/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.7063352]

/sci/ grad school discussion thread? Yes.

Current grad students:
What field are you in (and school if you want)?
What do you like about grad school?
What sucks about grad school?
Do you ever wish you were in industry?
What will you do after you graduate?

Potential grad students:
What field?
MS/PhD?
How are you gonna decide between different schools?
Will you get funding?
Have you been accepted anywhere yet?

[Anonymous No.7063381]

potential grad here
MS in hydrogeology
Because its easier to make big dolla that way
csm or colorado state at boulder

[Anonymous No.7063388]

>>7063352

That building is a piece of shit. I can't believe they commissioned Gehry for that shit. It was already falling apart a few years ago and the interior spaces in the Gates and Dreyfoos towers are awful.

[Anonymous No.7063392]

Econnomics
nothing
everything
no
go back to undergrad

[Anonymous No.7063399]

>>7063352
Future grad student here.
-In robotics. I'm mainly interested in AI, Machine Learning, Control Systems and a couple of other robotics sub-fields that are less mechanical.
-Hoping for a PhD admission, but I'll take a Masters if I get into MIT/CMU's robotics labs.
-Pretty much on the strength of the program. However, Virginia Tech has the best currently alive roboticist Dennis Hong, pic very related. If I can find a way to get him as my advisor, then I'll go to Virginia tech over any other university, including MIT/CMU.
-Yes, I'm a minority.
-I haven't officially been accepted into Stanford but I did an REU there last summer with a few professors telling me they'd make sure my application gets attention (I guess that's their way of telling me they pulled some strings?). Either way, I'm not really interested in Stanford considering that all of their robotics research is geared only for industry.

[Anonymous No.7063414]

>what
MS in math, currently. Studying graph theory and combinatorics.

>like
coursework is more rigorous and interesting than undergrad
more is expected of you; you get more out of it if you put in the work
the atmosphere among students who really, really like math, tons of good conversations, intellectual stimulation, make good friends
you get to take courses in research topics, things the profs like, things that aren't offered in undergrad, which is where it's really at before research
teaching is actually pretty fun, can be inspiring

>dislike
teaching can occasionally be a pain in the ass, it's a lot of responsibility, you have to fail people
no time to date
no time for social life with non mathematicians
compels one to drink a lot
being very poor and living in an expensive town on a shitty stipend. little departmental support for this circumstance ("ah yeah, the poor grad student life! live it up kid!" -everyone in my department)

>neutral
very high level of constant stress, though it's the kind of stress that's extremely productive
some people in cohort are apathetic, uninterested
learn to be a highly functioning alcoholic

>industry
not too interested

>plans
1. take a year off after masters thesis (didn't take a year after undergrad)
2. acquire currency
3. apply for phd programs
4. teach?

[Anonymous No.7063449]

currently waiting to hear back from a few schools
paleontology, so geosci department
MS fo sho
first choice is Montana State Uni. why? they've got a strong paleo program, to the point where there's a student paleo club called The Dead Lizard Society.
gonna TA as many classes as they'll let me. solid 170/170/4.5 on the GRE (pic fucking related) so I should at least be competitive in that regard
still waiting to hear back, yeah.

[Anonymous No.7063487]

>>7063399
>>Dennis Hong
He expects his grad students to live in the lab and be very dedicated. And by live in the lab, I mean you don't do anything but work in the lab. His lab supposedly has beds and soylent dispensers. He's strongly opinionated about certain things and very much on the mechanical side of things.

He's also gets away with wearing T-shirts at conferences, which is something everyone in academia should strive for.

[Anonymous No.7063499]

>>7063399
>>not really interested in Stanford
>>doesn't want to do mechanical
Stanford has Sebastian motherfucking Thrun, do you not know who he is?

[Anonymous No.7063516]

>>7063352
>MS Financial Math, will probably do a PhD in either Financial or Applied/Computational Math
>its super interesting, im learning high level stuff that im really interested in that will hopefully be useful for work or research at some point, also i get to sleep in and set my own schedule and smoke weed when i feel like it instead of having to be at work all day outside a few hours of class
>its hard as fuck man. mostly in terms of difficulty, but also in terms of the length and level of sophistication of the assignments, a lot of my homework assignments are basically guided research papers. and analysis exams holy fuck.
>hell the fuck no, i get to do what i want when i want fuck waking up at 7am everyday and staring at excel all day which is all my bachelors qualifies me for. sure id be making a bit more with a job now but im already a lot less poor than i was in college and wouldnt really enjoy it if i was working a shitty schedule like that.
>gonna get a job, ideally will go back to academia and become a professor after making some money and getting some hands on experience.

i should clarify that i am a lot smarter than the average grad student, i have a very high IQ and got 99th percentile gres, i also go to a real shit tier grad school and as a first year masters student in math i am too clueless and too lazy to get involved with research. im TAing for a class but that takes like 8 hours a week and i get my schoolwork done in like 25-30 hours, i have the rest of the time to do whatever i want and smoke weed. most grad students seem to be a lot more busy than people with jobs but the combination of high potential + underachieving means i get the opposite. best part is i will still probably make 6 figures if i stick it out for my PhD.

[Anonymous No.7063582]

>>7063487
Considering I never had a life, I don't have much to lose. I know he works more with robotic mechanism design but I'd be willing to switch sub-fields if I got the chance to work under him. He also does a lot of work with control engineering though, which I am interested in. If you take a look at the quality of robotics work his grad students put out you'll be amazed. He's also the guy that got me interested in robotics, so getting to meet him would be amazing.
>>7063499
I know Sebastian Thrun would probably be closer to my research interests but due to a higher amount of competition with other PhD students, it's uncertain whether or not I'll be able to work under him. Besides, I'm personally more interested in Dennis Hong than anyone else.

[Anonymous No.7063592]

>>7063582
And apparently Dennis Hong's been at UCLA for almost a year now. Goddamn am I fucking retarded...

[Anonymous No.7063594]

I just applied to graduate school for linguistics (lol not science) and I've gotten in to some top-tier programs with full funding, so I'm happy. Still waiting on hearing from the school in the OP image, though. If they do what they did last year, admitted people will be notified like, tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.7063595]

>>7063449
Autism detected

[Anonymous No.7063670]

>>7063516

There is no excuse for being lazy and uninspired "smart guy". I'd much rather work with students who have a reportedly lower IQ and lower GREs who know how to produce and care about doing it, and I'm willing to bet any firm shares similar opinions about recent grads.

[Anonymous No.7065304]

Asking because I'm struggling with this myself:

Why would you go to grad school and spend years and years on a single problem, when the level of impact you have will be so small, particularly considering you need funding for anything worthwhile? If you were a successful entrepeneur, you could fund research in your areas of interest and make many times the progress for your field.

Of course if you're literally there because yolo it feels good to do x, fair enough. Is that the reason?

[Anonymous No.7065321]

>>7063352

MS in biology, emphasis on phylogenetic systematics. I'm really enjoying this shit, because i felt in the past as if my wings were mutilated, and here any shit you think worth revise.

It sucks because there is so much pretentious people who thinks they'lll be the next Darwin. Enjoyable, whatsoever.

[Anonymous No.7065322]

>>7065304
Well, it kind of is yolo, feels good, but I think you have some misconceptions worth correcting.

>Why would you go to grad school and spend years and years on a single problem,
because the process of doing so is a worthwhile personal endeavour and is more intellectually stimulating than virtually any other pursuit

> when the level of impact you have will be so small
nobody cares about this. the relative impact is huge, in that if 10 people in the world even bother to read a paper you wrote, it doesn't matter because you know how much effort it took and that shit feels good man

>considering you need funding for anything worthwhile?
this is false, and you can get funded doing "worthless" research. Most people do. Also, define worthwhile. Maybe studying something is completely worthless in terms of applications. Who cares if it's interesting and satisfying to study.

>If you were a successful entrepeneur, you could fund research in your areas of interest and make many times the progress for your field.
Because it's not about advancing your field in general, it's about being the person who advances your field directly by doing research. If I had a million dollars, I wouldn't pay someone to do math because I wanted new results in the field I like, I would do math and hopefully prove a result myself.

[Anonymous No.7065323]

>>7063595
yeah, but I'm high functioning at least. Asperger's may be an outdated diagnosis, but I fit its criteria pretty well.

[Anonymous No.7065334]

>>7065322
So it is a purely selfish desire? Fair enough if that's the case, I'm just trying to figure it out.

I've become disillusioned with academia because of the impact question. I think the difference lies with me being interested in impact, and you being interested in fulfillment of desires, for example.

[Anonymous No.7065394]

>>7065334
So go become a wealthy entrepreneur in order to fund people who do worthwhile research in order to indirectly have more of an impact. But someone has to actually be doing the research. Unless you're thinking that you can both do the research and fund it all through your own means independently, but I think that may be somewhat unrealistic, because if you're actually in a PhD program or research position you are (unless you're somewhere shitty) surrounded by people and resources that will allow you to do your work much more effectively than you would as a disassociated layman. You might have a lot of cash as an individual but I don't think you'd be extremely productive unless you already had the education and connections to be able to usefully contribute.

[Anonymous No.7065443]

>>7063352
Ahh Stata, good times.

[Anonymous No.7065536]

Current grad students:
>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
Chemistry, Organic Catalysts (currently, catalyzing the final step of a more efficient synthesis of a cancer drug)

>What do you like about grad school?
Freedom in the research lab, being close with everyone in the chemistry department, and I spend all day every day inundated in chemistry, whether studying, being a TA, working in the lab or just hunting down random chemicals in the stock room

>What sucks about grad school?
Pretty much nothing so far. But I guess if/when I am enrolled in a class that I have to study a lot for then I guess I won't be so happy about spending most of my time on other duties.

>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
Yes, but I also know that getting in to a good chemical industry job with only a bachelors is very rare. You basically have no chance unless the employer already knows who you are.

>What will you do after you graduate?
Do a PhD.

[Anonymous No.7065552]

>>7063352
>What field?
Mechanical engineering
>MS/PhD?
Masters
> How are you gonna decide between different schools?
I have no idea.
>Will you get funding?
I can't really go unless I do.
> Have you been accepted anywhere yet?
Yes, but I didn't get a research position and had to drop out this semester because I couldn't pay.
It seemed like everyone in my department didn't really have research positions to offer.
Is there a place to find a position first?


So. How are you actually suppose to apply for grad school?
Do you write an advisor before you even get accepted?

[Anonymous No.7065562]

>>7063352
compsci, AI,
a short stint at princeton before realizing ivy league was overated
jumped straight into industry
one of lead researchers at the goooog for voice pattern recognition

[Anonymous No.7065567]

>>7065552
>How are you actually suppose to apply for grad school?
>Do you write an advisor before you even get accepted?

For a masters, no. You apply just like for undergrad but with GRE scores and letters of rec from undergrad profs.

For a phd, you'd probably want to contact potential advisors.

[Anonymous No.7065570]

>>7065567
Not who you're replying to, but is this for the most part 100% true?

[Anonymous No.7065576]

>>7063352
-Maths
-Getting paid shit-tons with full health care to teach one class
-People whining that it's too difficult when they spend 30 hours per week struggling and 40 hours per week bitching
-No
-Don't care; in it for the fun

[Anonymous No.7065577]

>>7065567
How do you get your actual thesis advisor?
I guess I forgot to mention I wanted to do a thesis track not a courses track.

[Anonymous No.7065588]

>>7065570
Yep. But I can only speak for a funded masters in math. I didn't talk to anyone at my school until I got there.

>>7065577
For your masters thesis, you get a feel for who's doing what research and see if they'd want a student on one of their projects, or you go up to a prof who's knowledgeable in your field and ask if they know of any problems that would be worthy of a masters thesis. Some older profs have "pockets full of problems" that they're too lazy to solve but would take several months for a grad student.

Typically, you see which prof was your favorite during your first year of coursework and go talk to them. At the very least, they'll know what everyone else is up to.

[Anonymous No.7065590]

>>7065576
>-People whining that it's too difficult when they spend 30 hours per week struggling and 40 hours per week bitching

kek, this for real. I wouldn't think I'd be earning my degree if I wasn't spending 30hrs a week on each assignment. In fact, I consider that a pretty easy assignment. I'll never understand the people who complain. Why the fuck did you come here if you don't actually like doing the work you're doing?

[Anonymous No.7065596]

>>7063352
>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
Mycology.

>What do you like about grad school?

>What sucks about grad school?
Research and a lot of freedom.

>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
Nope.

>What will you do after you graduate?
Probably a post-doc, but the goal is a position at a university or maybe even government research.

[Anonymous No.7065601]

>>7063352 (OP)
>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
Mycology.

>What do you like about grad school?
Research, freedom, pursuing my passion.

>What sucks about grad school?
Salary, feeling like some aspects of my life are on hold, working incredible hours and not balancing life properly

>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
Nope.

>What will you do after you graduate?
Probably a post-doc, but the goal is a position at a university or maybe even government research.

[Anonymous No.7065603]

>>7065590
Hey man, I like learning math, I like messing around for a while programming and testing the math I learned, I don't like setting up fucking 36 different trials over every variation of parameters and algorithms and charting and graphing and explaining the results.

[Anonymous No.7065617]

>>7065603
>doing applied math

[Anonymous No.7065659]

>>7063352
>>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
on paper mechanical engineering, but fuck if I know what field I'm in anymore. I think it involves chemistry, computers, mechanics, and AI

>>What do you like about grad school?
that it's bad ass.

>>What sucks about grad school?
that I suck at writing papers and paperwork

>>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
aww heck no

>>What will you do after you graduate?
I hope to become a professor, but my interpersonal skills suck, so probably postdoc hobo.

>>7063582
>>If you take a look at the quality of robotics work his grad students put out you'll be amazed.
yeah the work that gets accepted, reviewed some papers from his grad students, it was like really bad.

>>due to a higher amount of competition with other PhD students
it's pretty competitive to get into his lab, especially since Hong did ted talks and appeared in popular science. Funny thing, you almost get more respect if you get published in popular science than if you get published in nature.

You should really check out some other robotics schools, there are a couple 'secret' robotics schools out there that people don't realize are really top tier robotics schools yet.

[Anonymous No.7065667]

>>7065659
>that I suck at writing papers and paperwork
This is common with engineers. You should consider taking some professional writing courses and read a lot more books (i.e.: fiction). Proper writing skills are essential and can be learned, don't just accept that you are a bad writer and cannot change.

>but my interpersonal skills suck,
These can also be honed. Go outside your comfort zone, socialize more, give talks whenever possible, join ToastMasters or something like that, whatever.

Communication (writing and engaging your fellow humans) is essential for success, work on it!

[Anonymous No.7065707]

>Current grad students:
>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
Aerospace engineering
>What do you like about grad school?
You get to really dive into the topics that interest you. For example, I find fluids and aerodynamics fascinating, while structural analysis bores me to tears. In my undergrad years, I had to put up with structures. Now I don't need to go anywhere near it.
>What sucks about grad school?
I've been pretty satisfied with it so far. I had a good idea of what to expect coming in though.
>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
I have a job, and go on leave during the semesters. Working is definitely easier than school, and it makes you nice money too. I find that I'm not as happy day to day though. Less freedom. That'll vary from person to person though.
>What will you do after you graduate?
PhD, then get the hell out of academia and into a government research lab.

[Anonymous No.7065724]

>>7065603
>I don't like setting up fucking 36 different trials over every variation of parameters
your career in Data Analysis is doomed

[Anonymous No.7066035]

>>7063352
>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
CS/Robotics
>What do you like about grad school?
I more or less get to work on what I'm interested in, and I love being able to dive into a topic and learn as much as possible.
>What sucks about grad school?
Coming up with tractable research problems has been my Achilles' heel. I've repeatedly started in on projects where there was so much engineering work to be done that I couldn't finish any meaningful research work before I got pulled off the project.
>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
I hopefully will be at the end of the calendar year once I finish my Masters.
>What will you do after you graduate?
Get a job. I'm taking the way things have been going as a sign that I've been in school for longer than I should have been, and it's time for me to enter the real world.

[Anonymous No.7066039]

>tfw undergrad

i like the school though

[Anonymous No.7066173]

>>7063352
>Current grad students:
>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
Mechanical engineering (Germany)
>What do you like about grad school?
Ambitious people and more engaging subjects
>What sucks about grad school?
I guess the work, but I kind of like having something urgent to do
>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
I was and will be in it within 2 years so no stress there.
>What will you do after you graduate?
Get a job in production or design with robotics, my grad is bretty good for that.

[Anonymous No.7066180]

>>7066173
KAROHEMD UND SAMENSTAU,
ICH STUDIER MASCHINENBAU.

[Anonymous No.7066202]

I was thinking of transferring to CU Boulder or CSU Fort Collins for my next few years, but can't quite pick a bachelor and graduate program I'm interested in.

Would mechanical -> aerospace graduate be a viable thing if I wanna get involved in the spacecraft industry? I was originally going to pursue an aerospace bachelor, but kinda figured that's a little over specialized at the undergrad level and I'd struggle to find work outside of aerospace tech.

I-I just wanna learn a bunch of cool shit.

[Anonymous No.7066212]

Im going to do a masters in japan, probably at tsukuba uni

I did math/physics undergrad. I focused on scientific computing and want to do more of it. I'm a hippie psychedelic taker that wishes i could save the environment.

Should I do environmental science and do as much math/computing related things as possible? I hear there can be fluid dynamics and shit involved

or i could do interdisciplinary comp sci masterz... one of the potential projects was space simulation, i did lots of astrophysics so that sounds cool

I feel like my work/money prospects will be better with comp sci. And im not good with talking to people and am afraid that environmental science seminars and stuff will be brutal in that sense

>tfw no idea

[Anonymous No.7066213]

>>7065570
Depends on the country. For the US, admissions are made at the department level. You don't get assigned a supervisor immediately. For Canadian universities, if nobody in the department wants you, you won't get in, so the secret cheat code is to contact them in advance so they know you beforehand. However, the success rate for actual replies can be quite low, because they tend to get spammed with these a lot.

[Anonymous No.7066216]

>>7065552
>Do you write an advisor before you even get accepted?
depends on the uni. I know for a fact that some require it

[Anonymous No.7066233]

>>7063352
>What field are you in (and school if you want)?
Material science (self assembly of nano systems), officially under Chemical Engineering (master race) department.
>What do you like about grad school?
Excellent hours and working conditions leaves a lot of time for personal business enterprise and/or hobbies
Respect (allegedly)
Work with smart, interesting people.
>What sucks about grad school?
Doesn't pay nearly enough.
>Do you ever wish you were in industry?
I am working closely with industry, I don't like the hours required for working full time in industry, ideally I'd like to stay in academia and consult like many of the faculty here does, but I think it would be better for my career to get some industry experience first.
>What will you do after you graduate?
Probably working R&D either in the defense or mining industry (from whom we often get service contracts).

[Anonymous No.7066269]

>>7063399
>-Yes, I'm a minority.
The free ride ended in undergrad m8, you only get grant monies if they're are certain you will be able to produce useful results for them.

[Anonymous No.7066281]

>>7063388
It still leaks too. Even after renovations.

[Anonymous No.7066288]

>>7063414
>"ah yeah, the poor grad student life! live it up kid!" -everyone in my department)

I hate people like this is fucking much, most of them get support from a guardian and have no idea how impossible it is to stay alive on a grad school stipend.

[Anonymous No.7066298]

Potential grad students:
What field?
physics - beyond standard model physics; like supersymmetry or AdS/CFT-Korrespondence
MS/PhD?
MS, PHD afterwards
How are you gonna decide between different schools?
will do my MS where im currently doing my BS, might go to another uni for PHD - depends on what exactly ill plan to do my PHD on.
Will you get funding?
no
Have you been accepted anywhere yet?
MS accepted

[Anonymous No.7066299]

>Potential grad students:
What field?

Computer Science

>MS/PhD?
MS. Switching from pure math to CS, so an MS feels like a natural transition onto a PhD degree.

I worked in industry for ~3 years now & decided it is time for a PhD.

>How are you gonna decide between different schools?

I contacted a professor to state my interest in applying to be his student. If I am accepted then I'll attend.

>Will you get funding?

No, it is at an Ivy League though so I'd be willing to take on such debt. I also plan to pursue part-time Masters and work full time to help pay off the expenses. Then full-time for a PhD.

>Have you been accepted anywhere yet?

I was accepted about 3 years ago with an RA, TA and Fellowship at one of the most prestigious universities in Canada for CS.

>>7066213

This gives me hope, because the professor I contacted at the Ivy wrote a positive message back to me. I also wrote him a very long email and I know the longer the email the higher the likelihood they won't read it / respond.

To anyone else, if you are applying for grad school then I'd highly recommend contacting a professor beforehand. Regardless if it is at the MS or PhD level.

[Anonymous No.7066469]

>>7066288
I don't know about impossible, I guess it depends on your funding and location.