r/PhD↗
A global community for PhD holders and students
The goal of this community is to support PhD seekers and holders globally, fostering a thoughtful space for shared experiences, challenges, and growth. We aim to create a space for those navigating the journey of a PhD, offering support and insight from those who have been through it
293k subscribers1,402 posts / mo in Sep 20261,145 authors / mosince 2008
r/PhD has 293k members (+30% over the last 12 months). It gets about 1,402 posts a month from 1,145 people. Top topics: PhD Burnout & Work-Life Balance, PhD Challenges & Support and PhD Defense Success Stories.
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How r/PhD has grown
Subscriber growth
Subscribers over time
Monthly activity
Posts, comments and authors per month
Topics and brands on r/PhD
Top topics
Share of the subreddit's posts
- PhD Burnout & Work-Life Balance9.1%
- PhD Challenges & Support5.2%
- PhD Defense Success Stories4.8%
- Academia vs Industry4.7%
- PhD Finances & Life3.9%
Brands people mention
Most-mentioned brands and sites, last 12 months
- Nature
- Wolfram
- Doi
- arXiv.org e-Print archive
Everything else about r/PhD
Posting rules and account requirements, how often posts get removed, who writes here (age, gender, countries), what people ask for, how they talk, and related subreddits — all in the full report.
Posts and activity for Sep 2026. Members from Reddit's subscriber counts. Read from the same data the app runs on. Our research