Today we have Scibling Showdown # 2 - the pros and cons of grad school. This episode includes Jason Goldman of the Thoughtful Animal, Christie Wilcox of Observations of a Nerd and Scicurious of Neurotopia. We talk about how we chose our current labs, things we wish we had known before we started grad school, and where we plan to end up (spoiler: none of us have any idea!).
We also discuss how blogging plays into the graduate school experience, and here it sounds like we've all had overwhelmingly positive experiences. I think any student will admit that grad school is a bit bipolar - periods where everything is going amazingly smoothly, followed by rough patches where nothing seems to go the way you want. It can get especially tough in the final stages of a thesis, when you have spent literally months writing and re-writing the same few pages of text. Performing revision after revision (after revision) on a manuscript, only to have it rejected, can also put you into a bit of a funk. Blogging is a great way to stay excited about research, since you only have to discuss the papers that you think are interesting! I can't say enough about the ways that blogging has enriched my graduate school experience, and it seems that almost every other blogger I talk to has had a similar experience.
The other feeling I got from the discussion was that although grad school has its ups and downs, we all seem to generally enjoy the experience. I know I wouldn't still be in school if I didn't really enjoy it! Grad school sometimes gets a bad rap, but it really is a lot of fun when you find the right lab.
Jason, Christie, and Scicurious are all cross-posting the podcast today, so I'd encourage you to check out their sites to see their thoughts on our discussion. We're hoping to make these chats a semi-regular feature, so any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know that there are quite a few grad students/former students that read our blogs as well, and it would be great to hear about your experiences.
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Enjoy the podcast!
Travis
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