this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
432 points (99.3% liked)

Science Memes

11071 readers
4931 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 67 points 1 month ago (10 children)

This just confirms what every young person in academia knows: gotta get on uppers to be competitive.

My partner is a PhD candidate and at a recent party a postdoc was telling us how he acquired a giant crack rock at the beginning of his grad career and whenever he needed to finish a big assignment or something he would lick it.

[–] ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Are doctorate/grad school programs distinctly competitive? My impression was that they were more challenging but similar in nature to undergrad insofar as loads of coursework to stay on top of to complete courses and ensure you got some of the most expensive, "You endured it!" paperwork in the world.

[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Getting a. PhD isn’t super competitive (speaking from the US), but if you aim to get a professorship at an R1 it’s somewhat competitive across the board. The program coursework vs undergrad depends on the program too— I would say most differ somewhat substantially though. For most humanities degrees you’re doing coursework for 2-3 years and teaching undergrads while you prepare for qualifying exams, then you teach and write your thesis for a few more. The graduate courses are often in seminar (circle discussion) format rather than lecture.

[–] ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thanks for some detail! What you describe reassures me in my decision not to get further into it, particularly as a professor path seemed one of few traditional options with what I studied.

[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah it’s not the best path for everyone, and some subject areas just don’t have enough teaching positions to reasonably expect to get one

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)