My tweets that got the most replies (400+ each) in 2020:
π€ What’s the origin story of you doing your PhD dissertation topic?
π€ Okay, fess up, everyone. Who has PhD parent(s)?
π€ What got you to finish your PhD? What kinds of intrinsic and external motivation were important to you? What helped?
π€ What’s a thing you’re really great at but no one would know it looking at your academic CV?
And here are the next five, that each got 300+ replies:
π€ What do your parents think about your PhD?
π€ I thanked my favourite band in my PhD dissertation acknowledgements. Who, or what, did you thank that is perhaps surprising?
π€ What skills did your PhD help you refine? (You can’t say research, writing, or teaching — something more specific!)
π€ Tell me what you learned about money while in academia.
π€ What’s a thing about academia or grad school that seemed totally regular at the time but now you realize was pretty weird?
Fun!