Quote:
Originally Posted by Bhowie 
HWta school + GPA cause if it aint Big1 or law or finance Id ont care and ur an idiuot
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayJay
Good idea, IMO, given your love for research and zeal for learning. I'd suggest the following:
- Go to the school that provides an accomplished faculty who are doing research in your areas of interest.
- Make sure that the school will provide you with full multi-year (3-4 years) funding (i.e., tuition, competitive stipend, and insurance). More funding may be available via grants ranging from internal grants for travel and research to federally funded grants.
- Make sure that faculty work with graduate students and share authorship with them on collaborate projects.
- As someone else posted, talk to current graduate students to hear what they say about the program, their quality of graduate student life, and the opportunities made available to them.
- Look at where recent graduates have been placed and the average completion rate for the program.
Take your time and find a school that seems to be the best fit for your interest and ambitions. Good luck!
- Go to the school that provides an accomplished faculty who are doing research in your areas of interest.
- Make sure that the school will provide you with full multi-year (3-4 years) funding (i.e., tuition, competitive stipend, and insurance). More funding may be available via grants ranging from internal grants for travel and research to federally funded grants.
- Make sure that faculty work with graduate students and share authorship with them on collaborate projects.
- As someone else posted, talk to current graduate students to hear what they say about the program, their quality of graduate student life, and the opportunities made available to them.
- Look at where recent graduates have been placed and the average completion rate for the program.
Take your time and find a school that seems to be the best fit for your interest and ambitions. Good luck!
Yeah, all good advice, been looking at pretty much most of those.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwiteaboy
What do you want to do for a career once you've got the PhD? It probably makes more sense to figure that out first before deciding if you need the doctorate.
As a current PhD student, my vote for you is "no".
As a current PhD student, my vote for you is "no".
Quote:
Originally Posted by philosophe
JayJay's note makes a lot of sense. Programs in which everyone competes every year for fellowships are notoriously miserable.
Why are you interested in a PhD? Are you interested in an academic career?
Why are you interested in a PhD? Are you interested in an academic career?
Ideally I would like it to be something like 20% teaching 40% research 40% outside work/consulting/etc.
I've had enough exposure to academia, including on a graduate/phd level to have an understanding of how things work and to formulate a strategy for exactly what I would like to do/accomplish. Getting older, gaining perspective, and learning from your old mistakes is a bitch, but it's also pretty fucking great - I am much more clear on what I want out of life and my career at this point.
Basically I am looking to set myself up for doing something enjoyable and productive for the next 40-50 years.
Also, it would have to be one of the top schools or nothing at all. My credentials are competitive, but you never know with 20-50 people competing for each spot . I have about 6 months to put a solid application together, and that's that.
