I remember a lecturer responding to similar feedback from one of my class mates. I'll never forget his reply.
"Life is hard. Then you die"
In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
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Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, the first two years in STEM Ph.D. programs are typically coursework-heavy and include qualification exams as part of your courses. You must pass X quals, of which Y must be from this subset. Because of this, if you leave the program after the first two years, they will often issue a terminal master's degree as a consolation.
Ah ok, I have no such examinations. Do most in the US start their PhD from a Bachelors degree? I had a masters degree prior to starting my PhD. It is also possible to start a PhD with a Bachelors, however you wouldn't likely be awarded a masters degree if you failed to complete
> Do most in the US start their PhD from a Bachelors degree?
Yes, it's almost always in the student's interest to go direct, for two reasons:
1) Master's degrees are frequently unfunded. PhDs in STEM are fully funded basically as a rule.
2) You are going to be in school significantly longer if you complete a Master's degree at a different institution from your PhD.
In general the biggest reason a student might complete a Master's elsewhere is because their academic performance in undergrad was poor.
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah ok, I have no such examinations. Do most in the US start their PhD from a Bachelors degree? I had a masters degree prior to starting my PhD. It is also possible to start a PhD with a Bachelors, however you wouldn't likely be awarded a masters degree if you failed to complete
Most often than not yes. Some will continue after a master's. Still, they will usually need to change universities (or at least go through the full selection process again), so if you're interested in a Ph.D., you should apply for that rather than a master's. For that reason, most master's programs in the US are professional degrees, not research ones. Also, almost no university advertises or promises a terminal mast…
Here in New Zealand you cannot go directly into a PHD.
You have to get a first class honours or complete a masters before you can start a PHD.
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#24The extra-credit question on one of my finals in grad school was: "What is the time-resolved fluorescence of a fluorophore in 4 spatial dimensions?" We had covered 2D and 3D cases in class. my housemate started the question on Friday night (after finishing the regular questions) and was done some time Monday- she said it was pretty hard problem that involved deriving several new equations for 4 spatial dimensions, th…
Do you come from a parallel universe with an extra spatial dimension
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#25My favorite history professor in college gave open book essay exams. He asked your opinion on topics, "what were the motivations of the leaders of the US revolution?" Even better were the questions that ended in "why or why not?" There were no right or wrong answers, if you could justify your answer in a reasonable manner, you got full points. Some students hated his tests, some students loved his tests. The students…
A similar phenomenon I’ve found, is if I know something can be done, I will work at it until it is done. For example, I’ve come up with solutions in interviews that I thought were the best, and then the interviewer says, “can it be done in O(n) time?” At that point, something clicks in my brain that says, “oh, of course it can!” If only I could find a way to tap into that in advance.
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#26My favorite history professor in college gave open book essay exams. He asked your opinion on topics, "what were the motivations of the leaders of the US revolution?" Even better were the questions that ended in "why or why not?" There were no right or wrong answers, if you could justify your answer in a reasonable manner, you got full points. Some students hated his tests, some students loved his tests. The students…
I would hate open-ended questions like that if I didn't know the professor and I didn't know the grading, because it relies on the professor's ability to evaluate what is reasonable justification. I'm sure if the professor was great, this strategy is wonderful, but it also relies on a leap of faith in terms of the student. For example, if I was a black man and the teacher was white, my essays about slavery would be n…
That's rough, since getting to the point of being able to answer and evaluate answers to those kinds of questions is, like, a really big part of working in the humanities. It's probably the single most important skill for an undergrad in humanities courses to pick up.
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah ok, I have no such examinations. Do most in the US start their PhD from a Bachelors degree? I had a masters degree prior to starting my PhD. It is also possible to start a PhD with a Bachelors, however you wouldn't likely be awarded a masters degree if you failed to complete
> Do most in the US start their PhD from a Bachelors degree? Yes, it's almost always in the student's interest to go direct, for two reasons: 1) Master's degrees are frequently unfunded. PhDs in STEM are fully funded basically as a rule. 2) You are going to be in school significantly longer if you complete a Master's degree at a different institution from your PhD. In general the biggest reason a student might comple…
Great points, thank you.
I did an undergraduate Master's degree for similar reasons, which is four year vs three years for a Bachelors + 1 year for a seperate Master's degree.
At the time of starting, it was a much easier funding route. The majority of my cohort chose this option
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#28That takes me back to third year applied mathematics in the 1980s. Small class, seriously smart hard working ederly professor notorious for setting conjectures from whatever areas of interest he currently had as exam questions. Failure was not even trying to answer, grading was scaled on how many you had a shot at and what kind of dent you made on them in the hour. Fun times.
Reminds me of my number theory professor. Open book take home exam, 20 problems and you choose 4 of them to answer. He graded us on how much we were able to do, and not just the answer itself. 6 of the problems were equivalent to the Riemann Hypothesis (unbeknownst to the class).
Fun times.
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most often than not yes. Some will continue after a master's. Still, they will usually need to change universities (or at least go through the full selection process again), so if you're interested in a Ph.D., you should apply for that rather than a master's. For that reason, most master's programs in the US are professional degrees, not research ones. Also, almost no university advertises or promises a terminal mast…
Here in New Zealand you cannot go directly into a PHD. You have to get a first class honours or complete a masters before you can start a PHD.
An honours degree is a Bachelor’s degree. It’s a Bachelor’s degree, with honours.
Re: In the past, I've had students call my problem sets “emotionally trying”
#30My favorite history professor in college gave open book essay exams. He asked your opinion on topics, "what were the motivations of the leaders of the US revolution?" Even better were the questions that ended in "why or why not?" There were no right or wrong answers, if you could justify your answer in a reasonable manner, you got full points. Some students hated his tests, some students loved his tests. The students…
I would hate open-ended questions like that if I didn't know the professor and I didn't know the grading, because it relies on the professor's ability to evaluate what is reasonable justification. I'm sure if the professor was great, this strategy is wonderful, but it also relies on a leap of faith in terms of the student. For example, if I was a black man and the teacher was white, my essays about slavery would be n…
> For example, if I was a black man and the teacher was white, my essays about slavery would be not about if I learned the material but my trying to work around determining how racist a teacher might be.
That would be a valid concern regardless or your or professor’s race.
And even if we take into account that people are more biased towards opinions that elevate them, we should also take into account what an average college history teacher believes in. At that point you should probably be worried that your view isn’t Marxist enough.