Ph.D.
If you are considering a Ph.D., I warmly recommend Ronald T. Azuma’s So long, and thanks for the Ph.D! The article lists the major obstacles and challenges that you will encounter, and the skills needed to deal with them. Although it applies to Computer Science studies in the United States, it holds true for most other fields and countries too.
You don’t need to be a genius to earn a Ph.D. (although it doesn’t hurt). But nobody finishes a dissertation without being tenacious. A dissertation usually takes a few years to complete. This can be a culture shock to former undergraduates who have never worked on a project that lasted longer than one quarter or semester (at the end of which, whatever the state of the project, one declares victory and then goes home). No one can tell you in advance exactly how long the dissertation will take, so it’s hard to see where the "end of the road" lies. You will encounter unexpected problems and obstacles that can add months or years to the project. It’s very easy to become depressed and unmotivated about going on. If you are not tenacious about working on the dissertation, you won’t finish.
On a sidenote, I suppose it is in place to mention that I defended my dissertation today, and that I am feeling rather pleased about that.
Carthik
Comment on February 28, 2005 at 12:22 am
Congratulations on defending your dissertation! I wish I got to that point in my life sooner rather than later. For now, it looks to be so far away…
Congratulations again!
Anne
Comment on March 1, 2005 at 9:32 am
Congrats!
Lars
Comment on March 1, 2005 at 12:56 pm
Thank you!
Carthik, not sure if it’s any consolation, but that’s how it feels right up to the very last day.
Mikael
Comment on March 4, 2005 at 8:25 pm
Congrats, sorry I missed the dissertation! I just heard it today. What are you plans now? I hope I don’t have to pay for your wellfare
Best of luck!
Lars
Comment on March 5, 2005 at 12:02 am
Thank you Mikael! You sneaked out of the department while I was away, apparently. That must be why I was able to finish my dissertation… Well, you have been missed. I have your email address, so we can keep in touch. Do you have my account number? Good. Now I’m off to find my dictionary…
Joel
Comment on April 1, 2005 at 9:27 am
Congrats Larry! Did not know until today that you were done.
Bald Eagle
Comment on May 27, 2005 at 8:59 pm
I have always been intrigued by the idea of being involved with the study one particular thing for an extended period of time. My interest are numerous: computer science, music, literature and philosophy. I have a ton of ideas that would make an excellent topic for a Ph.D. thesis.
However, I never got passed a B.A., because they higher education institutions demand that you also memorize crap that is no use to you or for anyone for that matter. I am a hands-on kind of guy. I don’t have much use for Jeopardy-type of smarts or the ability to learn that kind of stuff. In academia, one can still do well with little or no real hunger to know as long as they can memorize and repeat things back when asked. That is so fustrating.
Rosalyn McFarlan
Comment on May 31, 2005 at 12:55 am
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