Necromanti
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Networking is everything.
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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
How does networking work if youre not interested in studying what your advisor or even their collaborators work on?
Also wouldnt that only work if I had known what I wanted to do post PhD three or four years ago
Necromanti
Member
I guess I meant more in the sense of, make friends (and make the right ones). As you said, something like mouse surgery wouldn't be too tricky to teach someone, so they'd be more likely to hire someone that they know or that came recommended by someone else. I don't think you have to be too worried about the specifics.
But yeah, it can be rough out there for people with bio doctorates from what I have seen.
A lot of people go from postdoc position to postdoc position. It's hard for me to summarize what I've seen because it has been so over the place (due to things like luck and who-you-happen-to-know-at-the-right-time kind of circumstances). But one thing that has been pretty common (in both industry and academia) is that they usually start looking at someone who already came recommended. It's very nepotistic.Do you do mainly molecular stuff, or do you do cell work too?
AntraxSuicide
Banned
Master's in math. Man, the program is great and all, but my research advisor (super nice guy) is a ghost when I have research questions. Feel like I need to have a GPS tracker on him just to get a face to face meeting.
I have to e-mail my PI twice, tell him in person I sent him two e-mails and then send him a 3rd e-mail before he'll answer me when I bring the issue up again at lab meeting a week later
(slight exaggeration)
Tuesday-Wednesday schedule with exclusively afternoon courses. My school sure knows how to design a friendly program.
Headed into a Master of Public Policy program. Probably with urban policy concentration.
Headed into a Master of Public Policy program. Probably with urban policy concentration.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
Thanks! Wow, that sounds really interesting. In an alternate timeline I am a Space Epidemiologist, as I've always been interested in studying space exploration, but always hesitated as I didn't think I was capable of handling the coursework required.
And yeah, I am familiar with PAH's from my undergrad courses of organic chemistry. Are there specific properties of PAH's that you would be looking at? While I do remember the term and very basically the template for their chemical formulas, I don't remember what else we already do or don't know about their properties.
Sounds like that'll be some interesting research! And yeah, my committee head has 7 million dollar grants with the NIH, published papers, the whole deal, but he's also just a dude! As I'm sure she's just a woman. You might even teach her a thing or two, who knows? Good luck!
Sounds pretty expansive in scope, so it's policy in general and not say, public health policy?
Dedication Through Light
Member
I guess I meant more in the sense of, make friends (and make the right ones). As you said, something like mouse surgery wouldn't be too tricky to teach someone, so they'd be more likely to hire someone that they know or that came recommended by someone else. I don't think you have to be too worried about the specifics.
But yeah, it can be rough out there for people with bio doctorates from what I have seen.
Do you do mainly molecular stuff, or do you do cell work too?
I guess both, protein biochemistry stuff to treating human cells (cell lines and primary cells) using Fungus.
Finally took my GRE yesterday. Ups and downs for my final result. Verbal surpassed my expectations, entering the 80th percentile, but my math was an abysmal 146. Luckily I got above the 300 threshold, so I am in decent shape for school psychology programs. I do wish I hit the 150 mark for my Quant score. Now I wait for the AWA portion, which I am slightly hesitant as I didn't have time to edit my first essay.
Thank goodness I have a strong application for my GPA and work experience! Happy I can finally apply to graduate programs!
Thank goodness I have a strong application for my GPA and work experience! Happy I can finally apply to graduate programs!
Took the GRE back in july, got a 153 on both math and reading; 3.0 for the writing though. Glad i'm computer science and the writing basically means fuck all for getting into grad school. Applied soon after I took the GRE and the head of the CS department emailed saying he wanted to bump me up to the Ph.D program free of charge. I said why not because I can always take my masters degree when the time comes and leave the program. Soon after got my acceptance letter and a GTA position offer. Looking forward to starting next spring!
Is there normally an extra fee for that at your school?
My impressions has always been that it is cheaper to be a PhD student; same fees, but more likely to get assistantships.
That's the impression I got as well.
BA and MA in English Literature focused on postmodernism/postmodern literature, particularly cyberpunk; current research focus is in comics studies and post-postmodernism. I am currently tenured at a community college, and have some minor publications in cyberpunk and metamodernism.
My advice: If you know you want a PhD in your field, suck it up and go immediately. In my experience, waiting just puts too many barriers up (it also doesn't help to not have a university with a PhD in your field, so if you move to take a job, look closely at the programs at surrounding schools). Also, if you know you want to teach at a research university, don't accept a full-time position or tenure at a teaching university. It's very rare for a person to make the jump after that.
My advice: If you know you want a PhD in your field, suck it up and go immediately. In my experience, waiting just puts too many barriers up (it also doesn't help to not have a university with a PhD in your field, so if you move to take a job, look closely at the programs at surrounding schools). Also, if you know you want to teach at a research university, don't accept a full-time position or tenure at a teaching university. It's very rare for a person to make the jump after that.
This must depend highly on your field. As I look at the LinkedIn profiles of a lot of high ranking software people, a good number of them started working immediately after getting their bachelor's degrees and eventually went back for their higher degrees.
FortuneFaded
Member
Looking at universities in the US to study for a phd in Maths. Did well on my general GRE (162 Verbal, 167 Quant, 4.5 AW) and am currently revising for the subject exam in a couple of weeks time. Have to leave the house at 5:30 in the morning given that there is only one place in the entire UK that does the exam.
Actually, that is a great point, but the focus and experiences are so incredibly different in each type of college-- teaching/research-- that skills in one are not particularly valued in another and can set up real barriers for employment. There was an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education about it... I'll see if I can find it.
Laevateinn
Member
In my EE grad program, we had a lot of people who started in their late 20s to 30s.
Be careful about drawing broad conclusions from that kind of data.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-survivor-bias-distorts-reality/
Well have keys to my office and met most of the other students who will share it with me. Orientation next Tuesday, first classes one Wednesday. My supervisor has been very busy so we haven't talked projects yet, apparently all of her other students had a project assigned to them before they even got here.
Hello everyone, I'm thinking of applying for a Master's degree programme in language/literature, and some places require a research proposal with the application. I'm just wondering, for those who have any experience with this, how rigidly are you expected to stick to that research proposal? I'm just worried I might decide to take a different approach halfway, only to find that it's frowned upon or not allowed.
Asked this in the other thread, so might as well here too..
I'm a history major and I'd like to go to grad school someday. Mainly for the goal of teaching at the college level. Positions like that, are pretty hard to get into. Especially if you plan on studying something like American history, which lots of people already study. So I thought I should focus on something else. What time period/location in history is less competitive and would get me a better shot of getting in?
I'm a history major and I'd like to go to grad school someday. Mainly for the goal of teaching at the college level. Positions like that, are pretty hard to get into. Especially if you plan on studying something like American history, which lots of people already study. So I thought I should focus on something else. What time period/location in history is less competitive and would get me a better shot of getting in?
Ask your professor. They'll know way more than gaf.
Policy in general, although there are quite a few different concentrations within the school. There are different policy concentrations like health, social, urban, and some general concentrations like regulatory policy, program evaluation, and public finance. My university has separate schools for Public Health and International Affairs.
Emperor_Uriel
Member
Be aware that the pay is ass for most college professors, and generally require a PhD as a bare minimum (being published is a common additional requirement here in NY). They make significantly less than your average grade school teacher, though they have the benefit of not needing to design their lessons around standardized testing.
As a guidance counselor, I'm constantly aware of the disastrous state of educating and the educated in this country. So much wasted potential as we shuttle off students into debt just so their snobby parents can feel satisfied. I hope they're just as satisfied when they find their kids working part-time until age 30, unable to move out because of a sky-high cost of living and a huge oversaturation of highly educated youths flooding the job market.
RumblingRosco
Member
Public school teachers make more than professors in NY? That seems bizarre and nothing like what I'm familiar with in the Midwest.
Prinz Eugn
Member
This is missing the very important distinction between tenure-track positions and others, like adjunct professors and post-docs. They are different worlds, and adjunct professorships are more or less what you appear to be talking about. Tenure track positions are generally coveted.
Generally not at all, you could do something entirely different right from the start. They just want to see you can write one.
RareFantasy64
Member
I'm thinking of getting an MPA because I'm interested in working for nonprofits or doing city administration. What interested you in pursuing this degree and after the orientation what spooked you into looking into different majors?
RumblingRosco
Member
Thanks! I wish I could dedicate my next months exactly doing that: tying up the last loose ends from the PhD, but I need to find some source of income in the meantime!
It's an ambivalent time: I'm a bit worried about changing my area of research, but it's exciting thinking of the possibilities (same for changing lab / country).
Hypno Funk
Member
PhD in particle physics here. Currently a research fellow in dark matter physics.
Laevateinn
Member
RumblingRosco
Member
Here is how my route played out in terms of diversifying:
Undergrad: Degree in human nutrition, research in inorganic biochemistry
Ph.D.: Degree in food microbiology, research in biotechnology
Post-doc: Research in bacterial pneumonia
So, my general theme is biology and specifically microbiology, but really, I feel my background is quite diverse. By the time I start my own lab, I'll be able to propose projects in three different broad fields and have collaborators in all three areas spread across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. My goal is to be able to apply for funding from the USDA, NSF, NIH, DOE, and other similar organizations I don't want to be limited to just one or two of those organizations.
Undergrad: Degree in human nutrition, research in inorganic biochemistry
Ph.D.: Degree in food microbiology, research in biotechnology
Post-doc: Research in bacterial pneumonia
So, my general theme is biology and specifically microbiology, but really, I feel my background is quite diverse. By the time I start my own lab, I'll be able to propose projects in three different broad fields and have collaborators in all three areas spread across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. My goal is to be able to apply for funding from the USDA, NSF, NIH, DOE, and other similar organizations I don't want to be limited to just one or two of those organizations.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
I feel like you fine folks might be able to help me out.
So I'm at the very final phase of my thesis (formatting) before final submission, and I am having the hardest time getting my page numbering correct.
I am using open office writer, and tried both of the methods (1 and 2 under restarting page numbering) here to no avail.
As you might imagine for a thesis I need to have my first 10 pages separate with roman numerals, and then re-start my numbering at 1 for my first chapter.
Any hints/tips/suggestions?
So I'm at the very final phase of my thesis (formatting) before final submission, and I am having the hardest time getting my page numbering correct.
I am using open office writer, and tried both of the methods (1 and 2 under restarting page numbering) here to no avail.
As you might imagine for a thesis I need to have my first 10 pages separate with roman numerals, and then re-start my numbering at 1 for my first chapter.
Any hints/tips/suggestions?
opticalmace
Member
I did this but was using latex. Can you fake it by manually giving page numbers for the preamble stuff, and then real page numbers (reset to 1) for the actual thesis content?
Are you using libreoffice or open office? The former supplanted the latter.
Yep, at the beginning using LaTeX might seem like an unnecessary chore, but you really start to appreciate when it comes the time to format stuff. I love it when it comes the time to manage citations!
Sorry xXBetter Off DadXx, is being years since the last time I used a Word-like text editor for complex editing, so I can't help you there.
Sorry xXBetter Off DadXx, is being years since the last time I used a Word-like text editor for complex editing, so I can't help you there.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
I tried that, but ended up with roman numerals in the pre-body more than I needed. (pages are unnumbered but counted starting at the acknowledgements page, in my case pg. iv, but I manually put in iv it just put iv at the bottom of every pre-body page), and I did manage to get from 2 on for the rest of the document, but even though I set it to start at pg. one for the body, it just skipped to numbering with 2. Then I went to manually put in the 1 and it changed the rest of the bodies page numbers all to 1. Where's that crying/laughing emoticon when I need it? And I'm using openoffice, I recall using libreoffice a year or two ago, and I didn't understand why my openoffice documents would open in it and vice versa. Maybe I should try libreoffice again.....
No worries, appreciate your input regardless!
Anybody have any experience with Abiword?
This might be really dumb, but you could create two completely different documents.
One for the first ten pages, then another for the rest.
Finally, export as a PDF and merge them.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
You know, I'm not entirely sure that won't work! Gonna give it a shot, thanks for the idea!
Edit: It fucking worked! Thanks so much!
Not really. The PhD system has its problems, but I don't think excessive pressure to be brilliant is one of them.
First of all, you are going to be under even worse pressure as a starting tenure-track faculty member, because you will need to do the same stuff, but be under an actual deadline to do so, and if you don't produce enough within that deadline and are denied tenure, you pretty much need to quit your job, move across the country, and start over.
Second, I think it is more of a problem that people are allowed to languish in long PhDs, and I think it is actually a favor to them to help them fail fast in many cases.
What I would agree with is that universities do not do a good job of training people to do research prior to the PhD, so it is true that it is kind of like being thrown into the pool and told to sink or swim.
Now, Dyson admits that the system works well for academics, but says:
That is a very distorted view, because the percentage of jobs outside of academia that really require a PhD is quite small. It's different from other post-graduate degrees - for instance those in medicine or law - where the advanced degree is really required to practice in a field.
Hey guys
I just got invited to do a presentation for a workshop during an international conference! O_O Also they will be paying for my hotel stay for the conference. OMG! I was not expecting this at all.
I was wondering if I should should do a poster presentation as well based on my work or should I concentrate on working on the presentation?
This is based on my PhD work/publication! O_O OMG!
Any advice from fellow researchers and scientists for first timer who is going to do a presentation during a workshop?
Many thanks in advance.
I just got invited to do a presentation for a workshop during an international conference! O_O Also they will be paying for my hotel stay for the conference. OMG! I was not expecting this at all.
I was wondering if I should should do a poster presentation as well based on my work or should I concentrate on working on the presentation?
This is based on my PhD work/publication! O_O OMG!
Any advice from fellow researchers and scientists for first timer who is going to do a presentation during a workshop?
Many thanks in advance.
RumblingRosco
Member
Hey guys
I just got invited to do a presentation for a workshop during an international conference! O_O Also they will be paying for my hotel stay for the conference. OMG! I was not expecting this at all.
I was wondering if I should should do a poster presentation as well based on my work or should I concentrate on working on the presentation?
This is based on my PhD work/publication! O_O OMG!
Any advice from fellow researchers and scientists for first timer who is going to do a presentation during a workshop?
Many thanks in advance.
It will vary by field and conference so I can't say definitively, but I think either scenario is fine. If you have plenty of time to prepare both, having a poster presentation after the oral presentation could be a great way to provide an avenue by which people that attended your talk can meet you in person. If you don't have a lot of time, skipping a poster shouldn't be a problem at all.
If all else fails and you cannot decide, contact the conference organizers with your question.
opticalmace
Member
Good luck! My friend is also defending in ~2 hours!
RumblingRosco
Member
Hope you passed!
Laevateinn
Member
How'd it go?
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