<p>I am approaching the end of my masters degree in EE and I'm contemplating continuing on for the phd. I went to a top tier undergrad and graduated with a mediocre gpa. By the grace of god I was accepted into an MS program at a mediocre grad school and I will finish with a 4.0. I did do about a semesters worth of research in my masters program but it never materialized into a thesis or publication, but generalized "Graduate Research" credits. (much to my dismay). Anyways, I completed my masters work all while working full time as an RF/wireless engineer in the defense industry. </p>
<p>First:
I have no publications or thesis to my credit, will I still have a chance at phd admission? Will my work experience count? I want to pursue my phd in the area of wireless communications which is the field I work in at the moment.</p>
<p>Secondly
is it even worth the trouble? I'd still be Able to work part time at my current employer as time permits. My current role isn't as research intensive as I'd like it to be and a lot of my ideal jobs require a phd. Should I just call it quits at the MS? I truly enjoyed the research aspect of my MS degree even though I have nothing to "show" for it. </p>
<p>If I go to a lower tier phd program, will defense research labs (DARPA, lincoln labs, etc) look down upon me?</p>
<p>Interested in responses from people in this field if possible. Many thanks for you help!!</p>
<p>Well, you asking a question “is PhD worth it?” Alone shows how determine and love you have for telecommunication and network/RF engineer area. Not doing thesis option during master program shows that you weren’t planning on gettin research job let alone willingness to pursue PhD. </p>
<p>Apply to schools and see what’s your option. It won’t hurt you to apply to school just your application fee. But not doing thesis option and having no close relation with your professor will hurt you a lot.</p>
<p>Thank you for your sarcastic response, much apprecited. My dedication to my field has nothing to do with a simple question on the pros and cons of phd pursuit. From my understanding it is an extremely arduous but rewarding journey. Something that will require significant sacrifice on my part in the way of money and family obligations. That is why I was interested in people’s experiences in this arena. I do thank you for your insight on the other matters. I agree that the lack of research will hurt my application.</p>
<p>I was sorta in your position once. I did non-thesis masters, worked for quite a while, and I’ve finished my first year in a PhD program(which is usually ranked in the top 5 to 10).</p>
<p>Yes, you work experience will help, but it has to be very solid work experience…sorta close to being research. If your work experience is “I test stuff in the lab and give feedback to design engineers”, this probably won’t help. If your work experience is “I design stuff, it goes into millions of products, some of it is actual research, and here are my letters of recommendation to prove it” this will help quite a lot…the problem is the latter job is not easy to find even with a Masters Degree. </p>
<p>Lincoln Labs recuits from both top-tier and mid-tier grad programs, but they should be at least known for engineering (i.e Michigan State, NCSU, NMSU)</p>