Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? 369
An anonymous reader wonders: "gradschoolstory.com has an entry on the Top 10 Reasons to go to Graduate School in the Modern World. Why did Slashdot readers go to graduate school and what did they get out of it?"
I bet they got... (Score:2, Funny)
Assuming they graduated from said graduate school...
Re:I bet they got... (Score:3, Insightful)
Lots? (Score:3, Informative)
Reasons for Grad School (Score:5, Insightful)
That was my #1 reason. I wasn't really happy doing general business consulting after my undergrad, so I quit to get a Master's degree and get myself into the entertainment industry. I moved myself across the U.S. to do so, and I've got to say I haven't regretted doing so.
I have a year left in my program, but I'm confident that I'm going to get a job where I want. Programming video games is a little more specific than other industry changes, perhaps, but at least in this case I know that I'm getting some skills and practical experience doing things I haven't ever done before. A lot of people said to me, "Don't go back to school, just program some games yourself!" That's hard to do when you've got a full-time job and a commute, so I decided going back to school was the best thing to do in my case.
School is expensive, but having a job that you love doing is worth any amount of money.
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:4, Informative)
That's pretty much it. If you've got a bachelor's degree in CS, you're always doing somebody else's thing.
That's why I'm back in school, along with:
1) Business programming (which is mostly what's available) turns your brain to mush.
2) I want to teach.
Free advice that's actually worth something: get as much schooling done as you can all at once. It's hard to quit your job, sell a house and a car, and move into a tiny two-bedroom apartment. (You can believe me, because I did it, and it was only supreme desperation that made it possible - along with my wife's support, which not everybody can count on.) That's pretty much what's required. Almost nobody is capable of getting a graduate degree while sticking it out in a full-time job.
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:5, Interesting)
I disagree. I am a semester away from graduating with an MS in computer science, and have been working full time the entire way. Anyone can do it if they are motivated. Basically, I take out the partying, vacations, computer upgrade budget etc for 2 years, suck it up, get an advanced degree and get leaps and bounds over my fellow colleagues with only a B.S.
The key phrase is "suck it up." You have to realize that you'll be giving up basically 2 years of fun activities to make an investment for your future career.
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:2)
I get my information from my graduate advisor, who has seen quite a few people try and fail. Congratulations on being one of the outliers, by the way.
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:5, Informative)
"Family" was obviously not one of the things on your list.
I've plenty of friends who've tried to go back to grad school while keeping their full-time job.
Many of them gave up at some point.
For most of the others, it took them 5 years to get the degree, and they said they did not have the time to enjoy it at all.
The way to succeed with this seems to be to wait with working full-time, and work part-time until you complete your MS.
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Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:2)
I did it. So did everyone I work with who has a Masters Degree. Of course, schoolteachers have the summers off, and their own little laboratory (their classroom) in which to do all of their homework.
I basically got the degree to get a pay increase, but there have been a lot of other good things that came out of it. I think through my classroom management more clearly and I plan my curriculum better, among
Isn't what you suggest ridiculous? (Score:4, Insightful)
Also what if the gamble fails. What if grad school doesn't lead to a better career. How are you supposed to shoulder the costs of college + grad school loans then? Bankruptcy laws were recently changed to forbid people from shedding their educational loans paybacks.
Do part-time grad school, or work then grad school (Score:2)
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I have a different perspective: I decided to work, keeping in mind that I would later do grad school. My reasons:
- - working gives you a new view on the world, so that you have a better idea of what you want to do and where you want your schooling to go
- - working gives you an income that gives you a lot more flexibility, such as in being able to afford grad school
- - if you just graduated, you're young. You're smart. Go for full-time work and part-time grad sc
Re:Reasons for Grad School (Score:2, Interesting)
Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:3, Funny)
Well, it's pretty obvious one thing you didn't get out of it: a working knowledge of English grammar.
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, and I probably never will.
I wasn't actually attacking on MBAs in general; I was just pointing out that our President has an MBA.
Here's the thing about people that go to grad school to get an MBA. A very small percentage are interesting people who want to do interesting things in life, and they see their path as owning or running a business. The vast majority of people earning or who have earned an MBA do it because it will lead to more money. These people are uninteresting. Boring. Status quo. It's hard to blame any of them individually for the world's ills, but it's awfully hard to posit that they're part of the solution.
Maybe you're part of the one or two percent that will go on to do something interesting. If so, my hat's off to you. However, don't go over-inflating the worth of an MBA beyond its earning power.
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, we know. And 78.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Do you honestly believe this?
In my classes, we've talked about this. It's the first question the professors ask: "Why are you here?" People are brutally honest. A few say they're in it for the money. A few say they like the idea of adding initials to their name. Some never went to college, so they're trying to wrap up undergrad and graduate school at the same time.
The vast majority, however (and no, I'm not going to quote statistics -- because I don't have any) say they're tired and bored with their jobs. They like where they work more or less, but their particular tasks are repetitive and dull. System admins, programmers, etc. They want to move up to a position where their decisions matter.
Years ago, you could climb the corporate ladder to become a manager/director/CTO/CIO. You can't do this anymore. Many positions are revolving doors, and it's almost impossible to make your mark in companies that are always in flux. Just like more decent businesses won't accept you unless you have a college degree (bare minimum), most businesses won't accept managers who haven't got an MBA. It's the current reality of business and you'll just have to get used to it.
Also, I would like to comment on the "interesting things in life, and they see their path as owning or running a business" bit. I don't see owning a business as a particularly interesting thing (at least not "more interesting" than managing in an established company). I know plenty of people with crappy small businesses that will never get off the ground -- I'm not sure how they could be interesting. Personally, I wouldn't even attach the word "interesting" to one's career choice -- what you do outside of work is really what defines you.
However, don't go over-inflating the worth of an MBA beyond its earning power.
And don't go listening to stereotypes. They're usually wrong.
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:3, Insightful)
I do. Every word.
Every person that I've ever met that has taken an MBA (only 80-120 people, so a small dataset) has done it for one of two reasons:
1. To make lots and lots of money
2. To advance in their career (not to do more interesting things, just to move up the ladder).
And I don't fault them for it one bit. It is very true that adding the letters M, B and A to the end of your business card will increase your odds of a high salary tremendously.
Al
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2)
You are well on your way to becoming a PHB, and here's why:
While you believe you are a critical thinker, you actually lack critical thinking skills. Now, I know that sounds a bit harsh, and yes, it's a generalization. You probably do have critical thinking skills, but you were not using them when you read my post, nor when you replied.
I deduce this from the fact that one of your counter arguments is that I use false statistics, or that I'm just making them up. However, if you re-read my post, you'll s
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2)
He was talking about you, Jones. He was talking about you.
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2)
As does Osama Bin Ladan (with an undergrad in civil engineering), what was w's undergrad?
Here's the thing about people that go to grad school to get an MBA. A very small percentage are interesting people who want to do interesting things in life,
it's a very flexible degree
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2)
Why else would you get a job? If everything was free, no-one would go to work. Getting a qualification in order to make the thing you do to get money more productive at getting money is not a bad thing. In fact it's the sensible route. It's optimisation.
As opposed to the boring, uninteresting, status quo computer programmers, who do nothing but make boring
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2)
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2)
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:2)
It turns out that I like being a DBA and a data analyst, and don't like leading people, so the MBA didn't give me any skills I really wanted, but since I got it paid for by the company, well I just lost some time studying.
As for getting invited to speak, well guess what? I got invited to speak at a recent conference, because I invented a new way of doing something te
Re:Is Graduate School Useful in Today's World? (Score:3, Funny)
it was like following the grateful dead (Score:5, Informative)
Re:it was like following the grateful dead (Score:5, Informative)
Don't even get me started on adjuncts: I'm a summer adjunct for the local community college teaching chemistry. I make $611/credit hour: the 4.5 credit hour chemistry course with lab will net me $2750 before tax, which works out to about $25/hour of my time. I only do it because I like to teach.
*Nobody* goes into academia for the money
Where did you two go to school? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Where did you two go to school? (Score:5, Informative)
Again, not really true in more cases than you would think. I have a PhD in chemistry. My grad school advisor is one of the giants in his field. Brilliant dude, tons of awards, member of the National Academy of Sciences, etc. Full professor at Stanford. He should be making a mint, right?
Well, no. He's a theorist. To the best of my knowledge he doesn't hold a single patent: he certainly never applied for one in the 5 years I worked for him. Many professors tap grants, but theorists don't get big grants for the most part. He's certainly not hurting for cash but he's not exactly buying yachts either.
For folks in marketable fields, yes, you can get some patents. But many university scientists don't really work in areas like that. Most of my friends worked for a guy who did ultrafast laser spectroscopy. Another really really smart dude, but again, no patents that I know of. He didn't do any outside consulting or own a company either.
On the flip side, a few folks I knew worked for Dick Zare. Now Zare is the guy you're talking about. Or others who worked for Barry Trost. (Google the names if you're curious) Trost made a mint consulting for all the big drug companies: my Dad ended up working with him a few times while he was a Merck. Then again, only a few folks are good enough to get these kinds of gigs, and Trost is awesome.
Re:Where did you two go to school? (Score:2)
Yes, but the patents are usually held by the university, not the professor.
Re:i t was like following the grateful dead (Score:5, Informative)
Clearly it depends on the school and the professor's field, but those numbers are way low for computer science.
Check out the Taulbee Survey [cra.org]. Scroll down to Table 34, examine the median and mean for tenure track salaries, and take note of the fact that that's a 9-month salary for someone who just put their foot on the stair.
Re:i t was like following the grateful dead (Score:5, Informative)
Re:it was like following the grateful dead (Score:5, Insightful)
Looking up doctor pay scales, the pay for those two was only about 30-40% higher than the average for people in those specialities. Again, a quick scan shows a bunch of the people on that list make less than the average for their speciality- for example, Charles Clark pulls in $350k as a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery- the average in his field is $381k, and I'll put money that he's far above average in talent.
Paid well? Yep. Overpaid? I'd argue not- don't you want the best possible doctors at teaching hospitals? Cut the pay to some level far below what you'll find in private practice and you'll lose the good people.
Re:it was like following the grateful dead (Score:2)
Wether it's worth it depends on what you want (Score:5, Informative)
My $0.02 anyway.
Re:Wether it's worth it depends on what you want (Score:2)
Re:Wether it's worth it depends on what you want (Score:5, Informative)
This might be apocryphal, but the story I heard as to why California tightened up it's Bar Admission requirements was because too many experienced legal secretaries were passing the bar and going into practice. Not only was this increasing competition, but it was leading to a shortage of competent legal secretaries. (A competent legal secretary was essential to a thriving law practice in the old days.)
Anyway, simply passing your state's bar exam is not a guarantee that you'll be admitted to the bar. Applying to take the exam doesn't guarantee that you'll be permitted to take the exam. They have many ways to keep you out if you haven't attended law school.
Re:Wether it's worth it depends on what you want (Score:2)
You don't "luck out on the exam". The bar exam is not multiple choice. Very very few people from the non-accredited schools are able to pass the bar. Those non-accredited schools with a high pass rate advertise the fact, and if they can maintain a high enough pass rate for long enough, they usually gain accreditation.
Re:Wether it's worth it depends on what you want (Score:2)
People can actually get an MS in web design?
Or does "MS" in this case refer to some local school's "specialty" definition like a PhD in Wicker Furniture.
Re:Wether it's worth it depends on what you want (Score:2)
hm (Score:2)
--verbose
#if useless use;
>/dev/null 2>&1
I'm considering doing a post-graduate degree (which is what I think your talking about), I have to agree with a previous poster, for me it would just be to get the letters MA to use after my name (whilst not feeling as silly as the people who use BA but not as good as the people who get phd). I have a year free so it's no real loss and I can probably get it for free. I don't think that it would be as valuable as a years experience in
Re:hm (Score:2)
have to agree with a previous poster, for me it would just be to get the letters MA to use after my name (whilst not feeling as silly as the people who use BA but not as good as the people who get phd).
If you want to feel silly, try carrying around the initials you get with a Bachelor of Science degree.
Most people are approaching this question the wrong way, I think. There are other reasons to study a subject than looking forward to the salary your earned degree will get you. Why would anyone get a PhD
Yes, it helps (Score:5, Informative)
I've been doing quite well at my company with a simple bachelors in Computer Science, but it will take me much longer to become an architect without a graduate degree in CS. It would also be very difficult to obtain director status without an MBA. I'm not saying it's impossible for me to obtain these roles, but having an advanced degree gives one substantial credibility, even if it is undeserved.
Re:Yes, it helps (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yes, it helps (Score:2)
Re:Yes, it helps (Score:2)
I'll let you know after graduation. . . (Score:2)
Frankly, it's stamping a block on a form, but if you want to advance, well, a Grad degree is the defacto union card. . .
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Mixed Bag (Score:2)
I've worked at a place where there was an obvious glass ceiling separating the degree holders from the non-degree-holders. The field of the degree didn't matter. Even though it was an IT department, a BA in art history was sufficient to put you above the ceiling.
Re:Mixed Bag (Score:2)
Re:Mixed Bag (Score:5, Interesting)
I dropped out of H.S. and got a job at age 16. It was 1996, and the job market was very forgiving. I was able to enter a major corporation and slide up a few rungs before anyone even noticed my lack of schoolin'. I had virtually no debt, and thus, every paycheck was putting me further and further into the black.
Cue 2002: suddenly I was under-educated for my own job, and so, went $30,000 in debt to afford a college education. However, I really wanted to make something of myself so I lived plunged in with both feet. I started a small retail company to pay the bills, and was able to get my 4-years done in about 3.
Now in 2006 I have been out of school for a bit more than a year, and most job offers I see are for LESS than my 1998, HS dropout pay. The irony is, I learned far more running my own buisness than I did in school. As a result, I'm in no hurry to return to my cube. Of course, I might prefer the stability of a "real job", but not at these current wages being offered.
I'm not "unwilling" to work, I'm unwilling to work for less than I am worth. And I am no hater of capatalism; thanks to the glory of capatalism I made more money day-trading yesterday than I did freelancing.
Re:Mixed Bag - a pretty crappy mix (Score:3, Interesting)
So today
if you can hack it, do it (Score:2, Informative)
With a masters degree on the other hand you will have specialized somewhat and be ready for independent work in your field, whereas with a bachelors you will be well prepared for entry level work.
Another reason is that with the economy perpetually on
Re:if you can hack it, do it (Score:3, Informative)
Having a master's degree will likely put you at a disadvantage for most jobs, as companies will see you as a person who feels entitled to more salary. If they can hire Joe Schmoe with just a BA (or BS) degree to do the job at $15k/year less, what makes you think that having an MA (or MS) will stand you in good stead?
Another "it depends" answer (Score:4, Interesting)
I would have to go for #7 and #8 in the list:
I'm a software engineer and study masters part-time during the evenings. I do this mainly to study interesting CS topics that I wasn't given the chance to do in my undergrad. Also, real-life projects sometimes don't require as much creativity. I find that in the industry your creativity would revolve around the "how" rather than the "what". For most software engineers in software houses, requirements have already been laid out for them by clients. I would like to get involved in projects that I find interesting regardless of whether the world would like to use it or not.
I do understand that people do masters for various reasons. I would say a good 50% do them solely for career advancement and for bragging rights after they get their degree. That's not to say I won't be proud to have done graduate studies but I would say 70% of me is doing it out of interest while the rest for my career. I would have to say though that most software engineers probably don't need (technical) graduate degrees unless they'd like to eventually end up in hardcore research (in universities or for companies like IBM).
To answer the thread question, I don't think graduate studies in a technical field like CS or engineering is very useful in a technical job if you've got a good undergrad. However if you want to branch out to other fields or get into management then something like a masters in bioinformatics or MBA would be useful.
Value of an MBA (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm there now (Score:2, Interesting)
The Brahmachrayshram (Score:2, Informative)
In Hindu tradition [wikipedia.org], a person's life from age 5 through 25 is supposed to be spent in the pursuit of education.
The people who thought this up must have had some motive :)
They did however impose celibacy on the Brahmachari. The idea's obviously not going to be popular now.
How does one afford no work and Graduate School (Score:3)
Re:How does one afford no work and Graduate School (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How does one afford no work and Graduate School (Score:2, Informative)
It's not much, but it's (barely) enough to live on I figure. Plus, at least some people g
Re:How does one afford no work and Graduate School (Score:5, Informative)
The Gov't also has what's called a Palace Acquire program, for civilian employees, where you work one year, then go off to school for two years, then work an additional year. During those 4 years total (or 3 if you only take 1 year to complete a masters), you are paid a steadily-increasing salary, along with free tuition up to a certain dollar amount (you couldn't expect $150k for MIT). The only catch is that if you already have one technical masters, you cannot use the program to obtain a second one or work toward a PhD. In this case, most people use that to obtain an MBA, or a similar degree, to go off into the private sector and become upper-level managers.
Re:How does one afford no work and Graduate School (Score:2)
Re:How does one afford no work and Graduate School (Score:3, Interesting)
It's called funding. Call it the difference between immediate financial disaster and slowly bleeding to death. :-)
I went back to school in my late 30s. It was an adjustment, going from A Real Job (tm) to being a starving student. My first post-grad-school job included a 50% raise on my last pre-grad-school job, but the real reason f
Graduate School (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Graduate School (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Graduate School (Score:5, Funny)
"Where are you from?", they ask.
"Yale."
"And what's your name?"
"Yonathan Yones."
Whatever happened to... (Score:5, Insightful)
Especially for Piled high and Deeps, the destination is never guaranteed, so you'd better enjoy the journey.
Re:Whatever happened to... (Score:2)
The only point of education is to do a job and make money.
You will be talking subversive commie nonsense about personal fulfilment, development and enjoyment next!
(PS not to the less bright moderators, I am being sarcastic)
Some places specifically address it (Score:2)
In my opinion ... (Score:2, Interesting)
In my field -- I research VLSI CAD algorithms for semiconductor development (and will be working for a major FPGA manufacturer when I graduate) -- people simply don't get jobs without having a PhD. (Well, some people do, but they tend to be the exception, not the norm; and people without PhDs tend to get stuck working on the GUIs or writing test scripts more than new development.)
The differences in payscale (in my field) can be quite drastic, too -- typical yearly salaries are
The new bachelor's degree (Score:4, Insightful)
There are too many accredited diploma mills out there it seems. Sad to say but it's getting harder to differentiate between candidates, so many companies are requiring further study. Is that the right thing to do? I don't know, but it they're definitely going in that direction.
If you really want a good start in any engineering field, I'd suggest a MSc.
Re:The new bachelor's degree (Score:5, Interesting)
On the other hand, a bachelor's from, say, MIT is not going to look like a diploma mill...wouldn't that be more valuable than a master's from UPhoenix?
(Assuming you get in. But there are a lot of places that aren't as hard as MIT that still are quite well known and won't look like any-old-bachelor's.)
Re:The new bachelor's degree (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The new bachelor's degree (Score:2)
MA in English (Score:2)
Re:MA in English (Score:2)
If you have the right temperment... (Score:4, Informative)
In summary: if you're the sort that does well in an R&D environment, then a graduate degree is going to open a lot of doors. Otherwise, you're going to want to steer clear.
Re:If you have the right temperment... (Score:4, Interesting)
All I do is R&D. Fortunately, I have established myself with just my measly MSEE. Some of the PhDs here even refer to me as the "honorary PhD" and come to me for questions on things. :) They have come to learn they only have to explain something to me once, and I'm the conduit through which their abstract ideas become real hardware.
I think one needs to do the whole graduate level thing as young as possible. I got the MSEE when I was in my late 20's, and it was a drag even though my employer required less than 40 hours a week during that time. Now, at 40, I think I'd rather be captured by terrorists and have my head sawed off rather than go back to school.
MSEE (Score:3, Insightful)
Got an MSEE that my employer paid for. Got a raise out of it, but little else. Most of what I use on a day to day basis is from application notes, manuals published by industry component makers like Xilinx and Cypress Semiconductor, IEEE papers and my own library of books.
My employer offered to send me to get a PhD, but the reward to annoyance ratio was prohibitive. I think my exact response was "Ha ha ha ha ha! You're kidding, right?" I dunno... I just have no buring desire to be called "Doctor". I think it's pretentious.
Instead I spent the time designing equipment that won me company awards, and much more respect than some piece of paper. :-)
Undergrad (Score:2)
need the membership card (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're not exited by the chance to do research, if you wouldn't work in the best lab for (insert your favorite area of research here) for free, grad school may not be for you. Universally, if you do not love your subject, you will not finish. No matter how important or cool your research is, no one is going to care about it. Sure, at the end, someone may be interested, but you're not going to get a lot of attention even from friends and family while in the middle of the project. Your boss may not care about it. Many people drop out of grad school not because it is too hard, but because it's too long. Family emergencies, health problems, getting older, poverty and boredom are all killers in grad school. Anything that can distract you at a crucial moment can lead to someone else publishing that great paper that would have finished your dissertation.
That's not say it's all bad. There are reasons to be here. It's a bit difficult (not quite impossible) to get into science without a PhD. Certainly, being invited to work on things like fusion and nanotechnology is better than begging for it. If what motivates you is science, technology and shaping the future, then go to graduate school. It's an opportunity to work on what you think really matters. For example, many people today think we're too dependant on oil, graduate school is one opportunity to actually do something about it. If what motivates you is money, fame, personal freedom, video games, sports, politics, or anything like that, maybe it's not for you.
Another interesting thing about grad school is the age of the people here. At my school, the average grad student is 30 (there are 5000 of us, so that's not just a few old-timers). Either we've been in grad school forever, or we've been out to the world and discovered that it's not all we'd hoped for. Grad school is a place where you really can get out as much as you put in. Working for the right people can lead you to opportunities to do things you were told were impossible in college. It's a place where you can work on things you've only read about in science fiction. It's a place where you really can get a lot done, and you can see the frantic pace of progress first hand. It's also a place that can chew you up, spit you out, openly treat you like a second class citizen and ruin your life.
Comp Sci not worth it (Score:2)
1. My focus was comp sci and CS is not an old enough discipline to have a useful postgraduate program. Let me put that another way: Not enough is understand yet in the discipline for there to be more than four years worth of material to teach.
2. The bubble was just kicking in to gear (late '95) and I wanted in on the ground floor. I figured if I was wrong about grad school I could always go back after riding the bubble to its end.
Do I regret it? Absolutely not. I rode the bubbl
I went for two reasons. (Score:3, Informative)
First, I read the course descriptions of the Masters program, and drooled. Most of my peers recoiled in horror. I say, go with your gut on that one. You're not going to have a chance to get that education as easily.
The second one won't apply to you. I had to decide in 1999 whether to try to get a job or go into a post-grad program, before the pop. However, I fully expected it to occur, and I figured after two years things should have settled down. As it turns out I was wrong and it was still pretty tough going even in 2002, but I wouldn't have been any better off outside of school. At least they paid me to go.
As for whether it will be useful outside of school, I am a firm believer that if you start from the assumption that your schooling was worthless, you will never even realize how wrong you are; you'll encounter certain hard problems, and waste time hacking out partial solutions when you could have actually solved the problem better and in less time if you used your schooling. Having a Master's level education ups the problems you can attack with confidence even further. However, if you are stuck in the "school is useless" ideation, then for goodness' sake don't waste another two years of your life in it. You need some real experience to evaluate your position better. You might end up coming to the same decision that more school isn't for you, but you'll be making that decision on a much firmer basis.
Line by line (Score:3, Insightful)
I do that now. Why do I need graduate school for this?
2. The rest of the world suddenly takes you more seriously.
I just negotiated and won approval for a $600k project. The people I care about already take me seriously.
3. You can use graduate school as an ideal environment for beginning work on a startup.
Or you can spend some time working for startups and parter on the next project with people who have experience and credentials starting a company, not just wild ideas.
4. You can use graduate school as a pivot to change your career.
If it took you that long to figure out you picked the wrong career.
5. You get to pick your choice of work and your work hours.
I do that now.
6. You can get involved in projects that can actually impact the real world.
You can do that in the work force and be well paid for it.
7. You can get involved in projects that have absolutely no impact on the real world. You can work on things simply because they're interesting and fun. You often get paid to do this.
And then you can become a professor/researcher at the school and continue to get paid piddling amounts for someone with your talents. Which might be okay if you had free choice in what you wanted to investigate, but you don't have free choice. You have to write proposals and sell your ideas to various committees and sponsors and fight your way through some vicious office politics on the way. So in the end you don't work on what you want to, but instead settle for what you can get approved.
8. You can do things that you missed out on in your undergraduate school. It's a second chance.
If you need a second chance. But if grad students are folks who needed a second chance to get it right, what does that say about their abilities?
9. If you're good at what you do, you can count on being invited to travel around the world to conferences and seminars.
If you like public speaking. Personally, I'm an introvert.
10. You get to be the TA this time around.
Because I always wanted to be the guy who got paid piddling amounts of money to do a lousy job of teaching students, all of whom clearly understand that I'm doing a lousy job.
Re:Ignorance (Score:2)
You claim:
Because I always wanted to be the guy who got paid piddling amounts of money to do a lousy job of teaching students, all of whom clearly understand that I'm doing a lousy job.
This is beyond stupid. I get paid $32 / hour for my TA responsibilities at the grad level. How is that at all piddling? And for your information, I teach my students quite well, and find TAing to be a significant training excerise towards one day teaching my own students.
Re:Ignorance (Score:3, Insightful)
As for how well you teach your students, it sounds like you're on track to become a professor. If that's your goal then you're doing the right thing and you shouldn't let me dissuade you. Teaching was not among my goals.
Re:Line by line (Score:2)
>I do that now. Why do I need graduate school for this?
A degree helps clearly advertise that you know what you want. Helps with communication with others. Something of a social contract. "Look here, I spent x years pondering this field of expertise. After doing x years of practical suff in the field."
>>2. The rest of the world suddenly takes you more seriously.
>I just negotiated and won approval for a $600k
Re:Line by line (Score:3, Interesting)
A
Why go? (Score:2)
The job market sucked when I finished my BS in Computer Science. Delaying my job hunt by 3 years helped that a lot.
My undergrad track record wasn't great. I think I finished with a 3.1 GPA. Going to grad school let me reset my GPA meter and get a fresh start.
And the number one reason I went to grad school? It's also the reason I left. I thought it was what I wanted. I thought that getting a PhD and a tenure-track teaching positio
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you want it? (Score:2)
As it is, I'm kind of already doing what I'm going to do for the rest of my life: teaching, writing, grading, reading. The only difference is that my reading has been in cl
Never, ever go to any schooling past high school (Score:2)
My last year of high school was so annoying, I lost all feeling for school. I learned absolutely nothing interesting except for some math nor did I learn anything new not about electronics nor computers. Then I went on one of those trips to a university where some 2nd & 3rd year students were showing of their projects. I ev
I'm doing it now... (Score:2)
My main reason for going back after my undergraduate was for the money. With the job I have higher education is a must... most of the people that work there have PhD's.... and they pay for it too... When I get back I will get a hefty (think 5 digits) raise just for getting my Masters... and if I end up getting a PhD it will go up by about the same amount again... (Not too mention they pay me while
Resource (Score:2)
Personal experience... (Score:2)
Re:Health Insurance? (Score:2)
When I was looking into being a full-time grad student, if you got a fellowship, yes, you had health insurance.
And for my department, pretty much everyone got a fellowship.