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[sciencegrad]

Something has been bugging me during my first year of grad school.  It appears that none of my cohort are very interested in our physical sciences subfield.  I've tried several times to start a conversation about anything tangentially related to our field in class, the lab, and during social events, but to no success.  If I ask what interests a particular student about his/her chosen specialty, they usually have a bland "I dunno" type of response.

It sounds like geeking out about one's field is pretty common based on what I see on these fora.  Maybe this is just a thing with STEM, but I somehow doubt it.  Will this change over time?  It feels strange not being able to get excited about developments in my field and its future possibilities with my fellow students.

[peppergal]

In my experience (so N=1), those who didn't "geek out" about our (not STEM) field in the first year of grad school didn't make it past (or sometimes even to) the Masters.

Try to find some kindred spirits in the cohorts ahead of you.  That's what I did (and I was also the only one of my cohort to finish the PhD).  I geeked out to my heart's content with some guys who were in the dissertation stage during my first year.  I learned scads of stuff from them that I wouldn't have otherwise learned, or learned much later.  And I also made good friends -- we all still get together for drinks and geeking out at conferences.

[scampster]

Something has been bugging me during my first year of grad school.  It appears that none of my cohort are very interested in our physical sciences subfield.  I've tried several times to start a conversation about anything tangentially related to our field in class, the lab, and during social events, but to no success.  If I ask what interests a particular student about his/her chosen specialty, they usually have a bland "I dunno" type of response.

I'm sorry OP, but if someone was asking me at a barbeque what interests me in my specialty, I would find them tedious (I have a STEM PhD). Sure, I think it is fun to talk about "Hey did you see that article on that cool thing?", but in the right context. Maybe your example was poorly chosen and not representative of how you try and engage your fellow students in conversation about the field, but there is also a reason that most of my social life in grad school revolved around people outside my department.

[goaswerfraiejen]

I can only speak for my humanities subfield, but in my experience you just can't shut us up about our subfield. Finding people to chat with about our specialties, however, is a different matter; in our department, you usually have to go outside your cohort for that.

[firnafth]

I know exactly what this is like, but I didn't cope with it very well. My enthusiasm for my subfield is quite intense and was generally not shared by members of my cohort, even for their own subfields. I remember a fascinating seminar on a topic I loved and trying to bring up how interesting I though it was with my office mate (who had also gone to the seminar); she shrugged her shoulders and looked back at her desk.

Eventually, after becoming quite lonely and even angry at some people for a while, I calmed down a bit and accepted my peers' lesser enthusiasm. However, I only managed to sate my desire to talk about stuff I liked by becoming heavily involved in a completely unrelated extracurricular activity.

[sciencegrad]

I'm sorry OP, but if someone was asking me at a barbeque what interests me in my specialty, I would find them tedious (I have a STEM PhD).

Well I wouldn't ask that type of question to someone with a PhD already; it's a bit better suited to new students just beginning to chose their niches.

I know exactly what this is like, but I didn't cope with it very well. My enthusiasm for my subfield is quite intense and was generally not shared by members of my cohort, even for their own subfields. I remember a fascinating seminar on a topic I loved and trying to bring up how interesting I though it was with my office mate (who had also gone to the seminar); she shrugged her shoulders and looked back at her desk.

Eventually, after becoming quite lonely and even angry at some people for a while, I calmed down a bit and accepted my peers' lesser enthusiasm. However, I only managed to sate my desire to talk about stuff I liked by becoming heavily involved in a completely unrelated extracurricular activity.

This might be what ends up happening to me.  I have my wife to geek out with, but it would be better if it was someone in my field.

[prof_gnu]

Here's the thing: much like scampster, I don't usually like to talk shop at social events.  This is partially because there are often spouses/significant others at said social events who are isolated by the shop talk and partially because I have other interests beside my work and I just spent all day thinking about the work stuff.  However, (and this is perhaps embarrassing) if you get me a little bit drunk and choose the right topics in my subfield, you won't be able to shut me up about them. 

[systeme_d_]

When I was in grad school in my humanities field, folks in my cohort couldn't keep quiet for five minutes about the stuff we loved.  Especially at social events.

I also advise the OP to try to find pals who are a bit ahead of him in the program.  Your cohort's lack of enthusiasm doesn't bode well for them, in my opinion, but mostly it's very sad.  Grad school is exactly the time and place for geeking out and bonding with others over it.

[scootinfruity]

Sciencegrad's wife here.  I put a sock on to protect anonymity since I do post here as well on occasion.

I just noticed this thread today--I didn't realize he'd posted here--but I can say that I've been to these social events and seen him try to talk about the field with is cohort.  My impression is that most of his cohort would rather sit around and complain about their department than engage in anything positive about the field.  Trust me, they are not trying to include me in any conversations most of the time!

I have a graduate degree from another field, and I remember geeking out all the time with the right group of folks.  I think Sciencegrad just hasn't found the right group.  There is one member of this group who likes to geek out, but you have to get him away from the other "complainers."  I've been telling him I don't think many of these folks will make it through the PhD.  Maybe the master's, but I can see a lot of them dropping out based on the level of apathy they show for their field.

Sciencegrad, however, is not too keen on sitting around and complaining.  He really is quite passionate about the field and loves to learn more beyond just what he's learning in class.  (I've learned quite a bit about his field because he loves to come home and teach me about what he learned in class and/or the lab that day...I just can't geek out beyond that since it's not my area.)

Just thought adding the perspective of a witness to these social gatherings might help clarify a few things.

[totoro]

I hate talking about my research and stuff like that in conversations with people. The question I dread most is "what are you working on?" I'm a full prof (social sciences) at a research intensive university. I've always been this way. I prefer talking about politics, other areas of science, pretty much anything. I'm also bad at open ended questions, like "what do you like about your field?"

[edmonddantes]

OP, I am really sorry to hear that you don't have anyone from your cohort to geek out with.

Who do you tell your field-specific jokes to?  One colleague and I go so far as to text message jokes to one another.  They're so nuanced that I can't imagine more than a handful of people would get them (and I seriously doubt that anyone else would find them funny).

In my social science sub-field we talk about the discipline in and outside of school.  As someone mentioned above, I try to move the conversation to something more general when SOs are out with us though.  And, come to think of it, at school we talk about other stuff, too, but we certainly geek out to our hearts delight.  That's part of what drew me to graduate school.

Hopefully this improves, or you find some way to change it.  Good luck.

[lohai0]

I entered with a cohort of 10. Two of us realized that we had a lot of passion for our area (rather than another closely related field) and started only talking about it with each other. (The only grad student who seemed to be like us defended in our first year.) By comps, 4 had left the program, and two were too behind on coursework to comp. Of the four of us that comped, only the two of us passed. We will probably lose another 2-3 this summer. Most of our cohort also has The Krazy. I guess my point is that this is mostly a temporary problem. We added doctoral minors to spend extra time away from even. Actually, I think my cohort is helping me get through faster...I think of graduation as a means of escape from them.

[sciencegrad]

edmonddantes:  Unfortunately, I don't have any field-specific jokes yet, but I'll work on it and see who responds well to them.

lohai0:  Your field is math, right?  If so, then perhaps it is inevitable to have a small number of passionate grad students.

The whole thing just seems so strange considering how many people were passionate in my undergrad (STEM and humanities).  In fact, it seems like both majors had about an equal proportion of excited students.

[lohai0]

edmonddantes:  Unfortunately, I don't have any field-specific jokes yet, but I'll work on it and see who responds well to them.

lohai0:  Your field is math, right?  If so, then perhaps it is inevitable to have a small number of passionate grad students.

The whole thing just seems so strange considering how many people were passionate in my undergrad (STEM and humanities).  In fact, it seems like both majors had about an equal proportion of excited students.

Math Ed. Sadly, much of my cohort were the stereotype (math grads who left other pure math PhD programs), so they were really excited about our math classes we take, but not so excited about math ed research. All but one of these students has moved on now. I would actually disagree with you about math grad students and passion-when I got my MA in math, the other grad students were extremely passionate about their various areas of math. Even though I passed my comps, that was one of the signals to me that I was in the wrong field.   

[wet_blanket]

I hate talking about my research and stuff like that in conversations with people. The question I dread most is "what are you working on?" I'm a full prof (social sciences) at a research intensive university. I've always been this way. I prefer talking about politics, other areas of science, pretty much anything. I'm also bad at open ended questions, like "what do you like about your field?"

I'm not a full prof, but same.  I don't like talking about myself in general, and that extends to my research.  But, I do in the right circumstances like talking about my field, for example some new paper that came out or talk I heard or whatever.  A couple of members of my cohort try to force everyday conversation into a conversation about the field - somebody's dating life or car troubles or travel plans will become a perfect example of XYZ theory.