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Anecdotal data point (caveat, I'm from France, so maybe this just reflects a difference in culture): I'm just completing my PhD, I have already written my diss
by friggeri 14y ago
Anecdotal data point (caveat, I'm from France, so maybe this just reflects a difference in culture):
I'm just completing my PhD, I have already written my dissertation and am waiting to defend (end of August). These past 3 years have been awesome, I was lucky enough to have two advisors who basically let me choose what I wanted to work on and were supportive from day 1. The research I have done, and the results I have found have landed me an awesome job 9 months before graduating. And I've travelled to three continents to present my work.
I admit, this is just one data point, but doing a PhD can also be a great time.
- dbecker 14y agoBoth the value (and the experience) of getting a PhD is very field-specific... Out of curiosity, what field? Are you going into academia? I enjoyed my PhD (in economics)... but I think that's pretty rare. It was also less useful to me than 5 years of work-experience, since I didn't want to go into teaching.
- friggeri 14y agoI guess you are right. I won't be going into academia but will be doing research in the private sector — among other things because I didn't want to go into teaching. My PhD is originally in computer science but turned out to shift to quantitative sociology and social network analysis — with some heavy amounts of compsci.
- esrauch 14y agoPhDs are fundamentally different in the US vs Europe. 4 years after BS is really the bare minimum in the US and 7+ years is fairly common; wikipedia claims that 13% of PhD students in the US decide to keep working on their PhD after 10 years.