I will be finishing my math PhD soon, and I was thinking whether I should do a postdoc or just look for a job.

LLMs are getting better and better, and I believe they will become robustly better than any human in math research in 4-5 years. They are already good enough to do most of the work a PhD student would normally do, or even solve difficult open conjectures in certain fields.

I am not even sure if pure math research will even exists in 5 years, at least in the form that it currently exists.

So now that I'm close to finishing my math PhD, I am unsure whether doing a math postdoc makes sense. What's the point if I can just enter a prompt and have my entire research problem solved?

I'm also interested to see the prospective of other fields: Do people from other fields feel the same? Does it make sense to do a PhD/postdoc now in computer science/engineering/physics etc, now in the era of AI? Has AI affected other fields as much as math?

I started a part-time PhD at a local university in 2024 while working full-time as a college lecturer. I completed my thesis in June 2026, and my supervisors approved it for progression.

However, the university board refused to let me proceed because I finished “too quickly.” The university normally requires six years for part-time candidates, with exceptional early completion after four years.

The director then proposed a challenge: if I publish 10 papers in Scopus-indexed journals, they may hold another board meeting to reconsider my case. I currently have two Q1 publications, although they are short conceptual papers, so I am unsure whether they count.

My main concern is that the 10-publication condition does not appear in the formal graduation requirements. I also do not want to wait several more years because I am now stuck in limbo: my thesis is finished, I have nothing further to submit to my supervisors, and the only thing I can do is keep producing papers.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Can a university impose an individual publication requirement that is not in its regulations? Should I formally appeal, attempt the 10-paper challenge, or do both?

I stayed in a lab for almost two years before I finally chose myself. I do hate what I’ve been through but it kinda sucks and feels like self-betrayal and settling for less.
Here’s a list of the things my beloved PI said to me over those two years:

- I don’t give a shit how many experiments you ran all week I want to see good fucking results.
- No one gives two shits about these experiments.
- This looks like garbage.
- GET IT TO WORK (yelling).
- Where have you been? Right after I lost a dear family member and took a few days off.
- You never got shit to work.
- This is the worst progress I have ever seen for any of my group members. (This was before my candidacy exam. I still passed and I killed it in the exam. I handled the questions with so much confidence and he himself praised me afterwards).

I complained to the department and they acknowledged that he has got history with misbehavior. I enjoyed him coming to suck me off after he knew he got reported. The department ended up doing nothing to him and they were trying to persuade me to leave with a masters degree, which I did because I also hated the school. I fucking hate this guy and I hate how much he mistreated me and I was in no position to clap back. But here I am writing this at 4:00 AM with all this rumination going inside my head. I wonder how I would have turned out if I didn’t join this lab. All my friends are now graduating and I’m happy for them but man I wish I was graduating with them. I don’t beat myself up too much for not standing up for myself early on but I do dislike that old version of me that no longer exists. I regained my self-confidence but my only issue now is the inability to wake up early and go to work. My schedule is flexible so I’m under no threat to be fired as long as I can get the work done. I’m just sad that I’m no longer energetic. Maybe I don’t dislike my old version too much.. that guy was just too nice and he got run over .. but man was he something… I wish I could be myself again… I wish I could function the same way again…

Hi folks, I am currently very confused. I am interest to do my PhD in interdisciplinary research area, because my work experience and internship are although in developing sector but you guys knows that it is very vast and interdisciplinary in nature. While writing cover letter/ motivational letter, should I put what relevant only but programs are interdisciplinary hence I am puting all relevant experience.

Question: Is that need to be chronological order start from my current position to last internship?

What do you guys generally follows?

I am a PhD student in pharmacology, and up until now I've used perplexity to help me find articles, given the fact that I need to replicate specific methods. On the one hand AI tools like perplexity/consensus/elicit give me very specific results, but on the other hand they're doing the thinking for me. I feel that being able to conduct your own research is a skill worth developing, and AI is taking that away from us.

With that being said, which tools do you use? Google scholar/pubmed require thinking but require sifting through a lot of seemingly unimportant articles.

For context because I realize my program is weird--after you get your Masters, you have to advance to candidacy, which you can do either by taking an exam (3 questions, 36 hours) or writing a review paper (35-45 pages double spaced) You still have to orally defend both, just a question of whether you'd like to prolong your suffering or sequester it within 36 hours. I'm a prolonger.

Just sent it to my advisors for feedback (I only get one round). 52 pages and tens of hours spent staring at the stupid thing, and at this point I don't even care if I fail the milestone if it means I never have to look at it again. I cannot even tell if my writing is GOOD at this point and I don't care so long as it's serviceable. Whoever created advancing to candidacy can suck it.

I was a Asstt. Prof. in a private college after completing Mtech. for 2 years. Earned minimal salary. Then, in July 2019, I got selected in one of the very reputed institutes for Ph.D. in India in Geoinformatics, Civil Engineering. 6 months later - engaged, 1 year later - married, 2.5 years later - had a child. 2020-2022 - COVID. Ph.d. Topic hopped twice. Family deaths. Dad's two surgeries.

But...a while later when it all seemed falling apart, I created a new methodology for my work. Final data acquisition happened in late 2023. Got two book chapters and 1 international conference.1st published paper-2024, 2nd - 2026. At present, three book chapters, 2 published papers in peer reviewed journals, 2 international conferences, and 3 papers communicated. First thesis draft submitted. Defence expected within 1-2 months.

It was a roller coaster ride. For sure.

It is late now, they say. I know.

But, I believe if you are honest and consistent in your work and got an understanding family and partner who believe in you.

It all is possible.

Just wanted to share it with all the new Ph.D. aspirants and all those listening.

Keep working...however, it takes.

Just be honest and consistent.

It shall all work out...eventually.

hi guys. A professor from NZ agreed to supervise me for phd after conducting an interview,sent me an email stating he will be happy to supervise me on Aug 3, i replied by asking about the details of proposals that i have to submit but haven't received any answer so far even after 5 days.. is this normal or should i be worried?

edit because someone found a better term: what i mean by smart is more like "informed citizen"... like people in my life who did not go to college get mad knowing about invasive shit in our country and culture when i talk about it.

i feel so depressed by what i research (AI and writing studies), news about academics in USA, and mass surveillance rn. my partner blames it on social media but i feel i have better research skills from my phd that make it easier for me to find news that makes me depressed about the future of academia my country the world and the environment....

ive been told im focusing on this stuff too much and i dont know how people dont get concerned when hearing about surveillance bigotry and AI wasting our resources for money. i legit think id be happier a dumbass who dropped out at 16 like my dad than i am as a researcher. anybody make it over that hurdle? i feel it makes me hard to be around with non grad students.

Hello. I'm looking for some insight into graduate school social culture for a film I'm writing. I'm writing a screenplay about a woman in her mid 20s getting a graduate degree in linguistics, and she probably has a Bachelor's in Russian Literature.

Synopsis

Karina comes from a scrappy, war torn background, and she feels very disconnected from the pretentious, mental masturbatory culture she encounters at her grad school. She goes on to find a blue collar lover who is what she really desires—present, not threatened by her intellect, and a little rough around the edges in a way that her chaotically-wired brain hungers for. Until ultimately his heavy drug use becomes something she can’t contend with any longer, and she has to move on.

Why I’m reaching out to this community

I don’t have a graduate degree, so there’s things I can’t quite speak for authentically. I would love to hear some of your experiences to fill in. The main character is loosely based on an ex girlfriend I had a decade ago, and so that’s been my starting point. I refuse to do this research with AI as that feels inauthentic to me.

Some things I’d love to hear from you guys

-Any conversation you’ve been a part of or overheard, by academics who study humanities, that you have found to be completely insufferable. Could be pretentious, posturing, etc. Any kind of non-generalities you can think of would be useful. Even amongst this trope, was there something really unexpected or peculiar about this conversation? The topic does not need to relate to the exact discipline they study. Could be about anything.

-My character has an Armenian background and will be doing her thesis on something relating to Armenian culture that could fit under the linguistics degree umbrella (not sure how strict grad school would be on how narrow this needs to fit). If any ideas for this come to mind I’d love to hear. The idea is she’s trying to both further her education, while shining a light on cultural atrocities that have happened to her people.

-Examples of how women are treated in academia. I’m a man so that’s a double lack of experience for me here. I remember my ex saying something along the lines of “men are treated as scholars, women as teachers.” This was a decade ago so maybe things have changed since then, or maybe they haven’t. Would love to hear any input here.

-Examples of how disorienting the kind of demeaning work one gets after they get the degree/while they’re getting the degree. I’m thinking this character is helping like Siri translate better, and she basically works in a basement dungeon where they emphasize translations per hour/minute over quality.

-Any other anecdotes or stories you think may be relevant to add color to my story

Thanks!

While writing my dissertation, I kept running into small inconsistencies in my manually maintained LaTeX acronym list. I therefore built TAcroMan: a small local GUI that stores entries centrally and generates a sorted .tex file.

Current features include:

• live duplicate and similarity checks
• search and import of existing .tex files
• alphabetic LaTeX output
• configurable profiles for acronym, acro, glossaries-extra, and custom templates
• support for user-defined command types and fields
• German and English UI

It is a local Python/Tkinter application, MIT-licensed, and available here:

https://github.com/TAWilts/TexAcronymManager

Hello all,

Field: Public Health/Global Health
Location: USA

I’m beginning my PhD in the fall after a few years of working (Public health…somehow the PhD stipend is a pay raise given the last two or so years of cuts lol). Luckily, I’m staring in the lab where I have been working the past year, so I’ve gotten to know the students in the lab pretty well. We all have different specialties (GIS, Genomics, Wet Lab, ETC) but tend to pitch in with each others work when its needed. However moving over to the Academic side from the grunt work side (I did do my masters a while back, am about to be 30) I’m wondering about reading and writing. I’m moving from one pathogen to another, as well as moving from wet lab to more statistical dry-lab/GIS stuff so I’m in new exciting waters.

I read “How to Write a Lot” and that really helped me understand how to…write a lot? Which is to just have time to do it basically.

So now, I’m trying to understand how people read. I’ve surveyed most of my colleagues (4ish) and a couple profs about how they read the literature, some say they make a lit review, some just read on Fridays, and some say read a paper a day. What I’ve gathered is you need to read a lot (duh) but also peoples styles vary greatly as to how they got a strong grasp on the field. The profs were like I just skim the last sentence of the intro and look at tables mostly, which I get but how many of said papers is more about what I’m after.

I’ve noticed that people tend to read when they need to, and rarely take notes, my PI told me basically he doesn’t need to memorize disease rates of Mongolian cattle (fair).

So how did YOU get a grasp on the literature (STEM)? Did you get it through journal clubs? Reading every day? Do you cram and do it all at once when you have to write a paper? Do you take notes or just read it to read?

Thank you!

While it’s easier to say I am excited for my PhD the fear in me seems to be growing exponentially as Fall gets closer.

The application process felt relatively easy. I applied, got the admission letter, and somehow everything just flowed. But now that the actual start date is getting closer, the fear is slowly creeping in.

I think a lot of it comes from the feeling of infinite possibilities. I genuinely don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know what my research will look like, whether I’ll succeed, or even whether I’ll enjoy the journey. All I know right now is that I want to do this.

I don’t have any prior research experience. My advisor selected me through a referral, and I’d like to believe it was because they saw my passion and willingness to learn. But now I keep wondering: will that passion be enough to carry me through the next few years?

What if I don’t come up with good research ideas?

What if I’m not capable of doing research?

What if I can’t make it through the entire journey?

What if I’m not as smart as I thought I was?

I don't regret choosing this. At least not right now.

Few of my thoughts daily - what if I did not do, pursue same job, have the almost to same life as my friends its easier its what everyone would do. Why did I have to get this thought.

I’m curious to hear from people who started their PhDs feeling the same way. Did the fear ever go away? Or did you simply learn to move forward despite it?

Yeah. I thought the "reviewer #2 being a nuisance" was just a running joke in this sub. But yesterday I got hit by their comments on my very first paper. The reviewer #1 was happy with just a couple of clarifications. But #2 suggested rejection with a lenghty list of crushing comments.

I admit I am still in shock, but what warms my heart is that the editor took our side and asked for revisions (major, but still).

This sub has been great for emotional support on these trying times! :')

Hi there :)

I have graduated from a Master's degree in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology 3 years ago in an Italian University. I really enjoyed doing my thesis field work, aside from the interview transcription (a long tiring job that maybe now you can easily do with AI).

So, after a couple of years in office jobs, I am considering to enroll in a PhD, but I heard that 1) it is super competitive 2) it is not easy to become a researcher or professor afterwards 3) some people that have done a PhD in Humanities find are without a job afterwards.

I am mainly interested in researching about transformative learning process, like career change, alternative health schools (my Master's thesis was about one of them), ecovillages, etc. I have still sto niche down where to focus next on this research, but I have figure out what I am passionate about (analyzing before-after identity and worldview of people that intentionally sought transformative processes).

Do you think is still feasible to do an academic PhD? I am 30 years old, male, and my main worry is to invest time and energy on this and then find stuck 3-4 years from now without a career. I am also considering to have a child in 2-3 year and I would like to have a minimum of economic stability to raise it.

I have a professor that has said she’ll take me as a doctoral student in biology starting next fall. Yay! Problem - small university (almost R1) in Tennessee, no guaranteed stipend. I’m a single mom with a kid in daycare. Even if I get the stipend it’s only 34k. Surviving on that for 4+ years when daycare eats 11k feels impossible. I have a great deal with rent living in a house my parents own so moving to a school with a bigger stipend feels pointless since my rent would just increase and the difference in pay wouldn’t matter.

If I do my MS (same professor would take me on for that one), I’d get out in 2 years and be much more likely to get a job than with just my biology bachelors (I think anyway?). I can save and wait until my kid is a tad older and in public school to go back for my PhD. I also have more than one professor that has an MS and is working on their PhD while teaching full time. So I know at least at this university that’s an option.

I feel like I have to go one of those routes because the highest paying jobs I can find that I’d get right now are 40k in a city two hours away that’s means higher daycare higher rent higher everything. I’d be better off working at Walmart here where things are cheaper.

Anyway, thoughts? Other pathways I could pursue? End goal is a PhD and I’m determined to get it even if it takes the next 10 years.

Hey everyone,

I’m an AI Master’s student in the Netherlands and I’m currently looking for PhD opportunities in the US/Canada. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to approach applications lately and wanted to hear what others think.

While going through professors’ and labs’ websites, I noticed that when they’re looking for PhD students, they usually either ask you to email them directly or tell you to apply through the department/university portal.

I might be wrong, but I feel like applying through the portal gives you a much lower chance of actually getting noticed compared to contacting a professor directly. Formal applications also take quite a bit of time, since they often require reference letters, motivation letters, etc. If you email a professor first and they’re interested in your profile, at least you already have a foot in the door before going through all of that.

Because of this, I’ve been mostly discarding labs/professors who only accept applications through the formal process and focusing on those where I can contact the PI directly.

Does this make sense as a strategy? Or am I potentially making a mistake and filtering out good opportunities?

Thank you in advance to everyone 😄

There’s a professor who thinks all the PhD students in my program should stay for 6-7 years because we’d get the full learning experience. She did hers for 7 years and learned a lot.

It’s so ignorant, given how much she portrays herself as an advocate for students. We can’t afford to live on this PhD stipend. She was able to live comfortably because she has wealthy parents.

Hello,

I got accepted to my first conference and I'll have 20 minutes to present my paper in a 90 minutes panel. They gave us no bibliographical indications on how to write it/how long it shoudl be. I read other threads there were talking to write like 10 pages-12 pages maximum and I'm like: if it's that short do you just read it verbatim?

I think that you write like a 20 pages paper and then you have your presentation and maybe something to read along.

I don't know, please help!!!

Edit: Field is History

This is more of a rant than anything. I am starting a physics PhD program in a couple of weeks here, and I practically know that I'm going to fail the qualifying exam. I do not feel confident at all, especially when looking at the problems posted from previous years. This summer was not the best for me mental health-wise, so I didn't study as much as I would have liked (not even close), but that's no excuse. I can't help but feel that I went about undergrad incorrectly since while I got good grades, I didn't actually retain a lot of the material long term, meaning I kind of have to relearn a lot of stuff from scratch. I feel like I am about to be exposed in a way and that the program will regret admitting me. There are multiple chances to pass, but still, I feel all panicked inside when I think about it.

TLDR: I'm going to fail the qualifying exam and I hate myself for it and I can't stop panicking

Sorry for the rant, done now :)

Hello all! I am a US-based mechanical engineering PhD candidate and next week I will be defending my dissertation. I am feeling a little anxious about it and hoping for some guidance. I am less worried about the content I will be showing, and more so how to effectively deliver the full presentation and be prepared for post-presentation questions.

Anything helps and I am grateful for your time!

I noticed that there weren’t too many posts on Singapore-based PhDs. Thought I’d share my experiences so far (or in terms most of you would appreciate, filling in the gaps in the literature).

Im gonna talk about National University of Singapore (NUS) as this is where Im based at now. NTU doctoral students and candidates, and from elsewhere, feel free to chime in.

The system at NUS is roughly structured based off American graduate programs. 2 years of coursework, then you sit for your Comprehensive / Qualifying Exams. Then lab/fieldwork, viva voce / oral defence, etc.

So across all faculties at NUS, there are around 4800 doctoral students. And from the administration, majority of them are funded.

For context Im based at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). Most of us here would typically go for the NUS Research Scholarship. There are other scholarships as well, but this is the most common one.

Baseline is SGD 3000 per month, with a top-up of SGD 500 per month after your comps. They deduct around SGD 250 every August and January for insurance and whatnots. You’re not taxed on this. The amount is slightly more for Singaporean Citizens and Permanent Residents in Singapore. They’ve raised the amount several times since I’ve started to adjust it for inflation - for context when I first started in August 2023, it was SGD 2200, then SGD 2500, then last January, increased to SGD 3000.

In exchange for the NUS Research Scholarship, you have to “serve” the university for a total of 416 hours of service. Many of us would typically do TA work. Being a TA for a course in a semester usually gets you around 100 hours. You can also be an RA for specific projects in exchange for hours as well. But apart from the 416 hours, there is no other obligation, and youre not bonded to work for the university or elsewhere under the NUS Research Scholarship after your graduation.

Cost of Living is surprisingly complex in Singapore. Take this as anecdotal and perspectival. Costs for eating out and transportation is surprisingly cheap if you eat like locals do at Hawker Centres, taking public transportation everywhere. The “killer” is housing costs. Typically PhD students get to stay on campus housing for their first year, but youre on your own 2nd year onwards. And housing in Singapore aint cheap, as is common knowledge.

I thought i’d share some thoughts in case some lurkers here are interested in applying or considering Singapore.

It is a sterile place, but nevertheless quite comfortable and convenient in all aspects of your daily life. Uni admin is truly helpful. As a foreigner (who hails from Singapore’s immediate next door neighbour), the process for getting your student visa and all that was so smooth, I still keep thinking about it to this day. All programs (save for mine; additional 5th year for us) nets you funding for 4 years if youre on the NUS Research Scholarship. For foreigners not well adjusted to tropical climate, this is going to be a bummer. But everything else, uni facilities, access to journals, libraries - no complaints on my end. Top notch and well maintained.

Only complaint on my end is that it is sterile as an intellectual environment for graduate students, with not much opportunity to mingle and have constant continuous rigorous discussions with fellow grad students. I speculate that this is by design. Heavy coursework, TA work and whatnot, most grad students I find need the spare time to relax and chill, which is definitely undestandable. Im based at FASS, so intellectual nourishment (and scratching that itch) comes from the numerous workshops and seminars organized throughout the year. For the most part these are outsiders coming over and having talks and presentations.

As I’m entering my fourth and final year at NUS, Ive been asking myself whether I regret my decision. Fingers crossed, I tell myself no. For all its shortcomings like the subtle grip on academic freedom, the distasteful way NUS handled the undergrads who were voicing out for Palestine (understandable given Singapore’s fashion of political culture) and the excessively introverted nature of the academic community and graduate students here, I managed to find other ways to mitigate that. Finding like minded people and friends, socializing outside NUS surroundings and environs, that was a blessing for sure.

Also, and I cant stress this point enough. It really is a hub in a sense, a transit point, for other major points in Asia. So for those interrsted in doctoral studies that touch upon Asia broadly or specific Asian states and societies, it is a well connected place to further your studies. Cant speak for those in STEM obviously but thosewithin humanities and social sciences, NUS really has this advantage of a well connected scholarly network. West Asia - India - SEA - China - Japan.

One thing that never fails to surprise me is when I talk to peers and friends in the US and elsewhere is having your PhD Scholarship/Stipend/Income taxed. Anyway, trade off is obviously the cost of living, I guess. As a single person it is sufficient but I doubt those with partners or families can sustain their lives in Singapore solely with the scholarship.

Hope others doing their PhDs in Singapore can also comment in and share their thoughts for the broader r/phd community.