r*f
1 楼
Basically, I think of PhDs as mostly falling into one of three categories:
1. Lifestyle PhDs. These include math, literature and the humanities,
theoretical physics, history, many social sciences, and the arts. These are
PhDs you do because you really, really, really love just sitting and
thinking about stuff. You work on your own interests, at your own pace. If
you want to be a poor bohemian scholar who lives a pure “life of the mind,
” these PhDs are for you. I totally respect people who intentionally choose
this lifestyle; I’d be pretty happy doing it myself, I think. Don’t
expect to get a job in your field when you graduate, though.
2. Lab science PhDs. These include biology, chemistry, neuroscience,
electrical engineering, etc. These are PhDs you do because you’re either a
suicidal fool or an incomprehensible sociopath. They mainly involve utterly
brutal hours slaving away in a laboratory on someone else’s project for
your entire late 20s, followed by years of postdoc hell for your early 30s,
with a low percentage chance of a tenure-track faculty position. To find
out what these PhD programs are like, read this blog post.
http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2010/06/22/something-deeply-wrong
If you are considering getting a lab science PhD, please immediately hit
yourself in
the face with a brick. Now you know what it’s like.
3. PhDs that work. I’m not exactly sure which PhDs fall into this category,
but my guess is that it includes marketing, applied math and statistics,
finance, computer science, accounting, economics, and management.
1. Lifestyle PhDs. These include math, literature and the humanities,
theoretical physics, history, many social sciences, and the arts. These are
PhDs you do because you really, really, really love just sitting and
thinking about stuff. You work on your own interests, at your own pace. If
you want to be a poor bohemian scholar who lives a pure “life of the mind,
” these PhDs are for you. I totally respect people who intentionally choose
this lifestyle; I’d be pretty happy doing it myself, I think. Don’t
expect to get a job in your field when you graduate, though.
2. Lab science PhDs. These include biology, chemistry, neuroscience,
electrical engineering, etc. These are PhDs you do because you’re either a
suicidal fool or an incomprehensible sociopath. They mainly involve utterly
brutal hours slaving away in a laboratory on someone else’s project for
your entire late 20s, followed by years of postdoc hell for your early 30s,
with a low percentage chance of a tenure-track faculty position. To find
out what these PhD programs are like, read this blog post.
http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2010/06/22/something-deeply-wrong
If you are considering getting a lab science PhD, please immediately hit
yourself in
the face with a brick. Now you know what it’s like.
3. PhDs that work. I’m not exactly sure which PhDs fall into this category,
but my guess is that it includes marketing, applied math and statistics,
finance, computer science, accounting, economics, and management.