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As a STEM PhD student I felt a bit jealous reading this. Then I remembered that law students pay tuition while many PhD projects are funded by companies in indu

by wbraun 4y ago

As a STEM PhD student I felt a bit jealous reading this. Then I remembered that law students pay tuition while many PhD projects are funded by companies in industry, often at a somewhat dubious value proposition. There is at least a mild expectation you would consider working for the project sponsor after graduation. There is a lot of money being thrown around towards recruitment in many fields. Tuition is worth a whole lot of free food and branded swag.

throw528018462 4y ago
You should feel jealous. STEM PhD candidates get a bad deal. They’re already skilled enough to earn a good living, and they provide labor for their managers to the benefit of their employers as any other employees do. In any other job, on-the-job-training is compensated as work, even if it takes a while to complete, even if the employer provides training or seminars to clients as part of its business. (Yes, a school is a business. If one wants to say that it isn’t, it should stop charging money for its services first.) Job applicants in other sectors are warned that it’s the red flag of a scam to pay an employer for a chance at an offer or promotion. By normal standards, an employee paying their employer is bonkers. Your scenario is enlightening. If paying a student’s tuition benefits the university and the student’s manager more than the student, what access or benefit might the corporate sponsor be able to derive from inducing a favorable bias in the teacher or school? Could we end up with a situation where Java, of all things, is taught to impressionable undergraduate students across the country? An obvious answer would be to secure a recruiting channel. The things researchers write can also be important to industry sponsors, and the opportunity to bias those exists as well.
counters 4y ago
A very large number of STEM PhDs are entirely publicly funded, with no relationship with or obligation to industry whatsoever. In my discipline, close to 100% of PhD students are sponsored through normal research grants and it pays for the entirety of their graduate education.
__derek__ 4y ago
> I remembered that law students pay tuition Maybe. There's a lot of scholarship money available at elite law schools. For those paying something close to sticker price, Big Law summer associates make good money.

by wbraun 4y ago

throw528018462 4y ago

You should feel jealous. STEM PhD candidates get a bad deal. They’re already skilled enough to earn a good living, and they provide labor for their managers to the benefit of their employers as any other employees do. In any other job, on-the-job-training is compensated as work, even if it takes a while to complete, even if the employer provides training or seminars to clients as part of its business. (Yes, a school is a business. If one wants to say that it isn’t, it should stop charging money for its services first.) Job applicants in other sectors are warned that it’s the red flag of a scam to pay an employer for a chance at an offer or promotion. By normal standards, an employee paying their employer is bonkers. Your scenario is enlightening. If paying a student’s tuition benefits the university and the student’s manager more than the student, what access or benefit might the corporate sponsor be able to derive from inducing a favorable bias in the teacher or school? Could we end up with a situation where Java, of all things, is taught to impressionable undergraduate students across the country? An obvious answer would be to secure a recruiting channel. The things researchers write can also be important to industry sponsors, and the opportunity to bias those exists as well.

counters 4y ago

A very large number of STEM PhDs are entirely publicly funded, with no relationship with or obligation to industry whatsoever. In my discipline, close to 100% of PhD students are sponsored through normal research grants and it pays for the entirety of their graduate education.

__derek__ 4y ago

> I remembered that law students pay tuition Maybe. There's a lot of scholarship money available at elite law schools. For those paying something close to sticker price, Big Law summer associates make good money.