grad school

Is doing a PhD a waste of time?

Some people definitely think so. These types of articles crop up regularly. Here is a recent version of this type of analysis that re-appeared in Medium, but is originally from 2010. These are like the villain in a horror movie, every time you think he is finally dead, ominous music fills the theatre. The linked-to article has some aspects that set it apart, though. It provides a voice of faculty members, in addition to some short-writing gems.

Applying for non-faculty jobs - advice?

Every field is guilty of some form of navel gazing. Hence the abundance on how to apply for faculty jobs. Margaret Kosmala wrote a recentish blog post on this, with some advice I agree with, but also some I do not agree with. For instance, often departments fight over every single word in a job ad, so showing that you understand the needs that will be filled by the position (i.e., your contributions to the department and university) are important.

Life after (or instead of) academia

Nature summarized a recent report that followed-up researchers after they left university. The tone of the article reflects a bit of the surprise that “Guess what: And they are happy!“. Our department recently identified what jobs our MSc and PhD students have 5-10 years post graduation, and 42% end up in a research scientist position outside of academia, compared to only 13% in a faculty position, and 16% pursuing an academic training position (PhD or postdoc).

The most important piece of advice?

Here is a great post, over on ProfHacker, about advice to new grad students: An open letter to new graduate students, by Brian Croxall. While I agree with most of these topics with varying degrees, they did not include the most important piece of advise, probably because it is so obvious: ask questions. Our role as advisors is to advise, but we can only do this if we get questions. Come in my office, send me an email, skype, whatever.