kyussinchains wrote:
the guy I share my office with told me about his PhD where we work now, that he did it whilst working full time elsewhere, he had to drive 90 minutes each way at the weekends to use the labs at our place and he said he used to just cry the whole trip because he was so depressed, but I've heard it from a few people that you don't need smarts to get a PhD, just stubbornness.... the kind of person who can force themselves to sit and write for 12 hours a day about something they hate....
glad to hear your experience was more positive, maybe all these geologists I work with are painting things in a somewhat negative light.....
That is 100% correct. The most important part about doing a Ph.D. is being stubborn enough to see it through. Smart people dont get a Ph.D., they start up their own business and sell it to Apple or Microsift in 4 years and retire a millionaire at 27.
There are some pretty bad times and it can be very stressful. I had to carry my robot for 2 hours each way on a train for trials, had to sneak it through airports (pre-9/11!), worked until early morning getting papers written for deadlines, rewrote my thesis too many times, and spent many lonely weeks. My viva lasted 3 3/4 hours and was horrible.
But, there are good times too. Conferences are pretty cool. You have to be the kind of person who enjoys that life and I liked the self-education and learning, the development and of actually doing something new and interesting. I was lucky to be working in a lab that was almost too fun, which was great when I needed time off, not so great when I had a deadline.
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