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Advice for Prospective PhD Students

gonzales.science

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Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#31

Post by etrautmann »

bee_rider wrote: post #11
jncfhnb wrote: post #2

I would just flat out advise against it. Don’t set your life up for a dice roll on which PI you get. It can be good. It can be bad. But it’s not a wise gamble for any aspect of life quality that I think is particularly wise to orient towards.

I’d instead say: * talk to your PI beforehand obviously, so you can see if they are a jerk * keep an eye on the failure mode. Check if you are making real progress after a year or two. If not, mastering out in a STEM field a totally legit path that will still leave you with a perfectly decent career potential. Some places will even let you do a thesis with your masters if you for some reason love writing giant LaTeX…

progress can be extremely nonlinear - my year or two progress check would have yielded little, but ultimately I was in great shape when graduating my PhD program. Your advice isn't bad, but it's helpful to understand that the foundation can take a while to lay and then progress can accelerate rapidly towards the end.

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#33

Post by prosqlinjector »

etrautmann wrote: post #30
thatfrenchguy wrote: post #5

I feel like this article is missing a gigantic point: your PI is everything as a PhD student, if you have a PI who’s a shitty person (sometimes even unknowingly), you are going to be in hell for four to seven years. Don’t pick your PI just based on «they seem to be at the forefront of research on this field », also check how they treat their students. This is not like a normal job where you can easily quit, you’re li…

Yes - this is unfortunately everything. There are a number of categories to optimize (research area, lab size, funding, university, other lab members, etc) but the biggest factor is your relationship with your PI. I cannot imagine working as a PhD student in a lab where I don't deeply respect and get along with the PI. I was very lucky but selected for this when choosing PhD labs. A surefire way to have a terrible fe…

I chose mine because he was a reasonably guy to work with and talk to. What I did not know at the time was that he was very junior in the department and needed to please other professors. So even though I liked working with him, I was quite helpless at certain difficult parts of the process.

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#34

Post by bachmeier »

As someone that runs a PhD program in economics, I'd like to see "in a grant field" added to the title. It's completely different in fields with limited grants (those that hire TAs rather than GAs). One of the things I wasn't expecting when I started this position is the number of students that use advice from the sciences/engineering as if it applies to all fields. (And a lot of my email time is spent fixing those incorrect beliefs.)

> Most PhD programs in science and engineering will come with free tuition, a stipend, and health insurance.

Don't go if it doesn't come with funding. There should be a tuition waiver (not always a full waiver, I didn't get one), but...

> fees typically aren’t. This can still be a significant amount of money each semester

This really is ridiculous. They can be in the thousands of dollars. Make sure you subtract fees from the stipend. You might need to pay taxes on the full stipend, but not be able to deduct the cost of fees (I don't know current law).

> Again, program stipends will vary widely. Some may offer a stipend, but not guarantee it past 1-2 yrs.

This is a concern if you're funded by a grant. I know lots of programs that don't guarantee five years of stipend, because they aren't allowed, but in practice they'll do everything they can to keep funding you if you're making progress. That's because completed PhD's is a big deal when evaluating the research status of universities.

> health insurance. Most programs will offer graduate student health insurance. But, as with stipends, the monthly premiums and quality of insurance can vary widely.

If you can get insurance through your parents, you almost always want to go that route. I was surprised when I saw how much this varies from school to school. My employer covers 75% of the cost (one of the highest I've seen) but it still costs the student $700/year. As with fees, subtract the cost of health insurance from the stipend, but only after you determine the quality is sufficient for your needs.

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#35

Post by neuronerdgirl »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #16

This is mediocre advice that largely won't work for the members of this community. For neuroscience, where there is relatively little competition, it's ok. For AI/ML, where the competition is crazy, it's bad advice. > Lastly - the dreaded Undergraduate Publication. Are you a co-author on a publication? Fantastic. It means you made a considerable contribution to a project which can only be done through a significant a…

There is absolutely high competition in neuroscience PhD programs. I have no idea why you would think otherwise.

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#36

Post by nolamark »

digging wrote: post #26

Since it seems just about everybody who's been in or around a PhD program agrees it's a miserable institution with low chances of satisfaction, I will continue to follow the advice that it is not for me. However, are there alternative paths to a research career? I really enjoyed being in an academic environment in undergrad and dream of working on AI/ML research in some capacity, but I'm a total outsider.

for yourself, write down in great detail what your dream is. What do you imagine yourself doing day-to-day? What experiences did you really enjoy?

Identify (via posting here, linkedin, discord) some people that have the sort of job you imagine and have a dialog with them. (if they are actively posting, they likely have the time to converse with you)

If your exerpience is anything like mine, you may find the activities you enjoy are a small part of the researchers jobs, which in many cases is a grant writing machine.

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#37

Post by orochimaaru »

nyssos wrote: post #29
orochimaaru wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience 1. Don’t opt for a phd just because it sounds cool (remember the first tweet shared in that article). 2. Academia is a pretty hard space if you can’t get your own funding or if you don’t like hustling for it. Getting tenure track jobs without having funding attached is impossible. 3. Very few jobs in industry need a PhD. Most are ok with a masters. Those that require a PhD can be selective based on…

> Very few jobs in industry need a PhD. Most are ok with a masters. This varies dramatically by field.

What industry has a heavy concentration of PhD except academia?

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#38

Post by [deleted] »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #5

I feel like this article is missing a gigantic point: your PI is everything as a PhD student, if you have a PI who’s a shitty person (sometimes even unknowingly), you are going to be in hell for four to seven years. Don’t pick your PI just based on «they seem to be at the forefront of research on this field », also check how they treat their students. This is not like a normal job where you can easily quit, you’re li…

[deleted]

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#39

Post by bachmeier »

flashback2199 wrote: post #17

If you live in the US, have the ability to work in the US, and have a stem degree, the opportunity cost of a PhD is just way too high, many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Technically, one could do the PhD in the UK where PhD is 3 years, to minimize that opportunity cost, but not by much.

You should not get a PhD for the money. That's always been the case. It's a research degree. If it will open doors for the type of work you want to do, that's the only time it's worth it.

Traditionally, the reason to get a PhD was that it was the only way to get an academic job. In 2023, I don't recommend academic employment. Sadly, it's just another type of employment today. I started my first academic job in 2002 and things were different back then.

Re: Advice for Prospective PhD Students

#40

Post by ramraj07 »

nolamark wrote: post #14

Dear Prospective PhD Student, Pay careful attention to the optics of this advice. It is addressing how you can best serve your PI. Your goals and aspirations are not addressed. It is advice on how to land a job, but does not address why you should want the job, or if it is a good fit for you. Perhaps you are a good fit for the academic life. But seek out more advice on what the job of Prospective PhD Student is. Seek…

The question then becomes who do you even trust for advice? I always said never ask a first or second year PhD student lol.
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