4 ms·

A few things worth noting: - There is a virtually limitless supply of intelligent and hard-working PhD students at top-ranking Universities. Thus there is litt

A few things worth noting: - There is a virtually limitless supply of intelligent and hard-working PhD students at top-ranking Universities. Thus there is little incentive to maximise the value of this resource, by treating students well, etc. Basically it's the inverse of the SF job market for developers. - On the other hand, one of the nicest guys I ever met during my PhD also happens to be one of the best in his field, with incredibly productive students. I don't think this is a coincidence. [It's Zoubin Ghahramani -- I can't imagine he'd object to being called on this!]

singingfish 13y ago
and the university systems are so bureaucratic that when people uniquely placed to solve useful research problems who don't fit well into the hierarchy, the system is unable to deal with them, and spits them out.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  > the system is unable to deal with them, and spits them out. Wow, kind of just like the real world.
  - X4 13y ago
    +1 that's so true. Lived through that several times and as a rebel I didn't adapt to the "form", but added much more time into the project to somehow allow my submission by using a loophole, when possible. I also had submissions that failed altough perfectly ok, but it wasn't conforming to what they knew that was conforming. Once I got a D because the teacher didn't believe me that I wrote it, but I did. He just refused to accept it, because it was too good to believe in his opinion (that was a longish rhyme we had to do about homeless people). Sometimes I believe it was wasted time, but then I think that I was glad to learn something new on my own. A friend of mine got accepted at a top university for his Masters degree in Computer Science, but he will drop out to complete his master using a MOOC (Massively Open Online Courses).
- runarberg 13y ago
  I lived in San Francisco as an illegal immigrant, with a bachelors in psychology and a newly found interest in computer science, not able to enroll to a graduate program—nor undergraduate for that matter, I thought I could volunteer as a research assistant in some lab in the Bay Area. How wrong was I. In the off chance that some professor was interested (some professors are cool people who don't follow customs for the sake of customs), the schools bureaucratic system rendered it impossible for the professor to accept my free (as in beer) service. Now that I'm back in my home country, with it's free (also as in beer) education system, I'm unable to tackle the project I'm interested in, for professors tend not to facilitate projects that don't fit in their narrow field of interest (reads, the main topic of their 10 most resent publishes). The university system truly suppresses spontaneity and unorthodoxy.
  - amerika_blog 13y ago
    There's a great article on this here: http://iqpersonalitygenius.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-head-girl-syndrome-opposite-of.html http://iqpersonalitygenius.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-head-g... Basically, academia loves those who conform to its thinking. This promotes robots, and alienates creativity and intelligence. This is from someone with impeccable academic credentials and experience in multiple disciplines.
agilebyte 13y ago
Know one of his students and was wondering where he gets his excitement for research from.
mathattack 13y ago
It's a systemic problem. Individual universities don't get harmed by producing too many Phds. If the top 20 schools produce double the scholars needed to fill all the open tenure track spots in the US, they're not harmed. If anything, they can get away with paying new professors less. As taxpayers, we (in theory!) have the benefit of cheaper schools. The real issue is too many people enter the Phd world with blinders on, thinking it's some kind of guaranteed success. There isn't any.

singingfish 13y ago

and the university systems are so bureaucratic that when people uniquely placed to solve useful research problems who don't fit well into the hierarchy, the system is unable to deal with them, and spits them out.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
> the system is unable to deal with them, and spits them out. Wow, kind of just like the real world.
- X4 13y ago
  +1 that's so true. Lived through that several times and as a rebel I didn't adapt to the "form", but added much more time into the project to somehow allow my submission by using a loophole, when possible. I also had submissions that failed altough perfectly ok, but it wasn't conforming to what they knew that was conforming. Once I got a D because the teacher didn't believe me that I wrote it, but I did. He just refused to accept it, because it was too good to believe in his opinion (that was a longish rhyme we had to do about homeless people). Sometimes I believe it was wasted time, but then I think that I was glad to learn something new on my own. A friend of mine got accepted at a top university for his Masters degree in Computer Science, but he will drop out to complete his master using a MOOC (Massively Open Online Courses).
runarberg 13y ago
I lived in San Francisco as an illegal immigrant, with a bachelors in psychology and a newly found interest in computer science, not able to enroll to a graduate program—nor undergraduate for that matter, I thought I could volunteer as a research assistant in some lab in the Bay Area. How wrong was I. In the off chance that some professor was interested (some professors are cool people who don't follow customs for the sake of customs), the schools bureaucratic system rendered it impossible for the professor to accept my free (as in beer) service. Now that I'm back in my home country, with it's free (also as in beer) education system, I'm unable to tackle the project I'm interested in, for professors tend not to facilitate projects that don't fit in their narrow field of interest (reads, the main topic of their 10 most resent publishes). The university system truly suppresses spontaneity and unorthodoxy.
- amerika_blog 13y ago
  There's a great article on this here: http://iqpersonalitygenius.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-head-girl-syndrome-opposite-of.html http://iqpersonalitygenius.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-head-g... Basically, academia loves those who conform to its thinking. This promotes robots, and alienates creativity and intelligence. This is from someone with impeccable academic credentials and experience in multiple disciplines.

agilebyte 13y ago

Know one of his students and was wondering where he gets his excitement for research from.

mathattack 13y ago

It's a systemic problem. Individual universities don't get harmed by producing too many Phds. If the top 20 schools produce double the scholars needed to fill all the open tenure track spots in the US, they're not harmed. If anything, they can get away with paying new professors less. As taxpayers, we (in theory!) have the benefit of cheaper schools. The real issue is too many people enter the Phd world with blinders on, thinking it's some kind of guaranteed success. There isn't any.