice to the challenges you take in the subject. Repeat this process a few times. After a while, you will have a clear understanding of your likes and dislikes, your abilities, and as a bonus, you now have a nice little jar full of goodies: Some actual results! Something most of us don’t have (not even small ones), even after a couple of years, something you may even get a paper or two out of it. (We all know “publication” is the sacred word that we all fantasize about in our little labs and offices).

I was going to tell you why I'm having a bad couple of months. Can't you guess by now?

I'm stuck in my research!!!

Sorry for the screaming. I guess I sound a little bitter and pessimistic. I promise next time I post, I will write more about the joys of being a graduate student (being able to spend hours on your computer, doing nothing but to write a weblog, without having a boss to crack a whip over you all the time, is one of them).

Bless you