Why Does Everyone Else Appear to Be Succeeding?

Why Does Everyone Else Appear to Be Succeeding? 

                                                                                                   

                                                                                                  —Steven G. Krantz

 

When you are a student, it will appear that

• Everyone else is breezing through their quals;
• Everyone else is getting a thesis advisor and a thesis problem with no effort and diving right into the work; 
• Everyone else is making great headway on their thesis problem;
• Everyone else is solving their problem and writing a great thesis; 
• Everyone else is getting lots of job offers and going on to great careers. 

After you have graduated and you have been in the profession for a while, it will appear that 

• Everyone else is getting invited to all of the big conferences;
• Everyone else has lots of research grants;
• Everyone else is winning Sloan Fellowships;
• Everyone else is getting invited to speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians; 
• Everyone else is getting the plum jobs.

When you are a senior member of the profession, it will seem that

• Everyone else is getting elected to the National Academy of Sciences;

• Everyone else is getting a Chair Professorship at Harvard;

• Everyone else is winning the Wolf Prize;

• Everyone else is getting the Steele Prize. 

And on it goes.