/sci/ - Science & Math

Do you ever feel like you're too depressed to study? What's the solution?

I'm 28, went back to school when I was younger and got my MS Math. Now I got rejected from the PhD program I wanted and didn't get hired for any jobs I applied to. I feel so burnt out on studying but I have to pass these actuary exams to get a job. And I can't stay focused.
It's been a rough 10 months but it's about to be a rough summer and I can't stay focused. Just feel like I'm missing out on exciting science and exciting normie shit. I used to love this stuff now I feel like it's a waste of time.

Has anyone been interested in TDA?

I'm an applied math/stats PhD student thinking of doing my dissertation on it (for neuroscience, just because that's what my school's into).

I really think Topology's the future of understanding complex systems and has a leg up on statistics-based machine learning and even stochastic calculus that relies on probability distributions.

I really think Topology will pave new frontiers in ecology, climate science, neuroscience, and economics.

Do you ever just randomly find yourself asking "what the fuck am I doing?" when you get back to work?

I hung out with some buddies this weekend and when I got back to my office today I was like "why the fuck am I doing a grad degree in math? I wasn't cut out for this." But I keep going cause I have to teach 2 classes.
Some days I love it, some days I just do it cause I don't want to let the department down.

Finishing my MS Math this semester and I didn't know what to do afterwards.

My school just hired a new Chair of the Biostatistics department and he has a Math background. He invited me to come over and do Biostats as he wants to form a partnership between the departments.
We're gonna start using Topology to investigate neural networks. Fuck yeah, Topological Data Analysis is the shit. I get to be spearhead a cutting-edge research group. I'm a lucky guy.