Life of a PhD student!

[Sharjeel]

lol...Welcome to the club!

You might want to contact an MBBS student, and you trwo can cry with each other. Have a lot of will-be doctor friends who share your experience.

Me be an Engineer, complete bindasss!

I am both an engineer as well as a masochist! I did my bachelors in mechanical engineering and now PhD in the same, with some bio stuff sprinkled here and there.... You know what the sad part is, after I am done with my PhD, people will not address me as Dr Aishwarya, baaah . It will just be Ms. Aishwarya Ph.D!!!

Ughhhh... Anyway, Do not be a masochist, sadism is better for health.



We at FH will calll you by any name you want.

[Vijay]

Hey Ash!



Happy to hear from you! Interestingly the situation you are in now, I already passed it in my Masters. Due to extreme cold climate in Sweden I never got out of my room and I never opened my window since Iam allergic to cold.I would submit all the assignments online and get the result online itself. I bought a very old second hand computer which was reasonably Okkkkk! with a 17 inch monitor, but the monitor spoiled after a few months, still continued with that itself instead of replacing it.



I always used to be on my system and browse different concepts relating to my Masters "Software Engineering" and update myself with the hot research topics. I was too addicted to my system as there was too little social life for me due to the extreme cold and very few friends due to language problem Swedish! Believe me my table with computer was full of books, papers, etc etc.



I was too sickkkkkkkkkkkk of all this. And at the same time I wasn't getting much practical experience as well. My professors were shit too! So I left it out. Coming to the Swedish girls they were too hot to handle. Just kidding! They are very beautiful. I saw a wonderful charm on their face. But the language problem, cold and my financial status to enjoy kept me away.... That was my life. Now Iam trying to come of that life.



Anyways enjoy urself and have a nice weekend. Bye, Bye...........



@Vijay!

[HH]

... Engineer *****, complete bindasss!

... I did my bachelors in mechanical engineering and now PhD... after I am done with my PhD, people will not address me as Dr ***** Aishwarya... It will just be Ms.***** Aishwarya Ph.D!!!

...

Why "Dr" ?!? ... ***** ... Better To Call Yourself "Er" ... For Engineer! ... Unless, You Enjoy People Flocking To The "Doctor" ( You) For Treatment Of Their Health Problems!

[Reality]

I guess the reason your room doesnt have windows is coz you are using linux.

Kidding apart, I understand the life of a Phd student. and the only thing that can alleviate it is social company. You need to make more friends. And atleast you got great weather in houston. and since you started writing I suggest you start a blog and vent on it. I think it helps.

[Aishwarya]

That was a good one, reality... I dont have time nor the inclination to go out and soclializae coz when I do that, I feel even more miserable...



Sad sad life, is'nt it!!

[CtrlAltDel]

get a boyfriend for yrself aish...

[HH]

... boyfriend *****...

***** Canvassing For C-A-D Jr, Sir, I Presume ...

[Reality]

That was a good one, reality... I dont have time nor the inclination to go out and soclializae coz when I do that, I feel even more miserable...

Sad sad life, is'nt it!!

I agree . But its a vicious cycle too. The less effort you make to make life better the sadder it gets.



I was low for the past couple of days, ( I frankly dont know why I keep getting that way at times ) dint even go out of the house. And my moody blues were actually feeding off on themshelves and where about to become a depression of sorts when two phone calls threw me the lifeline, and I jumped at the chance and hung on tight.

The first was from a friend inquiring if I was interested in a game of raquetball. And after an hour of raquetball and two sprained ankles I walked back home and got freshened up and ate something. when I got the second call for an other dear friend who wanted to know if I would like to eat some idli sambar with a bunch of people. Even though I wasnt hungry I went and joined them and after 3 hrs of talking about everything on the planet, my depression is gone and no sign of the blues. Poyyindey, chalegayacho, poyapochey, gayab.



The moral of the story ..... Get a phone and call people over for idli sambar.

[Aishu]

The moral of the story ..... Get a phone and call people over for idli sambar.

Yeah I suppose that should work. But I have this pathological inability to have fun... Besides I would like people to think I am a geek and am busy rather than that I am a bore. I forgot all tricks of socializing... And I am very consious of it



Anyways.. tell me this guys... how come I dont find a single person who feels just the way I do... I mean .. people who do their PhDs dont browse this discussion forum or what.. Or is it the converse?

[pingu]

im going to be doing a phd ... going in august (if i get a visa)

jeez aishwarya ... your scaring me ... what if all the chicks i (plan to) meet are like you ...



but seriously , im pretty apprehensive about the whole not-knowing-when-ill finish thingy ... long hours ... sihtty workload etc etc

only thing that seems good right now is the school im going to (ZOOmass)

and that the profs seem like nice guys ....

[Aishwarya]

im going to be doing a phd ... going in august (if i get a visa)
jeez aishwarya ... your scaring me ... what if all the chicks i (plan to) meet are like you ...

but seriously , im pretty apprehensive about the whole not-knowing-when-ill finish thingy ... long hours ... sihtty workload etc etc
only thing that seems good right now is the school im going to (ZOOmass)
and that the profs seem like nice guys ....

See, first one-two years, you will be all enthu... Your advisor will give you jobs like making copies of questions papers, he will make you grade HW assignments, which you will do Oh so willingly!



After two years, you will realise that your topic of research hasnt been decided yet. Your advisor will ask you to think of a few, he will ofcourse reject whatever you propose and finally he will give you a subject that could get him a lot of funding (IN FUTURE!). So you are left at his mercy, doing research on something you totally hate...



Two more years pass by, by that time, your fellow undergrad friends, who chose to work instead, wouldve got marreid and are getting paid big time, while you are still living in a single bedroom apt with three other students, driving a fourth hand car which no one will buy, except for the junk yard... Oh, at this point you would be the one of the senior students in your lab... and yeah, you actually have a say there... Your experiment is finally set-up and you are ready to start your validations!



After couple of years, the time has come to take your qualifier! You see the profs machinating against you. That prof you made fun of, you called him baldie ( is that right? how original), well he heard you then... And he is going to give it all back to you. And the other guy, you slept in his class the whole time.. you actually thought he couldnt see.. well boy are you wrong!!! And ofcourse your advisor, he has been waiting for this day.... The day he proclaims his right over you for the rest of your life... Yes you will pass the qualifier and you are damned to live in that hell forever!!!



Three years later, if you are still alive, you realise that due to some typo in the paper you were refering to for your research, you will have to redo your entire research again. You then completely surrender to this grad life... You live on free food, you are a permanent fixture in the university... And you are writing in some random discussion forum advising wannabe PhD students about "Life of a PhD student", instead of working on paper that is due in one hour!



So... Life is tough and then you graduate (this particular quote is by Jorje Cham)!

[Reality]

im going to be doing a phd ... going in august (if i get a visa)
jeez aishwarya ... your scaring me ... what if all the chicks i (plan to) meet are like you ...

but seriously , im pretty apprehensive about the whole not-knowing-when-ill finish thingy ... long hours ... sihtty workload etc etc
only thing that seems good right now is the school im going to (ZOOmass)
and that the profs seem like nice guys ....

See, first one-two years[b], you will be all enthu... Your advisor will give you jobs like making copies of questions papers, he will make you grade HW assignments, which you will do Oh so willingly!

After two years, you will realise that your topic of research hasnt been decided yet. Your advisor will ask you to think of a few, he will ofcourse reject whatever you propose and finally he will give you a subject that could get him a lot of funding (IN FUTURE!). So you are left at his mercy, doing research on something you totally hate...

[b]Two more years pass by, by that time, your fellow undergrad friends, who chose to work instead, wouldve got marreid and are getting paid big time, while you are still living in a single bedroom apt with three other students, driving a fourth hand car which no one will buy, except for the junk yard... Oh, at this point you would be the one of the senior students in your lab... and yeah, you actually have a say there... Your experiment is finally set-up and you are ready to start your validations!

After couple of years, the time has come to take your qualifier! You see the profs machinating against you. That prof you made fun of, you called him baldie ( is that right? how original), well he heard you then... And he is going to give it all back to you. And the other guy, you slept in his class the whole time.. you actually thought he couldnt see.. well boy are you wrong!!! And ofcourse your advisor, he has been waiting for this day.... The day he proclaims his right over you for the rest of your life... Yes you will pass the qualifier and you are damned to live in that hell forever!!!

Three years later, if you are still alive, you realise that due to some typo in the paper you were refering to for your research, you will have to redo your entire research again. You then completely surrender to this grad life... You live on free food, you are a permanent fixture in the university... And you are writing in some random discussion forum advising wannabe PhD students about "Life of a PhD student", instead of working on paper that is due in one hour!

So... Life is tough and then you graduate (this particular quote is by Jorje Cham)!

Does that mean that you actually do your phd for like,, lets see 2 + 2 + 3 ,, thats seven years or does the time run corruntenly on all the paragraphs you used a time refference?



Anyway ,, I agree with you in some aspects .. i have a friend in phd who was saying the exact same things about the research topic as you where " 2 yrs done still havent pickec my topic yet". So i guess life definetely is tough ,, and you finally lose all enthu by the time you graduate, ultimately ending up with no life after , and through the whole process.

[Aishwarya]

I guess I will retire after I am done with my PhD!!!

[Aishwarya]

Anyway ,, I agree with you in some aspects .. i have a friend in phd who was saying the exact same things about the research topic as you where " 2 yrs done still havent pickec my topic yet". So i guess life definetely is tough ,, and you finally lose all enthu by the time you graduate, ultimately ending up with no life after , and through the whole process.

Boy are you optimistic or what!!!! Didnt i mention eternity before? 9 years are hardly anything, very small compared to the actual time scales you are looking at. Anyways, one thing I forgot to mention about a grad student (pursuing PhD, ofcoursE) is that he is very religious. He/She has has to believe in God... Just like the merchant class. Did you know that amongst bhrahmins, shudhras, kshatriyas and vysyas, Vysyas are the most religious of the lot?! Everyone else gets a gradual steady income, these guys have to be in good books of God for anything to happen, or so they think.. (Totally tangential!!)



That way....

[Mayavi Morpheus]

From my observation, Porn helps you a lot in getting through your Ph.D.

This applies for both married and unmarried Ph.D students.

[Aishwarya]

From my observation, Porn helps you a lot in getting through your Ph.D.
This applies for both married and unmarried Ph.D students.

Yeah right!!!



I have never tried that and I guess never will.. Some how that idea never appealed to me...

[Reality]

sure porn helps you you a lot in getting through life ,, why just the phd???

[Reality]

Boy are you optimistic or what!!!! Didnt i mention eternity before? 9 years are hardly anything, very small compared to the actual time scales you are looking at. Anyways, one thing I forgot to mention about a grad student (pursuing PhD, ofcoursE) is that he is very religious. He/She has has to believe in God...

That way....

I dont have to look far to see some one doing their phd in my family , my brother and all my first cousins (on my father's side ) went through that recently. So I there is reason to be optimistic, after they were done with their phd they got into jobs that they absolutely love. and they do pay well. so there you go. There is light at the end of the tunnel. .just keep trudging along .( Btw, They took around 5 yrs for their phds &; they were least religious . and cant say anything about the porn though..

So long....

[Mayavi Morpheus]

Trust me on this. Our lab associate, a 50 yr old taiwanese gentleman, has a collection of 500 porn titles of all race, religion, ethnicity and countries. In his years at LSU, he has seen plenty of Ph.D students (including my professor) and loaned them some titles whenver they hit a slump. Based on his experience, productivity of the grad student on the days immediately following watching porn is low but in the longterm it rejuvinated them.



But there is a downside to loaning movies from research associate in the lab. I know that the chinese guy in my group (whose wife was carrying) has a liking for outdoor sex and that my prof. likes total hardcore.

So either download it or rent it from Blockbuster.

[Aishwarya]

sure porn helps you you a lot in getting through life ,, why just the phd???

WHOA... You have opened a can worms here..I am sure everyone will agree with what you have to say. Instant gratifications help relieve stress. But for people like me, and I guess thats the case with most of the women around... we are not into such things. By that I mean, I am not looking for instant gratifications.. because that is so momentary and only acts as a major distraction....

[Reality]

sure porn helps you you a lot in getting through life ,, why just the phd???

WHOA... You have opened a can worms here..I am sure everyone will agree with what you have to say. Instant gratifications help relieve stress. But for people like me, and I guess thats the case with most of the women around... we are not into such things. By that I mean, I am not looking for instant gratifications.. because that is so momentary and only acts as a major distraction....

Be realistic ,, Life is a sum of instant gratifications. There isnt some great wonderful ending waiting to happen at the end.



Ever heard this ,

Life is a series of disappointments with the biggest one at the end.

[Aishwarya]

Can someone suggest less voyeuristic things... I have actually started going to gym... I absolutely hate it.... Now, I have another reason to while away my time: Body Aches.



I know couple of profs in my college who go to strip clubs.. I felt a little scandalized then, but I guess it is okay...They take guest speakers to these strip clubs as well... I am curious about where they take female profs to?



I like gossping about my profs.. I guess everyone does... Hey, now I know what would make me feel really good... Bitching about my profs.. I will do so in my next post

[Maid'en'India]

Hi Aishwarya,



I was going through some of your posts and just thought I'd pen my thoughts....I haven't done my PhD nor do I plan to do one...I'm surrounded by PhDs though and I can't say whether I enjoy their company.



Years and years of academic research dents their interactive skills. Maybe it depends from person to person but so many of them have no sense of humour and go through the motions with an attitude that is depressingly contagious.



I don't see any value add in their people-skills, team building skills or even their communication skills all of which have their own importance at the workplace.



I have nothing against you but somehow I have begun to associate PhDs with boring people who need to loosen up.



Maybe I'll have a different opinion as time goes by but at this point, I wouldn't want to touch a PhD with a barge pole.



PS I read somewhere that you were looking to do things that would help you get some reprive....try going for a brisk 1/2 hour walk (every morning if possible). It keeps you in shape, you feel great and you can carry off that pair of trousers/skirt with elan.

[Reality]

Hi Aishwarya,

I was going through some of your posts and just thought I'd pen my thoughts....I haven't done my PhD nor do I plan to do one...I'm surrounded by PhDs though and I can't say whether I enjoy their company.

Years and years of academic research dents their interactive skills. Maybe it depends from person to person but so many of them have no sense of humour and go through the motions with an attitude that is depressingly contagious.

I don't see any value add in their people-skills, team building skills or even their communication skills all of which have their own importance at the workplace.

I have nothing against you but somehow I have begun to associate PhDs with boring people who need to loosen up.

Maybe I'll have a different opinion as time goes by but at this point, I wouldn't want to touch a PhD with a barge pole.

PS I read somewhere that you were looking to do things that would help you get some reprive....try going for a brisk 1/2 hour walk (every morning if possible). It keeps you in shape, you feel great and you can carry off that pair of trousers/skirt with elan.

Well I dont know what kinda of phds you met ,, but even I know people doing their phds and people who have done their phd. I never found anyone boring. They are extremely knowledgable people and make great conversationalists. But there is one difference , all the people i know have done their Phd in the US. Maybe thats the difference.
But well if you are looking for people to talk about stupid movies ,, then they might lack those skills.

[Aishwarya]

[But well if you are looking for people to talk about stupid movies ,, then they might lack those skills.[/b]

Hey I can talk about stupid movies!