I'm going to start my Ph.D. in Chemistry this Fall, at Texas A&M University. Don't know if there is anyone here at TAMU or going to join TAMU soon, lol.
Anyway, one of the professor here game me a really insightful thought of what is PhD He said that undergraduate study and below is a teaching to a group of people, but a PhD is about teaching a person as an individual, tailoring him/her in a way that would fit his/her characters. He also said that you need to be able to learn by yourself, not relying on other people to give you knowledge. I will bear those words in my mind when I start my study soon.
@0mar
I think people value different things. Many people value knowledge more than monetary gain, and they are already happy to do a hard work and push that boundary out a little bit more. Driving the same old car is not that bad, if you don't think it is bad in the first place (and if you really take a good care of your car).
This is my opinion from what I've experienced, seen, and talk to other grad students about.
I would say the OP is a common misconception for PhD's. Depending on WHAT you are going for a PhD in it varies GREATLY and the value of the PhD varies just as greatly. Some PhD are worthless as a Bachelors/Masters is just as good in that field. Other PhD's are well worth the 4-5 years spent as its so much better then the bachelors and masters.
For some its all about classes and learning...that's it. Others(namely engineering) are based on research and not on classes.
I'm currently working on my PhD in Materials Science and Engineering and based on what I've seen it can be quite different for every person. Some people ARE super insanely focused like in the OP, but most are much much less focused. I am probably one of the least focused as my PhD is extremely broad working on biomedical, electronic, and aerospace devices using steel, zirconia, titanium, nitinol, and diamond powder processing/cvd/mechanical testing, etc.
The reason for this broadening is due to the research(cheap labor) focus. You are an employee working cheap instead of a student(even though you are technically a student). Due to this your entire time getting a PhD is based on the funding you have for projects and most people will work on 2-4 differently funded projects during their PhD career and they are almost never similar.
^I wholeheartedly agree with the 2 posts above LegendaryZ & akalarry's posts. Of course I wouldn't get a PhD thinking I'll make tons of money. That's why I'm focusing on politics and international law (being a lawyer); the double major in philosophy is because I'm fascinated by it.
Why do I want to get the PhD? Self-realization, being able to say that, besides "selling my soul as a lawyer/politician", I achieved something in the field I'm most passionate about. Why, then, do I study law? Because I like it. I like studying the law and I'm fascinated by politics and the political behavior of different peoples; however, while I do enjoy both--and it's clear the studies are not exclusive from one another--,it's obvious which career path is most-likely to keep me fed. You know, what would be great? Landing a job in which I can combine both. How likely is this? I'm pretty sure everyone can imagine how miniscule the opportunities are, but that doesn't mean there are none.
On August 07 2011 14:25 Cr4zyH0r5e wrote: ^I wholeheartedly agree with the 2 posts above LegendaryZ & akalarry's posts. Of course I wouldn't get a PhD thinking I'll make tons of money. That's why I'm focusing on politics and international law (being a lawyer); the double major in philosophy is because I'm fascinated by it.
Why do I want to get the PhD? Self-realization, being able to say that, besides "selling my soul as a lawyer/politician", I achieved something in the field I'm most passionate about. Why, then, do I study law? Because I like it. I like studying the law and I'm fascinated by politics and the political behavior of different peoples; however, while I do enjoy both--and it's clear the studies are not exclusive from one another--,it's obvious which career path is most-likely to keep me fed. You know, what would be great? Landing a job in which I can combine both. How likely is this? I'm pretty sure everyone can imagine how miniscule the opportunities are, but that doesn't mean there are none.
Well I'm certain there's bound to be jobs out there where you could combine legal advice with ethics or something along those lines. Doesn't hurt to look, I suppose.
Is anyone getting a PhD in math? I've always wondered what happens if you show up to your PhD program and they give a few problems and you simply don't get it. Just can't add any meaningful insight, do they give you a new problem? Can you flunk out if you can't come up with something original? I feel like in the sciences you can do research and put together observations from experiments and whatnot, what do you do in math if you can't pull something from your intellect?
On August 07 2011 14:16 Veldril wrote: I'm going to start my Ph.D. in Chemistry this Fall, at Texas A&M University. Don't know if there is anyone here at TAMU or going to join TAMU soon, lol.
Anyway, one of the professor here game me a really insightful thought of what is PhD He said that undergraduate study and below is a teaching to a group of people, but a PhD is about teaching a person as an individual, tailoring him/her in a way that would fit his/her characters. He also said that you need to be able to learn by yourself, not relying on other people to give you knowledge. I will bear those words in my mind when I start my study soon.
@0mar
I think people value different things. Many people value knowledge more than monetary gain, and they are already happy to do a hard work and push that boundary out a little bit more. Driving the same old car is not that bad, if you don't think it is bad in the first place (and if you really take a good care of your car).
Still, saying the money doesn't matter is simply doe-eyed idealism. Money does matter because your expenses go up as you mature. Living in a dingy apartment when you are 35 or 40 is a lot different than when you are 22. If you ever get married or enter a long-term relationship, you need to have stability. In the research sciences, you are a wandering scientist with no real ties until you secure that first job. You are on contract until the project ends or the grant money dries up.
My brother did a PhD in Chemistry and he absolutely regrets it to this day. His only options right now are dead-end post docs at MIT. Yes, you read that right. Even in chemistry, there's a huge glut of PhDs. You need to put out absolutely outstanding work which is all luck anyways, it's all dependent on what's hot in the field and what project you actually get.
I was in your position. I said to myself, money doesn't matter, as long as I get enough to live on, I'll be happy. Well, that was an extremely immature attitude because now my car is breaking down, my apartment rent has gone up twice in two years, gas, food and all these other things are increasing in price and our stipend didn't go up this year again due to budget problems. The best I could hope for by finishing my PhD was a dead-end postdoc slaving away for 60+ hours a week. Then in 4+ years, I could try my hand at jobs in industry (lol 200 applicants per job, yea fucking right) or professorships. You can go adjunct faculty, which basically means you teach 5-7 classes and get paid about 6k per class for the entire year. You won't hear this from any of your professors, you have to find this out yourself. Spend a day on google to look at your career choices after the PhD. That's why I quit my PhD because furthering knowledge doesn't mean shit if you can't even earn a middle class wage. It won't hurt right now, but in 3 years, when you are slaving away for the 3rd night in a row, at 12am, you'll realize that a fucking bus driver makes twice as much as you do, works half as much and can actually take a vacation now and then.
Leaving the PhD was the best decision I ever made. Medicine is far more rewarding, relevant and is well-compensated.
Doctors don't make that much money though :[
Doctors are very well compensated for the work they do. Your earning potential is only limited by the time you put in. You get paid by the patient/procedure, if you know the system. For example, charging for a 10 system check vs a 3 system check is a difference in about 5 minutes of work, but pays about triple depending on the insurance plan. You get paid a very nice salary as a doctor plus you have massive earning potential on top of that through clinic hours/procedure documentation/consulting.
Before anyone talks about the healthcare system and how it's so broken, doctors' compensation is a very small part of a very massive pie. If you don't make the career lucrative, then no one would want to be a doctor. You are talking about 4 years undergraduate, 4 years medical school, and at least 3 years as a resident. That's 11 years of training devoted solely to becoming a physician. Then, you are responsible for patient outcomes while any other profession is merely responsible for a small portion of a project (eg web designer, MBA, accounting). The responsibility that a physician has is in another galaxy by comparison. If anything, doctors should be compensated more. Your average doctor works 60 hours a week plus time to write notes, file paperwork and continuing his/her medical education as required by state boards in order to continue practicing.
On August 07 2011 15:23 n.DieJokes wrote: Is anyone getting a PhD in math? I've always wondered what happens if you show up to your PhD program and they give a few problems and you simply don't get it. Just can't add any meaningful insight, do they give you a new problem? Can you flunk out if you can't come up with something original? I feel like in the sciences you can do research and put together observations from experiments and whatnot, what do you do in math if you can't pull something from your intellect?
Now I will be always wondering this until someone replies haha. Intriguing question...I really wonder what would happen in that scenario :x
On August 07 2011 14:16 Veldril wrote: I'm going to start my Ph.D. in Chemistry this Fall, at Texas A&M University. Don't know if there is anyone here at TAMU or going to join TAMU soon, lol.
Anyway, one of the professor here game me a really insightful thought of what is PhD He said that undergraduate study and below is a teaching to a group of people, but a PhD is about teaching a person as an individual, tailoring him/her in a way that would fit his/her characters. He also said that you need to be able to learn by yourself, not relying on other people to give you knowledge. I will bear those words in my mind when I start my study soon.
@0mar
I think people value different things. Many people value knowledge more than monetary gain, and they are already happy to do a hard work and push that boundary out a little bit more. Driving the same old car is not that bad, if you don't think it is bad in the first place (and if you really take a good care of your car).
Still, saying the money doesn't matter is simply doe-eyed idealism. Money does matter because your expenses go up as you mature. Living in a dingy apartment when you are 35 or 40 is a lot different than when you are 22. If you ever get married or enter a long-term relationship, you need to have stability. In the research sciences, you are a wandering scientist with no real ties until you secure that first job. You are on contract until the project ends or the grant money dries up.
My brother did a PhD in Chemistry and he absolutely regrets it to this day. His only options right now are dead-end post docs at MIT. Yes, you read that right. Even in chemistry, there's a huge glut of PhDs. You need to put out absolutely outstanding work which is all luck anyways, it's all dependent on what's hot in the field and what project you actually get.
I was in your position. I said to myself, money doesn't matter, as long as I get enough to live on, I'll be happy. Well, that was an extremely immature attitude because now my car is breaking down, my apartment rent has gone up twice in two years, gas, food and all these other things are increasing in price and our stipend didn't go up this year again due to budget problems. The best I could hope for by finishing my PhD was a dead-end postdoc slaving away for 60+ hours a week. Then in 4+ years, I could try my hand at jobs in industry (lol 200 applicants per job, yea fucking right) or professorships. You can go adjunct faculty, which basically means you teach 5-7 classes and get paid about 6k per class for the entire year. You won't hear this from any of your professors, you have to find this out yourself. Spend a day on google to look at your career choices after the PhD. That's why I quit my PhD because furthering knowledge doesn't mean shit if you can't even earn a middle class wage. It won't hurt right now, but in 3 years, when you are slaving away for the 3rd night in a row, at 12am, you'll realize that a fucking bus driver makes twice as much as you do, works half as much and can actually take a vacation now and then.
Leaving the PhD was the best decision I ever made. Medicine is far more rewarding, relevant and is well-compensated.
Doctors are very well compensated for the work they do. Your earning potential is only limited by the time you put in. You get paid by the patient/procedure, if you know the system. For example, charging for a 10 system check vs a 3 system check is a difference in about 5 minutes of work, but pays about triple depending on the insurance plan. You get paid a very nice salary as a doctor plus you have massive earning potential on top of that through clinic hours/procedure documentation/consulting.
Before anyone talks about the healthcare system and how it's so broken, doctors' compensation is a very small part of a very massive pie. If you don't make the career lucrative, then no one would want to be a doctor. You are talking about 4 years undergraduate, 4 years medical school, and at least 3 years as a resident. That's 11 years of training devoted solely to becoming a physician. Then, you are responsible for patient outcomes while any other profession is merely responsible for a small portion of a project (eg web designer, MBA, accounting). The responsibility that a physician has is in another galaxy by comparison. If anything, doctors should be compensated more. Your average doctor works 60 hours a week plus time to write notes, file paperwork and continuing his/her medical education as required by state boards in order to continue practicing.
"dead-end post docs at MIT"
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL you have no idea what you are talking about. that is absolutely not dead end. if you can get a post doc at MIT you have a MASSIVE amount of opportunities ahead of you. not only can you work at corporate( ex. being a director at johnson and johnson or pfizer...etc), you can also get into business/consulting. management consulting at mckinsey? they LOVE people like that. maybe your position wasn't as good because you might've gone to a lesser school? (no hate, you're gonna be a doctor and make bank).
i'm curious you said youre gonna go to med school 2012? have you even gotten any interviews yet? (i don't even know the timing, i just know ppl start applying during the summer) or are you just assuming because of your scores/grades/ecs?
also "Medicine is far more rewarding, relevant and is well-compensated.". I agree with well-compensated. The other points just make you sound REALLY fucking bitter.
On August 07 2011 15:23 n.DieJokes wrote: Is anyone getting a PhD in math? I've always wondered what happens if you show up to your PhD program and they give a few problems and you simply don't get it. Just can't add any meaningful insight, do they give you a new problem? Can you flunk out if you can't come up with something original? I feel like in the sciences you can do research and put together observations from experiments and whatnot, what do you do in math if you can't pull something from your intellect?
Now I will be always wondering this until someone replies haha. Intriguing question...I really wonder what would happen in that scenario :x
You can always add something if you put in enough time, that's especially true for math. Assuming you have solid fundamentals and whatnot , to shorten it to a realistic time-frame.
On August 07 2011 14:16 Veldril wrote: I'm going to start my Ph.D. in Chemistry this Fall, at Texas A&M University. Don't know if there is anyone here at TAMU or going to join TAMU soon, lol.
Anyway, one of the professor here game me a really insightful thought of what is PhD He said that undergraduate study and below is a teaching to a group of people, but a PhD is about teaching a person as an individual, tailoring him/her in a way that would fit his/her characters. He also said that you need to be able to learn by yourself, not relying on other people to give you knowledge. I will bear those words in my mind when I start my study soon.
@0mar
I think people value different things. Many people value knowledge more than monetary gain, and they are already happy to do a hard work and push that boundary out a little bit more. Driving the same old car is not that bad, if you don't think it is bad in the first place (and if you really take a good care of your car).
Still, saying the money doesn't matter is simply doe-eyed idealism. Money does matter because your expenses go up as you mature. Living in a dingy apartment when you are 35 or 40 is a lot different than when you are 22. If you ever get married or enter a long-term relationship, you need to have stability. In the research sciences, you are a wandering scientist with no real ties until you secure that first job. You are on contract until the project ends or the grant money dries up.
My brother did a PhD in Chemistry and he absolutely regrets it to this day. His only options right now are dead-end post docs at MIT. Yes, you read that right. Even in chemistry, there's a huge glut of PhDs. You need to put out absolutely outstanding work which is all luck anyways, it's all dependent on what's hot in the field and what project you actually get.
I was in your position. I said to myself, money doesn't matter, as long as I get enough to live on, I'll be happy. Well, that was an extremely immature attitude because now my car is breaking down, my apartment rent has gone up twice in two years, gas, food and all these other things are increasing in price and our stipend didn't go up this year again due to budget problems. The best I could hope for by finishing my PhD was a dead-end postdoc slaving away for 60+ hours a week. Then in 4+ years, I could try my hand at jobs in industry (lol 200 applicants per job, yea fucking right) or professorships. You can go adjunct faculty, which basically means you teach 5-7 classes and get paid about 6k per class for the entire year. You won't hear this from any of your professors, you have to find this out yourself. Spend a day on google to look at your career choices after the PhD. That's why I quit my PhD because furthering knowledge doesn't mean shit if you can't even earn a middle class wage. It won't hurt right now, but in 3 years, when you are slaving away for the 3rd night in a row, at 12am, you'll realize that a fucking bus driver makes twice as much as you do, works half as much and can actually take a vacation now and then.
Leaving the PhD was the best decision I ever made. Medicine is far more rewarding, relevant and is well-compensated.
Doctors don't make that much money though :[
Doctors are very well compensated for the work they do. Your earning potential is only limited by the time you put in. You get paid by the patient/procedure, if you know the system. For example, charging for a 10 system check vs a 3 system check is a difference in about 5 minutes of work, but pays about triple depending on the insurance plan. You get paid a very nice salary as a doctor plus you have massive earning potential on top of that through clinic hours/procedure documentation/consulting.
Before anyone talks about the healthcare system and how it's so broken, doctors' compensation is a very small part of a very massive pie. If you don't make the career lucrative, then no one would want to be a doctor. You are talking about 4 years undergraduate, 4 years medical school, and at least 3 years as a resident. That's 11 years of training devoted solely to becoming a physician. Then, you are responsible for patient outcomes while any other profession is merely responsible for a small portion of a project (eg web designer, MBA, accounting). The responsibility that a physician has is in another galaxy by comparison. If anything, doctors should be compensated more. Your average doctor works 60 hours a week plus time to write notes, file paperwork and continuing his/her medical education as required by state boards in order to continue practicing.
"dead-end post docs at MIT"
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL you have no idea what you are talking about. that is absolutely not dead end. if you can get a post doc at MIT you have a MASSIVE amount of opportunities ahead of you. not only can you work at corporate( ex. being a director at johnson and johnson or pfizer...etc), you can also get into business/consulting. management consulting at mckinsey? they LOVE people like that. maybe your position wasn't as good because you might've gone to a lesser school? (no hate, you're gonna be a doctor and make bank).
i'm curious you said youre gonna go to med school 2012? have you even gotten any interviews yet? (i don't even know the timing, i just know ppl start applying during the summer) or are you just assuming because of your scores/grades/ecs?
also "Medicine is far more rewarding, relevant and is well-compensated.". I agree with well-compensated. The other points just make you sound REALLY fucking bitter.
Sorry to call you out but you seem like a troll. He clearly has an idea of what he is talking about, he was actually in the program. He has actual experience with what he's talking about while you seem content to pull stuff out of your.... you get it. The people who get the kind of jobs you mentioned are what he describes as lucky or outstanding. Sorry, this post kinda lacked substance, but it's kinda dumb to disagree with someone who has tangible experience when you have none.
On August 07 2011 14:16 Veldril wrote: I'm going to start my Ph.D. in Chemistry this Fall, at Texas A&M University. Don't know if there is anyone here at TAMU or going to join TAMU soon, lol.
Anyway, one of the professor here game me a really insightful thought of what is PhD He said that undergraduate study and below is a teaching to a group of people, but a PhD is about teaching a person as an individual, tailoring him/her in a way that would fit his/her characters. He also said that you need to be able to learn by yourself, not relying on other people to give you knowledge. I will bear those words in my mind when I start my study soon.
@0mar
I think people value different things. Many people value knowledge more than monetary gain, and they are already happy to do a hard work and push that boundary out a little bit more. Driving the same old car is not that bad, if you don't think it is bad in the first place (and if you really take a good care of your car).
Still, saying the money doesn't matter is simply doe-eyed idealism. Money does matter because your expenses go up as you mature. Living in a dingy apartment when you are 35 or 40 is a lot different than when you are 22. If you ever get married or enter a long-term relationship, you need to have stability. In the research sciences, you are a wandering scientist with no real ties until you secure that first job. You are on contract until the project ends or the grant money dries up.
My brother did a PhD in Chemistry and he absolutely regrets it to this day. His only options right now are dead-end post docs at MIT. Yes, you read that right. Even in chemistry, there's a huge glut of PhDs. You need to put out absolutely outstanding work which is all luck anyways, it's all dependent on what's hot in the field and what project you actually get.
I was in your position. I said to myself, money doesn't matter, as long as I get enough to live on, I'll be happy. Well, that was an extremely immature attitude because now my car is breaking down, my apartment rent has gone up twice in two years, gas, food and all these other things are increasing in price and our stipend didn't go up this year again due to budget problems. The best I could hope for by finishing my PhD was a dead-end postdoc slaving away for 60+ hours a week. Then in 4+ years, I could try my hand at jobs in industry (lol 200 applicants per job, yea fucking right) or professorships. You can go adjunct faculty, which basically means you teach 5-7 classes and get paid about 6k per class for the entire year. You won't hear this from any of your professors, you have to find this out yourself. Spend a day on google to look at your career choices after the PhD. That's why I quit my PhD because furthering knowledge doesn't mean shit if you can't even earn a middle class wage. It won't hurt right now, but in 3 years, when you are slaving away for the 3rd night in a row, at 12am, you'll realize that a fucking bus driver makes twice as much as you do, works half as much and can actually take a vacation now and then.
Leaving the PhD was the best decision I ever made. Medicine is far more rewarding, relevant and is well-compensated.
Doctors don't make that much money though :[
Doctors are very well compensated for the work they do. Your earning potential is only limited by the time you put in. You get paid by the patient/procedure, if you know the system. For example, charging for a 10 system check vs a 3 system check is a difference in about 5 minutes of work, but pays about triple depending on the insurance plan. You get paid a very nice salary as a doctor plus you have massive earning potential on top of that through clinic hours/procedure documentation/consulting.
Before anyone talks about the healthcare system and how it's so broken, doctors' compensation is a very small part of a very massive pie. If you don't make the career lucrative, then no one would want to be a doctor. You are talking about 4 years undergraduate, 4 years medical school, and at least 3 years as a resident. That's 11 years of training devoted solely to becoming a physician. Then, you are responsible for patient outcomes while any other profession is merely responsible for a small portion of a project (eg web designer, MBA, accounting). The responsibility that a physician has is in another galaxy by comparison. If anything, doctors should be compensated more. Your average doctor works 60 hours a week plus time to write notes, file paperwork and continuing his/her medical education as required by state boards in order to continue practicing.
"dead-end post docs at MIT"
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL you have no idea what you are talking about. that is absolutely not dead end. if you can get a post doc at MIT you have a MASSIVE amount of opportunities ahead of you. not only can you work at corporate( ex. being a director at johnson and johnson or pfizer...etc), you can also get into business/consulting. management consulting at mckinsey? they LOVE people like that. maybe your position wasn't as good because you might've gone to a lesser school? (no hate, you're gonna be a doctor and make bank).
i'm curious you said youre gonna go to med school 2012? have you even gotten any interviews yet? (i don't even know the timing, i just know ppl start applying during the summer) or are you just assuming because of your scores/grades/ecs?
also "Medicine is far more rewarding, relevant and is well-compensated.". I agree with well-compensated. The other points just make you sound REALLY fucking bitter.
Dude, I have firsthand experience. A postdoc at MIT is nothing to sneeze at, but it's also not a ticket to freedom. The last 6 people to graduate from this guy's lab all ended up crashing and burning as tenure track professors. A postdoc at MIT is a different matter than an undergraduate. My brother completed his PhD at UIC which is a great school for nanocrystallography. His mentor, Preston Snee, is an alum of some big shot in the field. You don't understand the competition out there to get a tenure track or even an industry position now. People are applying with 15, 20, 25 first author papers and getting rejected because the competition is so intense. It's coming down to the point where if you don't have 500+ aggregate citations, don't even think about getting a career in science.
While I was at Northwestern for my PhD, I saw dozens of postdocs stagnate in their positions because the competition is so fierce. I know a postdoc who had to go get his realty license because he couldn't get a job in science anymore. And he published 12 first author papers, including two in Nature Immunology. He told me he applied to about 120 jobs around the country, got two interviews and didn't get either job. So this incredibly bright guy is getting his realty license because his wife is sick of living on less than 35,000 a year. That's the job market right now.
And yes, I've already gotten interviews for med school. The good thing about grad school is that adcoms love the research experience, even if you don't have a degree.
And finally, yes, I am bitter because the PhD is a bill of fucking goods. No less than Nature is telling us that there is a glut of PhDs. You need to register to view the site, but it's there. I honestly wish I could go back in time and tell myself to avoid research science like the plague.
On August 07 2011 15:23 n.DieJokes wrote: Is anyone getting a PhD in math? I've always wondered what happens if you show up to your PhD program and they give a few problems and you simply don't get it. Just can't add any meaningful insight, do they give you a new problem? Can you flunk out if you can't come up with something original? I feel like in the sciences you can do research and put together observations from experiments and whatnot, what do you do in math if you can't pull something from your intellect?
Now I will be always wondering this until someone replies haha. Intriguing question...I really wonder what would happen in that scenario :x
Yes, if you are blocked on your current line of research, your advisor should help steer you in a more fruitful direction. Remember that this is the cutting edge of knowledge, so research going south is par for the course. Researchers are constantly hitting dead ends and trying out new things with little (positive, direct) results to show for their previous efforts.
However, if you're unable to make any progress at all on anything, that's the equivalent of not being able to do your job. You end up washing out, typically by not making adequate progress towards your degree. In the most obvious cases, you simply won't pass your qualifying exams. If you aren't making adequate progress on research, your advisor may stop funding you and you'll be forced to find a new one. In the worst case, you may stay on as the stereotypical nth-year phd student that doesn't make any progress towards their thesis and eventually leaves of their own volition.
EDIT: also, in theory-style fields like math and certain branches of computer science, there are all sorts of problems out there from the fields medal award-type to the incremental, build-on-previous approaches in a semi-obvious way-type. So unless you are completely unmotivated/unqualified for your discipline (rare if you were accepted to the program in the first place), there will be something for you to do.
On August 07 2011 21:50 indecision wrote: Anyone from Germany wanna chime in on this? I feel things are quite a bit different here, but I couldn't say for sure.
both working conditions while doing your phd and the future job prospects, both in industry and academia, depend heavily on the subject or field of research. certain stuff is almost overfunded right now, while subjects like the humanities are still running, as they have always been, quite low on money.
So the above videos are not recognizable at all for me. I am doing a PhD in math, specifically in optimization, and for me my counsiler already had a topic I was going to be doing research on. Ofcourse within that topic I still have a lot of freedom but whatever.
Either way mayby it is because all the topics in those videos are liberal arts etc. In which, unless you want to continue in academia, there is like no work to be found at all / has no use / is not actually researchable (hence they always refer to math etc.). Although that is already true for their respective bachelors / masters.
On August 07 2011 23:48 DisneylandSC wrote: So the above videos are not recognizable at all for me. I am doing a PhD in math, specifically in optimization, and for me my counsiler already had a topic I was going to be doing research on. Ofcourse within that topic I still have a lot of freedom but whatever.
Either way mayby it is because all the topics in those videos are liberal arts etc. In which, unless you want to continue in academia, there is like no work to be found at all / has no use / is not actually researchable (hence they always refer to math etc.). Although that is already true for their respective bachelors / masters.
A PhD in STEM fields is a very different experience from a PhD in non-STEM fields (i.e. humanities). It is, apparently, quite a miserable experience.
EPT
, to shorten it to a realistic time-frame.
