25 PhD Feels All Doctoral Students Have

*Mairi Young is a PhD student at the University of Glasgow, researching why people are scared of the dentist (sort of). She is also a foodie and self-confessed junk food lover, blogging over at The Weegie Kitchen.*

- Having to explain to your Mum, for the fiftieth time, no you’re not writing an essay.
- Having to explain to your Mum, yet again, that a Viva is not just an exam.
- Having to explain to your Mum a PhD *is* a *real job.*
- Asking your Mum to just stop asking about your PhD.
- Sneaking out Leaving the office at 6pm and feeling guilty.
- That twinge of guilt over the sheer amount of paper you print on a weekly basis.
- Feeling sad that you’ve single-handedly destroyed a rainforest by doing a Systematic Literature Review.
- Bringing your laptop and papers home for the weekend/holidays/trip abroad (tick all that apply) but never actually opening the bag and feeling its judgmental glare the entire time so you can’t fully relax.

!Source: PHD comics - Batch cooking on a Sunday for the week ahead and feeling like you have won at life because you’re so organised. - Eating microwaved lasagne for lunch and dinner for the 4th day running and wondering why you ever thought batching cooking was a good idea. - Quietly loathing the postdocs who can afford fancy ready meals for lunch. - Hating compulsory seminars. - Attending compulsory seminars because offer free sandwiches and it’s an escape from microwaved lasagne for the 5th day running. - Stocking up on free sandwiches at free seminars.

!Source: PHD Comics - Feeling flush when you buy prosecco from Aldi. - Eating crisps in the office by placing each crisp on your tongue and patiently waiting for it to dissolve because you don’t wanna be that person. - Feeling super smart when you use words like epistemology and ontology. - Feeling like a dunce when you have to explain the meaning of these words. - Writing your acknowledgements page and wiping away a tear because it’s very Gwyneth Paltrow at the Oscars circa 1999. - Watching as your office uniform goes from suit jacket to hoodies swiftly in the final six months (or the first six weeks). - Its 3 months till completion and you can’t remember the last time you ate a vegetable.

![Source: ) - Applying for post-doc positions with a 37.5-hour working week and realising (very soon) you will no longer have to work an 80-hour week. - Daydreaming about all the productive things you’ll do with these extra 40 hours a week. - Realising you’ll probably just use it to catch up on sleep and your laundry pile. - Realising that postdocs work an 80-hour week too.