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I'm honestly surprised to all the comments in here. This is not my experience at all. I thought I may share my perspective. I'm currently pursuing a PhD progra
by mdup 12y ago
I'm honestly surprised to all the comments in here. This is not my experience at all. I thought I may share my perspective.
I'm currently pursuing a PhD program here in France. This is a special kind of PhD, called "CIFRE" which roughly means "PhD in a company". You're employed for 3 years by both an academic lab/uni and a company. The goal is to solve an industrial research problem that benefits both the lab and the company.
Personally I'm very happy to be doing this kind of thesis. I'm not in a major lab, so I'm pretty sure I won't be able to fight much against Ivy League PhDs but I'm still getting the degree and I'm okay with it. In the future I don't seek to teach a lot but to do mostly research.
Besides having a good relationship with my advisors I'm also super happy that I don't have a student debt (French education is mostly free -- even for top engineering schools). The pay is good, not as much as an engineer but plenty of people with lower degrees would already be happy with it, so no reason to complain. With this company-linked PhD I also get to study 100% while being officially employed as an engineer, it's on my contract. If I ever want to hide the PhD from my resume (I'm sure I never will), I can basically write "I've been a research engineer for three years" and this would be the truth.
I also get to see how it works in the industrial world and to be more aware when, after the degree, I have to choose between going back to the engineer path or getting further into the academic road.
- tfgg 12y agoMost of the comments seem to be referring to US programmes. I chose to do my PhD in the UK and not bother with US programmes, which seem to have a toxic culture (similar to interns in banks working ridiculous hours for no reason). I accept that I'll probably have to do a postdoc before being considered equal to a US PhD, but that's a low cost for not being abused as free labour and having the opportunity to get out with something. I also wonder if in the US not having to have a masters first, four year undergrad masters courses are the norm here for hard sciences, makes it harder for people to make informed decisions. Ultimately, does the UK, or other countries with different systems such as France, produce less good science? No.
- sporkenfang 12y agoHow difficult do you think it would be for a U.S. master's student with published research to get into a PhD programme in the UK, France, or just somewhere !US?
- semi-extrinsic 12y agoI'm on a similar kind of program in Norway, and I agree with you. Sure there are ups and downs, but most people enjoy and recommend the experience. Also, don't make yourself think from the beginning that those Ivy League guys are so much better. Go out there with the intention to kick their ass; that's the only way you will be able to do so.
- mailshanx 12y agoWhat is program is that?
- semi-extrinsic 12y agoMy project is part of an academia-industry collaboration which is funded by the Norwegian Research Council and by three external companies, and organized by a university. This particular collaboration is small, I'm the only PhD student, but there are many others, some quite big.