Mueen Nawaz <m.n### [at] ieeeorg> wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
> > 1. I am insufficiently intelligent to actually acheive a PhD. (I nearly
> > failed my BSc as it is!)
>
>  Trust me - some of my fellow colleagues had trouble with elementary
> calculus - and they were in a field that uses it a lot. And many can't
> handle some of the stuff you've been posting here.

I've heard time and time again and have seen first firsthand that raw
intelligence, while useful to a point, is not the driving force behind a PhD.
Desire is what'll get you through it.

You are obviously quite capable of picking up material, learning it, and
communicating it.  Now you just need to transfer that skill from wikipedia to
google scholar.  Based on what you post here, if you had a hard time before, it
was probably because you were spending time learning what you really wanted to
be learning.

>  No one should have to pay for a PhD. Find funding options.

Indeed.  The way to go about this is not just to apply to random schools you
like or think you can get into, but to contact faculty you like or think you
could work with.  The web makes this very easy.  Go to random schools'
websites.  Look at what the faculty does.  If something looks interesting, find
out anything you can about the subject.  If possible, look up papers or topics
the person has worked on recently.  (If you really want to work in this area,
you should be genuinely interested, not just a sycophant.)  Then email or call
the person.  They'll probably tell you to get lost, but if they don't then
you're in luck.  If you convince them you could do a good job and they want you
there, then the application process is a formality.  This could possibly be more
true if your marks aren't as high, so that you can convince them from the start
that you're more than capable.  It's also possible to apply, get accepted, and
try to find something that interests you once you're there, but you might not
find what you're looking for.  Trust me.

>  In the US, if you have funding for a PhD, then you're paid to do one.
> And depending on the city, you can be quite comfortable with that income.

Just think of it as a couple full time jobs...

> > 4. It is *highly* unlikely that having a PhD will make any kind of
> > positive change to my employment situation.

Researching, innovating, writing papers, giving talks...  Seems that would look
great even if a job had little to do with your field of study.  Seems highly
*likely* to me.  I think you're looking at what difference a PhD would make in
your current job.  I've been told that while a PhD may close some doors, it
will open up a completely different set of opportunities.

>  For many companies, just that you have experience talking in public is
> a _huge_ plus.

And even if you hate public speaking, it gets much easier when you know the
topic very well.

> If you're dissertation topic interests you, you'll
> voluntarily do the work anyway, and it won't be considered boring,
> tedious work.
>  I'll be honest, though. All research topics will sound really boring in
> the beginning. You get over that and begin to enjoy it after you've been
> working on it for about a year.

Yes, and on the contrary, if you discover it doesn't interest you, you'll move
right along.  I got less than halfway through a PhD program and realized I just
couldn't force myself to care about the topic and dreaded waking up in the
morning.  So I quit.  It became clear when talking to a neighbor at the same
point in the same program.  He said he was working all day on the weekends, but
it didn't even seem like work because he just loved it that much.  I was having
a hard time even opening books or facing the tasks I had to do.  That was a
couple months ago, and I had the good fortune to be able to start over
elsewhere on a project I really enjoyed previously.  Of course I would NOT
recommend Monte Carlo sampling of grad school programs; the only point is that
it should be an opportunity to make a living doing what you'd like to be doing
anyway.

Not many people say, "Should I get a PhD?  I'm not sure, but I don't think so."
If you get that far, you should at least talk to people, apply, and consider
your options, even if you ultimately decide against it.

 - Ricky

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