I’m a grad student and I get so overwhelmed with classes and journal clubs especially when we have lots of papers to read, projects, assignments, etc that it’s taking away from my time in lab. It affects how many things I can do in lab and I end up taking a long time putting data together because I have to prioritize deadlines for class assignments. It also affects my personal life because I spend less time with friends, family, going to the gym, hobbies, etc.
Anyone have any advice to balance everything?
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I guess the only thing I can say is that we all go through this and that it won’t last forever?
Does your dept have a policy on using AI for notes and article/doc management? We’ve been condensing papers into AI generated podcasts to use for reviews and it’s made life easier for all the students.
Something I’ve learned about PhD programs that seems to happen to everyone is that, by design, you fall out of love with being a student. That doesn’t mean the PhD program is bad or isn’t doing its job. You’re supposed to fall out of love with being a student, at least in the sense you’re used to. Maybe you’ll fall in love with being an independent researcher; maybe you won’t. That’s for the future to decide. The “bad” students (who usually go on to earn more money than the “good” ones) get sick of taking courses but don’t latch on to anything else; the “good” ones get sick of taking courses because they’d rather put all that time into their research. Pretty much everyone gets sick of all the deadlines, not to mention the busywork because a lot of courses are poorly designed and this is even more true (for various reasons) at higher levels.
You’re in that awkward phase where you still have to take courses—the program probably mandates it, and you probably actually still need the courses to become a productive researcher—but you’ve also learned that the courses themselves aren’t what counts for your career: they don’t help you pump blood into that throbbing h-index that’s going to determine whether you graduate on good terms and are eligible for the best jobs. You’re in survival mode because grades and deadlines have that effect on everyone, but it’s blocking you from the progress you know you have to make, and for which there isn’t always a clear path.