Every PhD is different. The one universal thing about every PhD is those dreaded committee meetings.

In hindsight, here are some of the things I wish someone had told me when I was starting out.

Pick your committee wisely. A privilege of being a graduate student that most people don’t recognize is that you truly have some of the greatest scientists in your field at your disposal. It is their job to guide you and to help you, don’t let that chance go (in no other career stage will you get this opportunity). Pick individuals who come from diverse fields (might not necessarily be your main thesis scope) so they can give you perspectives and suggestions you might not have thought of.

Your committee is genuinely here to help you. Committee meetings are pretty rough- take those criticisms and use them to your advantage!! Let’s face it, you are obviously smart enough to have gotten into a PhD program and through the initial qualifying exams to have formed a committee for your PhD. I have realised that for a lot of PhD students, this ‘smartness’ contributes to their sense of self. There is no room where I don’t want to sound like I know everything because that is how I got to where I am. Turns out, your PhD committe meeting is one place where they will truly rip apart your thesis (and that is good). They don’t want to make you feel dumb, although that is how I normally feel. They know you don’t know everything, they just want to test your knowledge and critical thinking to understand how best they can help you shape your thesis. Trust them and let that ego go 🙂