I’ll skip over the details between year 3 and the present (year whatever), because (1) word limits and (2) the details differ, but the story is the same: graduate school can be a harrowing, soul-crushing, and potentially isolating experience. I mean every word of that sentence. Before you know it, you begin planning experiments with an attitude that things are bound to fail. Funding and TAships are limited and, besides, some researcher with more funding and resources is bound to “scoop” you at any moment.