I don't see the point of this. He's not going to have a long career as a researcher so why dedicate resources trying to train him to become one? In my country typically being one year behind already counts strongly against you.
Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
221–230 of 337 posts
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#222He has to be an absolute inspiration to everyone.
What's more he's now 13 years older than the age at which Einstein died, so he's shown us that pursuing one's desires and goals at any age is a worthwhile venture.
I wish him well and hope he continues to get enjoyment from his new expertise in physics.
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A PhD is a full-time job. It took me 6.5 years and was hard enough with very little outside distractions. Interesting, in France in computer science, PhDs are often made while working part time on something related to the PhD.
Are you referring to CIFRE-funded PhD thesis?
I don't remember the specifics, I had a presentation on PhDs during my license that mention this system, and CIFRE-funded PhD thesis seem to fit it, but I don't know if it's the only mechanism that exists.
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> I don't know about the USA specifically
My post was specific to to the USA.
> 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 meant during the PhD. In the USA, it's very common for math folks to teach for most of their PhD. Teaching every semester + summers is not common at all in the rest of STEM. Between the higher salary and pension (!), middle school teachers are making a lot more than PhD students. It would be a weird apples-to-oranges comparison for most phd programs, but, unlike mot phd programs, math phds spend an enormous amount of their time TAing baby math classes.
> but this doesn't match my experience or that of anyone I know.
It matches the experience of almost everyone I know
> Seriously, if you're really interested in maths, look into a PhD in it.
But also consider PhDs in other fields.
Or just take an under-paying/low-time-commitment in industry and study math on the side; in a math phd program in the usa, your College Algebra/Calc I teaching load will be almost a full-time job anyways.
But, even more than that, if you're considering a PhD, choose a mathematically-adjacent field that isn't math and pick up a co-supervisor from the math department. The only parts of math that you can't do in other departments are exactly the areas that don't match the criteria of "area with practical applications or that will teach you useful skills".
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#225This is really cool. I'm 30 right now, and only just recently finished my bachelors and have been looking to get a PhD, but it's really hard to find a program that will let you work full time while doing it. It doesn't help that a part of me does sort of feel "too old" to do this sometimes. The PhD system in the US is really tailored around the assumption that you haven't entered the corporate world yet. Anyway, it's…
> I'm 30 right now, and only just recently finished my bachelors and have been looking to get a PhD, but it's really hard to find a program that will let you work full time while doing it.
I did a similar thing during my bachelor: working close to full time. I was essentially busy 14 hours a day, seven days a week. I was burned out within a year and switched to 20 hour weeks. Looking back I suspect that I suffered from somewhat severe lasting consequences for at least another two years and I don't think I've been quite the same person since.
Be mindful of what you're doing. Your brain and body need downtime at some point.
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#226Earlier 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.
This is a similar attitude that you sometimes still see in employers with pregnant employees. Your total justification seems to be that because it was hard for you, it will be hard for others too. Fwiw my partner got her PhD part-time while working for the university as a researcher and consultant, actively authoring and publishing papers. It took her many years, but mostly it was finishing that was tough.
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Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#227I started a PhD in computational molecular biology. Dropped out after year and focused on software. Some years later, I applied to grad school for a CS PhD but was not accepted. The following year, I got a job in the CS department I had been rejected from, spent 4+ years there before leaving to help start a certain e-commerce company, then left that after a year to raise my daughter. Eventually back to software, and…
A college friend of mine intends to pursue a PhD in Chemistry once he retires (soon). I was accepted back in the early 80's but instead spent 4 decades doing programming. I decided to do art instead of going back to school. Sometimes I wish I had actually gotten the doctorate, but not enough to start over again.
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#228Wow and I thought I was taking a risk spending a few years transitioning into robotics in my late 30s :) Awesome to see this, would like to think we all could undertake huge learning challenges at any point in life, and we'll probably need to if we care to keep contributing at a high level.
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#229This 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!
That's because brain/synaptic plasticity in relation to learning was made up on the spot and simply repeated ever since. It's just been a convenient shared crutch to not learn new concepts after a certain age because the incentives are not strong enough for most people.
Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89
#230This is really cool. I'm 30 right now, and only just recently finished my bachelors and have been looking to get a PhD, but it's really hard to find a program that will let you work full time while doing it. It doesn't help that a part of me does sort of feel "too old" to do this sometimes. The PhD system in the US is really tailored around the assumption that you haven't entered the corporate world yet. Anyway, it's…
I know there are people pooh-pooh'ing the idea of pursuing a PhD while still working, but I think that's because they're just working from inflexible mental models. It can definitely be done, but you may have to think a bit outside traditional routes (which is seems like you're already doing). I started my program at an older age than you, so it can be done.
One option is to look for a full-time job that does research but is also affiliated with a university. Think national laboratories or government positions. If you're smart about it, you may be able to make your full-time work count towards your thesis. Many of these affiliations also offer free/reduced tuition and you'll almost certainly be paid more than if you were a PhD student working for a university. Some will even pay your normal salary and allow you to take a year or more off to focus on school. The real difficulty is working a schedule that let's you take courses, but I suspect this is easier now with the amount of remote learning available. I'd also say to stay away from advisors who think there's only one way to skin this cat :-). It was my experience that they don't work as well with non-traditional students.
To echo what was said elsewhere, advisors/programs that mandate a certain time commitment may be looking to burden you with ancillary duties that don't fit well with a non-traditional approach. Some programs would not admit me unless I was willing teach a certain number of classes, even though I was self funded through my employer. Some tried to force me into a resident status for the same reasons; there was an expectation of working on campus as a means of paying for my keep. I attribute most of these attitude's as a lazy way of thinking where they apply the same template to every student, but I think you can find an alternate path if you're willing to be a bit creative/resilient/persistent.
Best of luck to you.