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[Smiley90]

I've had my PhD for about 7 months and I still have hardcore imposter syndrome. I don't think that feeling will ever go away until the day I get tenure, and even then, I'm doubtful. Also, getting a bit ahead of myself: I think getting a position as a faculty is probably an important first step before I worry about tenure.

That's how I feel about being an adult

 

[ResourcefulStar]

Greetings, AcademiaGAF!

I'm in the process of getting a PhD (well, the Russian equivalent), and I can really use a bit of help. I'm currently working on an article written in English. It isn't my first language, and I would appreciate it if a native speaker could take a look at it and catch any mistakes. I would particularly like to get feedback on punctuation (commas are used more frequently in Russian, so I'm probably overdoing in this respect), grammar (especially the usage of articles and prepositions) and style (I'm afraid there may be phrases that are too colloquial for an academic paper, are confusingly worded, or are just plain Engrish). The length is quite short (5 pages), so things shouldn't take more than an hour at most.

The field is classical philology, and the subject is Roman religion. There are some short passages in Latin and Greek, but they are given English summaries. No knowledge of ancient languages required!

Are there any volunteers willing to help out an aspiring scholar? Contact me via this thread or a PM, and I'll send you the text.

 

[Hypron]

My department had some sort of mini-conference today. First year PhD students were to do a short 3 min presentation, while others had to do a 10 min presentation. There were about 70 presentations in total IIRC. I spent the entire day thinking "damn I'm really doing shit-all compared to all these guys."

I didn't have much to present despite being in my third year so I made my presentation pretty concise - I didn't go into details. I just talked about the motivation/background, showed pictures and essentially said "well that's the experimental setup I'm working on, hopefully it'll work out soon."

Then at the awards ceremony at the end... I ended up getting the best presentation award. I'm quite happy (I can use the money), but I at the same time I feel like I kinda robbed all these people that seemed to be working a lot harder than me... I might shout lunch to the other guys in my lab, it'd make me feel less guilty haha

 

[Dedication Through Light]

How did you win? I never won ever, I just don't understand. Congrats.

 

[RumblingRosco]

My department had some sort of mini-conference today. First year PhD students were to do a short 3 min presentation, while others had to do a 10 min presentation. There were about 70 presentations in total IIRC. I spent the entire day thinking "damn I'm really doing shit-all compared to all these guys."

I didn't have much to present despite being in my third year so I made my presentation pretty concise - I didn't go into details. I just talked about the motivation/background, showed pictures and essentially said "well that's the experimental setup I'm working on, hopefully it'll work out soon."

Then at the awards ceremony at the end... I ended up getting the best presentation award. I'm quite happy (I can use the money), but I at the same time I feel like I kinda robbed all these people that seemed to be working a lot harder than me... I might shout lunch to the other guys in my lab, it'd make me feel less guilty haha

Congrats. Time to update that CV and treat yourself to a nice lunch (lab mates be damned)!

 

[Dedication Through Light]

So many defenses this time of year, people who I didnt even know were finishing suddenly appearing on list serves. I like seeing people finishing, but my time to go to all these defenses is so limited. I feel bad if I dont go especially since some came to my own

 

[Ahasverus]

I'm 4 weeks from finishing my first semester of graduate studies. It's SO MUCH easier than my bachelor, and it's the same college and all! lol my GPA is going through the roof.

I can only guess PhD is the bachelor stress on steroids, so I'm not bothering, life's too short. All my admiration to you guys!

 

[tokkun]

I'm 4 weeks from finishing my first semester of graduate studies. It's SO MUCH easier than my bachelor, and it's the same college and all! lol my GPA is going through the roof.

I can only guess PhD is the bachelor stress on steroids, so I'm not bothering, life's too short. All my admiration to you guys!

It's a different type of stress. There is not so much day-to-day stress in a PhD, unless your advisor is a hardcase or you have a heavy teaching load. Instead it's a mixture of stress around big events (presentations, paper submissions) and the stress of uncertainty (what if I do all this work and my experiments give bad results, how long until I can graduate).

 

[btags]

Greetings, AcademiaGAF!

I'm in the process of getting a PhD (well, the Russian equivalent), and I can really use a bit of help. I'm currently working on an article written in English. It isn't my first language, and I would appreciate it if a native speaker could take a look at it and catch any mistakes. I would particularly like to get feedback on punctuation (commas are used more frequently in Russian, so I'm probably overdoing in this respect), grammar (especially the usage of articles and prepositions) and style (I'm afraid there may be phrases that are too colloquial for an academic paper, are confusingly worded, or are just plain Engrish). The length is quite short (5 pages), so things shouldn't take more than an hour at most.

The field is classical philology, and the subject is Roman religion. There are some short passages in Latin and Greek, but they are given English summaries. No knowledge of ancient languages required!

Are there any volunteers willing to help out an aspiring scholar? Contact me via this thread or a PM, and I'll send you the text.

If no one else has looked at it for you I could help.

 

[RumblingRosco]

If no one else has looked at it for you I could help.

I'm working on it, but I'm sure a second set of eyes wouldn't hurt!

 

[platocplx]

So I just found out I could go for my masters and not have to take the god forsaken GRE Or GMAT.

I'm pretty excited at the prospects. I had a UG doing MIS and now grad I'm thinking MBA or one in Business analytics/Project Management(my current line of work). Any thoughts between either approach?

 

[dofry]

Just info:

If you're a professor or a researcher, you can apply for Nvidia GPU grants.
1 GPU per researcher/research group.

Either a Jetson TX1, GeForce Titan Xp, or Quadro M5000.

I applied for one and got it, so I recommend people to try.
Link: https://developer.nvidia.com/academic_gpu_seeding

 

[opticalmace]

Just info:

If you're a professor or a researcher, you can apply for Nvidia GPU grants.
1 GPU per researcher/research group.

Either a Jetson TX1, GeForce Titan Xp, or Quadro M5000.

I applied for one and got it, so I recommend people to try.
Link: https://developer.nvidia.com/academic_gpu_seeding

We don't use GPU computing but now I'm wondering if there's a way we could shoehorn it in there.

 

[TrueOutlook]

I am currently deciding whether or not I should do a PhD after doing fairly well in my undergraduate/Honours degree (we can skip Masters in Australia if we do well). I have a supervisor and placement available but I am hesitant because I currently have a really interesting industrial research job that's doing some pretty crazy stuff that I'd very much like to be a part of and it pays well.

I don't really have much interest in getting a university or academia job down the line, but I don't want to skip out on a PhD now and regret it later. It sort of feels like if I don't do a PhD, I am running away from hard work that will benefit me in the long run.

So I wanted to get opinions from people who have actually done one. What did you gain by doing a PhD?

I apologise if this is sort of derailing the thread, I am still a junior so I can't make a new one.

 

[Deleted member 607798]

So finished my first year at UG a couple weeks ago and I have been thinking of getting an MBA through deferred admission. Anyone have advice on how to make your application shine when I eventually apply in terms of ECs? I'm currently involved in helping make a mobile app for my university for my school's CTO and I am going to be director of industrial relations for a club where we help companies host recruiting events on campus.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I am currently deciding whether or not I should do a PhD after doing fairly well in my undergraduate/Honours degree (we can skip Masters in Australia if we do well). I have a supervisor and placement available but I am hesitant because I currently have a really interesting industrial research job that's doing some pretty crazy stuff that I'd very much like to be a part of and it pays well.

I don't really have much interest in getting a university or academia job down the line, but I don't want to skip out on a PhD now and regret it later. It sort of feels like if I don't do a PhD, I am running away from hard work that will benefit me in the long run.

So I wanted to get opinions from people who have actually done one. What did you gain by doing a PhD?

I apologise if this is sort of derailing the thread, I am still a junior so I can't make a new one.

In companies there or rather that company, is a PhD needed for higher level positions? If it is, then I would think one would probably want to do a PhD unless one has no aspirations for those positions.

 

[Smiley90]

Is there a legitimate reason for why PhD's in North America get such shit pay? Short of "lower taxes = lower funding"?

I'm trying to transition out of academia and into industry but most jobs I'm interested in (Mainly Consulting and/or Medical Science Liasion/MSL) ask for a PhD, so it's real tough to break into if I want to move away from that. I've been working for a year and a half in an academia bench job which I like, it's just not great pay. And I dread going back for another 5-6 years at measly pay for tons of work just to get a title.

Then I look at PhD's in Europe and they're fixed at 3-4 years with MUCH higher pay (I'm talking 3-6 fold). Yeah I'll probably get less publications out of it, but if I don't care too much for staying in academia, why would that matter?

 

[Deleted member 245925]

Then I look at PhD's in Europe and they're fixed at 3-4 years with MUCH higher pay (I'm talking 3-6 fold).

I can only speak for Austria and for my field, but even though many PhDs are theoretically limited to 3 years, it's totally unrealistic and usually takes more like 5-6 years. Also, pay is okay-ish for a first job after your Masters degree but either you don't get paid shit in the US/Canada or I can't imagine where you get that 3-6 fold figure from. For example, a PhD candidate position at a university in Austria is ~37k EUR before taxes, ~26k EUR after taxes.

 

[Smiley90]

I can only speak for Austria and for my field, but even though many PhDs are theoretically limited to 3 years, it's totally unrealistic and usually takes more like 5-6 years. Also, pay is okay-ish for a first job after your Masters degree but could definitely be better.

Have you compared that to PhD's in North America? A PhD here, at least in Canada, pays something around 25'000 to 30'000 CAD a year.

PhD salary in Switzerland (where I'm from) START at 65'000CAD a year.

my current job with an MSc in Academia pays less than that. Even industry-MSc positions, which are really hard to get, barely pay that.

And I'm in the natural sciences specifically. Sorry, should've specified that. Engineering/compsci would obv be easier and higher-paying jobs even with "just" an MSc or even a BSc.

 

[Deleted member 245925]

30k CAD is pretty outrageous, wow. I have to admit I don't know the tax situation in Canada though. Seems very low nonetheless. How can you even survive with that kind of money in the major cities (that are expensive as hell from what I know) where most universities likely are located. Factoring in the higher cost of living, the salary you listed for Switzerland seems to be somewhat in the same range as here in Austria.

 

[tokkun]

Is there a legitimate reason for why PhD's in North America get such shit pay? Short of "lower taxes = lower funding"?

I will give you some reasons. I can't guarantee they are "legitimate", for all definitions of legitimate. This is based on a US perspective; I can't speak directly to Canada.

- Despite the fact that the salary is low, arguably the total compensation isn't. You get tuition remission, and tuition costs a lot in the US. A non-resident credit load at my alma mater costs $15K-25K depending on whether you are still taking classes. And that is actually a low figure compared to peer universities. You also get health insurance, which again, is pretty expensive over here. The total compensation is easily > $50K.

- A lot of PhD students are being paid to teach, which puts them in a similar role to an adjunct professor, and adjunct professors also get paid terribly over here. So it is not like PhD students are getting particularly picked on. They are being paid at market rate, which happens to be very low.

- As with any other labor market, supply & demand drives compensation. There remains more supply of students who want to study at US universities than there is demand. There are fewer assistantships handed out than there are grad students. That doesn't exactly put you in a good bargaining position to increase your salary.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

If pay is a concern then find a good university located in a small town in regions that dont have a high cost of living, 25-30K salary will do one much better in some small southeast rural town than in the middle of metropolitan northeast.

 

[RumblingRosco]

I will give you some reasons. I can't guarantee they are "legitimate", for all definitions of legitimate. This is based on a US perspective; I can't speak directly to Canada.

- Despite the fact that the salary is low, arguably the total compensation isn't. You get tuition remission, and tuition costs a lot in the US. A non-resident credit load at my alma mater costs $15K-25K depending on whether you are still taking classes. And that is actually a low figure compared to peer universities. You also get health insurance, which again, is pretty expensive over here. The total compensation is easily > $50K.

- A lot of PhD students are being paid to teach, which puts them in a similar role to an adjunct professor, and adjunct professors also get paid terribly over here. So it is not like PhD students are getting particularly picked on. They are being paid at market rate, which happens to be very low.

- As with any other labor market, supply & demand drives compensation. There remains more supply of students who want to study at US universities than there is demand. There are fewer assistantships handed out than there are grad students. That doesn't exactly put you in a good bargaining position to increase your salary.

This is what I came to say. PhD students that are getting a stipend make effectively $40,000 to $60,000 a year by the time you include the stipend itself, health insurance, and tuition waivers. I got all of that plus vision and dental insurance, not to mention free gym membership, free/unlimited public transit, etc. Honestly, getting free health/vision/dental insurance for one year is on its own probably worth $12,000 minimum in the US.

 

[Smiley90]

30k CAD is pretty outrageous, wow. I have to admit I don't know the tax situation in Canada though. Seems very low nonetheless. How can you even survive with that kind of money in the major cities (that are expensive as hell from what I know) where most universities likely are located. Factoring in the higher cost of living, the salary you listed for Switzerland seems to be somewhat in the same range as here in Austria.

yeah and I live in Vancouver, where Rent is like 1000/month for a studio. And that's 30k BEFORE tuition, which is another solid amount, so I'd spend like 50% of my income just on rent alone. Income isn't taxed but it's so little.

I will give you some reasons. I can't guarantee they are "legitimate", for all definitions of legitimate. This is based on a US perspective; I can't speak directly to Canada.

- Despite the fact that the salary is low, arguably the total compensation isn't. You get tuition remission, and tuition costs a lot in the US. A non-resident credit load at my alma mater costs $15K-25K depending on whether you are still taking classes. And that is actually a low figure compared to peer universities. You also get health insurance, which again, is pretty expensive over here. The total compensation is easily > $50K.

- A lot of PhD students are being paid to teach, which puts them in a similar role to an adjunct professor, and adjunct professors also get paid terribly over here. So it is not like PhD students are getting particularly picked on. They are being paid at market rate, which happens to be very low.

- As with any other labor market, supply & demand drives compensation. There remains more supply of students who want to study at US universities than there is demand. There are fewer assistantships handed out than there are grad students. That doesn't exactly put you in a good bargaining position to increase your salary.

Health insurance in Canada is covered/free anyway, so that's a no-brainer. And it's cheap. You get tuitiion credit h ere too, but you still end up paying it, so after compensation the PhD salary is down to ~25k CAD, post-taxes. Which in USD, is even less. Your >50k number is before tuition deduction I'd assume? I never see anything like that anywhere I look for PhD stipends, even in the US.

Agree with your second point, which is why I'm thinking of leaving academia alltogether. Just so much work for so little pay, even if I like the work I'm doing.

This is what I came to say. PhD students that are getting a stipend make effectively $40,000 to $60,000 a year by the time you include the stipend itself, health insurance, and tuition waivers. I got all of that plus vision and dental insurance, not to mention free gym membership, free/unlimited public transit, etc. Honestly, getting free health/vision/dental insurance for one year is on its own probably worth $12,000 minimum in the US.

Do you mind linking me to some of those numbers? All websites of university programs I look at that's nowhere near that number. e.g. post-taxes and tuitiion paid. The "net" pay is incredibly low everywhere I look.

 

[TrueOutlook]

In companies there or rather that company, is a PhD needed for higher level positions? If it is, then I would think one would probably want to do a PhD unless one has no aspirations for those positions.

To be honest, the only company that I know of that prefers to hire PhDs is probably Google (I am doing computer science). The company where I am at has said that having a PhD doesn't really effect any of their decisions and it is a pretty flat structure so there's not really a higher position I can move into. That's a good point though. Thank you for that. I will explore further to see if industry research is more favourable to PhDs.

 

[tokkun]

You get tuitiion credit h ere too, but you still end up paying it, so after compensation the PhD salary is down to ~25k CAD, post-taxes. Which in USD, is even less. Your >50k number is before tuition deduction I'd assume? I never see anything like that anywhere I look for PhD stipends, even in the US.

In the US they generally don't give you a tuition credit and then ask you to pay tuition. Tuition is simply waived. So the numbers you see on offer letters are just the salary portion, which is roughly the same as what you get in Canada.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Do you mind linking me to some of those numbers? All websites of university programs I look at that's nowhere near that number. e.g. post-taxes and tuitiion paid. The "net" pay is incredibly low everywhere I look.

To be completely honest, my information is based on anecdotal reports from colleagues primarily located in Illinois. Across three universities in the state, every grad student I know in the biological sciences was paid between $20,000 and $28,000 for the stipend. They then received full tuition waivers which completely covers the cost of tuition, which is between $12,000 and $16,000/yr for PhD students. Insurance premiums in the US for a healthy ~22 year old will be around $3,000/yr, give or take... but this is also included/covered by the university. That also is the bottom-barrel of coverage more or less, whereas my insurance from my university was actually pretty dang good.

That doesn't include fringe benefits (gym memberships, public transit, dental insurance, vision insurance). The low end of the above numbers is $37,000/yr and the high-end is $47,000/yr, again, without including what is probably a couple thousand more in the fringe benefits. I'd even say that the numbers I'm providing are on the low scale for the most part as I'm mostly looking at central Illinois, which is a relatively inexpensive part of the country.

I'm also not claiming that any student has a take-home pay of $60,000. Yes, taxes need to be taken out of the stipend; maybe it's just a US thing, but generally if someone asks your salary and they say "$80,000" that's how much they make pre-tax. Very rarely, at least personally, do I see people providing take-home pay numbers when disclosing how much they're paid.

 

[Smiley90]

To be completely honest, my information is based on anecdotal reports from colleagues primarily located in Illinois. Across three universities in the state, every grad student I know in the biological sciences was paid between $20,000 and $28,000 for the stipend. They then received full tuition waivers which completely covers the cost of tuition, which is between $12,000 and $16,000/yr for PhD students. Insurance premiums in the US for a healthy ~22 year old will be around $3,000/yr, give or take... but this is also included/covered by the university. That also is the bottom-barrel of coverage more or less, whereas my insurance from my university was actually pretty dang good.

That doesn't include fringe benefits (gym memberships, public transit, dental insurance, vision insurance). The low end of the above numbers is $37,000/yr and the high-end is $47,000/yr, again, without including what is probably a couple thousand more in the fringe benefits. I'd even say that the numbers I'm providing are on the low scale for the most part as I'm mostly looking at central Illinois, which is a relatively inexpensive part of the country.

I'm also not claiming that any student has a take-home pay of $60,000. Yes, taxes need to be taken out of the stipend; maybe it's just a US thing, but generally if someone asks your salary and they say "$80,000" that's how much they make pre-tax. Very rarely, at least personally, do I see people providing take-home pay numbers when disclosing how much they're paid.

So just comparing take-home for those would be, say

Illinois:

~25'000USD Stipend
- 0 for health
- 0 for tuition
- ~13% in taxes
= 22'000USD "take-home"

Vancouver/UBC:

~20'000USD stipend
- 0 for health
- ~3000USD for tuition
- 0% in taxes (stipends aren't taxed in Canada)
= ~17000USD "take-home"

ETH, Zurich:

~50'000 stipend (https://www.ethz.ch/en/the-eth-zuri...er/employment-contract-and-salary/salary.html)
- ~1200USD for health
- ~ 400USD for tuition (flat-fee of ~1200USD for entire doctorate, not a yearly cost)
- ~10% in taxes
= ~44'000USD "take-home"

this is the kind of "comparison" I mean. Because that's quite the significant difference. And I'm just not including "fringe" benefits or the potential for fellowships as they're not completely relevant if they're competition based in this context, at least.

Now you could argue that cost of living in Zurich is twice as high as in Chicago, but I'm not 100% convinced on that given that I know the cost of living in Vancouver and how crazy high it is.

 

[RumblingRosco]

So just comparing take-home for those would be, say

Illinois:

~25'000USD Stipend
- 0 for health
- 0 for tuition
- ~13% in taxes
= 22'000USD "take-home"

Vancouver/UBC:

~20'000USD stipend
- 0 for health
- ~3000USD for tuition
- 0% in taxes (stipends aren't taxed in Canada)
= ~17000USD "take-home"

ETH, Zurich:

~50'000 stipend (https://www.ethz.ch/en/the-eth-zuri...er/employment-contract-and-salary/salary.html)
- ~1200USD for health
- ~ 400USD for tuition (flat-fee of ~1200USD for entire doctorate, not a yearly cost)
- ~10% in taxes
= ~44'000USD "take-home"

this is the kind of "comparison" I mean. Because that's quite the significant difference. And I'm just not including "fringe" benefits or the potential for fellowships as they're not completely relevant if they're competition based in this context, at least.

Now you could argue that cost of living in Zurich is twice as high as in Chicago, but I'm not 100% convinced on that given that I know the cost of living in Vancouver and how crazy high it is.

You're correct about the take-home pays, I won't argue against that. I still conclude that total compensation is very similar by the time you include healthcare/tuition waivers in the US - you're talking $1,200 USD for 5 years of school for a PhD in Switzerland, where as I'm talking about a minimum of $60,000 for 5 years of school for a PhD in the US.

 

[Smiley90]

You're correct about the take-home pays, I won't argue against that. I still conclude that total compensation is very similar by the time you include healthcare/tuition waivers in the US - you're talking $1,200 USD for 5 years of school for a PhD in Switzerland, where as I'm talking about a minimum of $60,000 for 5 years of school for a PhD in the US.

That's a problem with the US cost of living, not exactly something I get a tangible benefit from. Like saying "healthcare costs 100k here, so your total compensation is 120k, don't complain, that's a lot of money! technically correct, but not completely relevant

(and that's IF the PhD is 5 years - I know you say that "3 years is a pipedream" but that's what it's advertised at. Also, PhD stipends increase by ~1.5k/year so that makes up for that as well.)

so that explains at least in part why the "take-home" pay for PhD's is so low in the US - it's because institutions have to spend an exorbitant amount of money on healthcare and just simply can't afford higher take-home pay because of that. Explains it, thanks.

Now Canada............. is just stingy. Probably.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I didnt know europe people were getting paid so much for being a student, why do so many europe people decide to come to america to get a phd.

Only time I see america people go overseas is if they got a fellowship from a national american program, which are hard to get.

 

[Smiley90]

I didnt know europe people were getting paid so much for being a student, why do so many europe people decide to come to america to get a phd.

Only time I see america people go overseas is if they got a fellowship from a national american program, which are hard to get.

Visa, Language (both of which are IMHO lesser issues but still worrysome for people), not wanting to leave their home country anyway, general disinterest in anything outside of the country, feelings of superiority of education, wanting to be close to friends&family, I can think of a lot of reasons

for Europe, I'd argue there's always been a more "international" atmosphere and a lot of people want to come to North America since a lot of really amazing research is done esp in the USA and the most famous institutions are here.

 

[RumblingRosco]

That's a problem with the US cost of living, not exactly something I get a tangible benefit from. Like saying "healthcare costs 100k here, so your total compensation is 120k, don't complain, that's a lot of money! technically correct, but not completely relevant

(and that's IF the PhD is 5 years - I know you say that "3 years is a pipedream" but that's what it's advertised at. Also, PhD stipends increase by ~1.5k/year so that makes up for that as well.)

so that explains at least in part why the "take-home" pay for PhD's is so low in the US - it's because institutions have to spend an exorbitant amount of money on healthcare and just simply can't afford higher take-home pay because of that. Explains it, thanks.

Now Canada............. is just stingy. Probably.

Yeah, happy to help. Sorry I'd my explanation wasn't very clear. I'll also add, anecdotally, that I've never heard of a 3 year PhD in the US. I suspect the average is about 5 years. I've heard of as high as 8 years and as low as 4 years. I wouldn't say 3 years is a pipe dream in the US as much as I'd say it's on the scale of winning the big lotto in terms of likelihood of occurring. I don't think any program with any merit advertises a 3 year PhD at all in the US.

 

[Smiley90]

Yeah, happy to help. Sorry I'd my explanation wasn't very clear. I'll also add, anecdotally, that I've never heard of a 3 year PhD in the US. I suspect the average is about 5 years. I've heard of as high as 8 years and as low as 4 years. I wouldn't say 3 years is a pipe dream in the US as much as I'd say it's on the scale of winning the big lotto in terms of likelihood of occurring. I don't think any program with any merit advertises a 3 year PhD at all in the US.

Oh I know in the US (and Canada) it'd be something like 5-7 years, on average.

I'm saying in Europe PhD's are more like 3-4 years - especially since they most of the time require a Master's beforehand (which I already have), whereas in north america a lot of people skip a Masters altogether.

Which is another plus for Europe in my eyes... the downside being the obvious lower chance of getting a or multiple publications.

 

[Wensih]

Well I finally went in for the GRE. 😐

I did well on Verbal (162 ~ 90th percentile). Quantitative (158 ~70th percentile) was tough due to time constraints. My stubborn need to solve puzzles cost me a few easy questions at the end. Hopefully, the quantitative doesn't blunder my chances at various MCB programs. I have laboratory experience (REU as an undergraduate and have worked as a lab technician for about 3 years, handling development of molecular probes, creation of genomic libraries, target-enrichment of said libraries using said probes, and then building assemblies once sequenced) although it is outside the field that I'm interested in pursuing. I had a 3.99 GPA as an undergraduate as well.

How much of an impact do you think the low quant score will have on my application?

 

[Wensih]

Honest question - why not retake the GRE and focus on getting quant up?

It's something I would consider, if deemed necessary. I decided to take the test today as my schedule for the remainder of the year involves: presenting a research poster at a conference, publishing a paper, working full-time, volunteering 10-15 hours in another lab of interest, applying for the GRFP, and applying for graduate programs. My two PIs that I currently work for are leaving for Australia in August, and are placing me in a position to co-manage their lab while away. I'm not sure with what I have on the table for the remainder of the year if I'd be able to boost my score by October (recommended deadline for taking GRE if applying to graduate schools in this cycle).

I understand that a better score would increase chance of acceptance and interest in prospective students, but I guess I'm wondering what my chances are as they stand now.

 

[RumblingRosco]

It's something I would consider, if deemed necessary. I decided to take the test today as my schedule for the remainder of the year involves: presenting a research poster at a conference, publishing a paper, working full-time, volunteering 10-15 hours in another lab of interest, applying for the GRFP, and applying for graduate programs. My two PIs that I currently work for are leaving for Australia in August, and are placing me in a position to co-manage their lab while away. I'm not sure with what I have on the table for the remainder of the year if I'd be able to boost my score by October (recommended deadline for taking GRE if applying to graduate schools in this cycle).

I understand that a better score would increase chance of acceptance and interest in prospective students, but I guess I'm wondering what my chances are as they stand now.

Seems like you're well prepared to get into a good/great graduate program. I don't think the 70 percentile qualitative score is going to sink your chances all things considered. Don't blow the cover letters/applications/interviews and I'd be very surprised if you don't get into a great program in MCB.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Well I finally went in for the GRE. 😐

I did well on Verbal (162 ~ 90th percentile). Quantitative (158 ~70th percentile) was tough due to time constraints. My stubborn need to solve puzzles cost me a few easy questions at the end. Hopefully, the quantitative doesn't blunder my chances at various MCB programs. I have laboratory experience (REU as an undergraduate and have worked as a lab technician for about 3 years, handling development of molecular probes, creation of genomic libraries, target-enrichment of said libraries using said probes, and then building assemblies once sequenced) although it is outside the field that I'm interested in pursuing. I had a 3.99 GPA as an undergraduate as well.

How much of an impact do you think the low quant score will have on my application?

Seems good, as long as its average and not low enough to raise questions about your ability to pass classes then it should be fine, since youve been out of school for 3 years.

 

[Wensih]

Seems good, as long as its average and not low enough to raise questions about your ability to pass classes then it should be fine, since youve been out of school for 3 years.

Yeah, that's a reasonable criticism, one that I have thought about too. I'm considering taking the subject exam to show that I retained information from my undergraduate career, but I also hope my work experience (university research lab) will show that I haven't been a sloth and entirely out of academia for 3 years.

 

[Lexad]

I just was accepted yesterday to the Evening (Part Time MBA) Program at University of Washington for the fall! I get to join you guys!

 

[Lexad]

Well I finally went in for the GRE. 😐

I did well on Verbal (162 ~ 90th percentile). Quantitative (158 ~70th percentile) was tough due to time constraints. My stubborn need to solve puzzles cost me a few easy questions at the end. Hopefully, the quantitative doesn't blunder my chances at various MCB programs. I have laboratory experience (REU as an undergraduate and have worked as a lab technician for about 3 years, handling development of molecular probes, creation of genomic libraries, target-enrichment of said libraries using said probes, and then building assemblies once sequenced) although it is outside the field that I'm interested in pursuing. I had a 3.99 GPA as an undergraduate as well.

How much of an impact do you think the low quant score will have on my application?

It depends on the school you are applying for I guess. I applied for an MBA a month ago and had a fantastic verbal but lower quant (50th percentile), which isn't great for an MBA. My overall percentile was really strong though. The program actually gave you an optional essay where you can talk about areas that you struggled in (say Quant on the GRE) and explain the stuff you have done (like the 3 year lab exp or 3.99 GPA). They will see your transcripts and know you didn't slouch off in undergrad and that will help too I imagine. I had a 3.9 so I wasn't worried about my lower quant score.

 

[tokkun]

Oh I know in the US (and Canada) it'd be something like 5-7 years, on average.

I'm saying in Europe PhD's are more like 3-4 years - especially since they most of the time require a Master's beforehand (which I already have), whereas in north america a lot of people skip a Masters altogether.

Which is another plus for Europe in my eyes... the downside being the obvious lower chance of getting a or multiple publications.

They optimize for different objectives. The US system is geared toward producing PhDs who have already demonstrated they can function as independent researchers. Hence the focus on publications. With the European system, it is more common that you get to that point via another 2 years as a post-doc.

If your goal is to work in academia or in a research-focused job in the private sector, then they are probably a wash (in terms of duration). If you want a job that is not heavily research focused, then the European system is better.

 

[saveweyard]

I'm about two weeks out from starting my first rotation for my neuro PhD program! It's in an area I haven't touched since undergrad, fly genetics. It'll be completely different than the work I'm currently doing in an HIV lab where we use a rhesus model, but I definitely wanted to be exposed to lots of various techniques and methodologies during my time in grad school.

I feel like I'm going to have more free time than I'm used to during the first year, especially when we're just taking classes from September to January. That'll be the first time in 3 years that I won't be in a lab for at least 50 hours a week. Maybe my assumption is off, though.

 

[1upsuper]

Is it common to take some sort of extended leave in the middle of a PhD program? I have very volatile health problems and sometimes I'm completely out of commission for months at a time - not often, but it happened during my undergrad. Is that gonna really mess me up with grad school? I'm going to begin my applications this fall or perhaps next fall. English is my field.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I'm about two weeks out from starting my first rotation for my neuro PhD program! It's in an area I haven't touched since undergrad, fly genetics. It'll be completely different than the work I'm currently doing in an HIV lab where we use a rhesus model, but I definitely wanted to be exposed to lots of various techniques and methodologies during my time in grad school.

I feel like I'm going to have more free time than I'm used to during the first year, especially when we're just taking classes from September to January. That'll be the first time in 3 years that I won't be in a lab for at least 50 hours a week. Maybe my assumption is off, though.

I had tons of free time first year, I was also doing lab rotations so that limited my time in lab too.

 

[LaNaranja]

I'm about 9 months away from finishing my master's program now. I am thinking of joining the Peace Corps once I finish then maybe going for a PhD when I get back. I spoke to the dean of my current program and got him to wave the GRE requirement for me, but the PhD program I would want to get into requires the GRE. I am kind of a really terrible test taker and while I don't normally get anxiety timed tests have always freaked me out because I am a super slow reader. Like always the last one out of class slow. Anyway, I would assume that even if I ended up doing mediocre on the GRE that having an MA would offset that right? I also already have a BA from the same school in the same subject that I would be getting the PhD from.

Also did anyone else go into a PhD program for primarily egotistical reasons? If I am being completely honest, one of the main reasons I would want one is for the title. Which is shallow and kinda pathetic but it is what it is. I don't mind spending five years of my life working working towards it, I have committed to working in the nonprofit sector (I have been for about four years now and have built up a lot of connections, plus I love it) and have long since come to terms with never being a wealthy person. Time and money are not a concern.

 

[Necrovex]

I'm about 9 months away from finishing my master's program now. I am thinking of joining the Peace Corps once I finish then maybe going for a PhD when I get back. I spoke to the dean of my current program and got him to wave the GRE requirement for me, but the PhD program I would want to get into requires the GRE. I am kind of a really terrible test taker and while I don't normally get anxiety timed tests have always freaked me out because I am a super slow reader. Like always the last one out of class slow. Anyway, I would assume that even if I ended up doing mediocre on the GRE that having an MA would offset that right? I also already have a BA from the same school in the same subject that I would be getting the PhD from.

Why do you want to join the Peace Corps? I recently finished my service, and what kept me going during the many difficult periods was the NCE and viable work experience in my field. I always caution prospective to have reasons beyond the typical idealist humanitarian aspect. The cruelty and difficulty of development work often hit those people the hardest and can make one dishearten early on.

 

[tokkun]

Is it common to take some sort of extended leave in the middle of a PhD program? I have very volatile health problems and sometimes I'm completely out of commission for months at a time - not often, but it happened during my undergrad. Is that gonna really mess me up with grad school? I'm going to begin my applications this fall or perhaps next fall. English is my field.

In my field it was pretty normal for people to disappear for several months to do an internship. With stuff like this it really comes down to making sure you have an understanding academic advisor.

Also did anyone else go into a PhD program for primarily egotistical reasons? If I am being completely honest, one of the main reasons I would want one is for the title. Which is shallow and kinda pathetic but it is what it is. I don't mind spending five years of my life working working towards it, I have committed to working in the nonprofit sector (I have been for about four years now and have built up a lot of connections, plus I love it) and have long since come to terms with never being a wealthy person. Time and money are not a concern.

I honestly cannot remember the last time someone other than my mother (teasingly) or academic spam emails referred to me as "Dr. ____". It's just not something that comes up naturally unless it is tied to your profession, like professors or people in the health industry.

You may also find that by the time you get a PhD, you personally have less esteem for the title once you've seen how the sausage is made.

 

[opticalmace]

I'm about 9 months away from finishing my master's program now. I am thinking of joining the Peace Corps once I finish then maybe going for a PhD when I get back. I spoke to the dean of my current program and got him to wave the GRE requirement for me, but the PhD program I would want to get into requires the GRE. I am kind of a really terrible test taker and while I don't normally get anxiety timed tests have always freaked me out because I am a super slow reader. Like always the last one out of class slow. Anyway, I would assume that even if I ended up doing mediocre on the GRE that having an MA would offset that right? I also already have a BA from the same school in the same subject that I would be getting the PhD from.

Also did anyone else go into a PhD program for primarily egotistical reasons? If I am being completely honest, one of the main reasons I would want one is for the title. Which is shallow and kinda pathetic but it is what it is. I don't mind spending five years of my life working working towards it, I have committed to working in the nonprofit sector (I have been for about four years now and have built up a lot of connections, plus I love it) and have long since come to terms with never being a wealthy person. Time and money are not a concern.

I think you'll probably find that the title doesn't mean as much as you might think. After getting mine, that was certainly my experience. I saw people that got PhDs and barely had any clue how to do the fundamentals of their research... it's fun to choose "Dr" from the drop-down menu but if you expect to feel like cock of the walk I think you'll be surprised. But it's all YMMV.

 

[1upsuper]

In my field it was pretty normal for people to disappear for several months to do an internship. With stuff like this it really comes down to making sure you have an understanding academic advisor.

Thanks!