I'm not sure I can handle 5 more years of school

Graduate School
1

<p>In college, I find myself having to work my butt off and it's wearing me out. I don't know if it's work, classes, or the weather, I'm not as sharp as I used to be, and my motivation is in free fall. btw, I'm a chem e.</p>

<p>I feel like I'm better suited to get a PhD and do research as oppose to jumping straight into industry. However, school is stressing me out a lot. I can't point my finger on one thing that's bringing me down. It's probably a combination of things, including the need to start over at some place new.</p>

<p>So I want to know what people's experiences have been transitioning from undergrad engineering to graduate school. Any relevant experience/story would be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Take time off. You will fee LOADS better.</p>

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<p>I took a year to explore work opportunities after undergrad, and it completely changed my career path, my graduate school intentions and my life as a whole.</p>

<p>Do NOT feel rushed to head straight into graduate school. It will not help and can only hurt your applications.</p>

4

<p>Totally agreeing with polarscribe. If I had taken some time off, I would’ve gone into a completely different doctoral program and changed my plans a bit. You need that time to recharge AND discover what you’d really like to do with your days (as opposed to what you think you’d like to do).</p>

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<p>I agree that I need to do something else for a while after I graduate. But what I’m asking is whether grad school is really anything like undergrad.</p>

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<p>No, it’s really rather different.</p>

<p>The coursework is higher level, obviously, and there will be much more emphasis placed on independent reading and analytical writing assignments. If you don’t keep up with the readings, you’ll be sunk because the class won’t wait around for you.</p>

<p>Most of the social dramas and other such ******** don’t exist, because everyone’s way too busy with real life.</p>

<p>You will have to work your butt off even more in graduate school than you are in undergrad, so… if that’s a concern for you, it’s definitely a good idea to take a step back and consider where you want to end up.</p>

7

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<p>PhD programs are nothing like undergraduate programs. As an undergrad, you have a list of classes to take. You take those classes earning the highest grade you can. When you complete those classes, you’re done.</p>

<p>PhD programs don’t have a path. And they’re not class-based. You take some classes here and there, but the vast, vast, majority of your focus is on research: getting a faculty member on your side, finding a novel set of research questions, designing experiments, performing experiments, analyzing the results, writing papers. And exams in PhD programs are different. You have quals and comps, which are usually multi-day long exams that test you on anything and everything in your field (even if you haven’t learned it). At the end, if you pass the written portion, you’re orally grilled by faculty (the first of many time they will orally grill you).</p>

<p>And PhD programs are depressing. In a BS program, you’ll get “successes” throughout to motivate you: an A on a test here, an A in a class there, etc. Plus, you know when the program will end because there’s a defined graduation criteria so you can focus on that. In a PhD program, it’s 5 years of 80 hour weeks and you’ll have maybe 2 or 3 “successes” the entire period. Also, there’s no defined end. Your dissertation is done when it’s done. And you have no idea when it’s done, it’s up to a committee to determine when they think it’s done. It could be 5 years, it could be 7, it could be 9. You have no control over it.</p>

<p>And through all of this, about half of the people that come in with you will drop out (and there’s a good chance you’ll be one of them). If you want to talk about depressing, think about 3 or 4 years of college with no degree to show for it. </p>

<p>In summary, unless you’re highly motivated at the start and know exactly what you want to research for the rest of your life, don’t do it. You’ll end up bitter by the end and you’ll probably drop out. Don’t chase “the letters” like some people. Even after you get your PhD, no one will call you “Dr.” except in academic settings and on wedding invitations (and most people forget then).</p>

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<p>you don’t have to explain a PhD to me.</p>

<p>I was talking more about the classes involved. Although they are a smaller component of grad school.</p>

<p>I’m taking a grad course, and it’s much more in depth than undergrad engineering courses. However, the grad curriculum require fewer classes. You only have to take 2-3/semester. To me, that sounds a lot easier to manage than 5 classes, 2 undergrad research positions, and a morning job. </p>

<p>Yes, research is important, but I personally see research as more of a job than school… It takes a ton of reading and experiments to write papers, but most of it is doing experiments and analyzing data. That’s what undergrads are for.</p>

<p>The grad students I know seem to have a much more generous workload than the upperclassmen undergrads I know.</p>

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<p>I have lots of incredulous laughter if you think the graduate students work less than the undergrads, especially upperclassmen. You just SEE them less. A lot of graduate work is very solitary work, and we don’t study in the same haunts as the undergrads. We certainly do not work less than the undergrads, even the upperclassmen.</p>

<p>The graduate curriculum requires fewer courses because the courses are much harder and take much more time than an undergrad class does. I’m a science that does more reading than problem sets, but we have 2-3x more reading than I ever had in college, maybe more. You only take 2-3 per semester because that’s all you can handle. They are also longer than undergrad classes; they are typically 2-3 hours once a week. The math classes are more.</p>

<p>In my lab, the undergrads do not do the experiments and they certainly do not analyze data. The undergrads may do the mundane tasks of the experiments, but we have to guide them and tell them what to do. We also have to design the experiments, design the analyses, plan them from the start. Most undergraduates don’t know enough to do the kind of analyses you’ll be doing in graduate school, and you will be expected to do them yourself. You see research as more of a job now because that’s the way it’s usually set up in undergrad - you spend a set time in the lab, etc. In grad school, there is no set time. They say 20 hours a week but that’s a joke. It’s however long it takes you to get your research done.</p>

<p>Graduate school is HARD. Don’t illusion yourself into thinking it’s not because of what you don’t see. If you are already burned out and are not sure whether you can handle 5 more years, then simply take some time off - the universities and programs aren’t going anywhere and will be around when you decide to return. But graduate school (both the coursework and other elements) are much harder than undergrad.</p>

10

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<p>You’ve got it all figured out, then. There’s no need to ask us who have been there what it’s like since you apparently know more than us.</p>

11

<p>Spec- don’t listen to these replies. I have a PhD in physics from an ivy league and a recent MS in pure math. They are wrong. Graduate school is similar to undergrad especially similar to your senior year. One guy mentioned that you only take “2-3 courses per semester because thats all you can handle”. What??? I always took 4 classes per semester. Period. I don’t know where these guys went to school but don’t let them deter you. When ever asked by students “should I get a PhD” I always respond “get one first and ask that question later”. You can always drive a truck. The PhD, like anything worth having in life, is worth working for. Go for it. Good luck.</p>

12

<p>The Ph.D is only worth having if you want to work in a career where it’s necessary. Otherwise, it’s optional at best, counterproductive at worst.</p>

<p>It is four or five years out of your life that will be spent on, effectively, a single thing. Be absolutely sure you want that thing before doing it.</p>

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<p>Man, I would trust the data from most undergrads I’ve worked with about as far as I could throw them. As a grad student you’re going to be spending half your time doing tedious experiments a monkey could do, another half fixing broken machinery/modifying experiments to try and do something cool, another half either taking or TAing classes, and then a good chunk more trying to stay somewhat current on literature and writing your own papers.</p>

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<p>Polarscribe - agreed. You need to want it. However if you do it’s a no brainer.</p>

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<p>Haha, you had me going until this line - totally thought it was a real response.</p>

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I wish I had 3/2 of my time :(</p>

17

<p>exactly. sometimes, I wish I had one of those time chambers from dragon ball z. fighters entered it to train for years, when only days go by in the real world. </p>

<p>/random thought.</p>

18

<p>5x* guessing the female dog word and not the other word. That would be an interesting way to relieve your collective stress, though.</p>