[OT] Graduate School

[Squire James]

Here's someone from the "all but one class and thesis" group... I basically consider my grad school experience as 2 wasted years of my life. I can give you some advice based on my mistakes, though. I should note that none of this happened at UCF, which should probably relieve you to some extent!

First of all, PLEASE plan out as much as you can at the beginning! Pick every single class out if at all possible. There's nothing worse than aimlessly wandering around your field of study with no real clue what to do next, then taking classes that are over your head because your Research Assistantship wants you to have them (see below).

If you're going the Research Assistantship route, don't accept something that's way above your current level of study. Don't accept it if you're not at least somewhat interested in it. Don't accept an RA because it's money without having to teach. Don't slack off on your RA work, even if they allow you to without much penalty. The good will of your professors and co-workers is more likely to land you a job than your degree!

If you don't have at least some conception about what you are going to do for a thesis after your first year or so, strongly consider switching to a non-thesis program. I sure wish I did.

If you have to violate all of the above rules, do be careful who you choose as an advisor! I ended up with someone who spoke unclear English, and he basically assigned me a thesis project and let me flop around like a fish out of water until I failed.

 

[Tuerny]

Squire James, just out of curiosity what school was this at?

 

[bolen]

Hey ben,

What kind of stuff do you work on in cosmology. I am working on two problems. The first is looking at semi-classical states of Bianchi models. and the second is looking at black holes in expanding space-times.

Are you doing a post-doc, I'd love to hear about that because that is where I am headed hopefully.

 

[fuindordm]

Hey ben,

What kind of stuff do you work on in cosmology. I am working on two problems. The first is looking at semi-classical states of Bianchi models. and the second is looking at black holes in expanding space-times.

Are you doing a post-doc, I'd love to hear about that because that is where I am headed hopefully.

Well, I'm kind of an observational cosmologist. Cosmology has three principle data sources right now that can constrain the various models: the high-redshift supernovae, the variations in the cosmic microwave background, and the large-scale distribution of galaxies. I've specialized in the study of galaxy clusters as a tool for constraining the recent evolution of the universe. So I work with optical astronomers, X-ray astronomers, and others trying to collect and distill the information from cluster surveys into constraints on the density of the universe and other cosmological parameters.

I'm currently postdoccing at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, working with a couple of other people on simulations of X-ray emission from black hole accretion disks. It's pretty cool stuff.

If you want to chat about this further, let's take it off the boards. My e-mail is mathiesen2@llnl.gov .

--Ben

p.s. for everyone else out there, in anticipation of your questions:

1) Yes, there was a Big Bang, but no, we don't know what happened before that. The earliest stage we can be confident of is a Universe roughly as hot and dense at the interior of our Sun, and a few hundred miles in diameter--not a single point.

2) Yes, I think there are intelligent aliens out there somewhere but there might not be any others in our galaxy.

3) No, I don't paint fingernails for a living.

 

[Dr. NRG]

I have two external perspectives that may lend insight.

First, I just spent 6 years living with someone (my fiance) who received her PhD in biology in December. She took classes for one year, TA'ed for two, and did research throughout. Average weeks for her were 6-7 days, with 10 hours weekdays and 4-5 hours a day on weekends. She also received a stipend, though due to cost of living in San Diego, it was higher than $12k per year, but still barely enough to live on. Even as a grad student, the publish or perish mentality is real. Several people in her program got "scooped." That is, someone else published similar research to what they were doing, and they got much less credit than would otherwise be accorded to them. Getting into grad school is not really getting out of a competive environment (job market) so much as it's moving into a different competitive environment.

Second, I hire comupter scientists for a small computer graphics company on a regular basis. We do real-time 3D on PCs, and actually work with some companies in Orlando, near UCF. UCF's reputation in virtual simulation and training is quite good overall, as you likely already know. Depending upon what you want to do, a degree may or may not help you. I have hired programmers with absolutely no degree before. I have turned down programmers with a PhD in CS. My criteria are simple (though those of larger companies will not match them). If an engineer is not too socially crippled to work with others (as determined through multiple interviews and reference checks), and can do the work (as determined by past demonstrated work and performance on a test I give them), they get hired on for a trial period. It's an effective and totally merit-based system.

The bigger the organization you want to work for, the more important a degree becomes. In my company, with under 20 people, a degree is largely irrelevant. If you want to work for Uncle Sam or a huge corporation, a degree can mean tens of thousands of dollars of difference in your yearly pay rate, as well as associated perks and status.

In terms of IP law, it's a growing field with a lot of potential. It's also the wild west of the patent law, from what I can gather. Legislators can't tell their erm, ear, from a hole in the ground in terms of what should be patentable and what shouldn't, and it's largely left to lawyers and judges to legislate. A CS degree would likely help you get places in a field where it can be difficult to differentiate between lawyers who only seem to know what they're talking about technically, and those who really do.

A degree is shorthand for "I know what the heck I'm talking about in sub-field X." If you get the opportunity to spend enough time with the person you're trying to convince that you know what's up, you probably don't need a degree (provided you can acquire the knowledge without one). If not, you need a degree.

It's been my experience that on the CS side, you can, in fact, acquire the knowlege you need without going to graduate school. Whether you can convince the relevant people that you know is another matter, and left largely to your judgement.

My 2 cents and more

NRG

 

[KitanaVorr]

OK. I am a part-time graduate student at Cornell University getting my masters in engineering. I work full-time for a major defense contractor who is paying for my entire education there (one of the reasons why I took the job).

I will tell you this. You definitely should do grad school BEFORE you have a family because it is very difficult and a family consumes alot of your time (assuming you're not one of those people who foist of their children on their other spouse and don't share the responsiblity equally).

I'll tell you that an executive pretty high up in the corporation that I work for told me that she and many other executives hiring now are more stringent. She expects you to have a high GPA, at least above 3.0 to even be considered. Internships are very important, they like that ALOT beause then they know you're committed and not totally green.

A masters degree is a definitely plus to put you ahead of all the others but don't slack off even if its easy. Your GPA is the thing that gets you in the door, the rest of your resume gets you hired. They don't want to hire a college slacker because they will think you must slack off at work.

Remember...its usually NON-compsci people that do the hiring...or even worse...tech people (b/c the tech people will quiz you like no tommorrow).

Oh and I'm talking to the computer science undergrads here. You're not immune anymore, unfortunately.

EDIT: no masters thesis for me, just a big @$$ project...*sigh*

 

[Impeesa]

Re: Re: [OT] Graduate School

Oh and I'm talking to the computer science undergrads here. You're not immune anymore, unfortunately.

Well crap. I'm currently in my second year of a double major in Computer Science and Physics, and I keep hearing things like this... I'm hoping my minor in Math, possibly co-op, and most likely a Masters at least will give me a broad enough knowledge base to find a good job somewhere - but are employment opportunities really that tight in the field in general?

--Impeesa--

 

[KitanaVorr]

Re: Re: Re: [OT] Graduate School

Well crap. I'm currently in my second year of a double major in Computer Science and Physics, and I keep hearing things like this... I'm hoping my minor in Math, possibly co-op, and most likely a Masters at least will give me a broad enough knowledge base to find a good job somewhere - but are employment opportunities really that tight in the field in general?

--Impeesa--

Computer Science + Math is ALWAYS good! Make sure your GPA is high, you have internship experience with good recommendations. Look around and see if any companies are still willing to pay for masters, there are some out there and mostly the major corporations.

Make sure you get into any leadership programs they have. I'm in one right now. You have to apply and its competitive, but its worth it.

Benefits of the leadership program is 1>high profile and the executives know who I am 2> paid tuition to gradschool 3>they will lay off all the other new hires before they get to you 4> they will fast forward you up the career ladder

It also depends on where you choose to live. If you go where people normally don't want to go, you'll get a job. But if you live where everyone wants to live, well its tougher cuz more people applying so you got to be better than them.

 

[Ascending Crane]

Re: Re: [OT] Graduate School

OK. I am a part-time graduate student at Cornell University getting my masters in engineering. I work full-time for a major defense contractor who is paying for my entire education there (one of the reasons why I took the job).

I will tell you this. You definitely should do grad school BEFORE you have a family because it is very difficult and a family consumes alot of your time (assuming you're not one of those people who foist of their children on their other spouse and don't share the responsiblity equally).

I'll tell you that an executive pretty high up in the corporation that I work for told me that she and many other executives hiring now are more stringent. She expects you to have a high GPA, at least above 3.0 to even be considered. Internships are very important, they like that ALOT beause then they know you're committed and not totally green.

A masters degree is a definitely plus to put you ahead of all the others but don't slack off even if its easy. Your GPA is the thing that gets you in the door, the rest of your resume gets you hired. They don't want to hire a college slacker because they will think you must slack off at work.

Thanks for the information.
I do have a 3.0 GPA and have seriously been considering taking a semester-long co-op/internship before I "officially" graduate. Most likely next Spring or this Summer coming up. Do you think any particular internships are better than others? What sort should I pursue? Our school has a fairly active cooperative education office that I am planning on talking to in the near future. Do you have any other suggestions on how to go about getting an internship/co-op?

 

[Tuerny]

erm that was me. I was posting it from my GM's computer. We just finished a spycraft game.


My bad.