My university has a fast track program. I am in my final semester for my Bachelors in Computer Science, but I will also be taking grad courses during this year for my Masters in Computer Science. This is my first semester taking grad courses. So far, people make it sound like it's not all that different. Friends have told me that I should expect fewer, larger assignments, more reading, bigger tests, and generally a larger amount of work per class.
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Is there an MBA. graduate, doctorate crowd here on GAF?
- Thread starter Dr. Feel Good
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Dedication Through Light
Member
I dont think its anymore stressful than a job or any other thing that has assessments at certain milestones.You can also go at your own pace, some people take 4 years and some people take 10 years. Also any stress is really just dependent on who you are working with, like any other job.
Can you really explore deep learning as a profession without having a degree or publishable results and experiences to go with it?
Any advice balancing graduate school with a full time job? My goal last year was to start applying to programs in my field this fall, but my career started to skyrocket and continues to climb... so I'm wondering if it's worth the investment if my career path seems to be doing fine without a master's degree. I still would like to go to school and I think it would be doable as long as I don't have to give up my job. So for those that have done it... how did your schedule look like? Did you have any free time? What did you have to sacrifice?
I'm definitely envious of those who can go back to school unemployed. In undergrad I was balancing full-time school with a part-time job and an internship... don't really want to go back to cramming my schedule like that again.
I'm definitely envious of those who can go back to school unemployed. In undergrad I was balancing full-time school with a part-time job and an internship... don't really want to go back to cramming my schedule like that again.
The main benefits are accreditation and the network effect from working with experts in the field. These are both very valuable. Even if you could get equivalent skills without the degree, many positions still have a degree as a requirement, and it is difficult to get your foot in the door without it. The network is a huge advantage both for learning and finding new opportunities. You can absorb a lot of expertise outside of your immediate dissertation topic from talking to other grad students in your department, going to seminars, attending conferences, etc. The connections you make are also very valuable for finding jobs and other opportunities.
Not inherently. It really depends on your advisor and whether you have external pressure to finish quickly. If your advisor is laid back and you are not in a rush to finish, it can be an extremely low-stress period in your life.
In my experience, the higher-level grad courses tend to have less work than classes that are also taken by undergrad seniors. They are also graded more leniently and grad students are typically expected to take fewer credits per semester. So you will generally spend less time on coursework than you did as an undergrad.
Depends on your field. And there are several programs (depending on your field) that are self paced and you can take up to 7 years to get a masters.
I'm envious of those that already have a skyrocketing career!
Depends on what are your goals are. You can have a very successful career in tech without it, specially on the development sector.
I will talk to you about my experience:
I'm convinced that what I got from my PhD program in CS couldn't be found anywhere else. My PhD program is research focused, so no (structured) courses (and no structured program could have helped me on my research anyway). What I learned over the years is an amalgamation of reading books, attending miscellaneous courses, attending conferences, doing interviews, attending seminars, informal conversation with my advisors and other academics and, specially, reading scientific articles. I had to read dozens upon dozens of scientific articles from different fields. I was in charge of my own formation, all in pursue of the knowledge needed to solve my problem.
The last bit is the most important one. You have a problem with no known solution that you have to solve. None knows the solution, and when you find it, none will know the problem better than you. Is a very different experience from regular course work. Your PhD director can give you some guidance, but he doesn't know the solution and he won't be able to hold your hand like is done in structured programs.
I still find hard to believe that I know a topic better than anyone else. We had to shop academics from other departments, and even other universities, just to get the 5 jurors members needed for my PhD candidacy exam. I had one professor, that I respect very much, drop from from the committee telling me that he wasn't qualified to evaluate my work. When I presented my results at an international conference, it was eye opening that world experts didn't manage all the topics I had to converge to get to it. I got very positive comments on my management of the topic. And I still believe that my theoretical result is easy to understand and kinda trivial :/ .
Could I have gotten the same experience outside the program? Perhaps I could have read the same articles and books outside my university network and libraries, but it would have been a lot more expensive. It might be hard to get access to all the people I had outside the program. But what I believe isn't replaceable was the initial problem proposal and the direction to get started, never mind getting payed for it
. But not all PhD experiences are the same, though.So, again, you have to think what are your goals. You can get a very successful and mind stimulating career in technology by actually working in the field. Many times I question if I made the right decision, as ~5 years of actual work experience are very sought after in the job market. But with my PhD, I had literally the chance of understanding the un-understandable and grasp a bit of the infinite. Are my skills marketable, though?
Most PhD students in my lab are like that. The average student probably does only 5 hours of actual work a day. Our PhD scholarships are pretty short though, so if you're like me and can't move back in with your parents after funding runs out it starts getting a bit stressful once you get close to the end haha. Otherwise I know a few guys that took 4.5+ years to finish and weren't stressed at all.
choclaterra
Member
Anyone did a masters/phd that was unrealted to their Bachelors degree? If so, can someone share their experience?
I am planning on doing a masters in Big Data/Analytics after having graduated with a First and worked in finance for 2 years, found a nice program in Denmark that is right up my alley but this whole changing the field thing is a bit intimidating, I have 0 programming experience.
I am planning on doing a masters in Big Data/Analytics after having graduated with a First and worked in finance for 2 years, found a nice program in Denmark that is right up my alley but this whole changing the field thing is a bit intimidating, I have 0 programming experience.
I went from (pure) Mathematics to CS. But I already knew how to code and was comfortable with computers. I still had to study a lot, though.
Unless is backend/development area, Big Data/Analytics is not that programming focused, you need to be more comfortable with statistics and the data you are going to analyze. But you should really make yourself comfortable with coding.
Do it. Big Data, Analytics, coding, ability to derive insights is a hot property in companies. I'm struggling to hire good people into my team so I say go for it. Especially if you want to go back to Finance area but with a different twist.
choclaterra
Member
Thanks for the replies, yeah the move to Big Data is really kinda necessary under the looming threat of automation, specially in Finance/Accounting haha
Happy to hear it is not so programming focused then, and Statistics is a bit of a passion of mine so very happy to hear that
Dreading having to write another dissertation though! Hats off to those in academia that live off writing papers and such
Happy to hear it is not so programming focused then, and Statistics is a bit of a passion of mine so very happy to hear that
Dreading having to write another dissertation though! Hats off to those in academia that live off writing papers and such
Epsilon-delta
Banned
Go for it.
You'll be in demand for sure with lucrative offers from employers.
Nail the programming part of data analytics and you'll be set.
clockworkinyou
Banned
12 credits down, 18 to go for my Master's in Data Analytics. Cumulative 4.0 so far.
Should I keep draining myself in an effort to keep the 4.0? Will it really help me on my resume to show a 4.0 vs. a ~3.7?
Should I keep draining myself in an effort to keep the 4.0? Will it really help me on my resume to show a 4.0 vs. a ~3.7?
RumblingRosco
Member
Well... I would prefer it not to take seven years, maybe three at the most. I'm looking at Arts Administration programs that focus on contemporary cultural management.
I'm envious of those that already have a skyrocketing career!
Haha, I guess "skyrocketing" is over exaggerating, but work has definitely improved for me this year.
The Cool One
Member
Im still thinking about becoming a patent attorney but my friend said I should go the physician assistant route
Dedication Through Light
Member
7 years for a masters seems excessive, I only see that with people who have family with kids and are working and doing the degree in their spare time.
I'm on a masters with some distance learning facilities, everyone of the cohort also works full time and most have family and kids. I would say 2 to 3 years would be the expected completion time, I don't think the university would accept us taking that long.
hey_monkey
Banned
None of this matches with my experience or anyone I know in the field, unless you just know you're not going into academia. I'm almost jealous.
95% of people I know with PhDs took over 4.5 years to finish. We were all stressed.
In our program, we have five years of funding and they want us to take the five. They discourage finishing early. It's stressful but manageable stress.
Do you meet the preconditions laid out in my statement (laid back advisor and no external pressure)? If so, what is the origin of your stress?
RumblingRosco
Member
Does "no external pressure" mean you don't have any concern for finding a good position after wrapping up in grad school? Because if that's the case, you're basically describing the people that come from a wealthy family and don't need to work in the first place.
95% of people I know with PhDs took over 4.5 years to finish. We were all stressed.
You studied at an American university though, didn't you?
We do UK-style PhDs here in NZ, so 3 years is the target (we can get a 6 months extension on funding but that's it)... On the flip side, North American PhDs have a better reputation from what I've heard since they are usually longer.
RumblingRosco
Member
You studied at an American university though, didn't you?
We do UK-style PhDs here in NZ, so 3 years is the target (we can get a 6 months extension on funding but that's it)... On the flip side, North American PhDs have a better reputation from what I've heard since they are usually longer.
Ah yeah, nearly everyone I know got their Ph.D. in the USA. I'd say the average for STEM PhDs in the US is 5 to 5.5 years, with the minimum being 4 years (<10% of STEM PhDs accomplish this, is my estimate) and the maximum around 7 to 8 years.
I guess that depends on what you mean by "a good position". If you will accept nothing less than a tenure-track position at an R1 university, then yes you are under more stress as a grad student, but I would consider that to be an external factor.
Of course there is always some stress in finding a job, but I don't think it is inherently worse for grad students than for others. Undergrads and people between jobs feel it as well. Hopefully by the end of a PhD you have made enough connections that you have considerable advantages at finding a job compared to an undergrad, and aside from a small subset of the academic job market, most employers will not care about how long you took to finish or the quality of your publications. If you recall that the individual who originally expressed concern about the stress of a PhD was thinking about doing self-guided study as an alternative, I think you'll agree that it is probably less stressful to find a good job with the degree than with only the knowledge.
NyMartin90
Member
Thanks, the issue is that I teach in the NYC DOE so I really need to stay in NY to work and pay as I go. My professor has encouraged me though to take a break from teaching and go look at outer colleges as well as some in the UK but I'm on the fence for that. I'm all for it if I can do it in NY.
Has anyone here done a Ph. D in History? or can someone explain how it works? Funding?
I'm honestly new to this whole Ph. D thing.
hey_monkey
Banned
My advisor is relatively laid back in that she allows me to choose my own path for things and she offers support but our program head is a big deal and not laid back and she looms large. Will probably also be on my committee. So I'd say 60/40 in that.
External pressure is harder. Ours is a very well respected program in the field, certainly one of the best, and some argue the best, so there is pressure to maintain. Our dean does not like our department so there's friction there. We are basically guaranteed decent jobs due to work and rep so less pressure there but we low key compete (low key because cohorts get along mostly) and are always after travel funding, pubs, awards. So some pressure there.
But mostly stress comes from working hard. They work us and a lot of us do interdisciplinary work so we're juggling a lot of balls at the same time and navigating that space, plus teaching and we write our own curriculum for courses we teach. I love what I do and where I am but yeah, there's certainly some stress.
While this is doable, it's generally recommend that if you pursue a PhD you dedicate yourself to it full time. There are exceptions, but, as with everything, they come at a cost. It'll be harder for you to find a program.
This is odd advice, generally UK PhDs aren't recommend for Americans, even those that study Britain, because the 3 year program produces much more specialized, and thus seen as less able to teach, students.
In the US the programs are set up for 2 years of classes, a year of Comps preparation, a research year, and at least a year of writing. Median time to finish is 6 or 7 years. That's for students focused entirely on the program though.
Any program worth its salt will be offering at least 5 or 6 years of guaranteed funding. Generally the first and fourth years at a minimum are on fellowship, the other years will be guaranteed TAships, but outside funding for your research and writing years is very doable.
hey_monkey
Banned
Structure of programs I've seen varies. I just started year three and took my exams over the summer. I'm still taking courses this year but partly because I have a broad set of secondary areas. Standard for mine is two years of core courses, exams at end of second summer, leftover courses and prospectus in year three, then research and writing. So just a little different.
Exams suck. Glad they are done.
Exams suck. Glad they are done.
NyMartin90
Member
Thanks for all of this. I have been speaking to several people at the CUNY Graduate Center who say that since my MA thesis was conducted in CUNY the History Ph. D. program is accelerated there for only 3 years to expand upon the thesis. Funding though is what I need to find out about.
Darryl M R
Member
Ugh did my practice GMAT exam today with my gf. We are starting a real prep course that is costing us 1k each next month. She scored a 610 on her practice and I got a 480. Sheesh.
That's ridiculous.
Darryl M R
Member
The price or scores? I would say both!
lol the price is for sure out there.
I'd say you should look into magoosh - it's what I used to study for the GRE. It sounds like you already made a pretty big commitment though.
opticalmace
Member
Congrats. What's your subject and what courses are you teaching/a TA for?
RumblingRosco
Member
Compiling my publications was my favorite of writing my dissertation. Just do it, ya bum!
I highly recommend trying to create some sort of ticking clock to force you to defend by a specific date. In my case, I accepted a job offer with a starting date. I know others who have scheduled weddings.
This isn't just for your own motivation - it can also help to put a check on how much additional work your advisor and committee will ask you to do.
Is the 1k for one on one tutoring at least? D:
Dr. Feel Good
Banned
I paid similar for online Veritas Prep. It's worth it especially if you struggling in formal test taking.
Good idea. But I will have to thing on something. I still have 2 months left on my research stay here in Scandinavia and a year to finish my thesis, but my committee told me that i could get my degree by the end of the year.
Are planning on applying soon, Pau?
opticalmace
Member
The start can be very stressful. What program/degree is it? Taking several courses?I can't do it
I'm seriously worried about failing out and I just started smh.
Try to chat with your fellow students if you can, some are assuredly in the same boat. It can be overwhelming.
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