I will begin my MS program soon, in a couple of days. I have known for a while now that I want to do a PhD. I’m looking for any experiences/help with navigating this, because most of my peers are looking for industry jobs right after their MS and I’m struggling to find a sounding board of sorts, as no one is my family has a graduate degree.
I have tried asking a couple of people on LinkedIn, some of whom have told me that I’m already late and that most PhD aspirants already start working with professors already and generally have a niche figured out already.
This scares me because I was of the opinion that I will develop my niche through my MS program and eventually write an MS thesis based on it, and then potentially apply to a PhD. I currently have a subject I’m interested in, but no real substantial work to support that interest, bar a few simple personal projects. I have a publication and a preprint from my undergrad days, but that was over 2 years ago and I’m not really interested in that field (is this normal? Because I was just helping the professor out with writing some code.)
I am interested in a lab at my current university, but I’m afraid of approaching them because I don’t really know what to show for them to even give me a chance of working with them informally. How should I reasonably demonstrate intent and competence? I’m so confused. Plus I also have social anxiety, so there’s that.
I was maybe looking for any MS to PhD transition stories/experiences and how certain were you on the stuff you wanted to work on? I would also gladly appreciate any advice anyone had with how I could navigate this journey.
Edit: I also wanted to ask how I should use my summers/internship breaks? People generally seem to intern at companies. Are there any research internships or something of that sort available? Do I just work at my university? I’d appreciate if anyone could point me to any resources.