Tag Page UndergradBurnout

The Data Was Perfect. I Wasn't

Twenty-eight research organizations. Six countries. Thousands of whale turns analyzed. Everyone kept saying 'groundbreaking' and 'unprecedented for an undergrad.' I nodded, smiled, presented the findings like I had it all figured out. But nobody saw me at 3 AM, re-running analyses because I was terrified I'd missed something. The weight of being the lead on something this big—while my friends were worried about midterms, I was coordinating international datasets and trying not to disappoint an entire research community. The humpbacks turned out to be unique. Special. Irreplaceable. I spent months proving they were the only ones capable of this feeding strategy. The irony wasn't lost on me—here I was, supposedly irreplaceable too, leading this massive project, but feeling completely replaceable. Like any mistake would expose that I was just a kid pretending to be a scientist. Ph.D. starts in 2026. Everyone's excited. I'm terrified it'll be four more years of this. #Science #UndergradBurnout #ScienceAnxiety