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> This is actually an explicit requirement if you want to get a PhD, which I've found to be a valuable way of opening up fulfilling career opportunities that wo

> This is actually an explicit requirement if you want to get a PhD, which I've found to be a valuable way of opening up fulfilling career opportunities that would otherwise not be available to me. As someone who’s considering getting a PhD, how do you know if you’re capable of completing it. I hear a lot that academia is a lot of bullshit and that you don’t have to be particularly competent to get one. But at the same time, contributing novel research to a field just seems so foreign to my own abilities. Particularly when I haven’t historically been very academically gifted in some of the areas I’d need to be to succeee in the fields I’m interested (to be fair though, the last time I was in school was high school, where I was much less mature and there were many things other than just intelligence that negatively affected my performance)

throwawayboise 5y ago
Ph.D. research is not novel research in the sense you may be thinking. It's generally just exploring in depth a very focused issue or question in an already well-understood field. The work isn't necessarily very intellectually demanding but does require some academic discipline in the sense of keeping good notes, documenting experiments and results, and citing supporting or contributing work. Also whether the research is of any practical use is almost entirely irrelevant. I would add though, that if you only have a high school education I am not sure how or where you would get into a Ph.D. program. It may be possible, but I have never heard of it.
- the_only_law 5y ago
  > I would add though, that if you only have a high school education I am not sure how or where you would get into a Ph.D. program. It may be possible, but I have never heard of it. I plan on beginning an undergrad degree next year. The reason a PhD is in my long term vision is because I’d like to do industrial R&D in a certain field
peterkelly 5y ago
Do a small research project first to get the taste of it and see how you go. One option is a masters by research; another is an honours degree (this is something we have in Australia and at least in CS includes a research project, not sure about other countries). You mentioned in another comment you're about to start an undergrad degree. I'd recommend getting to know some professors early on and letting them know of your intentions; they'll be able to give you guidance and maybe give you some exposure to an existing research project their group is working on. Also a "substantial original contribution to knowledge in your field" isn't as big as it sounds. See https://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ https://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

throwawayboise 5y ago

Ph.D. research is not novel research in the sense you may be thinking. It's generally just exploring in depth a very focused issue or question in an already well-understood field. The work isn't necessarily very intellectually demanding but does require some academic discipline in the sense of keeping good notes, documenting experiments and results, and citing supporting or contributing work. Also whether the research is of any practical use is almost entirely irrelevant. I would add though, that if you only have a high school education I am not sure how or where you would get into a Ph.D. program. It may be possible, but I have never heard of it.

the_only_law 5y ago
> I would add though, that if you only have a high school education I am not sure how or where you would get into a Ph.D. program. It may be possible, but I have never heard of it. I plan on beginning an undergrad degree next year. The reason a PhD is in my long term vision is because I’d like to do industrial R&D in a certain field

peterkelly 5y ago

Do a small research project first to get the taste of it and see how you go. One option is a masters by research; another is an honours degree (this is something we have in Australia and at least in CS includes a research project, not sure about other countries). You mentioned in another comment you're about to start an undergrad degree. I'd recommend getting to know some professors early on and letting them know of your intentions; they'll be able to give you guidance and maybe give you some exposure to an existing research project their group is working on. Also a "substantial original contribution to knowledge in your field" isn't as big as it sounds. See https://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ https://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/