I don’t think my
graduate school experience is unique. I entered a PhD program fresh out of
undergrad, wide-eyed and excited to research anything my PI told me to. But a
couple years into my program I was assigned a lot of random, unrelated things
to look into, and none of them seemed to be going anywhere. I expressed this
concern to my PI when I thought I should be thinking about my Comprehensive
Exams, and was told we were trying “to make something stick.” Finally somewhere
in my 3rd year (too late in my opinion), something did stick!
Positive data! Oh happy day! Then something stuck on a different project, so
cool! I went from five aimless projects, to two promising projects I could pick
a thesis from. I just had to pick one, hooray science!
But somehow a year later, when I
should be focusing on developing a strong thesis, I’m still splitting my time
between two completely unrelated projects. The joy in having options for a
thesis project faded when I realized I wouldn’t be able to work on just one
thesis project. Let’s be honest: as researchers, we have our favorite projects.
My thesis project is my favorite; it’s exciting, it’s new, and not least of all
it’s what I’m using to get my degree and move on. So when I have to work on my
other project, it’s a distraction. The result is I don’t feel like I’m making
enough progress in either project; both are moving forward, but at what I think
is a glacial pace.
As graduate students, and post-docs,
we’re expected to multi-task. I understand that. But when you’re juggling
multiple projects that are independent of each other and both have enough going
for them to be separate thesis projects, it gets to be overwhelming. But I have
learned a few things on how to manage:
1)
Make the project you like best the
priority. This is a lot
easier to do if it’s your thesis project. Every graduate student I’ve met is a
hard-worker, and sometimes that means we feel like failures when we let things
go. But devoting your time and thinking abilities to one major project probably
means you’ll make more progress, rather than spreading your resources and
abilities too thin. I don’t advise splitting your time evenly between two
unrelated things: pick one to focus on.
2)
Make your PI like your priority best. Again, this is a lot easer to do if it’s
your thesis project. However you feel about your PI, they know it’s in their
best interest that you make progress on your thesis. Sometimes reminding them
of that helps throw their support and their resources behind your favorite
project. In my case, my other project is not one we’re funded to do, while we
have grants for my thesis project. A reminder that my other project is using
money we aren’t secure in helped shift her focus back to my thesis project.
3)
Don’t completely neglect your other
project. My PI doesn’t
really remember what I’m working on; I suspect that if I never mentioned my
other project she would never ask about it. It’s tempting to pretend the mice
for this project don’t exist. But when I have downtime between experiments for
my thesis, I still work on it, and think about how to get to the mechanism
behind what we’ve observed. This way I’m still furthering the project, and will
probably get a paper out of it.
4)
Be willing to teach. There may come a time when your PI or
collaborator will take on a new student, and that new student will take that
other project off your hands. I’m still waiting for that blessed day, but I
know it won’t be a clean break: someone will have to train the hypothetical
person who carries on my other project. My PI and our collaborator on the other
project both know I’m frustrated with how I have to split my time, but by
making it known that I’m happy to help and teach a new person, I think our
collaborator is reassured that the project won’t completely fall off the grid
if I stop working on it. In being willing to teach, I’m also preserving a
decent relationship with our collaborator, and again keeping opportunities for
authorship and future collaboration open. And that’s never a bad thing.
This post was written by Stephanie Bora, a 4th year IID PhD student.
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