Are there any people here who have completed their PhDs? What about others who fell for the PhD meme?
My PhD is a mess. Main cause is next to zero interaction with my supervisor. Most of the time I had no idea what the fuck I was doing, and almost all of it on my own. I have one more year to crank out a thesis, then it's quits.
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>Are there any people here who have completed their PhDs?
i will, come hell or high water
because i'll be dammed if i end up just another middling coder after all the bullshit i've endured.
Did you have a lot of undergraduate research experience prior to getting into your program? I didn't get accepted into a fellowship for this summer and I feel like I have nothing to show for on my resume besides a single project I did with a professor.
>My PhD is a mess. Main cause is next to zero interaction with my supervisor. Most of the time I had no idea what the fuck I was doing, and almost all of it on my own
How old are you? And are you autistic?
Bump this. How much research am I expected to have done in undergrad to get into a top 5/10 graduate/PhD program?
I'm getting a PhD at MIT. I did research for 2 years as an undergrad, and by application season I had two pubs in progress (1 first author).
Can you be denied a PhD for a garbage thesis?
It should just be original
Do people just start calling something a "meme" after they fail at it?
how does completing a PhD ensures you won't become a third-rate programmer? Very few people get tenure and end up doing research, even among those with a PhD.
why do you need a top 5/10 program if you're asking that question
Yeah that's how it goes on Veeky Forums
I didn't realise that people who go to good schools shouldn't ask progression questions
go to a school that offers research you're interested in, not just one that's in a top 10 program you shallow slut.
but
That's quite interesting. For the two pubs, would you say it was the relationship you built with your professors that allowed you to do it, or just hard work?
Ah right, sorry user. Meant top in the field you want to do. I wasn't actually clear there. I assumed the expectations and standards aren't that different in STEM subjects
how hard is a ph.d in computer science is, user?
what the fuck do you guys mean by research in undergrad????
You mean doing a masters?
Most universities offer research opportunities with professors during your bachelor's degree since masters degrees are pretty much fading out for a vast majority of undergrads looking to go into a Ph.D (no citation, just the gist i've gotten from cohorts/others in uni).
In canada (at least in quebec) it is near impossible to do a ph.d without a masters first. Are you in the states?
>how does completing a PhD ensures you won't become a third-rate programmer? Very few people get tenure and end up doing research, even among those with a PhD.
why should i leave before getting one? i've put in a ton of work, started a ton of projects, and up until the last year or so, had a decent amount of motivation.
it doesn't ensure a damned thing, but i'm still not leaving before i get one. it's even less common to get a decent research position without a PhD. so i'll slog through the rest of it somehow.
Yeah I'm in the US, the tides sorta shifted here. It used to be pretty standard to get a masters before a Ph.D, but I rarely see people do it here nowadays (though it's not unheard of). Some schools will offer a 5 year BS/MS program in some majors, too.
Not that user, but in the UK it's uncommon but possible. May be a result of most people having an integrated masters, though.
I don't know if I should feel jealous or not but at the same time I can't imagine myself being prepared for a ph.d without a masters first
In the US for STEM you shouldn't go for a straight masters unless someone is paying for it
The way to go is apply for a PhD to a department that will fund you, then duck out with a masters after a couple of years.
Canadian here, I got a direct acceptance to a ph.d but I'm in toronto not quebec
that's cool. I imagine you need perfect grades to get accepted to a ph.d ?
no, i had a 3.3 from undergrad and mediocre gre scores. i'm also not an affirmative action minority.
you will have to apply to a bunch of schools though, i think i applied to 5 or 6 and got in 2
Were they mostly state schools? There's a private school i'm really interested in mainly since it has close ties to my undergrad school, but they seem pretty stringent on grades and shit (3.7 gpa/haven't taken GRE yet).
and if i'm really not good enough for a phd from my local college, then i'm doomed to codemonkeying anyway. a fate worse than death itself.
I completed my PhD in December 2016. I have a very strained relationship with my major advisor. He is a micro-manager who denies that he is, is extremely critical of everything (except his own output, of course), and is terrible at time management. I'm also the only PhD he has produced in his entire time as a professor. Other graduate students, both MS and PhD, have left his lab because of how difficult he is to work with.
All that being said, I'm still struggling to publish my dissertation chapters with him as my co-author. He constantly revises things, includes new analyses without consulting me, and just generally makes the entire publishing process a living hell. He has done very little to help my career develop, and in return, highlight his contributions to my success. If anything, I carried his lab the entire time I was in it.
I'm always amazed that he managed (somehow) to be granted tenure.
care to share more? How did you do it?
even state schools can have really good research labs. like i said before, don't go just for the name.
apply to state schools and private ones.
I'm and I agree about state schools. They're worth looking into, especially if some faculty are doing cutting-edge work.
congratulations, user. I'm not sure I would be able to accomplish that even if I tried my very best. What was your discipline?
Biological sciences with a specialization in ecology.
I wasn't trying to knock state schools if that's how I came off, I was just asking in terms of whose more selective. I plan on applying to both state and private but my top school is a private uni.
it's a goddamn phd, broseph
well i got rejected from a state university and accepted to another state university and ended up going to a private school. it's all about the department rather than general admissions.
sweet
Thanks.
>a ph.d in art history is as hard
hmmm..
Didn't really do anything special. My GPA was 3.92, I spent my undergraduate in that uni so I could write a good letter of intent, and I spent my 2nd and 3rd years doing research with some profs, but they didn't result in any publications.
>Didn't really do anything special
>My GPA was 3.92
ok.
but thanks for the input, what field are you studying?
physics, looking to do one of the more applied fields like condensed matter or biophysics
that might help, people I've talked to tell me that physics phds are not as competitive as say, compsci
condensed matter looks interesting. Thanks for sharing, keep it up canadabro
no problem, good luck to you too
nice work. the guy is prob where he is bc he sucked off his way to tenure
im working on my phd now. I came up with a upenn dissertation, did work that became an oxford phd (i gave the guy the project) and am doing my own phd as well with two biomed first authorships. I also came up with my ex gfs phd topic after she kept getting denied in neuropsych.
i will help you out of the goodness out of my heart, unless its physics compsci or mathematics in which case i only did calc 2 and linealg so youre fucked
>I have a very strained relationship with my major advisor
i have nothing against my advisor, but i get the sense that in general, research with postdoc is priority 1 and the phd students are basically just retained coding labor.
kind of pisses me off sometimes desu
funny enough my advisor is probably the nicest person in my group. the other grad students act like bullies and then wonder why four people quit before me.
my PI pushed me out fast after promising me a postdoc spot then renegging after a postdoc he wanted from japan that does epigenetic cell lineage reprogramming was able to come in. He told me to stay and promised me a spot so im currently pushing for the removal of my name on one of his publications
what a nice dude you are. What are you doing your ph.d on?
>my PI pushed me out fast after promising me a postdoc spot then renegging after a postdoc he wanted from japan
our postdoc is imported too, as are most of the PhD students. i'm not even sure if there are any students in my lab besides me who were undergrads here. whatever. i'm still in the lab i guess.
who cares about me- but im in the field of cell fate, metabolism, and reprogramming but have diverse interests and as long as it can be tested i will help devise a way to test and analyze
i hate to say it but i wish trump would get rid of h1bs. postdoc salaries should not start on the pittance that they do.
i have nothing against a reasonable number of students/workers on visas, but when the grad program is 95% visa holders it seems a little excessive, especially since it's not a private college. the come here, get a degree, and head back. there's no local academic community.
when i first started there were a lot of local students, some of whom i even went to high school with. lots of people talking and hanging out in the student lounge. that's no longer the case.
and most of the american professors are either dead, retired, or heading for retirement.
i suppose that, being a PhD student, i can't really complain, but it looks like a grim situation.
good shit
I would only allow it to countries with an average IQ higher than 100
really doesn't help morale, especially in the already lonely, demanding endeavor of higher education desu
>physics phds are not as competitive as say, compsci
physics ms here
that is correct. physics phd (and really ms too) are only for people who want to spend their life in low paying research. either uni or gov. industry prefers mathematicians and engies.
>condensed matter looks interesting
thats like saying math looks interesting or the united states looks interesting
condensed matter is an enormous field. theres so many areas within it. you really gotta be more narrow than that
you from canada? im in the states, british columbia is my reachable dream school. i would love to live in vancouver. my advisor went to toronto tho and really wants me to go there instead.
getting rid of foreigners is a bad idea. especially physics. without foreigners, there simply wouldnt be enough to go around. foreigners also have technical knowledge advantage since they are trained differently. US students cant compete. getting rid of foreigners would hurt the education system
the real issue is schools are strained for cash since the states have defunded them. upper uni used to be state subsidized but a bunch of states (even blue states) defunded them. want to change that? get politically active for the party that doesnt think education is fake news
>. the come here, get a degree, and head back.
and if they stayed, we wouldnt hear the end of how theyre taking american jerbs or some other rubbish.
the truth is this. the truth is US students are woefully unprepared for grad school in sciences and math. and they just arent interested. theres more money in engineering ms than physics phd.
>when i first started there were a lot of local students, some of whom i even went to high school with. lots of people talking and hanging out in the student lounge. that's no longer the case.
and? whats the problem? you need a safe space of the same people forever?
>the truth is this. the truth is US students are woefully unprepared for grad school in sciences and math. and they just arent interested. theres more money in engineering ms than physics phd.
and whose fault is that? perhaps it's the fault of shitty undergraduate programs that favor industry tools and waste-of-time gened courses over the relevant mathematical and scientific material.
>and? whats the problem? you need a safe space of the same people forever?
i'm guessing that you have and have always had the luxury of such a "safe space".
>the real issue is schools are strained for cash since the states have defunded them
i'd defund them too if they're educating anyone but the residents of their respective state.
you sound like a horrible person. 0/10 would not be friend with
>and whose fault is that? perhaps it's the fault of shitty undergraduate programs that favor industry tools and waste-of-time gened courses over the relevant mathematical and scientific material.
its a combination of things. industry pays 2-5x more than research at any time in your career. so students would rather go into industry. uni were forced to respond to the demand or they lose funding.
the root problem is the culture in the US that does not value intelligence, progress or knowledge. only cares about personal, shallow hedonism
>i'm guessing that you have and have always had the luxury of such a "safe space".
not really. my closest friend in the program is from syria and can barely speak english. she also is very conservative and can be a little nasty. the other guy i talk to a lot cant seem to find where the shower in his apartment is and wont shut up about video games.
so not really. im also from a ruralish suburbs and my uni is very metropolitan. its full of socialites which i wasnt used to
they were majorly defunded prior to that.
fun fact: cali (who has high amount of immigrants) is one of the few well funded states
immigrants are just better candidates a lot of the time
Have a PhD in Economics and I work at a bank
sad
Philosophy PhD here. That's how it works. You're doing fine
>cant seem to find where the shower in his apartment is and wont shut up about video games.
amazing how these two always go together
>the root problem is the culture in the US that does not value intelligence, progress or knowledge.
so your solution is to just import a bunch of people who do instead of trying to fix the issue? hardly the sort of "social justice" so highly extolled on campus.
thats not my solution to the culture problem, no. it wont hurt tho. immigrants greatly value those things.
my solution is to require competency tests to vote. so youll take a 500 question test mostly about political topics. but also has questions on a variety of subjects like math, science and philosophy. whatever your score on that test is the multiplier to weight your vote.
if you get a 250/500, your vote counts as a half vote. and so on. then the smart people would get the most say in policy
>
>>the root problem is the culture in the US that does not value intelligence, progress or knowledge.
and no, the root is the shitty jew media that promotes this sort of culture. you cannot call people of european descent unintelligent or incapable given their long legacy of scientific and cultural contributions.
grad students always seem to be blaming their advisor don't they.
it's all on you anyways, didn't you know that from the start?
>3.3 gpa
hope you've developed a work ethic since then.
don't talk about "minorities" faggot. your "3.3 gpa" kind is the real minority in any serious program.
Usually the advisor doesn't let a garbage thesis go to the defence
>you cannot call people of european descent unintelligent or incapable
lol are you seriously triggered by the word "minority?"
...
>my solution is to require competency tests to vote. so youll take a 500 question test mostly about political topics. but also has questions on a variety of subjects like math, science and philosophy. whatever your score on that test is the multiplier to weight your vote.
1. Climate Change is caused by humans. [T/F]
2. Racial Differences in Intelligence are real. [T/F]
If your answers disagree with mine, your vote loses weight. Sounds legit.
I flunked out in my first try due to depression, being a dumb kid, etc., went to community college for 3 semesters, and now I'm at a real school again. I'll probably get a ~3.5 GPA if we just count the grades from this place and I'm currently in the process of finding research.
Assuming I also get a decent GRE score and a few publications, have I already shot myself in the foot or do I still have a good chance at this as long as I keep the upward progress going and explain it all on my personal statement?
no, i'm triggered by the words "3.3 gpa" anywhere near the words "accepted into a phd program"
i made the mistake of going to a school in the UK (London) as an international student.
it's an engineering placement uni who functions on high-cost (100mil with JLR kind of stuff) contracts and shilling out their students to any placement available for company spying.
how fucked am I?
btw for some reason only design students have priority in the good machine shops on campus.
how can i make this change.
and the best part is we have no niggers in my department so you know it's good
Thats not how tests work.
first the word race wouldnt appear on it since real life isnt pol
second, it is fact that humans cause the climate to change. i can fart right now and increase the methane levels of the atmosphere. its measurable. but thats not how the question would be framed anyway. if there was a question about climate change, it would be on the mechanism or there would be a study presented with questions about it.
and here's where you lost any moral high ground that you may have had. so yes, i will be as politically incorrect as i like, you buck-toothed hook-nosed nigger kike chink durka durka jungle bunny coon sand nigger slant-eyed slope mother fucker.
>hurr im gonna say niggers n trigger da leftist
He gave you undue credit by assuming your 3.3 was due to work ethic. From here it looks like you're just a brainlet. Good to know I guess.
>Thats not how tests work
>My voting test would be fair
It's a noble idea in theory but in the end it doesn't work outside of liberal fantasies.
We know from experience that politicians game the tests any way they can:
>archive.is
The tests would disenfranchise the poor:
While your suburban school is having robotics competition and sending students to "Model UN", schools in baltimore actually had to close for a week due to having no heat.
>archive.is
>wow i can't believe you said nigger you must be stupid
>i have a picture that says nigger saved
please be one of the graduate students that kills themself
you'll be fine as long as your gre is over 85th percentile and your gpa is above 3.3
i had a 2.8 and still got into northwestern phd biology, only school i applied to as well
When should I start studying? I'm kinda in the dark on all this, and I'm not sure if I want to apply in my senior year or take a year off.
I might also be researching outside of my current school at a nearby place (top 10 in the field I want to go into), it's not something I'm counting on but I've heard if a prof takes you under their wing they can get out in to a grad program much more easily (i.e. waving GRE requirements).
What was your GRE? Did you have publications? Where was oyur undergrad? I'll probably be quite a bit better than 2.8 but I'm considering NU for planetary science.
It's not that you said nigger, you retarded fucking nigger. It's that you said nigger, hoping desperately to offend, in place of an actual rebuttal.
>please be one of the graduate students that kills themself
Maybe if I ever lose enough brain cells to achieve a 3.3 gpa
bullshit
did your parents donate to them?
dont wave the gre, you need it as an opportunity to perform. get yourself the prep books (princeton and kaplan) and perform well. work in a lab after graduation and volunteer in one before graduation. explain to professors/researchers that it is your calling and how you need to perform in their lab.
my gre was about 85th percentile, undergrad at johns hopkins, 2.8 gpa, one pub at the time, pending patent. i never went to any classes in undergrad and had to make up for it after graduation. i fucking hate how normies and brainlets judge by gpa
fuck. waive.
When I was starting out in the lab at the end of my sophomore year, I put in a ton of work. I got enough work done to start writing that first authored paper, but I absolutely couldn't have done it without the guidance of my PI. For the other paper, one of the grad students in the lab took me under his wing. I was put as second author on a paper in return for helping him with some experiments and proofreading the manuscript.
>the PhD meme
Lrn2meme fgt pls