A PhD is a long journey full of ups and downs. Sounds cliché (big warning, this blog will be full of them), but in my opinion, it is the ultimate example of the expression “it’s not a sprint, it's a marathon.” As a fifth year and, hopefully, finishing my grad school journey during this school year, I tend to talk with a lot of younger students who are just starting or are in the middle of their PhD about the entire experience. In these conversations, I reflect on some of the expectations I had, or the good and bad things I’ve faced. As I look back at this process, I had one big realization I want to share with you guys through this blog. I concluded that a “PhD can be summarized in the fact that every school year has one clear goal.” It’s a very simple and very loose way to describe it, and yes, I’m skipping a lot of the small details that happen throughout the process, but if we step back and look at the big picture, I think you’ll get what I mean. For the rest of this blog, I'll go through each of the five years (or so) that it takes to complete a PhD and explain what I think is the objective of every year. My goal is to help those students that are currently anxious about the future years, those who are a bit lost and lack the motivation of what to do next, and/or those students who are looking for a broad idea of what the PhD journey is by answering some of their questions or helping them focus on what they should be focusing right now, and even planning for the future. With that long-winded intro, let’s go to year one.
Big clarification, I’m a Chemistry PhD student, so my journey and the way each year works is based on that premise and can be easily applied to most of the STEM PhDs. For other areas, the process might be quite different, but I hope this at least can give some idea of how this works for those in other areas.
Year one
Goal: Join a lab/research group and start researching
The first year can be split into two parts. Part one, join a lab:
A lot of programs are based on a cohort admission system. Which means that at admission, you join the department and not a specific group or principal investigator (PI). Then you go through a series of rotations (throughout the first semester) where you do some research in a group for a couple of weeks to get a better idea of the research that’s done in that lab, as well as the group dynamics, and get to know your potential PI and lab mates. You normally go through three rotations, and at the end of the “trial period”, you submit your ranked choices of which lab you would like to join most. This is one (if not the most) important decision of the entire PhD, and that’s why it is key to focus exclusively on this decision before even thinking about the future. A lot of students start worrying about the qualifying exams or future departmental seminars and other things that, yes, are very important and eventually a wall to climb, but before joining a lab, you don’t even know what research you’ll be doing, and even less what you will be examined on. Therefore, during the first semester, your focus (without forgetting about classes and TA) should be on making the most out of your rotations. Ask all the questions you have about the research that’s been done in the lab, as well as the culture of the lab.
When evaluating the labs, it is important to realize that there is no perfect lab; there will be good things and bad things about every lab, just like there are with every person and every relationship, but knowing all those things can help you choose the lab where you will be most successful. This is where things can be quite tricky. What can we define as being successful? Is it a matter of academic output? Or is it a matter of the most enjoyable possible experience regardless of the results? There is not a clear answer to this matter since it’s a personal thing. What do you value most, or what are your goals during the PhD and after completing it? In my opinion, there should be a balance of both achievements and quality of experience. A PhD takes an average of 4-6 years, which is a long time to be miserable and barely making it just for the promise of results or recognition that you might not get. Sadly, science is not just a matter of effort; luck plays a huge role in whether things work out or not. Theory might be perfect, and everything points to success, but things end up not working in practice because of unknown factors. Therefore, basing your choice just on how many publications a lab has or how big the name of the PI is might not be the best measure of how good a lab is. For me, a lab or research group that will give me the best chances to be successful is one that has a great group dynamic and is very supportive and can help me out during the bad days, celebrate the good days, and help me when in distress. But at the same time, it has a good sense of direction and aims to achieve results, but without making it a burden. It is important to notice that there is a minimum of three rotations, but there is no maximum. The biggest constraint is time since rotations take three weeks. I recommend that if, during a rotation, you realize you are sure you don’t wish to join a group, end that rotation and try to start a new one; this will become very important later.
After each rotation, you normally submit a document containing a short summary of what you did and your impressions of the research and group. This is a great opportunity to promote yourself to a group you wish to join. A lot of people just make a summary of the work done, and that’s it. This document can be read by the PI of the group, and people don’t take advantage of this fact. Here, feel free to write what you like about the group and the research, and why you would be a great fit for this group. Once all the rotations are over, you’ll submit a document where you rank the groups in order of interest (most at the top and least at the end). Your department will try to match everyone with their top choice. However, there can be a lot of overlaps or too much demand for a specific lab and not enough spots available, and as such, some people will be assigned to their second or third choice (though it is pretty rare). Therefore, do not write any lab you wouldn’t want to join. As previously mentioned, you can do more than three rotations and therefore make sure all labs you write in your list are labs you would be happy to join.
Once you join a lab, the first and most important goal of the year is complete. Now we start the second half of this year. Part two, start researching:
During this semester, besides classes and TA, you’ll spend most of the time learning the basics of the research you’ll be doing. That means getting trained in certain equipment and learning the techniques you’ll be using and, of course, reading a lot of literature in the area you’ll be focusing on. In most cases, you’ll have a student mentor(s) (senior PhD student or postdoc) who will guide you through this process. It’s a slow process, and for some people, it might feel like it takes too long or it’s going too slow, but it is a process we all must go through. Even if you’re experienced in the field, the way work is done in one place will be different from the way it is done in another place. All of this will be dependent on group dynamics and resources.
There is one big deadline during this semester (at least in Chemistry, probably similar in other STEM areas), and that is your first time presenting in the student seminar. Every semester, students of a specific year do a 15–20-minute presentation of their research project in front of the entire department (CHEM-600) and get questions from the audience after their presentations. At the end, the presenters get feedback from the professor in charge of the seminar and written feedback from the other students present. This seminar is also a big reason why first years get really stressed during this semester and feel pressured to have an impossible number of results and publications after just joining a lab. Your first presentation is basically focused on explaining to the audience broadly about what the area you’ll be working on is, what your project will be about, and what the scientific gap you’re trying to tackle is, with a plan for how to do it. Basically, your presentation will be based on scientific background, state of the art, goals and objectives, a plan of action, and maybe a few preliminary data. I know it will be impossible not to be stressed about it, but remember it's your first presentation, and improving your presentation skills is also part of doing a PhD, as it is a process that takes time and practice. Also, like I said previously, you just joined a research group and started to learn how to work in that specific area; it is impossible for you to have as many results as a second or third year.
After finishing that presentation, the rest of the semester will just flow normally, just like how it started, bringing an end to your first year.
In the next chapter of this series, I will cover both the summer and the second year, so please stay tuned for the next delivery of this series, and I hope this was useful for you.
About the author:
Manuel Carmona Pichardo is from Pachuca Hidalgo, Mexico and is a current Ph.D. student in Chemistry. He got his B.S. in Chemistry at Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo in 2016 and his MSc in Chemistry from Cologne University in Cologne Germany. Read more.
Further Reading:
Advice from a 6th-Year Ph.D. Student
The Elusive Baker Hall: What is Rice’s Premier Policy Institute & Think Tank?
ACASA 2024: Presenting at My First Conference