4 ms·

I wish someone would post an article that actually provided a serious, levelheaded view of the ups and downs of a PhD as well as what it's actually like instead

I wish someone would post an article that actually provided a serious, levelheaded view of the ups and downs of a PhD as well as what it's actually like instead of the overly negative articles? I understand that it might not be what it seems, but it's hard to figure out what's for real and what's just somber humor for the uninitiated.

onli 13y ago
Have a look at http://marcua.net/writing/gradschool-guide/ http://marcua.net/writing/gradschool-guide/
maurits 13y ago
I would recommend reading "The Phd. Grind" by Philip Guo [1]. [1]: http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm
- pgbovine 13y ago
  so would I!
michaelochurch 13y ago
There are plenty of those. Here's one: http://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html http://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html There's also, I believe, a CMU computer science "guide to graduate school survival" out there. I don't think that this (somewhat self-deprecating) graduate school literature is unrealistically negative. Academia is pretty awful. Life-wise, graduate school is a pretty negative experience. If you enjoy the subject matter and have an almost obsessive need to dive into it, it's a great time in that regard (and you will be spending 60+ hours per week on your work) because you can really study without having to deal with the bullshit that professors have to fend off (committees, tenure politics, grant-writing). The rest of your life will be somewhere from mediocre (if you don't care about the academic game, already dead-set on leaving post-PhD) to awful (if you try to play for keeps); even successful and happy graduate students experience this. The upshot of graduate school is that, except for the money and low status-- and those aren't issues for everyone-- it's actually better than being a professor. You don't have to serve on committees or sweat tenure decisions or disciplinary hearings for cheating undergraduates, and you have a 5- to 7-year period where geographic moves under adverse circumstances won't happen.
- Xcelerate 13y ago
  > Life-wise, graduate school is a pretty negative experience. I don't think grad school is like that for everyone. My undergrad had such a huge workload that I rarely had time for any kind of fun. Grad school so far is like the college that I didn't have, except I also get to work on research that's really exciting to me. I'm also kind of young for a grad student so I can hang out with undergrads just fine. It's a win-win.
  - kedean 13y ago
    As a whole I think graduate school is a good thing, but moment to moment it's pretty negative, by my experience and the experience of all of my classmates. I just ended my first year of masters study, and I couldn't name one person I know within the program who didn't seriously debate dropping out numerous times over the first year. On the other hand, most of us have overall gained good experiences and knowledge, and I do not regret staying.
- shardling 13y ago
  Probably worth pointing out that this particular poster has an extremely negative view of many of their life experiences! (e.g., look for their comments about working for Google.)
  - michaelochurch 13y ago
    Actually, my year of graduate school was pretty positive, as far as things go. No complaints. I did look ahead and realize that academia was not the best deal in the world. Also, you're a douche for bringing up irrelevancies like that.
    - shardling 13y ago
      I think that, if someone asks for a level-headed analysis of grad school, it is totally worth pointing out that an anecdotal response is from someone that has highly charged and divisive opinions about many things, especially institutional culture! Also I'm pretty sure I've seen you say that you're proud of the fact that your perspective on life isn't typical -- so at least own that fact here.
michaelt 13y ago
The experience of doing a PhD varies wildly - between countries, between schools, between departments, between professors, and as time passes. Even at the same school, one person reported to me that while he was in his second year his supervisor told him he probably had enough material to pass if he wrote it all up - while another person worked long hours and reported to me that his supervisor had shouted at him for not coming in to monitor his experiments on christmas day. One person went on to a research position in the private sector and feel it set them up for a good career; another hoped to enter humanities academia, but wasn't able to find any jobs and ended up doing office admin work that barely needed an undergraduate degree. Even for the same student, some parts of the process will be enjoyable and fascinating, other parts will be frustrating and tiresome. If you had asked me two years in I'd have told you doing a PhD is pretty great - by the end, having gone through the process of writing up, my opinion pretty inverted. I decided a career in academia wouldn't suit me at all. If you boil the experience of doing a PhD down to the essentials of the experience, there's very little left because the experience varies so much.
- denzil_correa 13y ago
  In general, the thumb rule I would like to apply for a PhD is the function of the relationship between the graduate student (employee) and the advisor (manager). Most (not all) graduate student experiences turn bitter due to ethical and professional issues with your advisor. If I were to give any advice to a graduate student, I would write this on the top of my list.
  - cwzwarich 13y ago
    Most? I think your sample population is suspect.
    - denzil_correa 13y ago
      Yes, most. It follows from the same employee-manager philosophy. I don't have empirical data to prove it though. Feel free to disagree.
    - 13y ago
banachtarski 13y ago
The fact that you view this as an overly negative article indicates that you aren't the phd type. I didn't opt for a phd but I sometimes wish I did. I answered C to every one of these questions.
wink 13y ago
It's not an article, but Matt Might writes a lot about graduate school on his blog: http://matt.might.net/articles/ http://matt.might.net/articles/

onli 13y ago

Have a look at http://marcua.net/writing/gradschool-guide/ http://marcua.net/writing/gradschool-guide/

maurits 13y ago

I would recommend reading "The Phd. Grind" by Philip Guo [1]. [1]: http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm

pgbovine 13y ago
so would I!

michaelochurch 13y ago

There are plenty of those. Here's one: http://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html http://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html There's also, I believe, a CMU computer science "guide to graduate school survival" out there. I don't think that this (somewhat self-deprecating) graduate school literature is unrealistically negative. Academia is pretty awful. Life-wise, graduate school is a pretty negative experience. If you enjoy the subject matter and have an almost obsessive need to dive into it, it's a great time in that regard (and you will be spending 60+ hours per week on your work) because you can really study without having to deal with the bullshit that professors have to fend off (committees, tenure politics, grant-writing). The rest of your life will be somewhere from mediocre (if you don't care about the academic game, already dead-set on leaving post-PhD) to awful (if you try to play for keeps); even successful and happy graduate students experience this. The upshot of graduate school is that, except for the money and low status-- and those aren't issues for everyone-- it's actually better than being a professor. You don't have to serve on committees or sweat tenure decisions or disciplinary hearings for cheating undergraduates, and you have a 5- to 7-year period where geographic moves under adverse circumstances won't happen.

Xcelerate 13y ago
> Life-wise, graduate school is a pretty negative experience. I don't think grad school is like that for everyone. My undergrad had such a huge workload that I rarely had time for any kind of fun. Grad school so far is like the college that I didn't have, except I also get to work on research that's really exciting to me. I'm also kind of young for a grad student so I can hang out with undergrads just fine. It's a win-win.
- kedean 13y ago
  As a whole I think graduate school is a good thing, but moment to moment it's pretty negative, by my experience and the experience of all of my classmates. I just ended my first year of masters study, and I couldn't name one person I know within the program who didn't seriously debate dropping out numerous times over the first year. On the other hand, most of us have overall gained good experiences and knowledge, and I do not regret staying.
shardling 13y ago
Probably worth pointing out that this particular poster has an extremely negative view of many of their life experiences! (e.g., look for their comments about working for Google.)
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  Actually, my year of graduate school was pretty positive, as far as things go. No complaints. I did look ahead and realize that academia was not the best deal in the world. Also, you're a douche for bringing up irrelevancies like that.
  - shardling 13y ago
    I think that, if someone asks for a level-headed analysis of grad school, it is totally worth pointing out that an anecdotal response is from someone that has highly charged and divisive opinions about many things, especially institutional culture! Also I'm pretty sure I've seen you say that you're proud of the fact that your perspective on life isn't typical -- so at least own that fact here.

michaelt 13y ago

The experience of doing a PhD varies wildly - between countries, between schools, between departments, between professors, and as time passes. Even at the same school, one person reported to me that while he was in his second year his supervisor told him he probably had enough material to pass if he wrote it all up - while another person worked long hours and reported to me that his supervisor had shouted at him for not coming in to monitor his experiments on christmas day. One person went on to a research position in the private sector and feel it set them up for a good career; another hoped to enter humanities academia, but wasn't able to find any jobs and ended up doing office admin work that barely needed an undergraduate degree. Even for the same student, some parts of the process will be enjoyable and fascinating, other parts will be frustrating and tiresome. If you had asked me two years in I'd have told you doing a PhD is pretty great - by the end, having gone through the process of writing up, my opinion pretty inverted. I decided a career in academia wouldn't suit me at all. If you boil the experience of doing a PhD down to the essentials of the experience, there's very little left because the experience varies so much.

denzil_correa 13y ago
In general, the thumb rule I would like to apply for a PhD is the function of the relationship between the graduate student (employee) and the advisor (manager). Most (not all) graduate student experiences turn bitter due to ethical and professional issues with your advisor. If I were to give any advice to a graduate student, I would write this on the top of my list.
- cwzwarich 13y ago
  Most? I think your sample population is suspect.
  - denzil_correa 13y ago
    Yes, most. It follows from the same employee-manager philosophy. I don't have empirical data to prove it though. Feel free to disagree.
  - 13y ago

banachtarski 13y ago

The fact that you view this as an overly negative article indicates that you aren't the phd type. I didn't opt for a phd but I sometimes wish I did. I answered C to every one of these questions.

wink 13y ago

It's not an article, but Matt Might writes a lot about graduate school on his blog: http://matt.might.net/articles/ http://matt.might.net/articles/