phd dissertation memes

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• CAREER COLUMN
• 12 May 2021

The 100 memes that immortalize my PhD defence

• Sophie Dufour-Beauséjour 0

Sophie Dufour-Beauséjour works as a policy analyst for the Government of Canada’s Climate Change Preparedness in the North Program.

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I finished my PhD on sea-ice dynamics in Nunavik, an Inuit territory in the Canadian Arctic, during the pandemic. My defence took place on 30 October 2020, over Zoom.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01273-8

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged .

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If You've Ever Struggled With A PhD, You're Going To Find These 41 Memes Hilarious

"Wanna hear a research joke, or not et al.?"

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Thirty PhD Memes For The Grad Student Who's Checked The Eff Out

Grad school is no joke; you're stressed out all the damn time and you can't catch any sort of break ever. But if you do in fact find yourself with a fleeting moment to take a break, we think you'll like scrolling through these relatable memes for anyone in the thick of finishing up their PhD.

If you want to feel even more angry about your academic woes, click here for more grad school memes!

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Follow The Laughs

Top PhD memes of 2021 (Updated)

The era is of the internet. People are passing their time on the internet, blog, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Memes are evolved recently. It is a pictorial representation of a joke. And people love memes.

Our social media is flooded with jokes, memes and gifs. Here in the present article, we have enlisted some of the meme material related to PhD. PhD is a very serious business, still, some of the memes are incredible and describe some of the common problems everyone faces during their PhD time.

See this What a PhD student feel on Friday when everyone is planning to party!

This meme is best understood by those who are still struggling to write their research paper.

A cold-blooded insult to a PhD student.

This story is for those who have actually mastered a skill to describe their research like no one other did do it.

This one is actually exciting.

Another next level of insult to us (PhDs).

This happens to everyone. By reading a few papers we think we know everything.

Dr. Tushar Chauhan is a Scientist, Blogger and Scientific-writer. He has completed PhD in Genetics. Dr. Chauhan is a PhD coach and tutor.

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10 memes relate to PhD students

by Tina Costanza

17 Mar 2015

This week’s career memes empathise with PhD students, the individuals working to expand knowledge of a particular field by pursuing research that will result in their PhD dissertation.

What they do: Discover and pursue a unique topic of research to build new knowledge; apply this knowledge to problems and issues; learn theories, practices and research methods and apply these to research and teaching; liaise with faculty advisors and thesis exam committee members; collect, analyse and present research data; participate in appropriate meetings, seminars and workshops; and submit research results for publication.

What they don’t do: Fritter away their time.

Educational requirements: Requirements for admission into a PhD programme can vary depending on the school and the discipline.

Required skills: All PhD students should have excellent skills in research, analysis, communication, time management, attention to detail, problem solving and an ability to meet deadlines.

Salary: In Ireland, PhD student salaries (where applicable) average €16,000, according to Glassdoor.com .

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Related: education , skills , memes

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic. She came to Ireland from Canada, where she had held senior editorial positions at daily newspapers in Ottawa and Toronto. When she wasn’t saving dangling participles, she was training for 10K races or satisfying a craving for scones.

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How Accurate are Ph.D. Memes, Really?

So what’s it really like to be a Ph.D. student? While it’s impossible to fully capture the nuances of years’ worth of graduate study, with all of its trials and tribulations, a quick Google search returns a multitude of Ph.D. memes offering a rich (and funny!) tapestry of perspectives about the graduate experience. But are they true?

From the acres of books on every grad student’s reading list to the challenges of navigating the arcane traditions of academia, Ph.D. memes illustrate many of the pitfalls that often come with the territory of pursuing a doctoral degree. But don’t let these hot takes on the challenges of getting a Ph.D. scare you off! Stick around while we dissect popular Ph.D. memes and separate fact from fiction. 

These are a few common themes found in Ph.D. memes: 

• Graduate school is lonely and isolating. 
• Graduate students are always stressed. 
• Dissertation chairs are the worst. 
• It’s impossible to finish a Ph.D. 

#1 Graduate School is Lonely

The memes don’t lie: there’s some truth to this. When talking about the hazards of graduate school, loneliness is a common refrain. Some graduate students do experience feelings of isolation during their programs, and it’s not hard to understand why. 

Earning a Ph.D. is perhaps the most rigorous intellectual exercise a person can attempt, and the coursework requires many hours of reading and writing every week–and that’s before you even start thinking about your dissertation. 

While it’s easy to isolate yourself during your Ph.D. program in order to keep up with the demands of your workload, it’s also critical to regularly come up for air. One question that I always like to ask students prior to starting their Ph.D. program is what their support system looks like. Keep in mind that having a social life and being around people is an important key to mental health and general well-being, and having that support will help you get through the most solitary stretches of your Ph.D. program. 

#2 Graduate Students are Always Stressed

Ph.D. memes make it seem like every moment of graduate school is laced with the nerve-wracking frisson of soul-deep stress. Like every grad student persists only through a combination of teeth-gritting willpower and an IV drip of caffeine. 

While pursuing a Ph.D. is no walk in the park, the memes exaggerate. Will you spend hours upon hours every semester with your nose buried in research? Yes, absolutely. Is the stress constant and unrelenting? Of course not. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be. 

The stress of a Ph.D. program should not be overwhelming, and if it is, the program that you’re in may be a bad fit for you. Another possibility is that you’ve found the right program, but at the wrong time. The demands of a Ph.D. program are a lot on their own, and when external stressors are added to the mix (caregiving responsibilities, relationships, financial strain, etc.), it can be too much. If the stress of your Ph.D. program becomes a burden to your mental health, it’s probably a good time to step back and reevaluate your priorities. 

For less serious cases of feeling overwhelmed, there are plenty of good ways to ease stress during your Ph.D. program. When I was in graduate school, I always looked forward to weekend outings with my friends from my cohort. 

Getting out in nature is another great way to take your mind off of your work, if only for a few hours. Whether it’s going to the gym, spending time on a favorite hobby, or binge-watching a show, pencil some relaxation into your busy schedule. 

#3 Dissertation Chairs are the Worst

Another common theme in Ph.D. memes is the dreaded contentious relationship between graduate students and their dissertation chairs or advisors. Sometimes portrayed as a dragon to be slain before the grad student can claim their rightful place in the hallowed halls of academe, dissertation chairs are often characterized by their sharp teeth–and sharp tongues. No matter the discipline, the rapport between student and advisor is generally perceived as being adversarial. But it shouldn’t be. 

As a graduate student, having a strong relationship with your dissertation chair is vital, and it can take some work. Before approaching a faculty member to chair your dissertation committee , make sure that you know what to look for when trying to fill this important role. 

Choose a chair who has time to work with you and can be invested in your project. An ideal chair is one who communicates and is responsive, as well as someone who will advocate for your research. Selecting the right chair will save you a lot of headaches in the future. 

#4 It’s Impossible to Finish a Ph.D. 

Of all the sentiments frequently featured in Ph.D. memes, the idea that completing a doctoral degree is akin to performing a miracle is perhaps the most pernicious. While I see the humor in many Ph.D. memes (and I’ve even been known to post them on my office door), I also think that accepting this narrative as reality is self-defeating. When you are admitted into a Ph.D. program, it’s because you’ve already demonstrated the qualities needed to be successful in that program. Keep that in mind. 

While there is some variation across disciplines and specific programs, the path to earning a Ph.D. is well-traveled. Legions of scholars before you have been in your shoes, and you’ll face the same challenges that they did. So laugh at the memes all you want and don’t hesitate to share them, but do so with the knowledge that while they may have a grain of truth, they also depict the extremes and have no bearing on your success. Save your favorites for your own office door, and then get back to work. 

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Courtney Watson, Ph.D.

Courtney Watson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English at Radford University Carilion, in Roanoke, Virginia. Her areas of expertise include undergraduate and graduate curriculum development for writing courses in the health sciences and American literature with a focus on literary travel, tourism, and heritage economies. Her writing and academic scholarship has been widely published in places that include  Studies in American Culture ,  Dialogue , and  The Virginia Quarterly Review . Her research on the integration of humanities into STEM education will be published by Routledge in an upcoming collection. Dr. Watson has also been nominated by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Rising Star Award, and she is a past winner of the National Society of Arts & Letters Regional Short Story Prize, as well as institutional awards for scholarly research and excellence in teaching. Throughout her career in higher education, Dr. Watson has served in faculty governance and administration as a frequent committee chair and program chair. As a higher education consultant, she has served as a subject matter expert, an evaluator, and a contributor to white papers exploring program development, enrollment research, and educational mergers and acquisitions.

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