EPTDon't know if I'll carry it through. Have a long way ahead of me.
What is a PhD? - Page 6
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Ilikestarcraft
Korea (South)17743 Posts
Don't know if I'll carry it through. Have a long way ahead of me. | ||
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fearus
China2164 Posts
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theSAiNT
United States726 Posts
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1366 | ||
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Amber[LighT]
United States5078 Posts
On September 14 2010 12:00 Nomak wrote: Have you considered teaching? You can have an additional job teaching online courses. Their popularity has grown quite a bit and you can earn some extra income for those times when things are rough. It only takes about 30-60 minutes a night (per course) and can be done while watching SC2 streams!  Unless you are seeking employment in Academia, or a research role, a PhD will not help that much. If anything, it could hinder your search because of the stereotype that some people have about someone with a PhD. Be sure it will fit with your goals before spending the next few years collecting loans! Yah that's why it's a long-term thing. I always wanted to be a teacher (ex-Math Teaching major turned Poli Sci... wtf? lol) I don't know what the process is with regards to becoming a teacher. I always assumed you needed a certain level of education before you could become a professor or an adjunct at least. It's actually pretty funny I thought I wasn't going to have my job until the end of the year so I started applying for substitute positions at the local school districts so I could at least do something with my time  | ||
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illu
Canada2531 Posts
On September 14 2010 22:25 Amber[LighT] wrote: Yah that's why it's a long-term thing. I always wanted to be a teacher (ex-Math Teaching major turned Poli Sci... wtf? lol) I don't know what the process is with regards to becoming a teacher. I always assumed you needed a certain level of education before you could become a professor or an adjunct at least. I think you need a B.Edu. to teach highschools. Universities don't give a damn, though. | ||
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Slardar
Canada7596 Posts
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Amber[LighT]
United States5078 Posts
On September 14 2010 22:26 illu wrote: I think you need a B.Edu. to teach highschools. Universities don't give a damn, though. Well I was sure you didn't just walk into the head of the departments office and say "I want to teach so-and-so." Seems like anybody could/should do that. Might go visit some old professors now... | ||
Heyoka
Katowice25012 Posts
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EternaLEnVy
Canada513 Posts
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Iranon
United States983 Posts
On September 14 2010 12:06 RosaParksStoleMySeat wrote: Anyway, in my experience in a Ph.D. program, it has to be pure intrinsic motivation. There is no way that you will survive a Ph.D. program without a simple desire to satisfy your hunger for more knowledge about the subject. Getting a Ph.D. for economic reasons, to command respect from others, or to prove a point to yourself is incredibly irresponsible. It's just terrible reasoning for going to graduate school, and leads nowhere. Yeah, this sounds about right. As does the OP. As a PhD student in pure math, I couldn't be happier doing what I'm doing now. I don't really care about society; I really don't care about money. I do care about knowledge and ideas. Every day, I wake up and learn as much as I can, and somebody pays me (enough to pay bills and eat and stuff) to do so. That's gorram fantastic. I pretty much just want to be the academic equivalent of George Mallory, the British guy who died on top of Everest in 1924 and is (perhaps apocryphally) quoted as saying he wanted to climb Everest "because it's there". In regards to the miniature war going on in this thread over the relative value of PhDs in different fields -- that's silly. I get the whole "my field is better than yours" thing, but really, who cares? Let's just all be glad we're academics. To the people working in a pure field, high five, we probably see the world through similar lenses. To the people working in an applied field, high five, I'm glad someone is doing the work you do. To the people working in the humanities... enjoy, I guess? To the people working in economics, I do not understand you, you soulless husks... | ||
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MiraMax
Germany532 Posts
On September 14 2010 22:35 Iranon wrote: Yeah, this sounds about right. As does the OP. As a PhD student in pure math, I couldn't be happier doing what I'm doing now. I don't really care about society; I really don't care about money. I do care about knowledge and ideas. Every day, I wake up and learn as much as I can, and somebody pays me (enough to pay bills and eat and stuff) to do so. That's gorram fantastic. I pretty much just want to be the academic equivalent of George Mallory, the British guy who died on top of Everest in 1924 and is (perhaps apocryphally) quoted as saying he wanted to climb Everest "because it's there". In regards to the miniature war going on in this thread over the relative value of PhDs in different fields -- that's silly. I get the whole "my field is better than yours" thing, but really, who cares? Let's just all be glad we're academics. To the people working in a pure field, high five, we probably see the world through similar lenses. To the people working in an applied field, high five, I'm glad someone is doing the work you do. To the people working in the humanities... enjoy, I guess? Yeah, pretty much this. Did my phd in applied math, am currently working as an assistant prof for operations research in a business school and enjoy it very much. High five! On September 14 2010 22:35 Iranon wrote: To the people working in economics, I do not understand you, you soulless husks... Oh ... nvm .. :-$ | ||
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Tinsil
19 Posts
Not like the whole "they're book smart but have no common sense".. no I mean just flat dumb. Like, I have no idea how anyone like them would get a PhD | ||
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Random()
Kyrgyz Republic1462 Posts
I was always more of an engineering type of person, and not someone who enjoys gaining knowledge for the sake of gaining knowledge. My motivation wasn't that pure either, for me this was pretty much the best chance to get out of my country. I am indeed from Kyrgyz Republic, and the best thing I could hope to do there with my set of skills is to be writing some super-boring accounting software or out-sourced dating sites. I thought that a PhD from a decent English university beats a masters from an obscure Kyrgyz university any day for any job application even if I decided not to stay in academia or in the UK. My experience turned out to be much better than I could hope for. The area in which I ended up doing my work happened to be somewhere between electronic engineering and computing science, exactly what I enjoy. I could do a lot of practical stuff as opposed to the purely theoretical research that I expected. I don't consider myself to be particularly bright, which was one of the reasons that I had doubts applying for a PhD, but in the end I feel that my work was indeed a good contribution to my field, very much like the picture in the original post. My supervisor and my colleagues all turned out to be wonderful and exceptionally smart people, so just being around them was a great experience in itself, as was the opportunity to meet intelligent/funny/weird people from all around the world. Of course it was hard at times, with all the writing I was expected to do and me being naturally lazy. But in the end I don't regret my decision to do a PhD in the slightest | ||
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Deadlyhazard
United States1177 Posts
On September 14 2010 22:52 Tinsil wrote: I know a few who have phds that are dumb as hell. Not like the whole "they're book smart but have no common sense".. no I mean just flat dumb. Like, I have no idea how anyone like them would get a PhD Because effort means more than anything else. I've seen incredibly untalented drawers become great concept artists and painters, myself (from pure practice). I enjoy seeing that, unless the dumb person in question is holding a career that can threaten people's lives (i.e. emergency doctor). | ||
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Tien
Russian Federation4447 Posts
On September 14 2010 22:35 Iranon wrote: I really don't care about money. To the people working in economics, I do not understand you, you soulless husks... Then who's money are you leeching off right now? | ||
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Klockan3
Sweden2866 Posts
You got it in finance, not economics. Different subjects. | ||
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ZeaL.
United States5955 Posts
On September 15 2010 00:25 Deadlyhazard wrote: Because effort means more than anything else. I've seen incredibly untalented drawers become great concept artists and painters, myself (from pure practice). I enjoy seeing that, unless the dumb person in question is holding a career that can threaten people's lives (i.e. emergency doctor). This is something I learned very early on in life, intelligence without effort is a waste while mediocre intellect with tremendous effort can often lead to great results. Oftentimes uncovering whats at the bleeding edge doesn't require too much intellect but rather a focused will on completing a relatively simple task. In that sense, you don't need to be super smart to get a PhD in biology/ochem if your PI gives you a well thought out experiment to do. BTW, EMTs and ER docs don't need to be extra smart. Stabilizing a patient in critical condition requires skills/knowledge most people don't have but as far as critical thinking goes its not that bad. | ||
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Servius_Fulvius
United States947 Posts
On September 14 2010 22:52 Tinsil wrote: I know a few who have phds that are dumb as hell. Not like the whole "they're book smart but have no common sense".. no I mean just flat dumb. Like, I have no idea how anyone like them would get a PhD I can only speak for my particular field (chem eng), but getting a PhD and doing research has less to do with how brilliant you are and more to do with how well you research. For us, that means failing. A lot. Let's say you design an experiment that is supposed to tell you something meaningful. You do the experiment and the results are not what you expected. So you go back, check all your math models and experiment equipment. You spend a few more weeks looking into it, thinking maybe you accomplished something different, and finally conclude that the particular testing method was bad. Finally, a full month later, you design the correct test. A lot of trial and error, and a lot of "proving one more way not to do something".In hindsight, you could recreate a couple years of results in a few weeks, but that's just the nature of research. "Dumb people", I'm guessing, are more fit to accept the constant failures that come with research. | ||
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Iranon
United States983 Posts
On September 15 2010 00:42 Tien wrote: Then who's money are you leeching off right now? A large university's money. I realize economists and accountants and such people are necessary for society to function. That does not mean I respect what they do and think of them as anything more than mindless drones in fancy suits who decided that a few decades of 80 hour weeks of drudgery followed by a comfortably early retirement is the best they can do with their lives. They are a necessary evil. | ||
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darmousseh
United States3437 Posts
1. I don't want to be a professor. I'm cool with teaching and all, but being a professor means dealing with government (unless you are fortunate and work at a private school), dealing with administration, and dealing with students. Now talking with students is pretty cool, but from what my professors tell me is that they rarely have free time at night since they are grading homework a lot of the time. 2. I don't want to do research. I think research is great, but again, I don't want to deal with government. Also I feel like research at universities are wasted to a great extent and that those people could provide a lot more benefit if the government didn't sponser any research and instead the private industry and non-profit groups researched instead. Insurance companies, hospitals, corporations have everything to gain and nothing to lose by supporting research, but it's being paid for by tax dollars instead of corporate profits. Also, in my field (math and economics) research is very slow and the likelihood that I could provide some huge insight is low 3. Low opportunity for great wages. Most professors start off with really low wages and it doesn't increase. Also young professors have a huge chance of losing their position in public universities due to budgeting. 4. Not how I want to spend 6-8 years of my life. I already did school for 16 years, if I want to learn something I can read a book or read about it online. I think those 4 were good enough for me to stick with my BS in computer science and math. Ironically, the smartest people in my classes are not the ones getting a PhD, mostly it's the ones who don't think they would get a job otherwise. | ||
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