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Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

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Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

#131

Post by imrehg »

I wonder how would this work in fields other than CS. I'm in physics, and I got my D.Phil, but has been thinking seriously about the state of academic research, including the admission process & finding good student/lab fit.

Looking at the examples in the original post, I think the "demonstrate scholarship" section could directly apply for physics as well. Offer letters, github, are more more marginally useful...

Tough one. I'd love to hear how this works out, he sounds like a very thoughtful professor.

Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

#132

Post by zerr »

PeterisP wrote: post #81
Mgccl wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theory cs could care less about coding abilities. It's never a bad thing to know how to code, but I can go though the entire PhD program without coding a single line of code. (Well not really, one of the professors in my PhD program committee recommended me to do one systems course. other than that, I just prove theorems. )

Yes, we've got a bunch of people like that in our PhD program as well - but 100% of them, despite not writing a single line of code for years, could still easily get a paying job in industry and be mostly okay (though less happy) there. If you can prove theorems, then you can also code CRUD websites by following a tutorial, and get paid for that. If you can't write code if your life depended on it but can write paper…

There is also another moment: yet another CRUD job in 3rd world country vs PhD in USA. And no need to struggle for H1B.

Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

#134

Post by af3 »

pgbovine wrote: post #50
tanzam75 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those interested in a career in development, a PhD is rarely helpful. For the PhD candidate, it can even be counterproductive, as any gains in initial salary will be more than offset by the lost salary during the 5-6 years of the PhD. Only for a career in research is a PhD important.

i will vehemently argue that a Ph.D. in CS is one of the best ways that a young hacker can spend his/her 20s, regardless of which career they end up pursuing in the future. pursuing a Ph.D. + interning at several companies during summertimes = amazing combo for a wide variety of future careers. the ONLY enduring downside (which you mentioned) is the lost income. see: http://vimeo.com/73178238

this video comes from a professor, good joke!

Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

#137

Post by tostitos1979 »

banachtarski wrote: post #118
jxtx wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person who reads PhD applications and works with graduate students, bullshit. I care a little about your GRE scores, it is a filter, you need some kind of standardized comparable. Congrats on getting in the 99th percentile (that's expected). I don't care much about your GPA. I might look at what classes you took. I will probably look at your reference letters briefly. They might be from professors, they might no…

What you are telling me is completely at odds with what others have told me (including faculty on admissions committees) so I imagine it varies from institution to institution. I had a pretty compelling application a year ago and my statement (in my opinion anyways) demonstrated that I was caught up with the academic literature on a particular topic and I had done some work myself implementing and attempting to impro…

Did you have a low GPA by any chance? In academia, this is considered a black mark :(

Honestly, I think you dodged a bullet. Academia isn't that magical (CS PhD here). I think you get a better education reading Hacker News some days.

Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

#138

Post by shiven »

cmeiklejohn wrote: post #70

I think this is a very interesting idea, and I look forward to the results of the experiment! Allow me to take a moment to reiterate some of the comments I left on the Georgia Tech master's thread [1], specifically as a student who has taken graduate level computer science courses at Brown University with the majority of his experience working in industry. * I went directly into industry in 1998 working at a software…

... And go fellow Huskies!

Love the co-op that NEU is so well known for. Excellent way to earn a degree while gaining real-world experience on the job :-)

Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

#139

Post by pgbovine »

af3 wrote: post #134
pgbovine wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i will vehemently argue that a Ph.D. in CS is one of the best ways that a young hacker can spend his/her 20s, regardless of which career they end up pursuing in the future. pursuing a Ph.D. + interning at several companies during summertimes = amazing combo for a wide variety of future careers. the ONLY enduring downside (which you mentioned) is the lost income. see: http://vimeo.com/73178238

this video comes from a professor, good joke!

s/professor/postdoc/g

(also, my first job out of grad school was in industry and had nothing to do with my Ph.D. work)

Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application

#140

Post by jrs99 »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #84
jrs99 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i've seen people who didn't know what a lac operon was get a PhD in biochemistry.

That's harmless. But if you have someone who continuously messes up shared equipment, leaving it for the next person to fix, and who won't improve their attitude, no matter how often you tell them, that's deadly for morale.

then you should leave your phd program for a garage.
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