Enrolling into grad school sounds like a good idea in theory—with eyes full of ambition, individuals hope to expand their horizons, learn something new, and work on the competencies they already have, all of which is great. But it’s when one starts reaching those goals that the reality kicks in in all its glory, often making them re-evaluate their decision.
When said reality brings grad students to the ground, few things might seem funny—or everything does, depending on the stress levels—but memes have the power to cheer up a student, even one on the brink of quitting. Such memes, dedicated to keep people going and provide solace in the fact that they’re not facing grad school-evoked hardships alone, are often shared on the ‘Grad School Memes With Relatable Themes’ Facebook group. We have put some of their best posts on this list for you today, so scroll down to find them, and see what challenges grad students face on their day-to-day (or take a moment to unwind if you are one of them yourself).
#1 Currently
Image credits: Hannah Duffy
#2 Hoping My Light Starts To Return After I Defend In 3 Weeks
Image credits: James Ojascastro
#3 Pure Gold
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#4 Relatable
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#5 I Was Definitely Not Doomscrolling When I Was Attacked This Way
Image credits: Jamie Molotov
#6 Remember: You Can Edit A Bad Paper, Not A Blank Page
Image credits: Jamie Molotov
#7 Why It’s So Difficult To Write With Your Advisor
Image credits: Eric Chauvin Quallen
#8 I Just Wanna Enjoy The Holidays Without Thinking About It
Image credits: Tony Cheng
#9 Mine Is Definitely Finishing Me
Image credits: Angie Jauregui
#10 The Disappointment Is Felt
Image credits: Taylor Burrell
#11 Bold Of You To Assume I Had Either Of Those Things To Begin With
Image credits: Julie Elizabeth
#12 Spoiler: It Was Not
Image credits: David Hontz
#13 Under Length With Only One Point, Sounds About Right
Image credits: Charanjot Singh
#14 So Glad To Be Doing It In My Dissertation
Image credits: Aline Muratore
#15 Still Cringing From A Year Ago
Image credits: Tony Cheng
#16 When All Else Fails, Use This Powerful Combo
Image credits: Nucleic Noodles
#17 Me Looking At My Thesis Edits
Image credits: Neal Alonzo
#18 Laughs/Cries In First-Year Prelims
Image credits: Katrina Finkelstein
#19 My Amazing Friend Submitted A Grant & Became A Phd Candidate This Month, So I Took Her To Get A Professional Massage Yesterday. She Got To The Part Of The Form Where It Asks Where You Feel Discomfort:
Image credits: Siara Rouzer
#20 No My Thesis Will Not Include 7 Journal Papers
Image credits: Lena Downes
#21 I Feel Seen
Image credits: Katrina Finkelstein
#22 And Her Fans Insist On Calling Her Dr. Swift
Image credits: Chan Narula
#23 Naughtayy
Image credits: Maushumi B
#24 Quantitative Researchers Looking At Their Quantitative Data
Image credits: Chris Nguyen
#25 Why Does This Make So Much Sense
Image credits: Deema Yousef
#26 Rude
Image credits: Ren Carmichael
#27 It’s “Break It Down Yo” Not “Watch As I Break Down, Bro”
Image credits: Erika Trinidad
#28 I Am The Maker Of My Own Problems
Image credits: Tony Cheng
#29 Wait You Guys Get Helpful Edits? I Don’t Understand
Image credits: Tess James
#30 Facts
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#31 Why Is This So Accurate
Image credits: Sethaniel Bradley
#32 I Thoght This Could Fit In Here
Image credits: Amelie Ya Deau
#33 It’s That Time Of Year Again
Image credits: Tony Cheng
#34 This Is Too Real
Image credits: Adam Edward Madar
#35 I Can’t Wait For That Glorious Day
Image credits: Néïsha Pierre
#36 November In Grad School Am I Right
Image credits: Emma Margaret Morton
#37 This Was Once Revealed To Me In A Dream
Image credits: Emery Spike Lawrence
#38 This Seems To Check Out
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#39 Me
Image credits: Sara Gilliland
#40 Got Me
Image credits: Jordy Ildvad
#41 I Got This From A Friend So I’m Not Sure If It’s Been On This Page Before But It Cracked Me Up
Image credits: Sarah Ga
#42 My Thoughts In Cursive
Image credits: David Hontz
#43 How I’m Feeling As I Enter My Fifth Year Of The Phd
Image credits: Brittany Smart
#44 I Support This Wholeheartedly
Image credits: Maushumi B
#45 So True
Image credits: Tony Cheng
#46 My Issue Is That I Download Them And Then Never Read Them
Image credits: Emery Spike Lawrence
#47 It Do Be Like That
Image credits: Amie Paige
#48 Guilty As Charged
Image credits: Chris Nguyen
#49 Dear Professor, I’m Certain You Will Hate Me Immediately, But As Per My Last Email
Image credits: Spencer Cortney
#50 Whenever I Have A Paper Due, I’m Suddenly Very Interested In Random And Completely Unrelated Things
Image credits: Jamie Molotov
#51 Me To My Reviewers After I Received Comments For Edits And Changes To My Thesis For My Mpa Program
Image credits: Caleb Weeks
#52 100 Percent Me
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#53 Need To Get A Few Of These
Image credits: Chan Narula
#54 I’m Still On Step One And My Advisor Is Trying To Convince Me To Get A Phd
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#55 Who Else
Image credits: Constance Lin
#56 I’m Catman
Image credits: Chan Narula
#57 It Really Hit Home
Image credits: Kenzie Hurley
#58 Facts
Image credits: Sarah Ga
#59 But Its Different
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#60 Hey Brain, It Was Your Idea So Pull Your Own Weight Plz. Poor Liver Is Really Taking A Beating Cuz Of You
Image credits: Tony Cheng
#61 Go To Grad School They Said It’ll Be Fun They Said
Image credits: Néïsha Pierre
#62 Going To Watch The Bbc Pride And Prejudice For The Seventh Time
Image credits: Lesley Frew
#63 As The Only 7th Year In My Department, I Can Confirm
Image credits: Rachel Elaine
#64 Oh No. I Hope To One Day Cite My Own Work. Halfway There At Least
Image credits: David Hontz
#65 Courtesy Of Llamaposting
Image credits: Victoria Elise Renovitch
#66 When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Survive Off Easy Mac And Cheap Beer
Image credits: JM Day
#67 It’s Coming
Image credits: Samantha Cassel
#68 I Wish I Had Thought Of This Years Ago
Image credits: Bella Jules
#69 Got My Halloween Costume All Picked Out
Image credits: Maddie Lee
#70 Find U A Partner Who Speaks To U Like This
Image credits: Taryn Gustafson
#71 It Took Me 4 Years To Finish My Master’s Thesis Bc Of This
Image credits: Sarah Ga
#72 And That’s On Being 3 Weeks Away From My Candidacy Exam
Image credits: Sarah Ga
#73 Everyone’s Dissertation, Apparently
Image credits: Thomas Hathaway
#74 Why Does This Hurt?
Image credits: Raelly W. Alvarez Morales
#75 The Children Have Returned To Campus And Now My Elevator Wait Times Have Skyrocketed Again
Image credits: Jake Perez