I'm applying as we speak, but in Bioeng.
When I email professors and get to talking they always coach that they do NOT have control over the admissions process, that a committee acts as Maxwell's demon. Though I am not applying to Brown and do not know anything about the internals of their process, this seems to indicated that professor Huang has at least some control over the admissions. If I were professor Huang, I would be very very careful about this, as sparks of racism, sexism, and homophobia can quickly ignite into a fire. I want to be clear, I am not accusing professor Huang of this at all. Heck I don't know the guy a bit and I do like this alternative approach to the application a lot. Still, he needs to be careful.
Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
71–80 of 147 posts
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
The parent comment should probably be read as 'research and development' - working for IBM's research arm, Microsoft Research etc.
And I read it as exactly that. I was pointing out that the PhD is useful for "research", but not for research "and development."
In my experience, the people who can do the D are better at the R.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
But to make it a meaningful experience (and get out of it with a PhD) you need a wholly different skillset. It's clear that you have never seen a kid who destroyed the productivity of a whole office because he treated his colleagues Just Wrong, and that you have never seen a fellow who just couldn't transfer what he learned in class to real-life application.
i've seen people who didn't know what a lac operon was get a PhD in biochemistry.
What.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, that is the difference between PhD in USA versus mainland Europe - where PhD is regarded as a regular salaried job (albeit very low-paying). Basically, after some intro time with the professor, you're really on your own. Interactions happen, but nothing that can't be done remotely.
If you work remotely, there is a good chance you will be left out. Of course, "interaction" can be done remotely. But many other things cannot. Showing your face every now and then around other people is quite important. Somebody is organising a seminar? Somebody is organising a conference? Somebody is looking for someone to teach a couple of their lessons? If you are the person that never shows up, you will be the p…
Yes, there is a trade-off. But the choice should exist, which is not the case so far, unfortunately.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#75I'm still waiting for a REMOTE PhD position :)
I essentially did a remote PhD for the last three years of my doctorate.
While it was possible, and I'd defend my decision to do it, it's a tough road, and not one I'd start out on if I could avoid it.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, that is the difference between PhD in USA versus mainland Europe - where PhD is regarded as a regular salaried job (albeit very low-paying). Basically, after some intro time with the professor, you're really on your own. Interactions happen, but nothing that can't be done remotely.
If you work remotely, there is a good chance you will be left out. Of course, "interaction" can be done remotely. But many other things cannot. Showing your face every now and then around other people is quite important. Somebody is organising a seminar? Somebody is organising a conference? Somebody is looking for someone to teach a couple of their lessons? If you are the person that never shows up, you will be the p…
I did my dissertation remotely, and to keep up with people, make sure my network was strong, push through the things that sometimes just need you there with a piece of paper and keep everyone happy, I was in the car an awful lot.
It's not a tactic I'd recommend to anyone unless their circumstances were strongly dictating it, and there's definitely stuff lost in the process. And my department wasn't particularly "collegial" - for the places that are, it'll be worse.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#77Hmmm. This is an interesting spin the Brown Professor has taken on the PhD application process. For those interested in a career in research and development, a PhD is almost a must. Getting on to a prestigious PhD programme is incredibly competitive, and as someone who has gone through the whole process and seen it from both sides, I can say that I've seen individuals who'd make great computer science researchers not…
Do you have any thoughts on how to get started on this road? I feel like I missed the boat sometimes, though I'm using doing interesting-ish work professionally and in open source. I'm not interested in chasing the framework-of-the-week, I want to work on tools that advance how we think about software. This may be something I do later in life, but I feel very wired for R&D + tooling, and a bit locked out of these typ…
Pick a specific area, read lots of papers, find out what the bleeding edge statements 'we can do X' and 'Y would be nice and seems within reach but we're not doing it now' are there.
Do something interesting and novel based on that - not neccessarily a detailed implementation, but at least a quick&dirty proof of concept; and then also describe and publish it as a formal paper, it's not particularly much work compared to actually doing the stuff. For example, if you "want to work on tools that advance how we think about software" then picking some specific narrow area of how, say, Bret Victor's concepts could/should be implemented in real practice would be an interesting topic.
All of this can be done w/o a PhD as a hobby/side-project, and such a project+publication would also be a ticket to a decent PhD spot.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#78That sounds right up my alley! I'm currently tracking the geolocation of computer science professors by tracking the gaze of the NSA's agents who are watching them through the myriad of security cameras in our country. My academic resume isn't going to get me noticed for a PhD program but it sounds like someone is finally looking at ability (I had great scores on the Computer Science GRE in 1990, but they apparently…
The GRE Computer Science exam was pretty heavy on theory and systems. This made sense for 1990, when CS departments were heavier on theory and systems. It has grown less relevant as the field of CS grew to encompass additional areas.
Thus, CS programs stopped requiring it, so fewer people took the exam, so the ETS decided to drop it.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
And I read it as exactly that. I was pointing out that the PhD is useful for "research", but not for research "and development."
In my experience, the people who can do the D are better at the R.
> In my experience, the people who can do the D are better at the R.
Agreed. But less so, the other way around.
Which is why development jobs don't reward the PhD enough to pay for the opportunity cost. It counts as 6 years of industry experience -- which you could've gotten in 6 years of working in industry.
Re: Ph.D. 2.0: Rethinking the Ph.D. Application
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, but what I wanted to highlight - a person might be able to code quick sort algorithm or breadth first search, but unable to get paid doing real world coding - when it is the client or employer who needs to be satisfied. So basically when you have a choice of being unemployed vs doing PhD and getting some studentship, you obviously prefer the latter path. And I believe there are quite many people who can "code"…
If you can "code" so poorly that you're unable to get paid, I can't imagine how you'd get even close to getting into a PhD program, even if your specialization is math of finite state automata or human interface guidelines. Coding (or being DBA or analyst, depending on your area) to the level of getting an okay salary is quite trivial compared to that - from the PhD students I've seen the 'most unemployable' ones wou…
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. )