job vs grad school

[boneh3ad]

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@JaneKelly

The last time I checked, alot of the Master’s students that didn’t work while they got their degrees, still didn’t have jobs. And probably lost in competition to the MS students that were working while going to school.

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<p>That isn’t a fair assessment, though. That is like saying that healthy patients that go to a doctor have a higher survival rate than those who are going to a doctor and also happen to have cancer. The cards are stacked from the get go. Obviously the students who were already employed and were their on the dime of their company would have better employment statistics… they are already employed. By definition, they will have a 100% placement rate.</p>

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@JaneKelly

I’ve also seen employees get laid off for having a higher salary for their expected roles in the company. Either they expected more from that person, or they could find a BS employee that is paid less but with higher performance.

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<p>You just refuted your own argument here. If they can get a BS employee with higher performance, then the MS isn’t what is causing the other guy to get laid off, it is his performance.</p>

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@JaneKelly

I’m really torn about going back for anything higher than an MS, just because, unlike an MS, you have to be a full time student to finish a Ph.D. Which, under logic, calculates to a negative cash flow for an extended period of time. That, and people at work have been talking about NCG Ph.D’s becoming custodians because of the economic situations these days.

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<p>The negative cash flow is a moot point because of one fact. A Ph.D. serves a completely different purpose from an MS. For the most part, people get an MS to increase their value in their current jobs or to start at a slightly higher salary and with slightly higher responsibility than their BS counterparts. Some use it as a way to get directly into an R&D role instead of having to go through the ranks at a company first. Still, for the most part, MS holders are competing for similar jobs as BS holders. A Ph.D. opens up an entirely new class of jobs (while admittedly closing out quite a few as well). The problem arises when people don’t understand this, get a Ph.D., and then try and get jobs for which they are now overqualified. Assuming they had a reputable advisor, most Ph.D. students should have no real problem finding jobs. In fact, the unemployment rate for Ph.D. engineers right now is significantly lower than that of the general engineering population. Forgive me though, as I can’t find the source that I got that from. It was referenced in these forums at some point within the last few months though.</p>

<p>So really, negative cash flow is not an issue, because for the vast majority of the people pursuing a Ph.D., the jobs they are targeting are 100% unattainable unless they have a Ph.D. If someone wants to do true research and they decide to get a job and not a Ph.D., reasoning that they will some day work their way up the ranks into a top research position while not having to deal with “negative cash flow”, they are just kidding themselves. It doesn’t happen. Add to that the fact that nearly 100% of engineering Ph.D. students are funded. A Ph.D. is really an entirely different animal than an MS.</p>