3 ms·

I would just flat out advise against it. Don’t set your life up for a dice roll on which PI you get. It can be good. It can be bad. But it’s not a wise gamble f

I would just flat out advise against it. Don’t set your life up for a dice roll on which PI you get. It can be good. It can be bad. But it’s not a wise gamble for any aspect of life quality that I think is particularly wise to orient towards.

jpm_sd 3y ago
Yep, I was half-expecting this to be a single-word post: "Don't." (I worked as a research engineer at a big name university for 8 years, helping people do experiments for their PhDs, and I have Seen Some Shit.)
bee_rider 3y ago
I’d instead say: * talk to your PI beforehand obviously, so you can see if they are a jerk * keep an eye on the failure mode. Check if you are making real progress after a year or two. If not, mastering out in a STEM field a totally legit path that will still leave you with a perfectly decent career potential. Some places will even let you do a thesis with your masters if you for some reason love writing giant LaTeX documents.
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  (1) is hard. Very hard. Plenty of people are nice but psychotic. (2) is mixed. There’s a lot of science that doesn’t care about masters at all. And for many people it is extremely soul sucking to master out.
- etrautmann 3y ago
  progress can be extremely nonlinear - my year or two progress check would have yielded little, but ultimately I was in great shape when graduating my PhD program. Your advice isn't bad, but it's helpful to understand that the foundation can take a while to lay and then progress can accelerate rapidly towards the end.
  - chriskanan 3y ago
    This is definitely true. I've had some students who ramped up quickly in the first year or two, but some of my best students didn't ramp up until year 3 and had no output before then. It was very stressful for them, though, since students are prone to comparing themselves to the very best.
    - etrautmann 3y ago
      Yep - exactly. I'm not sure if there's any way to know if progress will accelerate or not. Personal research breakthroughs are likely a combination of preparation, luck, and environment. That can require patience, although I can say that at no time did it feel like my situation was hopeless or way off track. The conditions were appropriate for a breakthrough. If I hadn't seen the light at the end of the tunnel, I think that might have been a signal to switch tracks.
ikrenji 3y ago
as someone who mastered out SEVERAL years into it this is the only advice anyone will ever need regarding a PhD. of course if you come from money and can roll a dice on a career go for it

jpm_sd 3y ago

Yep, I was half-expecting this to be a single-word post: "Don't." (I worked as a research engineer at a big name university for 8 years, helping people do experiments for their PhDs, and I have Seen Some Shit.)

bee_rider 3y ago

I’d instead say: * talk to your PI beforehand obviously, so you can see if they are a jerk * keep an eye on the failure mode. Check if you are making real progress after a year or two. If not, mastering out in a STEM field a totally legit path that will still leave you with a perfectly decent career potential. Some places will even let you do a thesis with your masters if you for some reason love writing giant LaTeX documents.

jncfhnb 3y ago
(1) is hard. Very hard. Plenty of people are nice but psychotic. (2) is mixed. There’s a lot of science that doesn’t care about masters at all. And for many people it is extremely soul sucking to master out.
etrautmann 3y ago
progress can be extremely nonlinear - my year or two progress check would have yielded little, but ultimately I was in great shape when graduating my PhD program. Your advice isn't bad, but it's helpful to understand that the foundation can take a while to lay and then progress can accelerate rapidly towards the end.
- chriskanan 3y ago
  This is definitely true. I've had some students who ramped up quickly in the first year or two, but some of my best students didn't ramp up until year 3 and had no output before then. It was very stressful for them, though, since students are prone to comparing themselves to the very best.
  - etrautmann 3y ago
    Yep - exactly. I'm not sure if there's any way to know if progress will accelerate or not. Personal research breakthroughs are likely a combination of preparation, luck, and environment. That can require patience, although I can say that at no time did it feel like my situation was hopeless or way off track. The conditions were appropriate for a breakthrough. If I hadn't seen the light at the end of the tunnel, I think that might have been a signal to switch tracks.

ikrenji 3y ago

as someone who mastered out SEVERAL years into it this is the only advice anyone will ever need regarding a PhD. of course if you come from money and can roll a dice on a career go for it