>>13747327don't. I wanted to point out that it's a false dichotomy to think you either party/socialize or be smart/intelligent/discover something, you can and should do both to some degree. It doesn't mean my life is perfect or great by any means, I was an alcoholic throughout most of my 20s and by the end also was addicted to oxys and hydros. Not great. It's gotten a hell of a lot better and I'm in the best place of my life I've ever been in, but my point is that you shouldn't compare your whole spectrum of life to some random internet stranger's cliffnotes of the good times. Be happy you're you, warts and all, and realize that tomorrow, or even right now, there are limitless trajectories you could put yourself on just by doing any one thing. Your past does not dictate what you have to do tomorrow. That's a decision you make when tomorrow comes.
>>13747346in bio fields and related, we have a direct-to-phd route that takes 5-6 years. I know some other fields require a 2 year masters and then a ~3 year PhD, our programs basically just compress the masters/phd into one thing. For example, our first 2 years is almost exactly like a masters (classes, and a thesis proposal which we will then go on to execute for our PhD), and if we up-and-leave after defending our thesis proposal but before finishing our PhD, we leave with a masters (we call it mastering-out).
