Speaker 1: In this video I interviewed 20 PhD students on what it's really like to do a PhD, the world's most advanced degree. I asked about everything, workload, social life, highs and lows, whether they think it was actually worth it, and got some really honest and interesting answers. So I hope you guys enjoy. First question is like real basic, what does a typical work day look like for you?

Speaker 2: Yeah good question. I roll normally in the morning. Maybe go for a run. And then we have coffee. I

Speaker 3: drink a lot of coffee. A typical day I'd just be in the library the whole day. Go to the lab.

Speaker 4: Typically go to the lab at nine. Check some emails and then. Then we get on to experiment. Do some

Speaker 5: research. DNA extraction. Memorise scans, testing patients. The bulk of the day is probably spent playing with lasers. Lasers. Plugging in electronics, like trying to set up new experiments.

Speaker 6: And then a lot of data analysis. Data analysis. Analysis. Analysing data. So working in Excel or

Speaker 2: in R. And then go back to work. Work more. Get frustrated. Get some lunch. Work a bit more. Get more frustrated. And repeat that. And then yeah. Hopefully go to a formal in the evening or do

Speaker 1: something fun. So how many hours do you work each day, bearing in mind that your supervisor might

Speaker 7: watch this video? I work hard. I actually do work a lot of hours. If anything I need to work less.

Speaker 2: 20 hours every day. Yeah, do you want the real answer? It's a great question. Typical day,

Speaker 8: like the nine to five hours. Nine to five. Nine to five. Like a ten to seven. Probably

Speaker 9: eight to ten hours. Eight hours a day. Nine hours a day probably. No more than six. Thinking work, creative work, maybe three, four hours. It really depends. Depends on the weather. Some days none,

Speaker 10: other days 48. When everything's working well, you really genuinely just want to push hard and you

Speaker 5: just want to get the data. And so then you might do a lot longer days. And then sometimes like your experiment breaks and you actually have a little bit of time. But I think it averages out at around

Speaker 11: like eight hours per day. Do you get to have much of a social life in your PhD? Oh yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, it's kind of like the two pillars of my life is the love and then the pub. Sasha, my best friend. I sometimes hang out with. Of all time. Best friend of all time.

Speaker 4: Of all time. So much social life. So yes. Yeah, I think the social life is amazing for a PhD. In my case, I can choose when I want to work throughout the day. So whether I want to make exceptions to go work out with friends, go to social events in the evening, it's very

Speaker 1: flexible and easy to do. Like related question, like what are the other people like that you meet?

Speaker 11: Yeah, I'd say like, you know, 90% of the people are super nice. You know, have lots of interesting things to say. The other 10%, you know, I know Sasha's in that group. But you know, the good thing about. Some people are a bit more sus. Yeah. They are amazing friends. Like I think that's

Speaker 12: possibly the best thing of doing a PhD here in Cambridge is the people around you. They are great academically, but they are also super interesting and they they all have amazing interests. And it's super international community. I mean, just like anywhere, there were all kinds

Speaker 13: of people. One thing that was really great about Cambridge is that it attracts such an international crowd. And so you get to meet people from everywhere. It's been quite surprising for me

Speaker 8: because I didn't think I was going to find people who look like me who came from backgrounds like me or people who had the same interests as me, because I'm from London, I'm from Croydon, down in the end. So it's been quite surprising seeing that there is actually a little bit of diversity, surprisingly, especially on the postgraduate scene. It was a very international

Speaker 3: community for the PhD, especially compared to Windsor Graduate. It was really interesting to meet people studying all these different subjects. And you might kind of find points of connection,

Speaker 14: which you never would have thought of. That's the one great thing about academia, too, is that everyone's kind of like minded and like interested in answering these big questions. What part of the

Speaker 15: PhD do you enjoy the most? Probably the ability to live in another country and explore the world. I've been now all over the world, conferences and meeting different people. I think the PhD has, for me, opened up all sorts of new opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Speaker 16: Conferences are the best. Yeah, you learn a lot of stuff. But at the same time, you know, you're travelling around, you see something of the world and, you know, you meet suddenly all these people that are doing the same thing that you're doing. And you're not in your little cave anymore, focusing on a little subject, but now you can actually talk to people and discuss things.

Speaker 6: Yeah, 100%. That was good. And that was serious. I think I love the problem solving aspect. Like, you're discovering something new, in my case, about the human mind that nobody's ever discovered for. So that was fantastic. And you're working as part of a team, which is always fun. You're not actually just sitting there by yourself doing things. You're often interacting with people, getting feedback and talking about these really cool issues.

Speaker 12: Just going to the office and talking to people about science and also about life.

Speaker 3: I enjoyed the fact that it was so flexible. So your time was your own. So you could organise it however you wanted. So you could kind of work in the evening if you wanted to and do something else during the day, or keep your work confined to the day and have your evenings free. And that kind of flexibility is very difficult to do that in any other kind of job. I think it's the flexibility and the variety in it.

Speaker 4: So the freedom to drive your own research in whatever topic you want. So in my case, tackling climate change and promoting like a greener future.

Speaker 11: If you find something that's quite interesting, you know, in the literature and you want to apply it to your own projects, then you have the flexibility and means to probably implement that. You definitely get to pursue things that you're most interested in.

Speaker 14: I really like the flexibility and being basically like an independent entity. I get to propose the ideas I want, run the experiments I want, do whatever I'm interested in, which I think is the best.

Speaker 1: Next thing is day to day, what part of the PhD do you enjoy the least? The least?

Speaker 7: Boy, see, look, as I said, I love the wet lab. But when I'm having to repeat an experiment for the fifth time, because it didn't work, it starts to get on you a little bit, you know? It can get slightly frustrating when you have to repeat an experiment, but you're not sure why it's not worked.

Speaker 1: I thought you were going to answer that question just boys, like you started off boy. It's just going to be boys.

Speaker 13: Boys, we need more girls in here. I think that the toughest part was that you like, at least for theoretical physics and maths, like you won't make progress for many, many months at a time.

Speaker 5: There are periods where you just feel like you're banging your head against the wall. Frustration, sorts of confusion.

Speaker 13: And so I think that that could sometimes wear on me where I'd come in every day, be trying to prove the exact same thing, think about it for a few hours, get nowhere and then have to rinse and repeat.

Speaker 5: And eventually you'll solve the problem. But in order to solve the problem, you're going to fail like 100 times. And some days you wake up and you're just like, how am I going to fail today? Like when am I finally going to conquer this problem? But like when you get there, of course, it's amazing. But the process of getting there is, can sometimes suck.

Speaker 9: Yeah, that's the hardest part, just dealing with failure. And the fact that it's like, it's not you, but it's just that the problem is hard.

Speaker 2: Being stuck and feeling lost. I think not having direction, not knowing if I'm actually doing well enough. I think that's a big part.

Speaker 15: It can be all consuming. And when you are in the midst of a project that you really care about, and it's maybe not going well, it can feel like you can't escape. It becomes personal. And I sometimes see friends who can really separate their work from their life and not be stressed about how things are going at work. And for me, at some points that was tough.

Speaker 17: It often appears that you should be working all the time. Somehow academia makes you feel that overworking is the normal. You may feel guilty about taking a break.

Speaker 3: It could be quite isolating sometimes because you don't see anyone all day while you're working in English and in the humanities often. And it can also be intellectually isolating sometimes because you're the only person working on this really specific thing.

Speaker 16: I truly hate software issues. Like if a computer doesn't work, it's just...

Speaker 14: Oh, the money for sure. Yeah, the money is absolutely terrible. We barely make any money. I don't know what we're all doing here.

Speaker 1: Kind of like a related question to that. What has been the most challenging part of your PhD

Speaker 12: so far? The first year, doing research is very different than just doing a degree in university.

Speaker 17: Undergraduates, you have exams, you have deadlines, you know you have to finish that. But in PhD, most of the time it's sort of self-inflicted deadlines.

Speaker 12: It was the first time I had to choose everything I wanted to do. So this huge rhythm came as a bit of a pressure on me. So it was hard.

Speaker 17: I wish I had a better structure in terms of deadlines.

Speaker 12: But now it's great to be able to wake up and choose what to do every day.

Speaker 1: And then last question. Okay, so if you were to rewind the clock, go back in time, would you do the PhD again? Oh, I would 100% do the PhD again. Oh, 100%.

Speaker 14: Oh, 100%. I'll do another one.

Speaker 4: Yes, 100% absolutely. Absolutely.

Speaker 15: Oh yeah, definitely. Definitely. Overwhelmingly positive experience for me. It just opens doors and enables you to develop. It challenges you, exposes you to new things. You grow as a person through it. So yeah, I absolutely would do it again. Totally. Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Speaker 14: Yeah, I would. Oh yes, hell yes.

Speaker 9: Yes. Yes. Easy. The PhD has been the best experience of my life so far. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would do the PhD that I'm currently doing.

Speaker 17: I might change a few things on how I do stuff, but definitely.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I would. I would. And because it's been amazing. I mean, from the academic side, of course, very interesting. Also from a personal growth kind of way.

Speaker 12: I think I would do it again just because I've learned so much during the process, not just about science, but about myself.

Speaker 1: I think I would do the PhD again.

Speaker 5: Yeah, I definitely would because I am really super interested and passionate about this field of research. At the same time, I'm also like, I wouldn't just do any old PhD. It has to be about a topic that I'm super passionate about because it is a big problem you're given and it takes a long time and a lot of dedication and commitment to overcome that problem.

Speaker 13: Yeah, maybe. Actually, I don't know. It was really, really fun. I had a great time, but knowing now that I didn't want to go into research full time, I'm wondering if it was worth all of those years of work and whether I wouldn't have been better off doing other things. But then again, I don't know. I had a really great time, so maybe that's fine. Maybe it's fine that it didn't lead anywhere.

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