Assess and Answer my questions about my PhD path

juillet
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 17:50:20 +0000

^The above - you don’t need to have an MS to get into a PhD program in neuroscience, so one isn’t necessarily better than the other. You don’t have to reapply for the BS/MS program if you are content where you are.

I’m personally not sure about the engineering -> neuroscience path because that’s not my field. I think that as long as you have the prerequisite knowledge and a clear idea of your research interests, it shouldn’t affect you too much. If you are interested in something at the intersection of engineering and neuroscience, that would be a bonus.



What about starting a family or getting married during the path? I know I can’t dictate it right now, but I want to hear about past experiences.



I got married at the beginning of my fifth year of a PhD program. It’s rough, but rough in the same sense that being married as a management consultant or investment banker or high-powered attorney is rough. Spending the time required to maintain a strong, healthy relationship is really difficult when you are expected to be thinking about research and science all day long. My husband jokes that I was in a dissertation “fog” for the past year or so, and it does feel that way - half my brain was on my dissertation most of the time. (I’m finished now and defending in 2 weeks, so now less of my brain is on it and eventually 0% of my brain will be.)

On the other hand, I think it can make you a healthier person. I was forced to wrench myself away from my work from time to time to cook for my family and spend time with my husband, and that stopped me from becoming an odd, antisocial person. He also encourages me to take care of myself.

I know people who have had children during their PhD programs as well - lots of people in all kinds of fields. Again, it’s not really much different from having a child when you are in some other all-consuming kind of job. You and your spouse make it work. The dissertation phase might be a good time to have children since your time is really flexible.



I also heard that getting a PhD from the school you did undergrad in is frowned upon.



This isn’t universally true in all fields, and it really has a lot of qualifiers attached to it.

If your undergraduate university is the best place for you to do a PhD, then nobody will frown upon you for staying there. For example, the University of Michigan is a top-ranked program in both of my fields, and a person who went there for undergrad and stayed for her PhD would not be looked down upon. It’s literally a top 5 program, so we know she didn’t just stay because it was easy to get into; she stayed because it’s a great department and she probably had excellent mentorship and a great research fit. Even if a program is mid-ranked, if it’s the best place in your sub-area or has a famous professor under which you will work, it will be fine in many fields.

In some fields, the best undergrad and grad departments are so concentrated that many people stay where they are. Philosophy is one of those fields; I think math may be another one (although someone in math please correct me if I’m wrong).

Where staying where you are becomes a problem is if 1) your program isn’t very well-reputed, 2) your program isn’t a good fit for you and thus 3) it becomes clear that you stayed where you were out of comfort and not fit.