I hope they are better mistakes. Today's mistakes suck.
I sit here on the 4th floor of the Folsom Library at RPI, overlooking the quad, with its trees and people waving and walking their respective ways. It's been about 3 months since I first stepped off the plane in Troy, NY, and I still remember that day pretty clearly.
Obviously, the steps I took off the tarmac that day were ones I should have been prepared for, given that I had an entire summer to prepare myself for it. Preparation is one thing. Implementation is something entirely different. It's what separates watching "Jackass" from actually landing in the hospital.
So it has come to pass that in the blink of an eye, I've been here for a while now. I once thought that the time it took to complete a Doctorate felt like an interminable amount of time. I've since come to re-evaluate that stance, having dipped my feet in the academic pool for long enough. The life of an academic is a rapid one in this stage, and with its flow leaves a lot of uncertainty in the air. In a profession that treasures good questions, it's often the questions outside of our research that can be the most damning.
When will I finish my PhD?
When will they figure out that I am in fact an idiot and tricked them into accepting me?
Where will I do a Post-Doc?
Who in their right mind would accept me as a Post-Doc in the first place?!
...am I missing the most valuable part of young life by spending it holed up in a lab?
Obviously, the steps I took off the tarmac that day were ones I should have been prepared for, given that I had an entire summer to prepare myself for it. Preparation is one thing. Implementation is something entirely different. It's what separates watching "Jackass" from actually landing in the hospital.
So it has come to pass that in the blink of an eye, I've been here for a while now. I once thought that the time it took to complete a Doctorate felt like an interminable amount of time. I've since come to re-evaluate that stance, having dipped my feet in the academic pool for long enough. The life of an academic is a rapid one in this stage, and with its flow leaves a lot of uncertainty in the air. In a profession that treasures good questions, it's often the questions outside of our research that can be the most damning.
When will I finish my PhD?
When will they figure out that I am in fact an idiot and tricked them into accepting me?
Where will I do a Post-Doc?
Who in their right mind would accept me as a Post-Doc in the first place?!
...am I missing the most valuable part of young life by spending it holed up in a lab?
RSS Feed