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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

#291

Post by lasfter »

bumby wrote: post #233
ghego1 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry the hear that, and I think it's mostly worng. I should add though that some activities are indeed useful, one of those is certainly teaching. If PhD students have full responsibility over the course, or part of the course, of which they're entrusted, it can be a very productive activity. It is particularly formative if PhD students are entrusted with teaching activities covering subjects closely related to…

> Apart of few exceptions, professors need PhD students more than PhD students need professors. Can you elaborate on this? I'm not disagreeing, but colleges/professors certainly like to project the opposite in many cases

Professors depend on grant money and they need to push out papers to be competitive in grant applications. The vast, vast majority of work in research is done by grad students. Without students, professors would have to do everything themselves or compete with industry for talent they can't afford.

Students by contrast need professors for training and advice. Whether they receive these from their advisor depends on the lab. In bigger labs junior students learn more from senior students and post-docs than professors.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#292

Post by dangerbird2 »

thatguymike wrote: post #100
tombert wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which I find weird; are European/British PhDs generally considered less valuable than American? I didn’t think they were but there’s a lot I don’t know about this.

One major difference between UK and US undegraduate courses is that when you study undergraduate at a UK university, you _only_ do courses in your chosen course of study. No faffing about for a year or two picking a major, no time spent filling language requirements or taking interesting-sounding courses to scratch an itch. As a result, UK graduating undergraduates tend to have spent more time in their chosen field o…

If I recall correctly, the exception is in Scotland, where the undergraduate programs tend to be more like America's: 4 years of study with emphasis on broad liberal arts education in secondary and higher education. I remember when applying for colleges in the U.S., our councilors noted that while it's virtually impossible for an American to apply as a full-time undergrad at English schools, particularly Oxbridge, due to incompatibilities in our educational systems, it's perfectly feasible to go from an American high school to a Scottish undergrad program (aside from the obvious travel and visa hurdles).

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#293

Post by dagw »

azhenley wrote: post #5
tombert wrote: post #3

This 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…

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.

I would never take on a PhD student that wants to continue working elsewhere

We have several people at the company I work (in Sweden) doing their PhD part time. The company gets 'free' research in an area relevant to them and the university gets connections to industry and their research field tested on real world projects. Both se it as a win-win. This sort of arrangement seems quite common in Sweden I know several people who got their PhD this way.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#294

Post by imutemyteam »

azhenley wrote: post #5
tombert wrote: post #3

This 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…

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.

what kind of field?

I have helped make "theses" for people in "banking"/"management" and those require no work.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#295

Post by laichzeit0 »

cg30e wrote: post #246
zd123 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind sharing the books you found helpful to self learn math with a tutor? I am looking to also go on a self study mathematical journey

For sure. I'll list some books for introduction to proofs, abstract algebra, real analysis, topology and category theory. These are not comprehensive, just listing books off the top of my head. I'll definitely be leaving off personal favorites other people have. You'll like some better than others. Some of these are beginner books and some are more advanced. A good tutor can help you get through the more advanced boo…

I see you did a lot of analysis, but no Calculus, why is that?

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#296

Post by geebee »

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…

One factor - I was under the impression that European PhD programs are much more dissertation focused, whereas US based ones are intensely coursework focused for the first few years. Is this the case?

I was in a US based PhD program (at Berkeley, mastered out), and I would attest to the heavy coursework load, but I've only heard that European/British programs are largely or purely dissertation based. Would enjoy hearing more about this from someone knowledgeable.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#297

Post by aidenn0 »

azhenley wrote: post #5
tombert wrote: post #3

This 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…

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.

My dad did his PhD while working full-time. He had previously been working 70 hour weeks at a startup and switched to a 9-5 job with an NGO and used the extra 30 hours a week of time to work on his PhD, so it is doable.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#298

Post by geebee »

dm319 wrote: post #241
conjectures wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in most EU you can do your PhD while working. You really can't at good universities in the UK. At Cambridge we had to get special permission to live more than 10 miles from Great St Mary's. My advisor's advice was that it was near impossible to finish up while working. Had enough of Americans telling me about their excruciatingly long PhD programmes when half of that time is spent teaching and doing exams which we'…

Yes, I have recently completed a PhD at a UK university (aged late 30s). I was able to get full funding for my salary and lab resources for 3 years. I worked so hard and submitted after 4 years. Can't imagine how I could have done those three years while working - it was a very much full-time occupation, if not more.

Fascinating. Was there a lot of coursework, or was this dissertation-based?

The reason I say fascinating is that people do part-time law degrees (25-30 hours a week estimated commitment) while working at times demanding jobs. However, I am very willing to belive that law school is a lot more straightforward than a PhD (attrition rates in elite law schools are below 1%, as opposed to 35%-50% for elite PhD programs).

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#299

Post by [deleted] »

wanderingmind wrote: post #78

For all the fantasy here, let me remind you doing a PhD at an early age is one of the worst things you can do to your financial security (CS Ph.D being a major exception). It does not teach any employable skills, leads to a very high level of depression/anxiety compared to regular jobs and creates a huge opportunity cost where you miss out saving money early that has true compounding capability. The 2019 Nature surve…

[deleted]

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#300

Post by geebee »

lasfter wrote: post #291
bumby wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apart of few exceptions, professors need PhD students more than PhD students need professors. Can you elaborate on this? I'm not disagreeing, but colleges/professors certainly like to project the opposite in many cases

Professors depend on grant money and they need to push out papers to be competitive in grant applications. The vast, vast majority of work in research is done by grad students. Without students, professors would have to do everything themselves or compete with industry for talent they can't afford. Students by contrast need professors for training and advice. Whether they receive these from their advisor depends on t…

Just as an anecdote. I was in a doctoral program in engineering, and I mastered out into a 90k/yr job (this was in the early 2000s) writing cplex code to optimize supply chains. A buddy in the PhD program was doing nearly identical work for a 15k/yr stipend.
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