Sometimes I stumble upon websites that describe what grad school is like. They may do it to inspire/scare future grad students or give support to current students. Sometimes I have felt good because someone else seemed to know what it is like, and I'm not alone with my problems.

However, (too) often the websites/articles take the "universal truths about grad school" approach. They exaggerate, see things black and white, assume all students and universities (and professors) are the same and so on. They may say as a grad student you will never have any free time or any friends and you can't trust your advisor - or they may say you'll get tons of friends and the advisor is your best friend. And many other things.

In my experience there's a huge diversity in what grad students do, where their motivation comes from and what their problems are. There can be good specific solutions for specific problems (as in many threads on this forum) but otherwise "support" can be even misleading.

Do you think the general image of what PhD students are like is wrong? What kind of support would you have wanted when you started? Do you have this same experience - as I do - that the variety of paths through the program make it difficult to make generalizations?

I never got to grips with publishing and visiting conferences, I'm afraid to say. And now I should focus on completing my dissertation. I've attended two academic conferences, I presented a paper in each (first was based on my own project, from which I developed the idea for the dissertation, second was about an RA research project unrelated to my dissertation). I haven't published elsewhere.

One reason for this situation is that while I was technically an RA for the university for years, I worked at a private research facility affiliated with the university, thus results were proprietary and couldn't be published. So, even though I have years of practical research experience in my field, I don't have almost any publications to prove it (if someone is after such proof).

In my experience there is no one correct way to write a literary review - and there is a surprising diversity in how theses are structured. I'd suggest you should ask your advisor/supervisor.

I didn't have any and I got in without problems.

Hi everyone, this is my first forum post and I've found this site really insightful and helpful. Thank you.

I am a doctoral candidate at a major U.S. university, in my fifth year of the PhD program. I have passed all coursework and both qualifying and preliminary exams without problems and I have a very good committee with top professionals in my field (which is related to information science). My dissertation proposal was accepted without revisions (and with very positive comments) last year. I generally believe in my topic, I think it has potential to make major contribution and it is exciting. In principle.

However, there are problems. Due to my unfavorable loan terms, I have to pay back my loan now and work to meet monthly payments - I have a contract with my employer that I work four days a week. I hate my industry job. My research is not progressing at all, I should be collecting data via experiments (user testing) which involves a lot of planning. I've been diagnosed with depression. I feel desperate and I have lost focus and I feel my topic is way too trivial, I have hard time believing my committee when they say this is actually super cool and important.

I have made two publications along the years (at minor but legit conferences), one of them is kind of related to my research. I have been a research assistant for four years, however mostly at a private research facility affiliated with the university, so I was not allowed to publish anything, and it didn't contribute to my (thesis) research. I needed to get the tuition waiver so I didn't really have a choice! Now I fear that this arrangement and current situation either prevents me from completing my PhD or at least prevents a real academic career (postdoc, tenure etc.).

It has been a very long road to get this far. I don't want to quit. Please offer some advice. I'll be happy to answer any questions.