xjis

aibarr// looooooool.

Nick017

You have to think about hours. My professor jokes he gets paid more per hour than does Mr hotshot silicon valley, who works fourteen hours a day for his fat salary.

lkf725

Nick, I bet that makes us all feel great about paying huge tuition bills to institutions that, according to your prof's joke, don't expect their employees to do much work!

aktiv8d

lol aibarr and lkf725

YOU

sakky, the prospective engineer phds drop out because they can't hack it at grad schools or they're just sick of grad school (they would've gotten a phd had they wanted)?

sakky

Probably more of the latter, although the two reasons are somewhat intertwined. While relatively few PhD students are actually expelled from their programs involuntarily, many of them find out that they are interested in something else and hence just don't have the desire to put in the work to complete the program (although they probably could if they really wanted to). For example, they see their old undergrad buddies who went straight to industry and who are progressing along nicely in their careers and decide that they ought to do the same. Similarly, many PhD students decide that they'd rather get a more marketable degree such as a law degree or MD. Some grad students are able to find the job that they want without having to finish their programs. This seems to be quite common in some technical programs, i.e. arguably the greatest attrition "threat" to Stanford EE/CS grad students consists of students deciding to drop out to launch their own startup firm. Finally, and probably the biggest threat of all, is that many grad students get married, have kids, and then decide that they would rather invest their time in their families.

aibarr

Sometimes they decide that they'd rather dig their eyeballs out with a grapefruit spoon than live for another half-decade in Champaign-Urbana...

easternboarder

lol; it's finals time here at Urbana-Champaign--i can't wait to go home already.

YOU

sakky, do they usually leave with a Masters or they won't even bother with it?

aibarr

Most leave with just their masters' degrees; it only takes a year or so. By the time you figure out that you don't want to stick around for a PhD, it's worth it to finish out the MS.

YOU

Thanks for the info! Do most schools allow PhD students to get a MS on the way?

aibarr

Definitely. The vast majority of PhD students will get their MS prior to getting their PhD.

YOU

Thanks aibarr..

lkf725

Is there any stigma (or academic/professional suicide) to be admitted to a PhD program and to quit after the MS? After all, you would have taken the spot of somebody who may have actually finished the program.

aibarr

None that I've encountered. Getting a PhD is a very difficult thing, and if anything, the folks who continue on to get their PhDs when you've decided to bail will look upon your situation longingly and wish that they were making a real engineering salary, as well! If there were a stigma attached to quitting after picking up a masters degree, there'd be a lot of outcast engineers in the profession... It's a pretty common thing to do. =)