<p>The graduate school section is dead. Probably because the grad students are all having nervous breakdowns. </p>
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<li><p>I'm a sophomore chemical engineering. I'm not sure what field to choose in research. I'm not even sure about my major. I currently have a research job, but I don't really like it. The professor doesn't really take me seriously and the subject is boring. Does anyone have a good strategy as to how to plan out your research through your undergrad years so that you're all set once I'm an early senior applying for top grad schools.</p></li>
<li><p>My dad tells me I can skip getting a masters and go straight to getting a PhD. Aka. Pursuing PhD straight out of college. He tells me I should take a lot of grad level courses in my undergrad years. He does DNA sequencing stuff with bacteria and viruses, and I imagine the circumstances are quite a bit different in engineering. Can someone fill me in on this? Do you need to be brilliant to do this?</p></li>
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<h1>2 is very important to me. My parents are struggling financially already. Going to expensive grad school pursuing a masters would mean a LOT of borrowed money, and I don't like the idea of it at ALL.</h1>
<p>I wouldn’t bother going for a PhD in enginnering unless you want to teach the subject, and even then, I’m sure a Master’s would suffice. The cool thing about Engineering is that you don’t HAVE to go for extra schooling after undergrad to get a nice paying job (Chemical engineers have GREAT starting salaries). My recommendation would be to just get your undergrad degree in chemical engineering, work a few years, and if you feel motivated enough and willing to take out some student loans, THEN I would go for it.</p>
<p>However, I don’t see the point, really. Most Masters/PhDs in professional fields are essentially meaningless unless you want to teach, and the point for going into a professional field is to AVOID being stuck with loans. Why go further if you are going to make a nice starting salary of around $60,000/year, unless you are greedy?</p>
<p>Why would I be greedy if I want a PhD in engineering? It doesn’t make any sense.</p>
<p>I want to do research in applied science. Like I said, I don’t know what field yet. I think it’d be nice, though, to contribute to converting solar energy more efficiently/cheaply into energy. I’m not yet certain that I’ll go to grad school. Maybe my desire to do research is attributed to a childish never ending fascination with those NOVA science episodes. but right now, this is what I want.</p>
<p>If ISUClub goes for a PhD in a STEM field, and gets into debt, it’d be a pretty large mistake. AFAIK, if you get admitted for a PhD, you will get a RA/TA position which means your tuition will be waived, and you will get about $20k a year (which isn’t great, but enough to live on in most places). </p>
<p>Master’s will be different. </p>
<p>I dunno whether in engineering you go straight to a PhD or get a master’s first. I know in most science fields, most grad schools look for PhD’s.</p>
<p>Lastly, you should talk to your professors.</p>
<p>Is there a Director of Undergraduate Studies who can advise you on how to optimize your research assignments, given your interests and future plans? If not, find an advisor on the faculty who can give you a hand. It does not need to be a person with a formal title, just somebody helpful and savvy. Think about which of your teachers so far meet this description, and make an appointment to talk to them during office hours. At most schools, once you’re an upperclass student and have settled on a major, you can select an advisor from among the faculty; most students settle for whoever gets assigned to them, but you will get more out of the relationship if you are more proactive. Many faculty are happy to serve in mentorship roles if asked.</p>
<p>In most fields, BAs or BS’s can apply for direct admission to a PhD program; in that case, the MA is granted along the way (or you can get it as a sort of consolation prize if for some reason you don’t continue in the program). Often universities give much better funding and fellowship opportunities to people on the PhD track, and use their MA or MS programs as revenue-generators (which means the master’s students are paying tuition). On the other hand, you have to be a stronger student to get into a PhD program straightaway. Your courses won’t initially be any more advanced than the master’s students’–often a master’s is just the coursework part of a doctoral program–but the university and department have to believe that you have the potential to stick with the program, write a dissertation, etc. As your father suggests, taking a couple of grad courses while you are an undergrad will demonstrate that potential. But you don’t need to worry about that right away.</p>
<p>If you are seriously interested in doing innovative research, as opposed to just getting a decent-paying job, you are likely to need at least some kind of graduate degree.</p>
<p>exactly. I’m not interested in getting a PhD for better money opportunities. I don’t think any logical individual would do that.</p>
<p>btw. I’ve scheduled to talk to my faculty adviser about this pretty soon.</p>
<p>You say that I have to prove to them in the future that I Can do what masters students can do. So, in turn, I need publication(s) as an undergrad for sure. But you see I want to go to a prestigious grad school. And just being able to do something doesn’t really cut it, does it? I’m not brilliant - at least it certainly doesn’t look that way from my grades about a year ago. And I feel like brilliance is something you need to get into top PhD programs straight from college. If you think about it, I’d have to distinguish myself above 5 or 6 other grad students who are also applying.</p>
<p>I think what ThePrincessBride meant was that Ph.D jobs will be more lucrative, whether it’s what you want or not. In my personal opinion, to do research you not only need a passion for it, but also natural talent. like high IQ.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t bother going for a PhD in enginnering unless you want to teach the subject, and even then, I’m sure a Master’s would suffice.”</p>
<p>A Masters does not suffice for teaching. I didn’t think it did for any major… Unless teaching at a Community College.</p>
<p>You can get a PHD right out of undergrad. It’s fairly common (for those getting a PHD). Generally people who get a masters are those who want to go into industry, or were unable to get into a PHD program out of undergrad. PHD programs are significantly harder to get into than masters programs.</p>
<p>Thank you. Can I get a clearer picture of how much harder? Profiles of people who have done it in top grad schools would be perfect. Anything else is also useful.</p>
You should visit the career center at your school, as well as talk to the advisors you have (faculty advisor, dept advisor, etc). They can give you much more in-depth answers than anyone is going to type in here, you can ask questions (which is a slow back-and-forth on a forum), and they probably have literature. Furthermore you should talk with the current grad students at your school to get their take on how the process works.</p>