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Engineering PhD Questions

Thanks for the help guys
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Wangtang1
I'm kind considering doing a PhD in engineering mainly because I have no idea what else to do with my life. I don't plan on being a researcher but I am happy delaying real life by 3 to 4 years.


Not a good idea. Use your younger age to get experience and experiment with what you want to do. That will serve you way better than embarking on a four year PHD, without motivation (a PHD is about self-driven research and usually you have no real life next to it at least half of the time, unless you are very disciplined) and after that just being four years older with no idea, what to do.

I think it is way better to put all the effort to get good grades and then get a job, to get the feeling, wether it suits you or not and you'll have the whole weekends for not-real life! And then, as soon as you see: Hey, engineering is really not for me! Or: Oh, I really hate this graduate program! You may embark on another degree or a PHD (maybe you regain motivation, if you are away some time from academia?), with motiation and a plan in mind. Wether this will be a PHD, a Law degree, a PGCE, or even a second undergraduate in history of art.
Reply 2
Meh, I done a PhD purely because I wanted to delay working 9-5 and it worked out fine for me (I have a permanent academic job now). Most other people I know done PhDs for similarly stupid reasons, mainly because "it was there". As long as your field has good employment options (which engineering does) then doing a PhD just because it seems fun is probably not a terrible idea - you dont have to be in looooooooove with your subject, as long as you think its fairly interesting and you dont mind a few years of poverty.

Its not like we are talking about going into debt to self-fund a humanities PhD here - if you have a fully funded offer from a good university in an employable subject then you might as well take it, at worst you're losing 3 years of your life, and its not like once you hit 35 years of age you're going to look back and think "god i wish I started working 3 years earlier"
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 3
Basically the OP sounds irresponsible as hell, but he reminds me of myself at the same age so I'm sympathetic

Anyway, you should:

1) do the best you can in the subjects you still have available. Your grades matter, there is no way to get around that. If you have a crappy degree (i.e. a 2:1 from a non elite university, or worse) then you will struggle to get funding unless you do another Masters first.

2) all else being equal, the research parts of your masters count for more than the taught courses (within reason), although both are important. But noone is going to care about an individual research paper that's part of a module, just make sure you do better in your final year thesis (if you do one?). Also references can be important, so try to make sure that the academic you are working with thinks you are good, so they can write you one.

3) if you are smart enough to get high grades at undergrad/masters then you are smart enough to pass a PhD, but there are a lot of factors other than raw intelligence which matter (work ethic, ability to work for months on end on the same boring problem, etc). People dont drop out of PhDs because they are too dumb, they drop out because they are the wrong fit for academic research.

4) you have to be sensible here - if you dont enjoy your masters then its not obvious you would enjoy a PhD. Why commit 3 years to something you dont think you'll like? A PhD isnt going to boost your employment prospects outside of very specific jobs, the main reason to do one is because you enjoy academia.

5) Think long and hard before doing a PhD in biology, or lab science. There are very few jobs, and PhDs are oversupplied. I would recommend doing something that has good industry+academic employment options at PhD level. Personally I done mine in applied maths because I knew that there were high paid private sector jobs I could fall into if I didnt want to stay in academia - I'm not saying you should do the same, but I am saying that you should pick an area where you like the private sector options, because the most likely outcome is that you wont end up working as an academic researcher.
(edited 9 years ago)
You seem quite down about your chances. One thing to consider, and you'll probably have noted this yourself, is that very few engineering students, relative to other areas of STEM, have much interest in academia/research; most want to work straight after their degrees, and most of the best students will have jobs secured. Therefore, the supply of suitable students for PhDs is somewhat limited relative to other fields, so your chances may not be as bad as you think, especially if you get a 1st.

If you don't know what to do with your life, then I'm not sure if a PhD is a wise thing to do whilst figuring it out. What happens if, during your PhD, your ideal job comes up - would you abandon it on order to take the job? You don't get anything of value for half completing a PhD, and it's probably a lot harder to stick through with a PhD you're not interested in as opposed to an undergrad degree.

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