Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Doing a masters while working in Spain

jan-herlyn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 71 posts

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#41

Post by olsondv »

mishellaneous wrote: post #37
SiempreViernes wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but how do you deal with the fact that university, in practice, is not "for the joy of learning"? I think this strongly depends on the subject you study, most people in mechanical engineering will have a very different attitude to people studying world literature or astrophysics.

good to know, thanks. it does make sense. there's still the professors though. the courses may not necessarily be different from their point of view. also, what do you make of physics grads going to work on finance? doesn't strike as very "scholarly" of them, at first.

Physics is applying math to Model phenomena. Finance is already numbers so it’s a good fit. If you are insinuating the money corrupts it, they’re paid for the skills they developed. Are medical doctors less noble because they make massive salaries?

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#42

Post by pepperoni_pizza »

cjd8 wrote: post #14

Great job! A few months ago I was kicked out of university for failing my Real Analysis course a second time (4 years of CS suddenly gone, thesis was half done) and had to get a full time job. Now I got accepted to a different public university to study on a weekend basis. This article makes me less anxious about my upcoming studies.

You can reapply as a new student and get your finished classes accepted as finished in the new study.

My friend was in a similar situation as you, the same school, possibly, except it was "Electric Circuits 2".

On Wednesday he failed the last exam, Thursday he applied as new student, on Monday he was 1st year student and by Friday he was 3rd year student with all classes accepted. Still had to do the Electric Circuits 2 of course.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#43

Post by mishellaneous »

olsondv wrote: post #41
mishellaneous wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good to know, thanks. it does make sense. there's still the professors though. the courses may not necessarily be different from their point of view. also, what do you make of physics grads going to work on finance? doesn't strike as very "scholarly" of them, at first.

Physics is applying math to Model phenomena. Finance is already numbers so it’s a good fit. If you are insinuating the money corrupts it, they’re paid for the skills they developed. Are medical doctors less noble because they make massive salaries?

we were explicitly talking about people who went to university "for the joy of learning", instead of, as was cited as one of the examples, to prepare themselves for a good career, and how the latter can detract from the experience of the former.

physics students were cited as examples of people who went to university "for the joy of learning". i mentioned the existence of a path from a physics education to a very well-paying career which is moreover not generally considered intellectually stimulating, which suggests (though certainly not proves) the existence of (some -- though certainly not necessarily all) physics students who are not really there "for the joy of learning" -- which again, was one of the concerns i originally cited.

if you are or know a physics grad who studied physics "for the joy of learning" and then worked on finance and you think i'm not correct (say, because finance is actually intellectually stimulating, or that you were really into learning when in school but now are more focused on your career (i actually know a bunch of people for whom this is one is true, now that i think of it), or...), then by all means feel free to share your story, as this is literally what my question was about.

certainly questions can be raised about "corruption" and "nobility", as you did, but i did not intend to do that.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#44

Post by retired »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #40

> Culture-wise, the professors at the university were also very different than what I was used to in Germany. [...] My thesis advisor, Alicia Ageno, for instance, had a meeting with me about every two weeks and sent me relevant papers and advice on a subject that was not her current research topic anymore. This makes german supervision sound pretty abysmal! Maybe that's why the thesis project I had with a German prof…

Doing my thesis in The Netherlands I got guidance on my thesis three times. Once during the start to get an initial baseline of what is expected of me, once halfway through as a quick call to see if everything was going according to schedule and once when I had the concept ready.

If you need someone to hold your hand every other week perhaps you shouldn’t go into academics. You should be operating autonomous at that point.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#45

Post by high_na_euv »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #40

> Culture-wise, the professors at the university were also very different than what I was used to in Germany. [...] My thesis advisor, Alicia Ageno, for instance, had a meeting with me about every two weeks and sent me relevant papers and advice on a subject that was not her current research topic anymore. This makes german supervision sound pretty abysmal! Maybe that's why the thesis project I had with a German prof…

Every school, branch, class, hell - even year at the same school with same profs is different

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#46

Post by MHard »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #40

> Culture-wise, the professors at the university were also very different than what I was used to in Germany. [...] My thesis advisor, Alicia Ageno, for instance, had a meeting with me about every two weeks and sent me relevant papers and advice on a subject that was not her current research topic anymore. This makes german supervision sound pretty abysmal! Maybe that's why the thesis project I had with a German prof…

I believe it comes down to the difference between master‘s and bachelor’s as well as the size of the university.

After showing the article to one of my friends who‘s doing the thesis right now, he told me that his experience with his supervisor is very different from mine. In my case I might have gotten very lucky.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#47

Post by badpun »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #35
mishellaneous wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so you go to university just for the joy of learning? to be clear, i think that's cool, and i might try it at some point. but how do you deal with the fact that university, in practice, is not "for the joy of learning"? for most people there, students and professors, it's more like "just a job". and this does have an effect. colleagues that only want to pass the test and are watching out for their careers (or even wo…

> but how do you deal with the fact that university, in practice, is not "for the joy of learning"? I think this strongly depends on the subject you study, most people in mechanical engineering will have a very different attitude to people studying world literature or astrophysics.

In my country studies are free, which means humanities (like "world literature") are full of young people who had no idea what to do with themselves, so they chose a major in something vaguely interesting and not very demanding, mostly so that they get to extend their youth by a couple of years (as parents will often support them while they get their degree, which means not having to work).

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#48

Post by kelipso »

olsondv wrote: post #41
mishellaneous wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good to know, thanks. it does make sense. there's still the professors though. the courses may not necessarily be different from their point of view. also, what do you make of physics grads going to work on finance? doesn't strike as very "scholarly" of them, at first.

Physics is applying math to Model phenomena. Finance is already numbers so it’s a good fit. If you are insinuating the money corrupts it, they’re paid for the skills they developed. Are medical doctors less noble because they make massive salaries?

> Are medical doctors less noble because they make massive salaries?

Aren’t they? Would you say a doctor who works for no money is more noble? I would.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#49

Post by progbits »

retired wrote: post #44
SiempreViernes wrote: post #40

> Culture-wise, the professors at the university were also very different than what I was used to in Germany. [...] My thesis advisor, Alicia Ageno, for instance, had a meeting with me about every two weeks and sent me relevant papers and advice on a subject that was not her current research topic anymore. This makes german supervision sound pretty abysmal! Maybe that's why the thesis project I had with a German prof…

Doing my thesis in The Netherlands I got guidance on my thesis three times. Once during the start to get an initial baseline of what is expected of me, once halfway through as a quick call to see if everything was going according to schedule and once when I had the concept ready. If you need someone to hold your hand every other week perhaps you shouldn’t go into academics. You should be operating autonomous at that…

This comment is little abrasive but there is truth to it.

I've seen many people who are quite competent under close supervision but completely clueless on their own.

We could debate if academia would be better off with different approach though.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#50

Post by retired »

badpun wrote: post #47
SiempreViernes wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but how do you deal with the fact that university, in practice, is not "for the joy of learning"? I think this strongly depends on the subject you study, most people in mechanical engineering will have a very different attitude to people studying world literature or astrophysics.

In my country studies are free, which means humanities (like "world literature") are full of young people who had no idea what to do with themselves, so they chose a major in something vaguely interesting and not very demanding, mostly so that they get to extend their youth by a couple of years (as parents will often support them while they get their degree, which means not having to work).

I’m guessing Nordics?
Post reply on HN