Thinking about it, i think growing up and being told all these stories about "exceptional" people who could bypass the normal channels and do cool and exciting research without ever having to worry about funding or other financial concerns really set me up for disappointment.
yeah. it makes you expect special breaks or miracles because you're passionate or talented. In reality your best bet is to be incredibly good at mind-numbing paperwork and somehow never get fatigued by infinite rejections all while being financially stable enough to put in the time needed for this, and be talented and engaging enough whoever might be supplying support will like you. Academia is insane because it was set up to deny interesting research and be a cover for rich people's kid's passions. Some people have fought their way through, but we need to rip it apart so actual good academic work can happen.
Thinking about it, i think growing up and being told all these stories about "exceptional" people who could bypass the normal channels and do cool and exciting research without ever having to worry about funding or other financial concerns really set me up for disappointment.
yeah. it makes you expect special breaks or miracles because you're passionate or talented. In reality your best bet is to be incredibly good at mind-numbing paperwork and somehow never get fatigued by infinite rejections all while being financially stable enough to put in the time needed for this, and be talented and engaging enough whoever might be supplying support will like you. Academia is insane because it was set up to deny interesting research and be a cover for rich people's kid's passions. Some people have fought their way through, but we need to rip it apart so actual good academic work can happen.