Studied hard before college, studied harder during undergraduate years for astrophysics, dual major with math because why not. Top of my year in physics during Junior year, graduate with high honors. Couldn't get into graduate program at same school because of the department not having TA or RA positions available, me getting mediocre GRE score or both. Didn't get internships because too focused on academia, applying to everything within traveling distance and some things outside of travelling distance, never got any responses at all. Doing shit odd jobs of yardwork and housecleaning to exhausting and unhealthy amounts for an asshole in charge of an interesting project relating to astrophysics with no funding. Made less than $6000 in 2016 doing this shit and grading job during last semester, inconsistent work and no way to afford to go back to school now. Student debt payments kicking in with an extra $350 a month making it harder for me to save up to afford gradschool or a car to commute 4 hours daily to the only place I could potentially get work because this town has no public transportation and is 100 miles from anything not a military testing ground and farmland.
God damn this all fucking sucks. I fucked up by not getting internships but even with them there's nothing available, let alone for the BS level. Spent the better part of a decade pushing myself more than my peers and it amounts to nothing and now I'm not even doing physics, the things I sacrificed so much to do. Not sure why I'm posting this here, just fed up and wanted to vent to the faceless people on a board I haven't visited in years. Talk about whatever.
What other interests, hobbies or things that you enjoy doing do you have besides physics and math?
Jaxson Cook
You gotta search more OP.
But also you gotta fucking pay all your student debt ASAP in order to get accepted IMO.
Benjamin Jones
Help me achieve my dream with all that knowledge and fix this disgusting mess nature made on our planet.
>
Levi White
yeah still here for now, my interests are really diverse actually, was going to dual in astrophys and fine arts, scrapped the art to afford physics. Been getting back into drawing, wood carving and sculpting, slowly getting things needed for carpentry and woodworking, intend to dabble in mold making and casting (resin and aluminum once I make a foundry). Been wanting to teach myself C and Java because Matlab and Python mean jack shit for useful programming. Been researching electronics and am currently making a CNC/ 3d printer and teaching myself 3d modelling with sculptris and blender (largely for making D&D figurines because designing papercraft figures isn't as satisfying and my fiance is a DM for our group). Used to go rock climbing but my friend who took me moved away a while back, now might be getting into jeeping with a couple of friends.
What sucks is having so much time because you're not doing what you've set about dedicating your life to and instead doing fucking menial labor and remaining below the poverty line.
Liam Kelly
You sound active as hell OP. Thats pretty good stuff, I bet whatever you end up doing will be interesting because of it. The situation you're in sounds like total garbage, but at least despite the time and effort you've put into your academic career you have other things that you can focus on.
Aside from that, I've had math professors that spent years doing menial tasks or odd jobs finding their way around the world after their masters/grad program until they landed that comfy spot that they became satisfied with. I know others might have gone straight into a good program after undergrad, but sometimes you got to work with what you're dealt. Good luck with everything! Hope you come across some people that can help soon.
Parker Wood
Thanks for the optimism, a big problem though is that any research positions require MS or PhD level experience so I'm basically trying to claw my way out of a ditch to get back onto a money fueled race for 4-10 years before having what I need to try to get a career.
I will say it's nice that hobbies and interests abandoned for years out of necessity can come back on their own.
Carson Watson
There is just too much competition right now. If you really like it, you're going to have to stick it out.
Dylan Wood
>Student debt payments kicking in with an extra $350 a month making it harder for me to save up to afford gradschool
Go on an income based repayment scheme
Brody Martin
That's really sad and depressing man. Being in first year undergrad majoring in physics because of the lifetime wish of becoming someone in the astrophysics field, things get tough with the math and stuff but it's still cool to know you are getting somewhere you want. But posts like this, fuck m8. Am really delusional about my life right now. Have I fucked up Veeky Forums >Fuckk.jpg
Joshua Reed
Science is for rich kids. If you can't reliably fall back on your parents income, science is a very risky career choice.
Adam Peterson
Introduction to the real world:
1) Your teachers get paid to teach. They either
a) teach you stuff that used to be unique when they were young, but is now obsolete/ common knowledge
b) teach you stuff that is only interesting to their narrow field of reasearch (and then only superficially/faulty on purpose, because they fear competition)
c) dont teach you anything useful at all and are only there because some arbitraty clerk decided this position needed to be filled
2) Your grades and your academic success does not matter
a) potential employers want soulless, willing wageslaves who are happy to fulfill their orders and not question their authority.
b) unique expertise which can translate to monetary gains can only be acquired infield, so potential employers are likely more knowledgable anyway
c) grades do not translate into money unless you want to go the academic route and compete for university positions
3) While you were naive to learn about shitty stars and useless nebulas your "dumb" peers from school who got into trades, or started their businesses or whatever, are probably well off and already have a family - and now you are this delusional idiot who they might laugh about as they feast inside their cushy homes
4) You will die either way and be forever forgotten so might aswell just enjoy the now - who cares anyway. But you are probably too incompetent for this aswell.
Isaac Taylor
I'm in a very similar situation OP.
I had a great job, making good money. Quit my job to start a Masters degree, with the idea of getting into a PhD program. I'm one year into my masters and I'm pretty much fucked. Couldn't land any internships or research positions for this summer.
William Young
This 100%
All of the world's leading scientists come from incredibly privileged backgrounds.
Ryder Jenkins
>he fell for the maths meme i just want you to know that all the women who sucked their way through a bio degree all found work
Elijah Thomas
>Women lead easy lives
Thanks for the profound revelation user.
Thomas Bell
this is what i find most entertaining about retards who go for shit like astrophysics or topographical anyalysis or whatever irrelevant nonsense they thought was cool/fun/interesting
a plumber makes more money than them, will continue to make more money than them, and has been making more money than them since age 18
>yeah but a plumber gets no respect neither does some faggot working at ROSS with a worthless degree
Evan Campbell
you too could have had an easy life if you went bio or trade, but instead you memed into a meme degree
except the one getting memed is YOU
Angel Perry
You fell for the college meme,
udacity and coursera aswell as youtube is your only hope to learn useful stuff such as: 1) making programs and charge people per page on craigstlist, 2) phishing people via fake websites 3) graphic design r/graphics i think or something 4) selling websites per page. gl 5) doing peoples programming assignments online for cash gl competing with poo in loos
Benjamin Mitchell
But some people don't want to be a plumber. It's not about getting respect or easy money. Some people want to follow their dreams or interests, despite hardship.
Charles Morgan
>dual major with math That's stupid way to overwork yourself. >get into graduate program at same school You went to shit school. >me getting mediocre GRE score or both Literally how?
Jeremiah Flores
Try paying 800/mo. Shit sucks
Gabriel Nguyen
>While you were naive to learn about shitty stars and useless nebulas your "dumb" peers from school who got into trades, or started their businesses or whatever, are probably well off and already have a family - and now you are this delusional idiot who they might laugh about as they feast inside their cushy homes
This hits to close to home, brother. Didn't happened to me, but i once considered to study astrophysics. Thought that the job and opportunity would just come, but thankfully, i grew up and saw the world as it was.
Adrian Lee
Fucking amen. >mmuh money Fuck your money, I enjoy being equipped to read the most advanced papers (except Terrance Taos) and I take joy in that despite earning below average for the time I've put in my degree
Jonathan Lewis
What about Michael Faraday?
Levi Hall
Kek this is gonna be me in two years except my grades are closer to average. In my third year and I don't have shit for the summer, I can't even find a summer internship or anything so I will never get an actual job.
Oh well, it was always clear to me that I wouldn't be happy in a trade or most other occupations... maybe engineering would have been fine. Too late now.
We should make a giant physicist suicide pact to make a statement or just to die.
Benjamin Morales
Just wait until grad level when you find out that everything isa rat race to get funding and the NSF only funds less than 10% of accepted proposals and few other places fund even that. That's 3 proposals btw, they stop accepting at the 300 mark and get a committee of top scientists to pick the best ones but must limit it to 3, my department chair goes to them often.
James Gomez
>thinking STEM fields can be entered without degrees
Kevin Allen
>Studied hard before college
Wut?
William Anderson
Aside from the analysis branch astrophys and a math degree have large overlap and I find it interesting, being able to solve millions of element linear programs with less than 50 year old math and applying linear algebra to just about everything has its perks.
The school is ranked one of the best in the country in terms of quality for cost and flat out physics programs
needing to wake up at 4:00 am to commute for 4 hours to the closest test center, then needing to wait outside in the rain while sick for them to open and misinterpreting the poorly worded questions in the math section and needing to redo them. Probably didn't help that I took the phys gre the week before and was still focusing on those styles of questions.
Owen Reed
Are you a white straight male? If so, there's your problem. I'm honestly shocked that I was able to get into graduate school for astronomy. That being said, I only got into one so I nearly ended up in the same situation as you. What schools did you apply to OP?
Jordan Murphy
>be me, biochem major >graduate summa cum laude at a top 10 >work in a lab for two years during college >have wanted to do research since middle school >apply to grad school programs >everyone at the interviews are either Asian, Indian, or a white chick (about 50% white chicks) >some professors I interview with are even openly hostile to me >don't get in anywhere > now stuck working as a lab tech at slave wages
God damn it hurts
Aaron Russell
>astrophysics
My nigga. I would never study it because it's too hard to make money with, but damn that shit is cool
Brody Ward
I've heard terrible things about bio labs like ridiculous hours, shit equipment and even health and safety hazards. Are those rumors correct?
Nathaniel Miller
You did and knowledge more than i will ever do and learn in my whole life, doesn't mean you don't have it really bad but atleast you got something
Noah Rivera
>working hard for astrophysics
and STEM faggets claim to be smart
Mason Morris
Why were they hostile
Josiah Sanders
Centuries ago, LIberals have resuscitated academia not for getting jobs, since the bourgeois hardly work like the plebeians work, but for being educated, then they dream of turning academia into a résumé factory for the plebeians while trying to make the same academia into factory of citizens. Apprently the retards in the middle class still believe that getting a degree gets a you job and make you smart [=makes you vote for the liberals in liberal elections] when a job relies on - the network and - not being over-qualified, not being under-qualified -accepting orders from upstairs -accepting to shit on people form downstairs and the clients
Kevin Hughes
Tough, cumskin. You gave your world to (((us))), and we will make your life a fucking nightmare until we feel properly avenged.
Thomas Torres
Faggot OP here with an astounding update. My fiance and I ordered our rings yesterday despite the large cost because of how much fuckery has been happening recently and our desire for emotional stability. Among the fuckery was temporary hour cuts for her because of how shit funding is handled where she works because of bureaucratic red tape tying the organization with the school. Today (technically Tuesday whatever) she was told her wage needs to be cut because state funding is being cut drastically and all "soft research funding" is being reduced by the school. Her salary was based on the cost of graduate tuition and living expenses, shitty payroll administration forced the PRIVATE SECTOR organization merely affiliated with the school to limit hours before, then did it again and now wages are being cut so her income is now 1/4 what it was. Now we get to worry about being homeless in a few months and her not being able to continue school. But it's all good, after all the plan was approved to use state funding to build a $2.7 million dollar building on campus that isn't needed.
Oh and the reason funding is cut is because the school doesn't have a larger enough women enrollment because women don't want to do hard science. So now a woman trying to study at the school is being forced to search for a different job and is at risk of needing to drop out due to tuition costs. Isn't this FANTASTIC? Such a brave egalitarian method of encouraging women in STEM fields; force women to drop out.
I'm tired of all of this. actual good news is that a friend is going to lend me his car to take the driving test soon and there's a chance my fiance could get an RA for the summer at least if an interview tomorrow goes well. It'll force her to quit her job because of shit administration concerning payroll and there's no guarantee of a job for next semester but it's better than nothing I guess.
Honestly surprised this thread still exists. how's your day going Veeky Forums?
Nathan Wilson
Honestly, I would normally troll a thread like this, but your situation sucks too much dick to not feel shitty doing that. All I can say is that you will most likely be fine in the long run, because you have a ton of human capital, plus energy/drive, plus a fairly normal personality by the sound of it. You will squeeze through to the other side, just as long as you dont fall into the pit of self-pity.
Adrian Morales
I feel accomplished, I'm in such a shit situation that one of the would be trolls actually sympathized.
Jace Ward
Jesus god, that person's attempt at use of bullet points is a total miscarriage.
Adrian Cruz
In worst case join the Air Force or Navy. It would give you some money and a safe job for a few years.
Logan Allen
Might go that route, they often pay for further education as well and this place is nothing but military facilities because of how vacant this state is.
Why do these people even come to the science board?
Matthew Nguyen
>not learning a trade skill parallel to your stem shit >not learning how to start your own business along with your stem shit >falling for the academia meme
But seriously academia is utter shit and the amount of hours of work required for little reward is atrocious and the worst part it is seen as normal. But you have to remeber it's never to late to try somthing new. It's okay to admit defeat and do what truly makes you happy. What's the point in living your life in misery.
Eli Long
>What's the point in living your life in misery. This, suicide is best option.
Tyler Hughes
I feel you OP. The current job application system is completely fucked.
Me: >BS chemical engineering 3.9 GPA >MS materials science 3.86 GPA >two years working in a lab as an undergraduate >year and a half working in industry while getting my masters
So far I've sent out 17 solid job applications and only heard back from 1.
Firstly it's impossible to find a job for new graduates. The vast majority of the postings I see are either for people with 2 year associates degrees or people with 5+ years industry experience, nothing in between. No one wants to develop new talent anymore. They either want someone with an associates who can start doing entry level stuff and stay there forever, or someone who already has years under their belt.
After you get past that, the entire online application process is fucked. Your application goes into a black hole and you hear nothing. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that two weeks after submitting an application you should be informed if you're being considered at all of if you've been cut. There's also the bullshit of companies posting jobs they don't actually have just to get potential resumes for the future.
College grads are treated as completely disposable.
Ethan Anderson
>>>university is a waste of time >trades make more money >startups make more money
>>>>worse off after university than before/without
Holy kek, there are a lot of graphs of average income, self-admitted happiness, and healthcare expenses which tell a totally different story anons.
There are a few guys which fall through the cracks, OP seemingly being one of them, but to say that tradies consistently out-earn graduates, or that all start-ups are a better investment than a degree, is full-blown fucking retarded.
I can see why you never made it to uni desu.
Noah Nelson
>oy vey don't do science you won't make any shekels do you know what board you're on
Aaron Stewart
Part of that is why instead of Physics I studied IE, i just have one life and can't afford to waste it living just above the poverty line
Caleb Gray
Bum fuck New Mexico, where Pluto is legally a planet and the average starting age for alcoholism is 11. Some decent listings available for ABQ for middling - shit tier experience resumes like mine but they're out of reach without a car. I'm dreading it but I might just sell 10 years of my life in advance to be a phys researcher for the airforce once I can commute, hate the forced travel requirements and the inability to change jobs or move but it's better than being homeless. I really don't want to live in this state for another decade.
The fake listings piss me off so much, every facility within reasonable distance to me has job listings on their sites that are either above PhD level or literally don't exist anymore and hasn't been updated for years.
Well I've completed the required DWI course, now going to grind the driver manual for a few more days to take the permit test and start crashing my friend's car. I helped my Fiance with her resume and she thinks her RA interview went well but wont have an answer until May and it'll prevent her from going back to her old job with no security that there'll be work after summer.
So Veeky Forums, should I make myself more appealing by teaching myself C or Java or something else while hunting for a car for sale? Been thinking about studying for the MS prelim for my school in case I reapply, or maybe try to unsuckify my GRE score above the 75% line. I'd like advice, can't think straight because of the stress and poor sleep and I can't apply to anything if I have no way to get there so it's gonna be a rough few months I think.
>pic is (one of?) the first ever Doppler radar radars made. It's rotting out in the desert sun in a military scrap yard where it's illegal to bring it inside anywhere.
