Graduate School

Im going to be in Graduate School for my MA in about two weeks or so...im pretty damn anxious because it was a bitch just to set all this shit up.

anyone else go to grad school? i know PBN was getting his PhD in philosophy.

Im getting mine in History finally...but im worried...my specialty was Sino-Soviet relations, wrote my BA thesis on it, but apparently the advisors said I should become fluent or near to in order to delve any further on those studies.

so what was your grad experience like?

i got a phd in chemical engineering about two years ago. i dunno how phds go in the arts, but i think engineering and the sciences are a lot different because they pay a stipend (20 - 25 k/yr) and pay your tuition and in exchange you do research as your job. as such, you have to really really like your adviser or else your life will be a living hell.

i had a good adviser and loved the experience as a result. got to make my own hours and work at my own pace (which of course can be a bad thing sometimes).

however, i have since found out that it is a little harder finding a job with a phd, much easier with just a masters. this might be exclusive to engineering, though.

good luck and i hope you enjoy it...

Thought about it, but I don't really want to teach, so it won't do me any good.

I'm on my last semester in mathematical science master. it's been alright. some good courses some bad ones. it's okay if you are looking for something to do with your time if you don't know what the hell do you want to do, specially if you get paid to study. but you're already doing phd so i guess that doesn't apply, dont be scared just work your ass off.

I'm finishing up my Masters in engineering at Trinity College at the moment, it's overall been a pretty good experience, it was only a one-year programme and it was nice to take a career break and let the wifey be the breadwinner for a while lol. Typically for most Masters programmes you pay (instead of getting paid), though granted, the cost of getting the same qualification here is way cheaper than to the U.S. Since moving here 2 years ago I was basically able to stash away enough money though 1 year of work to pay for 1 year of school, so I'm quite happy with that.

The one huge piece of advice I'd give is be very careful who you choose as an advisor, do your homework & ask former students, PhDs, etc. what it's like to work with this person. I picked my dissertation mainly because I was interested in the subject, and didn't give much attention to the prof I'd be working with. In retrospect I should've approached it the exact opposite manner, as this guy turned out to be a total douche, unhelpful, uninterested and totally disorganised - made my job about 10x harder than it should've been. These pictures of his office say a 1000 words and then some:

Anyway, y'all probably already know this but most all people working in higher academia are wierdos (some in a good way though), so be careful who you choose to associate with and how

yeah, you have to become fluent in other languages, which is probably the biggest time-sink; and, only get a ph.d in humanities if you REALLY like the topic and couldn't really imagine your life as anything other than teaching/writing/thinking about that topic. in my experience most people in grad school for philosophy/history etc. are there because they did pretty good in college and didn't feel like getting an actual job ... and then humanities grad programs accept them because they need cheap labor (T.A.s). medical schools and law schools have a much higher barrier in terms of getting in, but once you get in you're basically guaranteed a good job; not so in humanities.

and verily, watch out in terms of advisors; i happened to get lucky both in college and grad school, with two very dedicated and helpful advisors, but this often isn't the case.

i'm doing a graduate degree. it's hard as hell, but rewarding.

i got an MBA, worst spent money ever, FML

ominous, what makes you say that? (curiousity, i've heard a number of different reasons)

I'm moving to NY on Monday to attend grad school at NYU for 'Interactive Telecommunications'(basically everything interactive design-related). Pretty excited about the program as i've been working corporate jobs for the past several years, leaving my soul dead at the end of the day.

My advisor is a guy that writes pretty good articles on boingboing.net but i'm definitely going to get some opinions on the guy. For the money i'm paying (a nausea-inducing amount), I want to maximize everything I can. Glad I read this thread.

I just think that it hasn't paid off; not in income or status (i don't care too much about the status part, but i used to when i went for the degree), not in skills (i don't think i learnt anything i couldn't have learnt if i had taken a minor in business while being an undergrad, or just buying the textbooks) and finally it wasn't challenging at all. I'm actually not working in business but in science right now; hopefully someday the degree will mean something once I set up my own business. Hope that helps,

about to start a masters in planetary geology, sadly it's not remotely as fun as i thought all those years ago when i chose my degree. not really looking forward to it

  On 8/13/2009 at 12:32 AM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

Im getting mine in History finally...but im worried...my specialty was Sino-Soviet relations, wrote my BA thesis on it, but apparently the advisors said I should become fluent or near to in order to delve any further on those studies.

nice. vaguely related - my mate's starting a masters on stalin's terror (specifically the role of bukharin, who was a hard bastard who told stalin to fuck off). he's learning russian to help him do first-hand research. i'm learning it with him for shits&giggles (and £140)

  On 8/13/2009 at 3:25 AM, xxx said:

Tried an MS in industrial-organizational psychology and fucking hated it.

I got my bachelors degree in psychology and was interested for a minute in industrial-organizational psychology....until I realized that it would be used almost exclusively for the employer's benefit, not the employees. It feels uncomfortable to me how psychology has been subverted from a person-centric field to one that preys on people, see: marketing and these APA guys that were/are helping the CIA with torture.

  On 8/13/2009 at 11:01 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

These pictures of his office say a 1000 words and then some:

 

 

Anyway, y'all probably already know this but most all people working in higher academia are wierdos (some in a good way though), so be careful who you choose to associate with and how

I once worked for a professor whose office wasn't so different from those pictures.

Glad it was a temp job!

  On 8/13/2009 at 11:01 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

 

 

This is what I imagine database corruption would look like if databases were made of paper...

yeah....whoever said i went into grad school cuz i didnt want to work is dead on....i have a paid internship at the cultural center plus my tuition is almost completely paid for...so i would have been stupid not to take the offer, really.

the language thing plus having to come up with a thesis topic is already making me anxious.

You could bury a dead body under all that mess

i mean...i guess im not too worried about finding a job afterwwards....im pretty much set on course to be a high school teacher...i cant stop talking history to people at work, people i meet,

and its like my brain now is wired to treat the american education condition....that is, people either dont want to learn and remain ignorant, or they do want to learn but they dont know how....finding a solution in terms of metaphors, sitting down with younger people and trying to find a way to state facts but on terms they can understand.

i definitely went to grad school to avoid a "real job". the irony is now that i have a phd, the job i am eventually going to have to get will be more "real" than i would have had to get with only a B.E.

  On 8/14/2009 at 5:20 AM, Charles Nelson Reilly said:

i definitely went to grad school to avoid a "real job". the irony is now that i have a phd, the job i am eventually going to have to get will be more "real" than i would have had to get with only a B.E.

srsly

  On 8/14/2009 at 2:27 AM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

yeah....whoever said i went into grad school cuz i didnt want to work is dead on....i have a paid internship at the cultural center plus my tuition is almost completely paid for...so i would have been stupid not to take the offer, really.

 

the language thing plus having to come up with a thesis topic is already making me anxious.

same deal for me, i was paid to go to grad school, so why not.

though if just coming up with an MA thesis topic is making you anxious, then i dunno; my gf is the same way (a third-year grad student), and i wonder how she's going to manage an academic career

  On 8/14/2009 at 1:18 AM, newmac said:

  On 8/13/2009 at 11:01 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

 

 

This is what I imagine database corruption would look like if databases were made of paper...

i was just thinking that, we have some servers here that are very similar is design

I was all geared up to go to graduate school when I got my B.A. (it was in the social sciences). As an undergrad I had done research, I was a TA for some professors, I had the grades etc.

But all the graduate students I knew seemed really miserable. They were always stressed and complaining about their advisers and cohorts and whatnot. It was like they were in some weird holding pattern. I know all grad students aren't like that, but it was enough for me to examine the doubts I had at the time.

So I got a temp job in a factory and joined a band instead.

  On 8/14/2009 at 2:29 AM, Mr Salads said:

You could bury a dead body under all that mess

Who's to say there isn't already?

Props for going in to be a teacher, thats the same thing I'm planning on doing for school in september.

Also that picture of the office there gives me a headache