You will be competing with other high-calibre students for scholarships and fellowships, the majority of which you will not win. You will also need to publish. A great deal of work will go into developing articles only to have many of them rejected. Once you enter the job market, you will put together lengthy job applications to apply for positions for which there may be dozens of applicants.A key part of being an academic involves learning to persevere in the face of uncertainty, failure and rejection. Everyone is in the same boat.