what the fuck am i getting myself into with this grad school stuff

I always have it in my mind that Ed was going to be one of those scrappy scientists at NJIT, but I don't think you ever ended up there, did you, Ed?

No I am at CMU, passed over transport planning for Engineering and Technology Innovation managment and I'm now looking to see if a Masters in Energy or a Phd in Engineering and Public Policy might be a good next step.

Ed, maybe N3lli3 could help with internship leads, as she is SCIENCE person also policy wonk?

Good call, let me send over some details. (I have already applied to work for Dr Chu)

!!! Well, at any rate, I think she could get to him in under 5 phone calls!

How are you funding all this, Ed?

If it's possible to do a Phd in the US without going massively into debt I'd definitely consider it. The worst part of this recession for me is feeling trapped in current job against a deadline of being booted in the next 12 months or so.

it would depend on what the phd is in. dissertation fellowships in the humanities are drying up due to the recession. also phd programs are long, boring commitments; i really don't think it's a good idea to enroll in one just to escape the economy.

Masters I am paying for. Phd would be paid for if I could get on it, they only offer places if they can fund them. And don't worry, I wouldn't be enrolling to escape the economy, I would be enrolling because I would get to do an interesting and substantive piece of research into something I care about.

Me too, there's plenty in the public policy area that I'd be interested in and that's potentially worthwhile.

Steven Chu is a solid bro to physicists everywhere.

i will probably pass by mordy a couple of times a week next year and NOT KNOW IT ooooh

We could share photos now tho, and then we'll recognize each other!

Congrats Mordy!

Ed, Engineering & Public Policy sounds really interesting and useful.

As for funding PhDs in the US, it's looking fairly likely that I'll end up going for a PhD instead of an MA next year just because the PhD will be paid for. Can't decide whether this is a TERRIBLE IDEA or not because it's such a huge commitment (I mean, I could start and drop out, but that might end up more traumatic than just doing one thing or the other).

ok so apparently the 'evaluation' section of my thesis (which is a boring management residency report, not anything groundbreaking or thought-provoking) in which i identify strengths and weaknesses and offer suggestions for improvement is 'too crticial' and does not suck up to my program heads enough by saying how all the classes i took prepared me for my job. my adviser has asked me to 'cut the critical stuff' and 'focus on strengths and solutions for weaknesses,' but i don't understand how you can propose a solution for a weakness without identifying it, which is, i believe, inherently critical! constructive criticism, but still criticism. i don't want my thesis to be a sham :(

so instead i'm gonna whine about it here.

this reminds me of a class i took on derrida... the prof had a huge boner for derrida (as well as cute grad student chicks, which was gross), and anytime anyone approached derrida with anything but awed reverence, he freaked out and accused us of trying to make names for ourselves by ripping derrida apart. i finally gave up and wrote a retarded paper about deconstruction that had a lot of useless wordplay, and he gave me an A+. uc irvine doesn't even have a+ as a grade, but he gave me one anyway.

unfortunately, concerning your predicament, i don't have any suggestions that you probably haven't already thought of.

so i'm done with this shit, hallefuckinglujah

ugh. it's like, i have spent 2 years rounding out my skills as a professional in this field, and it should be a GOOD thing that i can identify this stuff and find solutions as, to me, it means i may be prepared/ready to take on these challenges (in this org or another one). i feel like it hurts my professional credibility to make it some 'this was all roses and fantastic and if i HAD to choose 1 bad thing it would be that maybe the water in the bathroom is a tiny bit too cold when you first turn the tap on!'

like what if a future employer asks to see it? and this shit will be on file @ my college for all eternity, for anyone to look at.

Hahaha, ytth, no names to be mentioned of course but I can guess among numerous candidates. (My argument has long been that Derrida was a clever humorist but that a lot of people missed the humor...)

zing?

zing = he's dead now.

i am quite enjoying my program right now! being taught by some of the best...

now if only the admins would stop being such quacked fools

my adviser left me two five-minute long messages today about problems with my thesis. the "problems" she refers to were there in the first draft, which she said was excellent and well-written. i am so livid i don't know what to do. she has just cost me 4.5 weeks.

THESIS gawwwwwwwwwd.

On one hand, it's the bane of my existence. On the other, I'm 99% sure no one will except for my adviser will ever read it, ever. EVER. So maybe I should just shit it out and get it over with.

I am loving this so much, I am trying to line up a phd.

i'm going into a phd program next fall, for sure. kind of excited about it. i won't even have to move that far.

i've mostly planned on stopping at the MA but i found out about a ph.D program i might conceivably be into this morning and now i'm not sure. but i should really concentrate on the next year-and-change first

ed, we all feel that way for the first few months. just wait.

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

Who else is completely losing their mind?

me :(

a paper was due friday before spring break it is now tuesday after spring break and i have not done it. the guy said he didn't really care when we hand it in but the main reason i can't do it is it's stupid like "tell me how you feel" shit. i can't do this anymore!!!!

I am the worst at writing "tell me who you feel" papers. Are you graduating this May Harbl, or are you going on into next year still?

i am losing my mind

i am graduating which makes it 100x harder to do anything. i do about 20% of my reading for classes now i think!

I wish my school would subsidize the 2+ years of rehab I'm going to need after I graduate.

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck man, fuuuuuuuuuuck.

in part because i've realized that i *hate* the way the curriculum is structured here. ours is one of the most traditional, lecture-only curricula in the country (from what i gather), and it's extremely frustrating. it's not that the material is hard (the stuff you learn in med school isn't ~that~ difficult, it's mostly that there's a lot of it and it covers a lot of ground), it's that the pace is sorta breakneck and pedagogically antiquated.

lol liberal arts major from some new england college

would so much rather be working on a thesis/project than str8 memorizing shit for a multiple choice test

oh see that is the exact opposite of me (much to my surprise!)

(ps still not in grad school; I am doomed to be a BA for life)

actually, what i'd really prefer is an actual Problem-Based Learning curriculum, but unless they let me design my own i'm sorta SOL

adviser wants to know how my thesis is coming. i don't know how to tell her 'it's no different than the last time we talked because i was out of town/otherwise occupied for a week and a half. ps you are insane for making me make massive changes to it at the last minute you big jerk.'

would so much rather be working on a thesis/project than str8 memorizing shit for a multiple choice test

Yeah, I'm with Dan - At this point I'd trade working on my thesis for just about anything in the world. I guess the grass is always greener.

it is kind of really hitting me now, that thing they ("they") say about this inertia-ish thing: so much stuff about law school everyone goes "i hate this" "this is pointless and should be done this way" "why are we doing this" and there is basically a consensus about it but like when you leave there's no longer any point in changing it or getting rid of it so every student has to go through the same thing. namely (1) the last semester or two of school where no one is learning a thing and (2) law review which is some big prestige shit when you get on it your second year and then your third year you're like fuck this

prob goes in law school thread. anyway i wish instead of going to class the last year you could just have a full-time job.

My thesis is due in a month, and I am on PAGE SIX.

Wait - hold the phone...now I'm on PAGE SEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it is kind of really hitting me now, that thing they ("they") say about this inertia-ish thing: so much stuff about law school everyone goes "i hate this" "this is pointless and should be done this way" "why are we doing this" and there is basically a consensus about it but like when you leave there's no longer any point in changing it or getting rid of it so every student has to go through the same thing. namely (1) the last semester or two of school where no one is learning a thing and (2) law review which is some big prestige shit when you get on it your second year and then your third year you're like fuck this

prob goes in law school thread. anyway i wish instead of going to class the last year you could just have a full-time job.

sorta the same in med school, except that it's also coupled to this bootcamp/vicious cycle mentality where ppl are like "it's med school, it's SUPPOSED to suck." whereas me and most of the older students are like "y'all are crazy, i used to have a life, etc." I mean, i'd rather spend twice as much time doing my pre-clinical stuff if it meant i had time to be a normal person

i don't even really mind it sucking as long as i'm getting something out of it. i learned a lot in the first half but now i'm like ????

I am afraid that the night that I finish my thesis I will party so hard that I'll end up in county jail.