EPTI went straight to industry, and while I'm not in a senior position yet, at 4 years in I've been getting paid pretty well (instead of accruing debt), I'm learning a lot, and I'm working at an exciting company with a lot of potential in the future. I feel like unless you are very passionate about a small sector of the field, incredibly talented, and really driven to work in academia or start a company based on your PhD research, a PhD is the wrong choice in this day and age. Just my $.02
Grad School: Biology PhD Part 1 - Page 3
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Rho_
United States971 Posts
I went straight to industry, and while I'm not in a senior position yet, at 4 years in I've been getting paid pretty well (instead of accruing debt), I'm learning a lot, and I'm working at an exciting company with a lot of potential in the future. I feel like unless you are very passionate about a small sector of the field, incredibly talented, and really driven to work in academia or start a company based on your PhD research, a PhD is the wrong choice in this day and age. Just my $.02 | ||
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Nymphaceae
United States350 Posts
On September 15 2012 06:53 Rho_ wrote: I'm actually pretty glad I didn't go for a PhD. I went to a highly ranked liberal arts college for my undergrad in Biology, and I have a lot of friends that went on to do PhD's in biology and chemistry. A lot of them seem to be regretting this choice. Academia is increasingly difficult as funding dries up due to budget shortfalls, and this creates a lot of stress. Furthermore, as the comic in OP illustrated, you focus really really specifically on something. What if you focus poorly? What if what you are studying turns out not to be that interesting/relevant? A lot of my friends report feeling like they are wasting their time, that they are less happy with their lives since starting their PhD, and that they feel their prospects are a lot weaker than when they began. I went straight to industry, and while I'm not in a senior position yet, at 4 years in I've been getting paid pretty well (instead of accruing debt), I'm learning a lot, and I'm working at an exciting company with a lot of potential in the future. I feel like unless you are very passionate about a small sector of the field, incredibly talented, and really driven to work in academia or start a company based on your PhD research, a PhD is the wrong choice in this day and age. Just my $.02 You get a phd for the education. Why else go to school? | ||
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Slaughter
United States20255 Posts
Side note tonight was the party for 1st year grad students and im drunk as fuck. | ||
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JieXian
Malaysia4677 Posts
On September 15 2012 06:53 Rho_ wrote: I'm actually pretty glad I didn't go for a PhD. I went to a highly ranked liberal arts college for my undergrad in Biology, and I have a lot of friends that went on to do PhD's in biology and chemistry. A lot of them seem to be regretting this choice. Academia is increasingly difficult as funding dries up due to budget shortfalls, and this creates a lot of stress. Furthermore, as the comic in OP illustrated, you focus really really specifically on something. What if you focus poorly? What if what you are studying turns out not to be that interesting/relevant? A lot of my friends report feeling like they are wasting their time, that they are less happy with their lives since starting their PhD, and that they feel their prospects are a lot weaker than when they began. I went straight to industry, and while I'm not in a senior position yet, at 4 years in I've been getting paid pretty well (instead of accruing debt), I'm learning a lot, and I'm working at an exciting company with a lot of potential in the future. I feel like unless you are very passionate about a small sector of the field, incredibly talented, and really driven to work in academia or start a company based on your PhD research, a PhD is the wrong choice in this day and age. Just my $.02 We all owe a lot to all the passionate academics wth are you talking about Edit: of course I know where you're coming from but I don't agree with your conclusion. | ||
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Rho_
United States971 Posts
On September 16 2012 00:41 JieXian wrote: We all owe a lot to all the passionate academics wth are you talking about Edit: of course I know where you're coming from but I don't agree with your conclusion. I'm coming from the position of being on the fence about pursuing a PhD when I finished my undergraduate degree, and being glad that I took the path that I did, and not the path my friends took. For me, personally, there wasn't a specific part of biology I wanted to focus on. Furthermore, I wanted to get out and experience life and eventually start a family. Let me be clear: I do not think that PhD is a bad thing. Not at all. I love research, and I think that passionate and talented people should pursue advanced degrees and study what they love. However, it is a choice that some people make when they're not suited for that kind of life/career. Academia is becoming an increasingly difficult environment because funding is drying up. This is really shitty, and I wish it wasn't this way, but it is a fact of life. My point is this: before you go for a PhD, check yourself or you'll wreck yourself. | ||
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hegeo
Germany194 Posts
On September 16 2012 12:18 Rho_ wrote: I'm coming from the position of being on the fence about pursuing a PhD when I finished my undergraduate degree, and being glad that I took the path that I did, and not the path my friends took. For me, personally, there wasn't a specific part of biology I wanted to focus on. Furthermore, I wanted to get out and experience life and eventually start a family. Let me be clear: I do not think that PhD is a bad thing. Not at all. I love research, and I think that passionate and talented people should pursue advanced degrees and study what they love. However, it is a choice that some people make when they're not suited for that kind of life/career. Academia is becoming an increasingly difficult environment because funding is drying up. This is really shitty, and I wish it wasn't this way, but it is a fact of life. My point is this: before you go for a PhD, check yourself or you'll wreck yourself. I agree with your point that one should understand what one gets himself into when pursuing a PhD (btw nice writeup Zarath). Something that hasn't been mentioned so far but that seems to be very important to me: Biology is an extremely wide-ranging field. You have the more or less "classical" fields of zoology and botany (especially the ecology/evolution/behavior-stuff -this is what many people think you do when you tell them you are a biologist). Then you also have the molecular fields of cell biology (human/medical, microbiological etc.), and of course the newer fields of systems biology and all the biophysical/structural and theoretical stuff (and I surely forgot to mention soo many topics) where people with a strong biological background work/ do their PhD. So it is difficult to discuss about a general opinion like "there is no funding" and "this is a dead-end for your career" (or "there is great funding" and "great career ahead" for that matter) since the career opportunities/funding differ a lot between the general fields (e.g. look at the purely academical behavioral ecology vs. the maybe industrially exploitable molecular cell biology) and even between very closely related topics, also and especially when you look at the ease of transition between university and industry. | ||
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Zaranth
United States345 Posts
@hegeo, You're also right. Although I am trying to cover the broad spectrum of all biology fields in this blog, there are differences in funding for various fields. Similarly, there are differences in funding between various universities! Each case is an individual one, as much as I want to generalize everything. I hope that my blog provides some additional information for those thinking about applying to grad school, and that those individuals will take it upon themselves to research their particular field. For everyone - Academia is very competitive. I will be covering the topic of what happens after the PhD in my last blog post. I would love to get some input on that too, if any of you are post-PhD's. Please PM me about what you are currently doing and why! There are actually a ton of options outside academia, though they tend to be overlooked by most universities and professors. There are many reasons for this, and I've found there is discrimination against those who choose non-academia careers after PhDs by those that do choose academia careers after PhDs. Great discussion here imo. | ||
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TheSwamp
United States1497 Posts
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JieXian
Malaysia4677 Posts
On September 17 2012 10:13 TheSwamp wrote: Hi, this is the perfect blog for me. I'm currently an undergrad student and hope too someday get my PhD. Can you explain why your undergrad degree is in genetics but you are getting your PhD in biology? I've been told that it's best to get an undergrad degree in a broader subject. It might be labelled biology but I'm the subject she's researching is extremely specific. It's humanly impossible to have a "broad" PhD. On September 16 2012 12:18 Rho_ wrote: I'm coming from the position of being on the fence about pursuing a PhD when I finished my undergraduate degree, and being glad that I took the path that I did, and not the path my friends took. For me, personally, there wasn't a specific part of biology I wanted to focus on. Furthermore, I wanted to get out and experience life and eventually start a family. Let me be clear: I do not think that PhD is a bad thing. Not at all. I love research, and I think that passionate and talented people should pursue advanced degrees and study what they love. However, it is a choice that some people make when they're not suited for that kind of life/career. Academia is becoming an increasingly difficult environment because funding is drying up. This is really shitty, and I wish it wasn't this way, but it is a fact of life. My point is this: before you go for a PhD, check yourself or you'll wreck yourself. ya I've read your paragraph again and I guess I skimmed over it too fast haha I totally understand that. | ||
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Nymphaceae
United States350 Posts
On September 17 2012 14:41 JieXian wrote: It might be labelled biology but I'm the subject she's researching is extremely specific. It's humanly impossible to have a "broad" PhD. ya I've read your paragraph again and I guess I skimmed over it too fast haha I totally understand that. You could probably get away with having a broad phd if you were getting it in something like math. | ||
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Daimai
Sweden762 Posts
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danana
United States321 Posts
On September 21 2012 04:13 Daimai wrote: Hi! I am a last year high school student and I know it's pretty far in the future for me to even consider, but I was thinking of choosing math as my major and I was wondering if there is any equivalent to "get a lot of lab experience as an undergraduate" if I ever wanted to go into math research? I'm not studying math myself, but I know a few undergrads majoring in math that have done math research as undergraduates. My understanding is that the idea is pretty much the same, except that your research experiences likely won't be in a laboratory setting (although there is a lot of cool applied math research that might involve lab work... but I know very little about what that involves). | ||
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Daimai
Sweden762 Posts
On September 21 2012 06:33 danana wrote: I'm not studying math myself, but I know a few undergrads majoring in math that have done math research as undergraduates. My understanding is that the idea is pretty much the same, except that your research experiences likely won't be in a laboratory setting (although there is a lot of cool applied math research that might involve lab work... but I know very little about what that involves). Well, what would I do as an undergraduate in research? I'm obviously not knowledgeable enough to get the research they are doing, so is my lab experience going to be getting coffee and sharpening pencils for real mathematicians? | ||
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danana
United States321 Posts
On September 21 2012 18:59 Daimai wrote: Well, what would I do as an undergraduate in research? I'm obviously not knowledgeable enough to get the research they are doing, so is my lab experience going to be getting coffee and sharpening pencils for real mathematicians? hmmm, I have no idea of what the math people I know are actually doing, but I'm quite sure they're doing actual research while being at an undergraduate math level. I actually have met a few people that did math research as high school students -- granted these were ridiculously smart high school students that were quite ahead in math, but I think they were probably around an undergraduate level. Anyway, if you find that you're having trouble finding solid research experience, it might be worth looking into some research in a more computational or applied math setting; I feel like in these areas you can get by without as much of a math background. For biology it's definitely quite acceptable to do your undergraduate research in one area and then do graduate work in a fairly different area, and I'd imagine the same applies for math. I met one person doing some cool applied math for orthopedics research, while I'm pretty sure she wants to pursue other kinds of math in the future. I think that what should matter most is that you have a strong understanding of what it's like in research, and can demonstrate that you know what you're getting into and will be able to spend many more years doing research. sorry I wasn't able to answer your question very aptly... I might be seeing some of my math major friends next week so if I do I'll ask them and let you know what they say! | ||
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Nymphaceae
United States350 Posts
On September 21 2012 04:13 Daimai wrote: Hi! I am a last year high school student and I know it's pretty far in the future for me to even consider, but I was thinking of choosing math as my major and I was wondering if there is any equivalent to "get a lot of lab experience as an undergraduate" if I ever wanted to go into math research? Yes, definitely. If you worked in my lab as a freshman, you could get me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You could also get me drinks, and maybe if you're lucky, put away the lab equipment. What is research to you? Why do you want to do research knowing very little? A good place to start would be by reading all the articles to see what's being researched right now. | ||
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Taekwon
United States8155 Posts
Highly enjoyed your insight | ||
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BadAssJ
United States136 Posts
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Nikoras
United States115 Posts
I really do need a PhD to have the type of career I want have; to at least have a say in the direction of the research I'm doing. I hope I don't have to wait until after I finish my masters, that's a lot of years of schooling. | ||
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Zaranth
United States345 Posts
How long will it take you to complete a masters? I thought it was about 2 years. | ||
JugJug
United States37 Posts
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