Grad School is TOUGH...right...

[Hindmost]

If you mean becoming an academic I can highly recommend it.

I've tried the real world thing - it didn't agree with me.

Yes, that is what I was implying. I have often wondered...if I could go back in time...what a career as an academic would be. At the same time, I enjoyed my work in the real world.

glenn

 

[kittynh]

bumping so Larry can find it....

 

[Larry Barrieau]

Got it, thanks Kitty!

 

[blutoski]

Yes, that is what I was implying. I have often wondered...if I could go back in time...what a career as an academic would be. At the same time, I enjoyed my work in the real world.

glenn

Having straddled both, I dont find them tremendously different. Especially these days with industry getting its tentacles into the universities. Research coordinators are looking a lot like commerce's Project Manager role. I think the transition back to academics will be pretty easy.

The big challenge is that masters researchers are paid squat, whereas entry-level jobs for undergrad degree-holders are generally comfortable. My friend is an MD, completing his PhD, and he's making $23k, which is peanuts for a licenced doctor in Ontario. I'm trying to encourage him to do some locums, but this is the most money he's ever made, so he feels rich.

 

[wollery]

Having straddled both, I dont find them tremendously different. Especially these days with industry getting its tentacles into the universities. Research coordinators are looking a lot like commerce's Project Manager role. I think the transition back to academics will be pretty easy.

Depends greatly on your area of research!

 

[blutoski]

Depends greatly on your area of research!

True. Research medicine, I'm hoping. Experimental design. Trial protocols. Somewhat competitive because of its attachment to biotech and pharma.

 

[Dogdoctor]

Well that is all nice. Really she has it easy. During my grad school on a typical day I would wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 am and eat breakfast get ready, be at school by 7:00 am study till classes start 8:00 then classes till noon, a one hour lunch break then classes till 5:00, then dinner (1 to 2 hours) then back to studying till about 11:00 pm, rinse and repeat. Weekends I would take about 4 to 8 hours off to do something other than study such as shopping, laundry, cooking (which I froze in microwavable dishes for later) playing video or pinball games, swimming, hiking, and of course punani patrol unless I had a girlfriend. Then senior year it went to study, school, eat, sleep and sometimes skip the eating or sleeping.

 

[wollery]

True. Research medicine, I'm hoping. Experimental design. Trial protocols. Somewhat competitive because of its attachment to biotech and pharma.

I'm in astronomy. We generally decide on our own research, although it's usually in collaboration with others, and the only real pressure is to produce papers.

 

[Cuddles]

One of my frustrations in life is that my university, even though was one of the best in the country, was a horrible place. Looked like a Blade Runner scenario.

I grew up just near the city Blade Runner was based on. It smells worse than it looks.

Yes, that is what I was implying. I have often wondered...if I could go back in time...what a career as an academic would be. At the same time, I enjoyed my work in the real world.

glenn

It seems to involve a lot of time here. If only they wouldn't give me the interweb.

 

[pgwenthold]

Well that is all nice. Really she has it easy. During my grad school on a typical day I would wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 am and eat breakfast get ready, be at school by 7:00 am study till classes start 8:00 then classes till noon, a one hour lunch break then classes till 5:00, then dinner (1 to 2 hours) then back to studying till about 11:00 pm, rinse and repeat.

What kind of grad school has classes from 8 to 5? That sounds more like a vet school schedule.

Grad school was, get to lab between 8 and 9, work until either lunch or a class you have to TA, maybe there is a class in there during your first couple of years, back to lab, leave around 8 or 9 pm.

If married, push the hours a little earlier, arriving between 7 and 8 and leaving between 7 and 8.

Sleep in on weekends, and show up more around 10 am.

 

[kittynh]

well, pretty soon she goest to Boston to take her MIT classes. Woods Hole is very laid back. MIT is pressure cooker.

Still, she is studying what she loves. And everyone is so NICE at Woods Hole.

For instance, there is a Chinese student. He's only been in the US for about 2 months. The other students made sure he found Chinatown in Boston (so he could get some food), and have been taking him around. I met him, and so far his English skills consist of, "Me MIN!!! From CHINA!!!" When I asked him where in China he was from he just looked confused and said, "From CHINA!" and looked like I was an idiot for not knowing where China was.

He also said, "Would you like a chair?" If he talks in complete sentences, it's something he's learned from his book. So some odd things come out.

He's rooming with a bunch of Naval Academy grads. They take him everywhere. One of the guys has the new H3. (Navy guys are paid well). Min likes to play with the built in DVD player. In China his family didn't have a car. He's kind of like thier puppy. But the point is that they make sure he come along. The funny thing is that the guy is a genius, a total complete Tesla, Edison....

But I think it's great that he's having one heck of a fun summer! They will make a party animal out of him yet!

 

[Mercutio]

so...did you like a chair?

 

[Hindmost]

Having straddled both, I dont find them tremendously different. Especially these days with industry getting its tentacles into the universities. Research coordinators are looking a lot like commerce's Project Manager role. I think the transition back to academics will be pretty easy.

The big challenge is that masters researchers are paid squat, whereas entry-level jobs for undergrad degree-holders are generally comfortable. My friend is an MD, completing his PhD, and he's making $23k, which is peanuts for a licenced doctor in Ontario. I'm trying to encourage him to do some locums, but this is the most money he's ever made, so he feels rich.

I think I would want to predominantly teach. When I was in college way back in the 70s, a good professor quit because he only wanted to teach and the department head wanted him to do research. I would assume the pressure to bring in research dollars would spoil a lot of academic fun.

I have had to play the project management role—a job where you try and manage people to get them to do the tasks they should know they are supposed to do anyhow. (at least in my old job) If college research has become pseudo-corporate, it would lose some of its appeal. Maybe not all, but some.
<O
Your friend should get paid way more money…
<O
glenn

 

[Jorghnassen]

Classes during grad school? I only had a handful spread out over the years (no more than 2 per semester, hence 6 hours a week at most). No labs, TAship every other semester (finances not being a problem for me)...

Anyway, I got a postdoc offer so I better go back to my thesis.

 

[pgwenthold]

Classes during grad school? I only had a handful spread out over the years (no more than 2 per semester, hence 6 hours a week at most). No labs,

I had a student who took an electronics class that had an associated lab, and I know some of the computional chem grad courses do some projects in the lab, but that's about it for "lab" classes in grad school. Of course, "lab" was all the time not in class, so it really didn't matter.

 

[Jorghnassen]

Well, not being in a physical science, the only "lab" I ever go into is the departmental computer lab, but only because the printer is there.

 

[kittynh]

TA? what is this TA you speak of?

MIT and Woods Hole don't do that TA stuff.

All I did was keep thinking, "all you rich people are paying a fortune to rent right on the water here, and Woods Hole is PAYING my daughter to live here."

See, it isn't about earning money, it's about spending other peoples money.

That and playing with the ion probe!!!

I was trying to ask her "boss" about the probe. For instance, "So what's the difference between a large probe like this and a smaller probe? In other words, does size matter?"

When I got to "Is this a hands on kind of probe?" and "Is the probe turned on NOW?"
she kind of kicked me out.

Hey, it's MY job as a mother to make her blush.

 

[Jorghnassen]

Most early classes at my alma mater need TA sections to undo (or enhance) the damage done by the prof in the regular lectures. Of course, if you're lucky (or unlucky), you can get an actual teaching job so you can irreparably warp the kids' minds all by yourself.

 

[kittynh]

MIT is too stuck up and full of itself to allow TAs.

Woods Hole, hey cowabunga dude, formal learning is like so...boring dude. Let's all get a latte and just talk about how cool underwater volcanos and lasers are. You, the student ARE the teacher, after all, aren't we all teachers and students in life?

 

[wollery]

The Chinese guy will have studied English for several years. If he's a grad student he'll probably have had to pass an exam in it. The problem is that they tend to learn written English, but do very little oral practice. This means that they can read English quite well, write it okay (except that what they write tends to be ChEnglish ), but are really bad at both understanding and using spoken English.