/sci/ - Science & Math

>got into MS in engineering at Stanford
>afraid I will look like a pussy dumbass to PhD students
>so badly want to do a PhD but can't justify spending 4 more years NOT making the 120k-140k a year I'll make with the MS.

You can't make bank doing your PhD..right?

>>10311279
>No, it's really not always worth it. Most undergraduate programs are going to be similar. You'd be better off doing two years of community college, two years of a state college, and then applying to a graduate program based on which specific research group or professor you want to work with. Going to a big name may get you a significant salary boost for your first job or sneak you into a graduate program, but at extreme cost. The most valuable part of your undergraduate is internships, co-ops, undergraduate research, and clubs.

I guarantee you the earning power you get from a Stanford degree in business or engineering over the equivalent state school degree offsets the ~100k of debt you'll accrue (which is not even a lot of money).

Feels good passing every resume screen you could think of. But keep rationalizing spending half your undergrad in a fucking community college. Try doing the research you need to get into in 2nd/3rd year at your shitty state school that doesn't have any funding for their labs.


t. Stanford grad student who's used his stanford u/g degree to get into spacex, nasa and google. I've literally made 7k USD/month as an intern in my junior year.

>implying it's not already here