Pace of Grad School
Currently, I’m out of town attending a workshop with some very specialized people in an area in which I’m trying to make inroads. And while I won’t bore you with the details (I knew people could have such levels of nuance), I will share with you a comment that I heard over drinks. Let me paint the picture for you a little bit first. I was having a discussion with someone very high up in the food chain about current/potential/future projects. This person asked a very specific technical question related to the problem, something that would mean significant money for the company that person represents if possible. I, wanting to hold on to my ideas, remained steadfast with a response like “Talk to me in 18 months when we have it working in the lab.” This is basically a nice way of saying like hell I’m going to let you…
Considering grad school? Don’t (unless you’re a civil engineer)
When finishing up my MS, I went to talk to my advisor to discuss the possibility of doing a PhD. He told me that, unless I had a very good reason, he never recommended going for a PhD. In engineering, someone with a master’s is usually considered a bit more experienced and knowledgeable than someone with a bachelor’s…but a PhD has just plain had too much schooling (or they’re too expensive…maybe both!). In the past, I’ve had students ask me about grad school, and I’ve generally responded favorably. However, my thoughts on it have been changing based on my advisor’s advice: don’t go for a PhD unless you have a good reason. Why? There’s a good chance you won’t finish…especially in electrical engineering. Your chance of completing a PhD in ECE is about the same as flipping a coin and getting heads. Granted that the data is a bit old,…
Grad School, is it worth it?
Last week, I posted on Engineer Blogs about how you can definitely go to engineering graduate school for free (and get paid) if you’re a US citizen. Helena posted the following comment: I’m entering college this fall as a freshman, and I’ve enjoyed reading EB for a long time. I’ve always known that I wanted to go to graduate school, but the chances seem to be slimming down, due to the intensity of the undergrad curriculum and the lack of research in my field of interest at renowned universities. The tens of thousands of dollars of debt I’ll have at the end of my undergrad isn’t helping the outlook either. What is the benefit of having a graduate or PhD level degree, as opposed to entering into industrial research for specialized companies? I intended to write just a short answer but, that really wasn’t possible. I definitely needed more space…