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Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

brown.edu

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Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#211

Post by anon946 »

tombert wrote: post #25
azhenley wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Professor here. You definitely aren’t too old, but I would never take on a PhD student that wants to continue working elsewhere. A PhD is a full-time job. It took me 6.5 years and was hard enough with very little outside distractions.

> You definitely aren’t too old By "old" I didn't mean actual biological age exactly. I guess the more appropriate word would be something more like "settled". As it stands, I have a mortgage and whatnot to take care of, it's not really realistic for me to quit my job and focus full-time on a PhD for the next 5-6 years. > but I would never take on a PhD student that wants to continue working elsewhere That seems to b…

The biggest issue is the remote part, not the part-time part. I'm a professor, and myself and others in the dept. have remote, part-time PhD students. However, they have finished their coursework, which must be done in person for the most part. The coursework could be done part-time, though.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#212

Post by pelasaco »

id wrote: post #199
pelasaco wrote: post #197

I'm 40 now, since the pandemics started studying game development (BA), and talking with my colleagues via discord, I'm quite sure I'm the oldest one. On the bright side, I'm the one with the best notes, delivering always weeks before the deadline, despite the fact that I have a full time job and family. I think what the life taught me at best are time management and context switching. Love to learn and be productive…

>despite the fact that I have a full time job and family In another comment you wrote: >I dropped to 24 hours/week and have a much better life quality now, working 3 days per week. Still remarkable, so congrats, but full time normally is considered to be 40 hours / week, 5 days per week.

yes, you are right. I dropped from $$ job, which allows me to work in something different (I do volunteer work with kids, afternoon). I wake up every day 6:30, and limit my studies to 1 hour early in the morning (coding, when I'm most productive) and 1 hour late in the night (reading through materials).

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#213

Post by tough »

gspr wrote: post #203
agustif wrote: post #187

‘My students never knew’: the lecturer who lived in a tent https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/oct/30/my-student... I say fuck to those big name universities that pay peanuts to their most overexploited workers. === Edited: no absolutisms is better Do only a PhD if you're sure you can afford it.

Ugh. I agree that the exploitative behavior of some big name universities is horrible, but I don't at all understand how you from this conclude that "academia is over", and in turn from that that people should avoid doing PhD. Your comment is 10/10 HN.

Thanks. I do spend a lot of time here so...

And you're right, I made three totally disconnected points albeit on the same area at least! Have done much worst in the past. I am sorry if I offended you or didn't explain myself much further.

Why is academia over in my opinion you ask?

Well, for one it's an overly saturated space, most of the folks doing a PhD go on to have very good career prospect's (of course thanks to the PhD in part).

But which percentage do stay in academia? Why not everyone with good ideas? It seems to me, it's a system like any other rigged for the rich and connected, who can afford a degree+master+phd, I guess if your parents are supporting you through it...

About avoiding doing a PhD, you can just read from all the people who was paid poorly, but since they needed the credentials, they went with it anyway's... As it stands right now, and much like everything that capitalism touches, Academia has gone to shit in standards in a few centuries from being the way of sharing knowledge, to being another way to manipulate and disinform the public.

I guess I would change my prior absolute statement to a more specific one, do a PhD only if you can afford the opportunity cost of not doing it and doing else more productive (for yourself or bank account at least)

And maybe academia is not over, but it's certainly in need of a shake up, and sadly as someone much more smarter than me once said:

"Science advances one funeral at a time"

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principio_de_Planck

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publish_or_perish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cost_of_Knowledge

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#214

Post by bachmeier »

ildon wrote: post #148
tombert wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You definitely aren’t too old By "old" I didn't mean actual biological age exactly. I guess the more appropriate word would be something more like "settled". As it stands, I have a mortgage and whatnot to take care of, it's not really realistic for me to quit my job and focus full-time on a PhD for the next 5-6 years. > but I would never take on a PhD student that wants to continue working elsewhere That seems to b…

EU Professor here. You're right, expectations are very different in the "old continent". Things very quite significantly from country to country, but generally speaking in most EU you can do your PhD while working. Retrospectively, knowing what I know know, I should add that if I were to start a PhD now I wouldn't trust a university that asks for a full time commitment, no exceptions. I would be very suspicious that…

> I would be very suspicious that they will burden me with all kind of side activities (e.g. tutoring undergraduate students, handling bureaucracy, paper work, etc.) that are not really of any actual help towards the thesis.

What you're calling a "burden" is the stuff that (a) pays for the funding that covers tuition and living expenses and (b) provides experience that helps you to get a job when you're done. You don't need to burden yourself with those things if you pay everything yourself.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#215

Post by selimthegrim »

The topic is legitimate but Marston hasn’t done much CMT in 20 years, Witten is considered to have made most of the advances in bosonization in the 80s although there was a paper out of Riverside a few years ago I remember that looked interesting with Mike Mulligan

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#217

Post by mkl »

IneficientPgons wrote: post #105
throw63738 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PhD in information science or mathematics can be good investment. But it is bad idea to star career in academia.

Mathematics is closer to the least in-demand humanities than CS in terms of investment quality... actually, it's probably one of the worse fields in which to do a phd. History or Philosophy might be better... at least there you're free to live a life of the mind. If you sign up for a Math PhD in the USA, you're almost certainly just signing up to be a university College Algebra/Calc I teacher for like 1/2-1/3rd of wh…

I disagree completely (my PhD is in maths). I don't know about the USA specifically, but this doesn't match my experience or that of anyone I know. Many maths PhDs don't go into academia, and those that do earn decent money (definitely more than our equivalent of middle school teachers). I don't know anyone who would describe the field as miserable, and I'm sorry to hear you have reached that conclusion (and confused, to be honest).

Seriously, if you're really interested in maths, look into a PhD in it. It's an exciting and fulfilling field. There are decent odds you won't end up in academia, so aim for an area with practical applications or that will teach you useful skills.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#218

Post by grumple »

silisili wrote: post #20
genocidicbunny wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't help but wonder if this headline was A/B tested and was found to be more 'engaging' specifically because of the same sort of reaction GP demonstrated. Edit: Interesting that the headline was changed from the original to no longer refer to Brown university at all. I genuinely wonder what prompted that.

Absolutely not. Americans don't call people 'brown.' We generally have white, black, and hispanic/latino. Anyone else we refer to by nationality, even incorrectly at times. If he were say, Indian, it would say Indian, not Brown.

Americans absolutely call people brown. It's all over social media, sociology papers, and common conversation. Just search twitter for "black and brown".

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#219

Post by zahma »

This resonates with me as someone going back to get an MD. I’m early thirties and a new father. Working through undergrad science classes is kicking my ass, so I’m really impressed that this guy’s brain was plastic enough to handle the rigors of theoretical physics. Inspirational on many levels!

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#220

Post by SantalBlush »

garmaine wrote: post #167
blip54321 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New continent: - Full time commitment seems critical to the process. A Ph.D is a time of intellectual exploration, and you can't really do that fighting work and family deadlines. - On the other hand, time can be squished for older people by virtue of industry experience making them more efficient - I'd be hesitant about remote, since so much of a Ph.D is learning from others. Hallway conversations are critical. That…

> Full time commitment seems critical to the process. A Ph.D is a time of intellectual exploration, and you can't really do that fighting work and family deadlines. This is BS. In every other field great strides have been made by individuals who balance a multitude of life requirements. Being able to devote every waking hour to something only results in burnout. And, I suppose, graduate students slave labor, which is…

Academia in the US has become a pyramid scheme where faculty lures bright, young, hard working students into doing their chores for poverty wages. It's not the faculty's fault, either; they're often overworked as well.

I don't know how anyone produces meaningful research in that environment anymore. It's untenable.

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