PhD

[Anonymous No.9573003]

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.

[Anonymous No.9573011]

>>9573003
>Are there any people here who have completed their PhDs?

i will, come hell or high water

[Anonymous No.9573016]

>>9573011

because i'll be dammed if i end up just another middling coder after all the bullshit i've endured.

[Anonymous No.9573020]

>>9573003
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.

[Anonymous No.9573027]

>>9573003
>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?

[Anonymous No.9573101]

>>9573020
Bump this. How much research am I expected to have done in undergrad to get into a top 5/10 graduate/PhD program?

[Anonymous No.9573240]

>>9573101
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).

[Anonymous No.9573245]

>>9573003
Can you be denied a PhD for a garbage thesis?

[Anonymous No.9573293]

>>9573245
It should just be original

[Anonymous No.9573358]

Do people just start calling something a "meme" after they fail at it?

[Anonymous No.9573373]

>>9573016
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.

[Anonymous No.9573382]

>>9573101
why do you need a top 5/10 program if you're asking that question

[Anonymous No.9573383]

>>9573358
Yeah that's how it goes on /sci/

[Anonymous No.9573388]

>>9573382
I didn't realise that people who go to good schools shouldn't ask progression questions

[Anonymous No.9573390]

>>9573388
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

[Anonymous No.9573391]

>>9573240
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?

[Anonymous No.9573396]

>>9573390
Ah right, sorry anon. 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

[Anonymous No.9573405]

how hard is a ph.d in computer science is, anon?

[Anonymous No.9573430]

what the fuck do you guys mean by research in undergrad????

You mean doing a masters?

[Anonymous No.9573455]

>>9573430
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).

[Anonymous No.9573479]

>>9573455
In canada (at least in quebec) it is near impossible to do a ph.d without a masters first. Are you in the states?

[Anonymous No.9573482]

>>9573373
>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.

[Anonymous No.9573484]

>>9573479
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.

[Anonymous No.9573487]

>>9573479
Not that anon, but in the UK it's uncommon but possible. May be a result of most people having an integrated masters, though.

[Anonymous No.9573503]

>>9573484
>>9573487
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

[Anonymous No.9573509]

>>9573503
>>9573487
>>9573484
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.

[Anonymous No.9573511]

>>9573479
Canadian here, I got a direct acceptance to a ph.d but I'm in toronto not quebec

[Anonymous No.9573512]

>>9573509
that's cool. I imagine you need perfect grades to get accepted to a ph.d ?

[Anonymous No.9573521]

>>9573512
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

[Anonymous No.9573525]

>>9573521
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).

[Anonymous No.9573526]

>>9573482

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.

[Anonymous No.9573530]

>>9573003
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.

[Anonymous No.9573536]

>>9573511
care to share more? How did you do it?

[Anonymous No.9573538]

>>9573525
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.

[Anonymous No.9573541]

>>9573538
I'm >>9573530 and I agree about state schools. They're worth looking into, especially if some faculty are doing cutting-edge work.

[Anonymous No.9573545]

>>9573530
congratulations, anon. I'm not sure I would be able to accomplish that even if I tried my very best. What was your discipline?

[Anonymous No.9573547]

>>9573545
Biological sciences with a specialization in ecology.

[Anonymous No.9573550]

>>9573538
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.

[Anonymous No.9573553]

>>9573405
it's a goddamn phd, broseph

[Anonymous No.9573554]

>>9573550
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.

[Anonymous No.9573558]

>>9573547
sweet

[Anonymous No.9573560]

>>9573558
Thanks.

[Anonymous No.9573562]

>>9573553
>a ph.d in art history is as hard

hmmm..

[Anonymous No.9573565]

>>9573536
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.

[Anonymous No.9573575]

>>9573565
>Didn't really do anything special
>My GPA was 3.92
ok.

but thanks for the input, what field are you studying?

[Anonymous No.9573578]

>>9573575
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

[Anonymous No.9573591]

>>9573578
condensed matter looks interesting. Thanks for sharing, keep it up canadabro

[Anonymous No.9573596]

>>9573591
no problem, good luck to you too

[Anonymous No.9573603]

>>9573530
nice work. the guy is prob where he is bc he sucked off his way to tenure

[Anonymous No.9573613]

>>9573003
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

[Anonymous No.9573620]

>>9573530
>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.

[Anonymous No.9573631]

>>9573620

kind of pisses me off sometimes desu

[Anonymous No.9573636]

>>9573620
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.

[Anonymous No.9573638]

>>9573620
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

[Anonymous No.9573640]

>>9573613
what a nice dude you are. What are you doing your ph.d on?

[Anonymous No.9573644]

>>9573638
>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.

[Anonymous No.9573645]

>>9573640
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

[Anonymous No.9573647]

>>9573644
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.

[Anonymous No.9573663]

>>9573647

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.

[Anonymous No.9573672]

and most of the american professors are either dead, retired, or heading for retirement.

[Anonymous No.9573674]

i suppose that, being a PhD student, i can't really complain, but it looks like a grim situation.

[Anonymous No.9573686]

>>9573645
good shit

>>9573647
I would only allow it to countries with an average IQ higher than 100

[Anonymous No.9573690]

really doesn't help morale, especially in the already lonely, demanding endeavor of higher education desu

[Anonymous No.9573693]

>>9573578
>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.

>>9573591
>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

>>9573578
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.

>>9573647
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

>>9573663
>. 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?

[Anonymous No.9573700]

>>9573693
>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".

[Anonymous No.9573710]

>>9573693
>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.

[Anonymous No.9573723]

>>9573693
you sound like a horrible person. 0/10 would not be friend with

[Anonymous No.9573724]

>>9573700
>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

>>9573710
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

[Anonymous No.9573726]

Have a PhD in Economics and I work at a bank

[Anonymous No.9573730]

>>9573726
sad

[Anonymous No.9573732]

>>9573003
Philosophy PhD here. That's how it works. You're doing fine

[Anonymous No.9573737]

>>9573724
>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

[Anonymous No.9573741]

>>9573724
>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.

[Anonymous No.9573756]

>>9573741
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

[Anonymous No.9573758]

>>>9573724
>>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.

[Anonymous No.9573767]

>>9573003
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?

>>9573521
>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.

[Anonymous No.9573768]

>>9573245
Usually the advisor doesn't let a garbage thesis go to the defence

[Anonymous No.9573769]

>>9573758
>you cannot call people of european descent unintelligent or incapable

[Anonymous No.9573771]

>>9573767
lol are you seriously triggered by the word "minority?"

[Anonymous No.9573772]

>>9573757

[Anonymous No.9573773]

>>9573756
>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.

[Anonymous No.9573780]

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?

[Anonymous No.9573783]

>>9573771
no, i'm triggered by the words "3.3 gpa" anywhere near the words "accepted into a phd program"

[Anonymous No.9573787]

>>9573003
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?

[Anonymous No.9573796]

>>9573787
btw for some reason only design students have priority in the good machine shops on campus.

how can i make this change.

[Anonymous No.9573798]

>>9573783
and the best part is we have no niggers in my department so you know it's good

[Anonymous No.9573801]

>>9573773
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.

[Anonymous No.9573831]

>>9573756

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.

[Anonymous No.9573834]

>>9573798
>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.

>>9573801
>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:
>http://archive.is/oLce0
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.
>http://archive.is/eakRl

[Anonymous No.9573842]

>>9573834
>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

[Anonymous No.9573845]

>>9573780
you'll be fine as long as your gre is over 85th percentile and your gpa is above 3.3

[Anonymous No.9573848]

>>9573767
i had a 2.8 and still got into northwestern phd biology, only school i applied to as well

[Anonymous No.9573854]

>>9573845
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).

[Anonymous No.9573857]

>>9573848
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.

[Anonymous No.9573863]

>>9573842
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

[Anonymous No.9573870]

>>9573848
bullshit
did your parents donate to them?

[Anonymous No.9573878]

>>9573854
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.

>>9573857
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

[Anonymous No.9573880]

>>9573878
fuck. waive.

[Anonymous No.9573882]

>>9573391
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.

[Anonymous No.9573883]

>>9573003
>the PhD meme
Lrn2meme fgt pls

[Anonymous No.9573886]

>>9573870
not at all. i just got an interview, it was a fucking piece of cake. you have to understand the people going in for phds with stellar gpas arent really innovators... innovators have better things to think about than parroting bullshit, mine was watching all of db, dbz, and anime while i had that sweet T1 cable access.

[Anonymous No.9573890]

>>9573878
I think I'll start my GRE stuff this summer, then. I have a pretty hefty course load right now and I'm already looking for research. In summer I'm taking a 6-week course on macroecon to fill up my humanities requirement, and I'll have two months off between finals and that starting, so GRE prep and research should be more than enough to fill up my time.

I'm somewhat fucked for this semester and I'm strongly considering hopping on anti-depressants so my GPA doesn't get totally trashed.

[Anonymous No.9573892]

>>9573878
>>9573890
Also kek, I'm at Loyola so we're basically neighbors.

[Anonymous No.9573900]

>>9573863
And your rebuttal is just my GPA. What publications and grades so you have if you're so fucking smart

[Anonymous No.9573906]

>>9573890
sounds like youre putting yourself under a lot of pressure to perform and you can thank a type A competitive personality for that. unfortunately you will hear a lot of people positively reinforcing good performance and high gpas because that's their metric of success. things become different if you actually skip the bullshit and hop on the ledge of the scientific forefront and look ahead, rather than playing catch up with all the regurgitated nonsense. there aren't many people who say things like this so i will to you: you can be a good and smart person with a low gpa. gpa doesnt mean shit in the real world esp an undergrad gpa. its a number that can be padded with serious shit classes (which you should do to fool the normies anyway) just dont actually buy into it.

some retard prof asked me for undergrad transcripts when i sent a application to his lab for some short term work (unbeknownst to him I was only going to work it shortly before returning to medical school after the phd is done) and I could tell he was a total brainlet for that fact alone. value yourself based upon your works. in that, go make something of use.

[Anonymous No.9573907]

>>9573693
Yeah, Canada. U of T. I don't really know anything about BC or Vancouver, why does your advisor want Toronto in particular?

[Anonymous No.9573916]

>>9573003

I'm about to hand in my thesis in about 2 weeks, and I've had a job already lined up for several months, so at least that's secured.

But fuck me, the last 6 months have to be the most depressing and soul crushing shit I've ever endured. 7 days a week, at least 10 hours a day with few breaks in between. To have your entire mental capacity revolve around this one thing, and one thing only - every second you're awake.

[Anonymous No.9573929]

Reading this thread makes me glad I'm not American. I started a post-doc well before I finished my PhD, in physical chemistry. Did the two at once for half a year, no dramas. I imagine I might end up doing some work in the US at some point but I'm glad it won't be at the bottom.

[Anonymous No.9573961]

>>9573603
I wouldn't put it past him to do so. He is well acquainted with how to play the intra/inter-departmental political games.
>>9573620
My major advisor never had a postdoc during my time with him as a PhD student. I doubt he could have managed having one.

[Anonymous No.9573963]

>>9573916
Can feel that. I handed in my thesis last month. Defense is scheduled next week.

[Anonymous No.9573967]

>>9573003
This is exactly my situation now!

[Anonymous No.9573971]

>>9573967
Stick with it and use your advisory committee. If you're working with a difficult advisor, your committee is already aware of your struggles. They want you to succeed so take advantage of what help they can offer. I know I wouldn't have survived my PhD >>9573530
without my committee (and I had a total of 6 members, including my major advisor).

[Anonymous No.9573976]

>>9573003

I don't understand the strucutre academic system. I'm doing my PhD in particle physics mainly because I find it interesting (it's how the universe works) and want to learn it for it's own sake. I don't get the deal with being forced to write someone original.

I honestly wouldn't mind being a spectator to the development of theoretical physics. I want to learn enough to where I can appreciate and follow along with what's happening, but I don't feel compelled to say anything unless I'd think of something that is worth sayings. Otherwise it's just adding to more noise.

[Anonymous No.9573984]

>>9573976
If you're working on your PhD, you're learning how to critically question the unknown in order to add to existing human knowledge. If you really are working on your PhD and you don't understand that, I fear you're in the wrong profession.

[Anonymous No.9573999]

>>9573984
that's what he's saying anon

he's saying the structure forces him to add shit to the shit storm which he doesn't want to do as that shit storm only holds a few diamonds. the more shit the harder it is to discern the diamonds.

get it?

[Anonymous No.9574011]

>>9573999
I disagree.
> I don't get the deal with being forced to write someone original.
This is EXACTLY what folks with PhD's are supposed to do. Hence, my comments.
> I want to learn enough to where I can appreciate and follow along with what's happening, but I don't feel compelled to say anything unless I'd think of something that is worth sayings. Otherwise it's just adding to more noise.
So...you're also advocating "not adding to the noise"? Way to advocate for hive mind and rote acceptance rather than the seed of providing enough information to generate multiple, testable hypotheses.

[Anonymous No.9574016]

>>9574011
Furthermore, if you're unable to sort through "the noise" in order to discern the diamonds, have you really learned anything in your PhD studies and training?

[Anonymous No.9574025]

>>9574011
Maybe if this was 40-50 years ago during the start of the industrial revolution.

Now adays our theories are going to longer years to come up with. This is becuase theories are getting more and more compicated

PHD gives you X amount of time to make it happen.
this X amount of time is too low currently.

I have been looking into latest theories and discoveries since i was 10. there have been SOOOO many out there that end up being shit or having no weight to them because someone payed some $ to make it happen so they could invest stock holders for some reason then drop out with the $ once the truth came out.

[Anonymous No.9574027]

>>9574025
See >>9574016

[Anonymous No.9574028]

>>9573984

Adding to existing human knowledge? Sounds a little too romantic. What percent of academic papers are widely read and actually contribute something new and meaningful?

My advisor is preparing me to mine parameter space for a dying theory (supersymmetry) to see how it could be apparently hiding from the LHC. I don't mind it, someone has to do grunt work, but in my spare time I study more mathematical physics that's more interesting.

In a world with 7 billion people and a lot of them smarter than you, contributing something new often means focusing on something no-body cares about.

[Anonymous No.9574035]

>>9574028
>Sounds a little too romantic. What percent of academic papers are widely read and actually contribute something new and meaningful?
In my field, most academic papers do contribute something new and meaningful, even if it is system specific.
>In a world with 7 billion people and a lot of them smarter than you, contributing something new often means focusing on something no-body cares about.
Ummmm...part of the challenge of your PhD is interpreting your results in the most general context as possible. It is YOUR responsibility to link your system-specific/limited context work to our broader knowledge base. If everyone could do this, everyone would have PhD's.

[Anonymous No.9574036]

>>9574035
In addition, those papers that are widely cited are those that successfully link their work to the broader context. Hence why they're widely cited.

[Anonymous No.9574041]

>>9574027
i'm an engineer who had/has an interest in astrophysics so PHD shit doesn't interest me.

>plan to self-study astrophysics and get knowledge in engineering via industry then combine both to start a commercial space business.

[Anonymous No.9574046]

>>9574041
Fair enough. At least you realize that pursuing a PhD is not worth your time, much less the advisor who would be training you.

[Anonymous No.9574057]

>>9574046
i dont like the beaucrucy of univeristies.

i'm trying to get a student-sourced battle bot going that combines mech and elec
kind of like how we have a formula team
starting this out is a major head ache in rallying faculty troops.

i want to get this project off the ground then gtfo

[Anonymous No.9574059]

>>9574057
Battle bots? I've always found that to be an interesting pursuit but don't possess the mechanical/engineering skills to make it happen. Good luck, anon.

[Anonymous No.9574060]

I wrote my thesis (computational chemistry) and successfully defended it. Now I must edit some last typos and print it before I get the document. I had a Russian advisor who was pretty tough to work with some times, but all in all it went well and since I worked at an agency, I didn't have to tutor, which I really apprechiated.
Now I got an interesting well paying job in a pretty much unrelated mathy engineering field.
When I started I also got into crypto and now have enougn money to sustain myself 10+ years without work, so I now really just go to work out of interest.

[Anonymous No.9574065]

Thanks anon.

Only reason I'm making it happen is because I have a Maths major who loves robotics working on it with me so there you super-science people go.

[Anonymous No.9574067]

>>9574060
Good job, anon. I've started to invest in stocks and am finding that, with enough research/dedication, you can do well enough to set yourself up for an easy future.

[Anonymous No.9574073]

>>9574035
Well, II guess that's a lot of people's motivation. They want to contribute something.

I still don't get that mindset, so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I honestly just find the topic interesting, I don't really care about the title. It's a lot easier to learn something when you have classes and smart people to talk about it with everyday, I don't know about this grand hall of human knowledge, I'm living my life for me.

[Anonymous No.9574074]

A little off topic, but I highly recommend the following paper for anyone interested in science:
http://ecoplexity.org/files/Platt.pdf

[Anonymous No.9574077]

>>9574073
OK. So you're pursuing a PhD for prestige, not for having the ability to meaningfully contribute?

[Anonymous No.9574083]

>>9573906
>sounds like youre putting yourself under a lot of pressure to perform and you can thank a type A competitive personality for that
True to a point.

In the past I put a lot of self worth on my grades and over the past year or two I'd been working my way out of that, and honestly my grades went up when I told myself "learn the material, the grades will come."

Thing is that's kind of worn off and now I'm pretty depressed and there's an uncomfortably high chance I'll fail my classes this semester. I'm considering starting anti-depressants but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

I guess at the end of the day I need to recognize that grades and GRE scores DO play a role in admissions, but I also need to realize that my ability to produce quality research is the most important thing.

[Anonymous No.9574089]

>>9574067
Yeah that can be really be a job in itself, the research and trying to predict the prospects of enterprises. And more than that, get a feel for the general sentiment.
I had written a trading bot in Python too, but it didn't really make money.
I'm stilly in crypto as I like development of decentralized applications, but I'd actually like to tune this down a bit for the sake of reading more.

This thread reminds me.. at one point I scanned the web and collected all generic questions you can ask yourself about you thesis, may it be for the exam, structure of your work or introduction / conclusion chapter. Pasted it here:

https://pastebin.com/LpW7qAUe

Let me also shill my youtube channel, I might read it and discuss it in an upcoming clip

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcrSMnEYhIPX_p127jI23qw/videos

[Anonymous No.9574099]

>>9574089
I've considered investing in crypto but am uncomfortable with the degree of volatility associated with a lot of the new currencies. I may invest if I ever have enough time to sink into enough reading to develop a wise investing strategy.

[Anonymous No.9574102]

>>9574077

No, because studying physics on your own time while working in an unrelated job when none of your friends/ family/ coworkers care about it is considerably more difficult.

And I didn't say I wouldn't want the ability to meaningfully contribute.

I'd keep up with the field and only contribute when I felt I had something meaningful to say. I thinking being a good listener and really learning about the ideas of others could be more fruitful than just trying to blurt out something clever.

Maybe 4-5 years is enough time to really start to understand the real problems relevant in particle physics, but by then you should be finishing your thesis. It's crazy.

[Anonymous No.9574117]

>>9574089

>I had written a trading bot in Python too, but it didn't really make money.

Lol, what'd you have it do?

[Anonymous No.9574133]

>tfw you just accepted at a top 10 for your field with an anarchistic, well-funded prof
>tfw when you realize your next 5 years will be toil and tribulation
>tfw you know it's worth it

I will never lose sleep in my 4th year wondering "what if life where different? What if I had skated on my BA?" I know what it's like outside and its shit.

I'm ready, lord.

[Anonymous No.9574144]

>>9574099
I don't think the boom of last summer will come back as quickly and atm. they don't vary independently enough to consider it investment in one or the other.

>>9574117
Simple buy low sell high, with moving average considerations and most naive chart evaluation. It wasn't that he didn't buy and sell right, it's just that if you play it as save, you need substantial funds to make something from it. Or at least I did. I was using an API from Bittrex for the trade operations themselves.
If you're into crypto, I do some light dapp development on NEO. For anyone interested in some modular arithmetic, I'm going to implement this paper next:
http://fc17.ifca.ai/preproceedings/paper_80.pdf
It has a reference implementation on Ethereum.

But sorry for moving away from the topic.
My PhD wasn't successful in the sense that the experiment (for which I did the computer simulations) didn't show any practically usable outcome. I learned some pretty things doing it, technically speaking, but I'm more or less detached from that topic now. It's the same for many of the PhD students who worked with me.
I could conclude that there's no point of taking it too seriously and say don't spend this time of your life in the lab entirely - but then again maybe there are people who do something important and should do just that, donno. It feel to me now that the person who gains the most at the end is the person who's strong enough to take a few hours a week - maybe 30 minutes every evening - and tries to learn what's out there and who the good people in the various interesting fields are and what topics interests them. Not just in academia, but this also helps with finding jobs later or invest in stuff, wether it be money or time. Keep up with what's out there and don't kill yourself.

[Anonymous No.9574145]

>>9574083
>I'm considering starting anti-depressants but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

First take vitamin D3 2000+ UI daily. Then go see a physician and tell them youre depressed, theyll give you prozac and a therapist referral

[Anonymous No.9574148]

>>9574133
Why will it be worth it?

[Anonymous No.9574152]

>>9574148

Anything worth doing in life takes effort.

[Anonymous No.9574157]

>>9574060
>and now have enougn money to sustain myself 10+ years without work, so I now really just go to work out of interest.

make it 7 years and pay for me to get an undergrad pls

[Anonymous No.9574160]

>>9574145
I'm already seeing a therapist for CBT. I'll look into vitamin D3, my diet is shit so I should probably at least take some supplements.

Keep in mind, this shit runs in my family. My mom and sister are on Zoloft, most of my mom's siblings are depressed and/or alcoholics, my mom is a college dropout, her mother was a college dropout, and my great-grandmother tried to hang herself.

I think right now I'd feel 10x better if I could just find the courage to go to my profs and say "sorry, I've missed a lot of class and assignments because of some mental health problems and I'd like to get caught up."

[Anonymous No.9574163]

>>9573961
>My major advisor never had a postdoc during my time with him as a PhD student. I doubt he could have managed having one.

well consider yourself lucky. seems like colleges with grad programs don't even eat their own dogfood most of the time.

professors import post-docs and grad students from wherever and i feel lost in the shuffle.

[Anonymous No.9574167]

>>9574152
Just want to point out that you didn't answer the questions. All good food being sweet doesn't mean sweet food is always good.

[Anonymous No.9574173]

>>9574148

After undergrad I still wasn't sure if graduate school was right for me so I bummed around a lot and worked a bit while applying to grad school.

While working and fucking around I solidified my knowledge of myself.

When was I happy? When I was surrounded by smart, motivated people who wanted to learn and work.

What do I need to feel stable? Obviously not much money, I really want projects to work on that are challenging to keep me occupied. I don't need a 90k a year job to feel happy. A PhD stipend is enough. I lived out of my car for 4 months and was happy as a clam after all. the money I make right now is only good for paying off loans, I don't spend big.

Could I keep working at what I'm doing and live a happy life? Well, I work in a very stable lab job that I could do till I die. I could have kids right now and save for retirement. But I'd probably shoot myself first.

Therefor: I need to do something I love again. And I know I can do it now.

[Anonymous No.9574174]

>>9574167

>>9574152 isn't me >>9574173 is.

That's where I'm coming from.

[Anonymous No.9574176]

>>9574157
Okay, what do you do or can you do and why would it be worth investing? My contacts are on the about page on the youtube channel.

[Anonymous No.9574177]

>>9574160
The literature on cbt+antidepressants suggests mixed results. Sometimes its more effective than just cbt, sometimes less effective, sometimes its actually harmful. cbt is low risk on its own.

I swallowed a bottle of pills 4 years ago. My ex gf did the same. My mom has mood disorders and fucked up bloodwork but she was adopted so I dont know her family history. I feel you mate.

When I dropped out of college, I emailed a few profs I was close to, thanked them for their time and apologized I couldnt become more from their mentorship

[Anonymous No.9574178]

>>9574057
lol

>battlebot idea gets rejected
>"I'LL SHOW THEM"
>builds enormous killdozer battlebot

kidding, battlebots are awesome

[Anonymous No.9574181]

>>9574160
Phyiscal exercise is key.
I cannot stress how important physical exercise is.

>anon stuck in depression found way out
no matter what anyone tells you, simply going to martial arts or rock climbing or calisthenics or something once a week will help.

>exercising makes you hungry
Makes you more motivated to make big batches of healthy food.

Trust anon. Trust. I suggest martial arts because it trains your mind to take on uncomfortable situations.

[Anonymous No.9574186]

>>9574176
oh itd be a horrible investment for you bc id never pay you back mate

[Anonymous No.9574187]

>>9574181

not bad suggestions, but they're not going to get you out of severe depression.

[Anonymous No.9574188]

>>9574178
LOL
it's getting good vibes. it's a thing that gets people excited. the prof i'm working with inadvertently gave the best advice "go at people with bright eyes and big ideas".

[Anonymous No.9574192]

>>9574187
it's the first step.

there is many many steps after that. all involve putting yourself into uncomfortable situations.

[Anonymous No.9574197]

>>9574089
whos dat qt3.14?

your accent is relaxing btw nice vids

[Anonymous No.9574199]

>>9574192

anyone with serious depression is quite uncomfortable as it is

[Anonymous No.9574205]

>>9574199
i was the type to literally never leave my room except bathroom, food, and when I was forced to, school.

live in the uncomfortable, breathe in the uncomfortable, and know that by being in uncomfortable situations you are no different then someone comfortable.

after time your adapation to uncomfortable situations will 'break' the uncomfortable chain.
i've seen it work every time.

Examples of uncomfortable situations:
bringing people together for a project
going to the gym
talking to an attractive/normal looking girl
speaking to a crowd
go on an adventure to a country by yourself
take up a hobby that gets you somewhere where you aren't usually.
do u need more examples?

[Anonymous No.9574211]

>>9574177
Yeah, plus studies show SSRIs take several weeks to kick in. They probably wouldn't do much until the end of the semester plus I admit I've seen them as this "forbidden fruit" that's a magical fix-all, which is not what they are at all.

I see what you mean about old profs. I did research with this prof at my old school (i dropped out because of these problems, spend some time at community college, and now I'm here at a different place), really nice guy but I was absolutely shit at showing up and contributing regularly.

Well, my dad was concerned about my mental health and wanted to know what I wasn't telling him and contacted that prof, he basically said I was really smart and was super impressed by how much I learned early on but also noticed that I never really committed to a regular schedule to the point where it hindered my results but saw that I have a ton of potential and hopes I solve my problems.

I feel pretty bad about being a shitty researcher but I was also glad to hear that someone recognized that I have talent.

>>9574181
Looking back, I've been happiest when I was most active. Running and rock climbing are my favorite things, but with the latter my only option right now is my college's mediocre wall. I used to lead stuff up to 5.10a, boulder V4, etc., but now I haven't climbed regularly in years.

I do have this plan to rebuild my running endurance and work up from short runs in my neighborhood to running to the planetarium, about 11 miles with some nice views.

Exercise won't cure all, especially if this is in my "genetic destiny" (I sure hope it isn't and I question if such a thing as "genetic destiny" is accurate in most cases), but it is another "tool" in the toolbox along with CBT, meds, etc.

I don't even have a formal diagnosis of any disorder, nor do I want one, but I definitely show symptoms of MDD, GAD, and OCD. All the mood disorders seem to have a similar "playbook" but I'm not a psych major.

[Anonymous No.9574236]

>>9573003
Where do you go to school?

[Anonymous No.9574415]

>>9573724
>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.

almost missed this little gem of fiction. it has nothing to do with american students opting out of grad school for higher wages. foreign professors have a habit of cherry picking their grad students from among their own circles.

[Anonymous No.9574428]

>>9574415

and it does make sense financially to get a masters degree, but our masters program is still 90% foreigners. and the school does a lot of "combined" grad/undergrad classes. the undergrads are usually american, the grads are usually foreign, but they're all taking the exact same fucking classes. it's asinine.

[Anonymous No.9574445]

and i'm not even sure if you can chalk it up to american culture either.

there were plenty of american students when there were american professors. it's quite a remarkable coincidence that the number of american students is directly related to the number of american professors, wouldn't you say?

[Anonymous No.9574457]

but please, tell me more about white privilege, i dare you. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU MOTHERFUCKER

[Anonymous No.9574462]

>>9574428
A lot of internationals do a master's in the US to gain US citizenship. But yeah, I see the same thing sometimes.

[Anonymous No.9574488]

>>9574462

that they have the gall to suggest we need more "diversity" is as insulting as it is ridiculous.

[Anonymous No.9574492]

you all probably go to higher-end colleges. you don't know how bad it is.

[Anonymous No.9574501]

>>9574492
What do you mean?

[Anonymous No.9574509]

>>9574501

sorry, /sci/ should really have IDs.

>>9574415
>>9574428
>>9574445
>>9574457
>>9574488
>>9574492

is just me bitching continuously.

[Anonymous No.9574512]

>>9574509
How bad is it? Tell us

[Anonymous No.9574515]

>>9574512

i told you. it sucks tho. take my word for it.

[Anonymous No.9574656]

2nd year PhD student here. Have not advanced to candidacy yet.

I just gave a literature talk in front of the department today as part of my program and I fuckin crushed that shit.

I don’t think I “fell” for anything going into a PhD. I always wanted to do higher education and I really love my project. It’s a combination of inorganic chemistry and chemical engineering. Fucking god tier.

[Anonymous No.9574680]

>>9574133
>>9574173
godspeed mate

>doing postdoc right now
>wondered at a time whether or not I would have preffered just going into the industry with my engineering degree
>met a bunch of former engi classmates recently
>they all hate their jobs, two of them are in the process of reconverting into high school math teachers

[Anonymous No.9574984]

>>9573003
I feel really bad for anyone who is stuck with a terrible supervisor
God speed to you lads

[Anonymous No.9574987]

>>9574512
>>9574515

know i don't hate any of them. i have nothing personal against them. some of them i even like and admire. i am mostly angry toward the businessmen, politicians, and false academics who sold my generation up the river.

[Anonymous No.9574993]

>>9574987

and i am angry that most of my generation have been fooled into thinking this is a normal state of affairs. it seems my compatriots have been spayed and neutered from the start.

[Anonymous No.9575000]

>>9573003
My mind works too slow for a PhD. I can understand deep, poignant information but it takes me hours of thinking about it and researching it to understand it.

So I'll take my fate as a data scientist (its not that bad) and continue physics in my free time

Hope I can go back for a master's at some point

[Anonymous No.9575004]

>>9575000
>My mind works too slow for a PhD.

a meme. you desire a deeper understanding. anyone can memorize information quickly. those who take the time to look at something from all the different angles are the ones who will truly understand it. don't be content with superficial knowledge.

[Anonymous No.9575010]

>>9575000
>So I'll take my fate as a data scientist (its not that bad) and continue physics in my free time

and if the industry demands thousands of mediocre pajeet data scientists then they can have them. i want to learn, not churn out java

[Anonymous No.9575011]

>>9573003
I bug my adviser all the time because he has the time. Submitting my thesis for review in a few weeks, wish me luck lads.

[Anonymous No.9575013]

>>9574993
>>9574987
>>9574509
>>9574488
>>9574457
>>9574445
>>9574415
>>9573842
>>9573834
>>9573798
>>9573831
>>9573773
>>9573758
>>9573741
/pol/ was a mistake

[Anonymous No.9575016]

i wish i knew all of this a few years ago, but it doens't matter. i'll keep at it even if i'm there for another five years. what i won't do is allow myself to be a tool for the same capitalists who fucked us over in the first place.

[Anonymous No.9575020]

>>9575013
>/pol/ was a mistake

that's not all the same poster.

[Anonymous No.9575028]

>>9575016
>what i won't do is allow myself to be a tool for the same capitalists who fucked us over in the first place.

and if there is no recourse, i'd simply prefer to die

[Anonymous No.9575121]

>>9574089
You look literally like younger zizek lmao

[Anonymous No.9575134]

>>9575000
>My mind works too slow for a PhD. I can understand deep, poignant information but it takes me hours of thinking about it and researching it to understand it.
Nigga, do you think PhD's are awarded to people who quickly memorize and regurgitate information?

[Anonymous No.9575275]

>>9573638
> im currently pushing for the removal of my name on one of his publications

Why would you want one less publication to put on your CV?

[Anonymous No.9575290]

>>9575275
Let me be more honest- because one of the fuckers put me on the acknowledgements list after taking out my data in a bait and switch.

[Anonymous No.9575312]

lmao PHD in lab science sounds fucking miserable. how long are you betas in the lab for each day?

[Anonymous No.9575336]

>>9575312
I was in the lab 8 hours a day the first year, years 2 and 3 became 5 hours a day and less.

[Anonymous No.9575797]

>>9573405
Relatively easy compared to physics for example - they're normally not as competitive to get into as well. I'm studying at the ETH in Switzerland: They pay CS PhDs 1.5x the base rate, because no-one is interested in doing one if they can just get a job with 3x the money elsewhere. BT-dubs: the salary is $74k USD

[Anonymous No.9575801]

>>9573487
Yeah - disqualifies you for most of the prestigious unis/funders, though

[Anonymous No.9575811]

>applying for doctorate because of poor undergrad decisions, denied from all but 1 school (hearing this week)
>93rd percentile GRE
>two publications in field of doctorate
>work experience teaching

Is there any way to redeem yourself after getting a shit major?

[Anonymous No.9575850]

>>9573963

That's pretty fast. They didn't take long at all to evaluate your thesis.

[Anonymous No.9575865]

>>9574656
>candidacy
>literature talk

Wtf do these mean? Do you have a research project yet, have you done any experiments or publications?

[Anonymous No.9575881]

>>9575797
wtf- the base phd salary for cs at eth is 74k? did you say that right?

[Anonymous No.9576149]

>>9575811
I got an ok degree, same GRE, no publications, but I just got accepted for a PhD around rank 50, a jump up from the 400ish I was at for undergrad

From what I could tell from my interviews, and my discussions with other people, nobody gives a shit about the title of your major. It's about if you can demonstrate you're serious about what you want to study, and you're not an asshole / incapable of human interaction.

By rights you should be okay anon. I hope it goes in your favor.

[Anonymous No.9576373]

>>9573916
what subject?

[Anonymous No.9576392]

>>9573916
Weak minded. If you're not working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week anyway, then what have you been doing? That's literally from like 10am to 8pm every day. You have loads of free time.

[Anonymous No.9576492]

>>9573724
>the root problem is the culture in the US that does not value intelligence, progress or knowledge. only cares about personal, shallow hedonism
That's not the problem. European cultures value shallow hedonism to an extent as well.

America values freedom and individualism way too much to the point where any idiot is taken seriously for giving their opinion. There is no humbleness and no respect to experts. So things that experts are associated with, like academia, are not put on a pedestal anymore.

Knowledge is respected in the US but there is no discrimination between useful knowledge and less useful knowledge, as well as not much discrimination between facts and conjecture.

[Anonymous No.9576505]

>>9573756
>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.
Not perfect but far better than the status quo.
>>9573758
"Whites" in America are mixed. Also, civilizations rise and fall. Just because people X did Y does not mean they'll do so forever.
>>9574428
>>9574462
>>9574488
>what is meritocracy

[Anonymous No.9576559]

>>9576392
t. brainlet

[Anonymous No.9576593]

>>9576505
>what is meritocracy

this isn't a meritocracy, it's a fucking all-you-can-eat buffet. if they're so godamned good at what they do then why are they doing it in my backyard? don't india and china have universities too? college professors take on students from their respective nationality. if you have mostly american professors you will have mostly american students, and likewise for professors and students of other nationalities.

[Anonymous No.9576613]

>>9574987
>who sold my generation up the river.
Do you know where this "sold up the river" expression originates?

[Anonymous No.9576619]

>>9576613
> WHITE GUILT TRIP INCOMING

spare me.

[Anonymous No.9576626]

>>9576619
Just ironic that using that precise term to whine about how chinese and indians are oppressing you by being better than you.

[Anonymous No.9576644]

>>9576626
>chinese and indians are oppressing you by being better than you.

they're not better than me. there are simply lots of them and large graduate programs filled with visa holders act as a subsidy for big tech companies. it's only natural for most american students to lose interest when they're being flooded out.

don't for a minute mistake this for a meritocracy or think that they're here for any reason other than that big tech wants cheap labor and the shitty countries they come from aren't even up to the job of educating their own people.

[Anonymous No.9576653]

>>9576644

>they're not better than me
>they managed to climb out of a shithole country and replace me

[Anonymous No.9576658]

>>9576653

if that story helps you sleep at night and feel proud of yourself, then by all means, keep on thinking that.

[Anonymous No.9576662]

>>9576626
I'm a different guy from >>9576593 and >>9576644 . There is some truth to what he's saying. Many asians, particularly chinese and indians have the resources in their home countries to secure jobs at large companies. For example, Baidu is one of the largest tech companies in the world... headquartered in China. There's also Honda, Toyota, etc. So why do they feel the need to come to the United States for an education? It feels off. They have the necessary research available to them. They have the necessary education available to them. They have the necessary economies, ideal/comfortable lifestyles (that they grew up in), and upbringing. It's very discouraging for a young american to enter into university and see all these internationals taking the graduate positions without other true americans in those positions.

I know this doesn't add much to the conversation, but I just wanted to throw my opinion in the ring.

[Anonymous No.9576664]

>>9576658

It's not my story. I'm trying to understand what's going on in your head.

I'm doing fine.

[Anonymous No.9576679]

>>9576662

no, i get it. the wages are higher here, it's a nice place, and america doesn't exactly have a reputation for benevolence around the world. it must seem like poetic justice for foreigners who study here. but they're destroying any local academic community, and taking opportunities away from the people who helped make it as nice as it is. they can always fuck off back to wherever they came from, but this is my home.

[Anonymous No.9576682]

>>9576644
>it's only natural for most american students to lose interest when they're being flooded out.
Muh discouragement, muh oppression. I can tell now you're not even white. Probably a nigger larping.
They study harder, work harder, are less entitled, and demand less pay; that makes them better, and objectively so. The free market always sorts out the bullshit in the end.

>aren't even up to the job of educating their own people.
The math that merely average east asian students learn in fucking high school is math we don't even introduce until college. Of course they come here, blow out the degree program and the tests with objectively higher performance, and leave you with nothing but identity politics to hide behind.

[Anonymous No.9576693]

>>9576682

then why don't they stay put and use their almighty intellect to make houses with toilets and running water? why are they all desperately clamoring to get an american degree? they outnumber use 1000 fold, so of course they're going to seem competitive when all you see are the cream of the crop?

[Anonymous No.9576712]

>>9576693

so no, they are not of better stock than us. not even close. there are just billions upon billions of them and our shitty jew government doesn't care what it takes to keep our giant economy running at full steam.

[Anonymous No.9576722]

>>9576693
>they outnumber use 1000 fold, so of course they're going to seem competitive when all you see are the cream of the crop?
doesn't that just mean the meritocracy is working

[Anonymous No.9576729]

>>9576693
>he thinks he gets the cream of the crop
You still realize it, do you, subhuman?
The best Asians attend their own unis. You obviously haven't seen the labs at Tsinghua, HKUST, Todai, etc.
They have huge labs with incredible resources. You didn't know China has the top 2 supercomputing clusters in the world at the moment, and that Japan is 3rd?
But the populations are high, so even with all these resources, not everyone can attend. Fortunately America is a solid second-rate choice and has a lot of schools to choose from. So you get second-rate asians. Our scrubs outperform your best in your own schools. Get over it? Or just keep crying about how your friends all quit when they realized they didn't have the intellect or work ethic to compete?

[Anonymous No.9576730]

>>9576722
>doesn't that just mean the meritocracy is working
Exactly. Except as I said, they aren't even seeing the cream of the crop, they're seeing the guys who got squeezed out at the top, and I suppose a few of the weird ones that want to see American culture or whatever.

[Anonymous No.9576740]

>>9576730
Honestly I find that pretty doubtful for China at least because China is, a shit hole. Chinese universities don't have the same level of prestige as American ones, Japanese idolize studying overseas, and grad students tell me that in general China's universities aren't so great, though that might be because there are so many of them rather than a statement about their best.

[Anonymous No.9576742]

>>9576722

again, if they are so talented, then why do they need to come here? most of the foreign students don't seem any smarter than the people i went to high school with. they're here because our overloads want a large labor force. but the impact displaces american students and american workers. we're not out-competed, we're out numbered and outmaneuvered. classic zerg rush.

[Anonymous No.9576753]

>>9576729
>The best Asians attend their own unis.

so do the best whites. but middling whites don't feel the need to go to middling asian universities, do they?

you can't claim to be superior and at the same time rely on the USA, a much smaller country with a much smaller population, to educate your middle class for you. that's laughably absurd.

[take a joke, faggot No.9576786]

>>9576729
>So you get second-rate asians. Our scrubs outperform your best in your own schools. Get over it? Or just keep crying about how your friends all quit when they realized they didn't have the intellect or work ethic to compete?

well then, you are a hostile invader. and i wont hesitate for a second to take your ugly gook head clean off your shoulders should our government decide you're making yourselves a little too comfortable. I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.

[Anonymous No.9577000]

>>9575881
Yep. It's pretty nice.

[Anonymous No.9577002]

>>9575881
https://www.ethz.ch/en/the-eth-zurich/working-teaching-and-research/welcome-center/employment-contract-and-salary/salary.html

[Anonymous No.9577329]

>>9576664

i never said it was your story. you're probably some insufferable, overpaid asshole who jacks off to fantasies about social justice and diversity, and i hold you in far lower regard than any of those visa holders and immigrants.

[Anonymous No.9577343]

>>9573976
>(it's how the universe works)
students trying philosophy of science always make me laugh

[Anonymous No.9577366]

>>9575811
do reaserch without being in academia and publish on arxiv on the level of a phd and keep talking to people in the field or at least attend conferences

[Anonymous No.9577422]

>>9573976

Then do a Master's. Wtf's the point of doing a PhD if you're not doing research?

[Anonymous No.9577452]

Everyone already graduated from my PhD year except for me

[Anonymous No.9577479]

>>9573003

How do I get into an MA/PhD program for clinical psyc with slightly above average grades and basically 0 research experience? I still have like 1 year left in undergrad and am going to try to get an RA position but fuck. It seems like such a rat race. The program at my uni has like 200 applications for 5 or 6 spots

[Anonymous No.9577902]

>>9577343

Why's that? Are you above it or something?

>>9577422

You learn more doing a PhD. And I am doing research, I'm saying I personally don't understand some of the structure. Life is full of compromises since not everyone thinks like you. That being said it's still rewarding in a lot of ways and much more stimulating than my old job.

[Anonymous No.9577973]

Does anyone have advice for getting into a good PhD program for stats?

I have a 3.5 gpa right now, classes in calculus, linear algebra and am currently working on a year long sequence of mathematical statistics, probability theory and rigorous Real Analysis.

I am thinking I should take some grad classes next year, like probability theory and applied statistics or measure theory. What else should I think about taking or doing to become competitive?

[Anonymous No.9577984]

>>9577973
What year are you right now?

[Anonymous No.9577995]

>>9573479

What? Pretty sure both UBC and UofT have a super lax procedure for switching into PhD stream after first year of MSc as long as you have >80% and permission from your supervisor. I'm in theory so MSc are pretty useless so basically 100% of MSc entries switch to PhD after their first year. Nobody actually finishes their MSc even if that's what they initially got accepted for straight out of undergrad. Quebec must be a different story.

[Anonymous No.9578004]

>>9577984
I transferred from community college unexpectedly early so I was behind on units. (I applied for kicks before I was ready and happened to get in)

I'm a "Fourth year" but will be staying on an extra year so I can catch up and take grad classes.

[Anonymous No.9578011]

>>9578004
Most stats majors I know, or stats undergrad who plan to go to graduate school, have taken all the undergrad courses + a few grad courses. Most stats departments are relatively small (even the good ones). I'm surprised your applied stats course is a grad course, as well as your probability theory (unless it's literal theory and not intro to probability). You need to take at least:

1 Data science course (that's what you'll be doing anyway)
Time Series
Regression
Intro to Probability AND Intermediate Probability
1 or 2 stats courses
Calc 3
Linear Algebra
Game Theory or Combinatorics
Stochastic Processes
Multivariate Analysis
Bayesian Statistics

And then maybe a few CS courses, such as machine learning or NLP, that are related to statistics.

[Anonymous No.9578119]

>>9578011
Okay, it sounds like I'm on track then. Our probability theory sequence is serious and theoretical - we get into stochastic processes about half way through, which is what in studying now. If you take it as a grad class you learn rigorous probability theory using measures. The applied class is actually a theory class, but it's on why the applications work. Proof heavy.

Looks like I should take more CS. I have like none. I'm gonna take time series, regression and mathematical stats as well as a data analysis topics course, so that's covered. I wonder if a stats program cares about heavy theory classes like real Analysis

[Anonymous No.9578142]

>>9578119
Any graduate program places high importance on analysis courses because that's mostly what you'll be doing in grad school... proving theorems and 'proving' equations/solutions. Definitely take more CS and it looks like you'll be in pretty good shape. By the way, where do you go to school?

[Anonymous No.9578151]

>be me
>5 months into PhD
>realize supervisor just wants me as cheap technical labor
>they don't care about mentoring me
>they don't care about my interests at all
>just want me to churn out papers and then slap their own name on them
>eff this
>interview for high-paying industry job
>get an offer
>quit
cya nerds

[Anonymous No.9578165]

>>9578151
I don't even feel sorry for you you're just retarded

[Anonymous No.9578329]

>>9578165
this

[Anonymous No.9578350]

>>9578329
>>9578165
t. jealous brainlets

[Anonymous No.9579227]

>>9578350

The brainlet is you for not realizing how a PhD works or that your advisor was doing you and your CV a favour by putting your name on papers and generating results for a thesis. Enjoy your shit job that you gave up the Dr. title for and will get fired from anyway.

[Anonymous No.9579236]

>>9579227
I'm the guy you replied to. I'm not the same guy with the PhD. I'm not even a PhD student lol, but you guys are jealous regardless

[Anonymous No.9579271]

>>9576753
>middling whites don't feel the need to go to middling asian universities
They couldn't get in anyways, don't worry, and it's not just because they're shit tier compared to a middle tier Chinese. The problem is they'd have to learn Chinese, and that's a filter 90% of Americans can't hack.

>>9576742
>classic zerg rush.
More like a 4 gate rush, actually, blown out by a mass of stronger, superior units.
You COULD have beaten it with ease had you actually taken the time to study builds and timings, but you're white and entitled, so.......

[Anonymous No.9579295]

>>9579236

I'm not jealous in the slightest. I wouldn't trade the freedom of a PhD, travel and the student environment for 10 hour workdays at some shit corporate job.

[Anonymous No.9579299]

>>9579271

Yeah I'm just dying to get into ching chang chong university and speak a useless disgusting language for subhumans with an even more idiotic writing system.

[Anonymous No.9579367]

>>9579271

>"you can't claim to be superior and at the same time rely on the USA, a much smaller country with a much smaller population, to educate your middle class for you"

but i get the impression i'm talking to a delusional, ass-kissing white guy, or maybe an uppity 56%er. in any case, you don't strike me as someone with an iq above 105, so i doubt you're a chinese academic.

[Anonymous No.9579594]

I'm doing my Master in Physics now with the topic being the analysis of the structure of amorphous semiconductors using a brand-new TEM.
And since this microscope is just a few months old and being a toptier product I think it is worth to pursue a PhD in Physics as well with the focus being TEM studies.
Do you think this is a good idea or to instead just search a job after the Master?
I live in Germany and later I hope to get a job in the semiconductor industry.

[Anonymous No.9579710]

>mfw I found out that in other countries PhD students still have to attend lectures, take exams and need a stipend
Honestly, I wouldn't have started mine if I would have had to put up with this shit, how do you guys even motivat yourself?

[Anonymous No.9579745]

>>9579710
They only do it for the first two years. This is completely fitting. In the US, we usually skip from a bachelor's degree (4 years) to a PhD, while other countries do a bachelor's for 4 years, master's for 2 years, then move onto the PhD; at this point, you'll have completed all the advanced coursework in your master's.

In the US, the first 2 years of your PhD is similar to a master's. You need the necessary depth for your field of interest and classes are pretty much the only way of doing so on a consistent, rigorous basis. After those 2 years you basically take classes only if you need them or they interest/pertain to you. The remaining 3 or 4 years are research.

[Anonymous No.9579952]

>>9573479
A master as prerequisite for a phd is common in continental Europe as well. It's reasonable, as the first year of a STEM master usually corresponds to the final year of a US bachelor (blame Bolonga), second year is intership + thesis.

[Anonymous No.9579980]

>>9574073
>Well, II guess that's a lot of people's motivation.
This isn't supposed to be your motivation. It's the job you're being trained for!

[Anonymous No.9580520]

>>9579594
Sounds Shit

[Anonymous No.9580820]

Im having a hard time deciding if I want to do a phd or not

if i do do one, itd be physics with an emphasis on nonlinear dynamics applied to condensed matter

but i dont know if i really wanna put in the effort to do a phd. i could see myself getting a masters and being a matlab codemonkey. i unironically enjoy codemonkeying. and im not sure i wanna spend 50+ hours each week researching

any advice?

[Anonymous No.9580845]

>>9580820
>i unironically enjoy codemonkeying.

get to it, brainlet

[Anonymous No.9580851]

>>9580820
Eugh, Matlab makes me sad.
More helpfully, I say go for it - you can always bail out in your first year, no repercussions unless you get a consortium position.
I'd suggest you spend a bit of time working on C++/Fortran and a scripting language - it'll help for codemonkeying or for a PhD (some overlap, depending on the field).