‘Should I quit my PhD?’ is a question many doctoral students face but few dare to voice. In her column, Isabelle Kohler explores why this decision feels so taboo, reflects on her own moments of doubts as a PhD student, and offers practical support for anyone wrestling with this question.

More than once during my PhD, I considered quitting. There were periods where I spent days troubleshooting my instrument without success, felt overwhelmed by the number of tasks, or completely drained by my daily 3h-commute. More than once, I found myself sobbing in the toilets, wondering whether I simply wasn’t smart enough for a PhD and whether leaving would be the right choice. I thought about alternatives, about other paths my life could take. For me, that alternative was working in a pharmacy – which was the path I had escaped by choosing to embark on a PhD journey. Eventually, I stayed and graduated – supported by my great team of supervisors, mentors, and colleagues. Yet I never spoke to my supervisors about these doubts. It was only later that I realized that this silence wasn’t helping me nor academia in general.