# PhD and why



## Takadox (Apr 5, 2013)

I'm currently in an undergraduate program, and was interested in graduate school. I'm an EE student specializing in signals and applications. I want to work in the computer vision field, so I've also matched with some CS. 

What are people's experience with graduate school? Why? In what? Has it helped or hindered? What was it like?...

thanks


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## Zombie Devil Duckie (Apr 11, 2012)

Make sure your dissertation advisor's personality and outlook for your goals are compatible with what you are looking to do. 

Sounds simple, but I'd shop hard for the right one. A bad advisor can make your life hell.

Example.... 4 years into the program a friend of mine and her new (her old one left) dissertation/thesis advisor had a conversation about her anxiety with her (anticipated) upcoming dissertation defense. The new advisor told her "It took me 7 years to get my PhD, there's no way you will get yours before then", and then proceeded to force her to re-write major portions of her Thesis that had already been vetted. 

Sure, she complained. There's an arbitration process to go though. Takes time and patience, and the outcome is up in the air right now (this started at the beginning of the year).

Example 2.... Another friend of mine told me that he is on the thesis defense waiting list because there are only 3 people currently on the board and they have a backlog of 78 students waiting to defend. 

So, make sure you have an escape plan thought out in case you run into things like this a couple of years into your program. Nobody has a crystal ball and can see into the future, so you need to be your own advocate and plan ahead "just in case".

Good luck !! Sounds like an interesting field.



-ZDD


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

You can do pretty well with an EE bachelor's degree. What is your career ambitions with that PHD?


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## Takadox (Apr 5, 2013)

PowerShell said:


> You can do pretty well with an EE bachelor's degree. What is your career ambitions with that PHD?


The field that I'm looking towards wants usually a masters for just plain signal processing type jobs. But I would like to go into computer vision, which is very much a research field atm. It's like of mix of signal processing, AI, and occasionally robotics(usually not on your side). Examples of such are google's self driving car, Kinect, advanced robotics... really anything where you want the computer to see.


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

Takadox said:


> The field that I'm looking towards wants usually a masters for just plain signal processing type jobs. But I would like to go into computer vision, which is very much a research field atm. It's like of mix of signal processing, AI, and occasionally robotics(usually not on your side). Examples of such are google's self driving car, Kinect, advanced robotics... really anything where you want the computer to see.


That's cool. I could see where that would require a PHD.


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## pearlgirl87 (Oct 7, 2013)

I'm not sure any info I can give you would help. I'm in a masters program for Psychology, using it to hopefully get into a Clinical Psych program (extremely competitive). This program is sucking the life out of my soul.


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## Takadox (Apr 5, 2013)

pearlgirl87 said:


> I'm not sure any info I can give you would help. I'm in a masters program for Psychology, using it to hopefully get into a Clinical Psych program (extremely competitive). This program is sucking the life out of my soul.


Sorry to hear that. Would you care to elaborate?


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## pearlgirl87 (Oct 7, 2013)

Takadox said:


> Sorry to hear that. Would you care to elaborate?


Haha, not much to say as it takes nearly all spontaneity out of life. I am constantly working. Constantly. Maybe I was dealt a bad hand or I should just shut up because I know that all this hard work will pay off in the end.

I won the teaching assistantship lottery (haha not really) and I have one of the hardest assignments due to the material being taught and amount of work involved. I am busy EVERY WEEK whereas some TAs are only required to show up to class and grade once in a while. I'm taking two labor intensive classes, one that gives me high anxiety and the other one just pisses me off (9 units). The other class is just a waste of time. I also dedicate around 15 hours a week to research in my lab of 1 because there's hardly anyone else (lab dynamic is much different than any other I've experienced). I work all the time, it seems, except at night when I'm brain dead. I am grateful but it's just so much to absorb in my very first semester! There isn't a lot of room to relax without feeling guilty.

I also feel like my undergrads are whiny nosed brats.


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## WolfStar (Aug 18, 2009)

Takadox said:


> I'm currently in an undergraduate program, and was interested in graduate school. I'm an EE student specializing in signals and applications. I want to work in the computer vision field, so I've also matched with some CS.
> 
> What are people's experience with graduate school? Why? In what? Has it helped or hindered? What was it like?...
> 
> thanks


First year PhD student here TAing two courses and taking two (plus a thesis course). There's a HUGE increase in the number of people getting their bachelors lately, and as a result, a ton more getting their masters. All I am hearing, both from professors and those I know in the field, is that without a masters it's just becoming so much harder to move up. For me, grad school was great. Plenty of work, but I work hard so I've never had to do those 80 hour weeks people always talk about. I show up, work hard for 8 hours a day (give or take a few hours depending on what's going on), mon-fri, and I get all my stuff done. Of course, during the last month when my thesis was due I was working way more than that, plus all weekends, but hey, that's to be expected.

You go to classes, they're no harder than those of an undergrad (at least to me), meaning that you get what you put in. Study for a few hours per class every week so that you can do all homework, and you're fine. Research is where it gets fun. Get to do huge problems, find resources, make your own solutions, write papers, go to conferences, etc etc. I'm very lucky in that my advisers are quite well renowned and as such I was in a fellowship for two years, and now I'm TAing for two courses that one teaches.

So, to be more specific, if you can go, definitely go. It is more the norm that people are provided funding for grad school, whereas in undergrad that's usually not the case. Talk to professors, see what they are doing, try to get an RA, and you're set. You'll do research, they'll tell you what to do, blah blah blah. It's been a huge boost to my ability to work on cutting edge problems and being a part of the real solutions that being devised. It's helping me become a leader in the field, rather than one of the drones.

As others have said, it's also very dependent on your adviser. Mine have had many people leave over the years, but I guess my personality is such that my adviser's shortcomings kind of wash over me rather than getting to me, haha. Many other people haven't been able to take it and left.

I think I rambled too much. So, talk to professors > find funding > do research > write papers > write thesis > have fun.


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## Takadox (Apr 5, 2013)

WolfStar said:


> First year PhD student here TAing two courses and taking two (plus a thesis course). There's a HUGE increase in the number of people getting their bachelors lately, and as a result, a ton more getting their masters. All I am hearing, both from professors and those I know in the field, is that without a masters it's just becoming so much harder to move up. For me, grad school was great. Plenty of work, but I work hard so I've never had to do those 80 hour weeks people always talk about. I show up, work hard for 8 hours a day (give or take a few hours depending on what's going on), mon-fri, and I get all my stuff done. Of course, during the last month when my thesis was due I was working way more than that, plus all weekends, but hey, that's to be expected.
> 
> You go to classes, they're no harder than those of an undergrad (at least to me), meaning that you get what you put in. Study for a few hours per class every week so that you can do all homework, and you're fine. Research is where it gets fun. Get to do huge problems, find resources, make your own solutions, write papers, go to conferences, etc etc. I'm very lucky in that my advisers are quite well renowned and as such I was in a fellowship for two years, and now I'm TAing for two courses that one teaches.
> 
> ...


Interesting. Thanks.

What is your degree and specialization in anyways?


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## WolfStar (Aug 18, 2009)

Takadox said:


> Interesting. Thanks.
> 
> What is your degree and specialization in anyways?


EE, my advisers cover acoustics/signal processing/networking/probability/queueing. In January I'll be doing big data analysis on some organ donor data with a guy from the business school.


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## Takadox (Apr 5, 2013)

WolfStar said:


> EE, my advisers cover acoustics/signal processing/networking/probability/queueing. In January I'll be doing big data analysis on some organ donor data with a guy from the business school.


Lovely so we're in similar things.


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## angularvelocity (Jun 15, 2009)

I like graduate school because you get paid to do your schooling while you're enrolled. A lot of Ph.D programs, more common in the sciences, offer tuition waivers, stipends, and health benefits. My overall compensation is $95,000. I like being in academia because you get to teach and learn, concurrently, while getting paid. Although the pay isn't much usually, it is enough to pay your rent and enough so you don't worry about your finances. Currently I'm teaching two sections for a biomechanics course. I enjoy lecturing so it's been a great experience. Someone else mentioned that they don't do 80 hours a week and I don't do that either. I show up and do my 8 hours and go home. 

I end up reading a lot of literature and writing a lot of pages. I thought a 20 page paper over a semester in undergraduate was a lot of writing, but I do nearly 2-3 pages a day depending on what I'm doing. I also haven't taken a multiple choice test in years now. Everything at this level (for my program at least) is highly theoretical so everything must be explained thoroughly, and emphasis is placed on supporting your conclusion or claims through logic.

I'm going to be in school until I'm 31. Maybe even 33 if I go get my third post-bac degree (I just have to make sure my gf will still marry me if I go to school for that long).


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## Takadox (Apr 5, 2013)

angularvelocity said:


> I like graduate school because you get paid to do your schooling while you're enrolled. A lot of Ph.D programs, more common in the sciences, offer tuition waivers, stipends, and health benefits. My overall compensation is $95,000. I like being in academia because you get to teach and learn, concurrently, while getting paid. Although the pay isn't much usually, it is enough to pay your rent and enough so you don't worry about your finances. Currently I'm teaching two sections for a biomechanics course. I enjoy lecturing so it's been a great experience. Someone else mentioned that they don't do 80 hours a week and I don't do that either. I show up and do my 8 hours and go home.
> 
> I end up reading a lot of literature and writing a lot of pages. I thought a 20 page paper over a semester in undergraduate was a lot of writing, but I do nearly 2-3 pages a day depending on what I'm doing. I also haven't taken a multiple choice test in years now. Everything at this level (for my program at least) is highly theoretical so everything must be explained thoroughly, and emphasis is placed on supporting your conclusion or claims through logic.
> 
> I'm going to be in school until I'm 31. Maybe even 33 if I go get my third post-bac degree (I just have to make sure my gf will still marry me if I go to school for that long).


What do you plan to do after that? Do you want to live in Academia or do you want to go into the corporate world or something else entirely?


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## angularvelocity (Jun 15, 2009)

It is very probable that I will continue to teach. Along with teaching I will probably be a biomechanics expert witness. That is still a field I am dabbling with to see if it is a good fit for me. I think it would be something of high interest to me from the way I've heard it described. Time will tell though.


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## FlightsOfFancy (Dec 30, 2012)

I chose not to get a PhD because if they are hard to work with in pure sciences. Electrical Engineering is totally different; I have seen them both be able to teach physics while being able to have jobs outside of academia quite readily (not something most non-engineering/comp sci majors can say, really).

If it's in EE and you love it, go for it. Just don't be overly concerned with a social life until your 30s (e.g. you can't party like the film geeks)


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