What PHD Topic is best suited to Interests?

Graduate School
41

@menloparkmom

Yes I agree that if no fellowships get offered, it is not worth it. The McNair program waives many application fees though so I can apply to several at 0 cost and I only need to get lucky once.

I already have a list of schools with competitive fellowships picked out (many of these are 20-30k/yr plus tuition plus HInsurance plus housing). While some of these are the cream of the crop, others are middling and some I would even call below that.

I do need to invest more in a backup plan if I don’t get funded. But I am confident with unlimited applications (yes it will suck making faculty connections at all of them) that I will find a few options even if they aren’t my first choice.

I also think there is a misconception that I am done researching or putting in more effort here. Literally the next year/2 I am going to be working my butt off to research options, make connections, and take more related classes and research if possible. Just want to make that clear to all.

42

So I have just read through this thread, which opens with ‘I don’t want to get a job in the field I am studying / I would rather stay in school b/c I like school’ and closes with ‘I have finally found my real passion in environmental science’, stopping by ‘I want to collect field samples’ on the way.

I saw a couple of mentions of environment- health links, but don’t remember seeing a reason why Environmental Policy wouldn’t be an obvious marrying of actual credentials with an interest in the environment.

So, consider an entirely different path: as an example, take a look at George Mason’s PhD in Environmental Science and Public Policy. They do require biology and chemistry- but you can come in without it and take it as additional credits (and vice-versa for students who come in with science but not public policy). Instead of spending a couple of years making contacts and taking classes, etc. you finish your current MA, and get a policy analyst job in an environmental organization and prepare to apply for a PhD program with some actual sense of what kind of work you want to do and what kinds of jobs a PhD will get you.

I will also gently say out loud something that has been hinted at by several posters (including the OP): getting a PhD as a way of postponing entry into the workaday world is well-trod path, but is not a strategy.

In practice, you need to either already love your subject or have a really, really strong reason to get the degree for the PhD process to be successful: it is a long, tough road. You want to be really sure that you actually like doing field research before you commit yourself to it. Trust me, the fun goes out of collecting, labeling and analyzing samples pretty quickly!

Mastering out, or ending up ABD is painful. I know- the dissertation is the part you anticipate liking the most, but doing primary research has special challenges all its own, and bringing home a successful research question & answer is not a slam dunk. And, sometimes, your project collapses for reasons beyond your control (ask the PhD candidates whose research was being funded by the EPA, when a change of administration brought in a new team who cut the funding).

ps, re: your anecdote of a friend going from a BS in finance to a PhD in physics- that took more than making friends with a prof. 100% that person had taken basic physics, plus Thermo, Mechanics, E M, Quantum and probably Optics, plus a couple layers of math (calc, linear algebra). That is pretty standardized across the US… Be wary of taking such stories at face value.

43

To be clear, fellowships are not the only way (or even the most common way) for PhD students to be funded. Most are funded through teaching and/or research assistantships. Fellowships are another big step up in required qualifications from just getting in and being hired. I’ve not told you that you are wholly unqualified for admission, but I’d be very surprised if you were competitive for many fellowships. There are simply too many others who have relevant experience in said fields.

To be honest, your best bet, if you really do want to move into a more STEM-ish field and refuse to work first, is to go try to earn another master’s degree (or transfer into one), this time an MS in said field of interest. Admissions aren’t as competitive in most cases, and you can go earn that relevant experience by actually earning a degree in that field.

44

@collegemom3717
Thanks for the thoughtful response!

Environmental policy was briefly mentioned by another poster and it does sort of blend the area in what might be deemed “realistic” at this point. I do have a bit of skepticism in that I don’t want to work in policy at all (it took me doing political science BS to realize that). So I worry about my happiness there, Environmental management was something that I floated to see if anyone had any strong feelings about. That maybe more in line with where I want to end up if the hard science is just too out of my reach at this point.

Taking the PhD isn’t a means to not enter the workforce because I simply don’t want to. It is more because the qualifications I have don’t currently line up with the jobs that I want. Though yes, academia has treated me well so far.

The friend I referenced actually didn’t take many of the classes you mentioned. They did have some of the math courses, but were pretty devoid of the physics portion. Like I said though, self-study, making connections, and passing the entrance exams demonstrated compentancy enough to be accepted/paired.

45

@boneh3ad

Thanks, that is helpful to know.

I am not deadset on pure STEM, in fact after hearing everybody’s input I can pretty much rule out a hard STEM (see I am listening haha). If you have any information on the hybrid camps (Environ/Resource Management, Global/Climate Change, Conservation), that is probably my best bet. If I can’t go out in the field to collect samples, I can still see myself running a national park or preserve etc. That way I get to work (at least monitor) “in the field,” but also have more an administrative/managerial role that my experience/degrees might lend better towards.

Felt like we were treading water there for a bit, but I think the past few comments from everyone has been really helpful.

46

Why are you only thinking PhD? It might make better sense to make a lateral move to a second BS and/or MS. So far you have no debt, and you have been able to suport yourself. Take that icky policy job to pay your rent and pick up the missing undergrad science classes part-time as a non-degree or second BS/AS degree student at a cheap home-state public U or community college.

47

This is why people are urging you to think through why you want a PhD and what you want to do when you finish your studies.
Look up Chief Rangers (the title of the head of the park) at the various national parks. They are career National Park Service and typically have a BA or BS, I am not aware of any who have PhDs. The Superintendent of Glacier National Park (2 steps up from Chief Ranger, an entirely admin position), has a BA in Geology.

48

@collegemom3717

Thanks for letting me know that! It is a surprise to me. My worry persists though that while I now feel confident in the relative field I want to go into, the exact job is still pretty murky. I do think something like a high position park ranger is up my alley, but there are many others as well.

That’s why I think when you consider that I really love the collegiate lifestyle, would likely be funded in some capacity, etc. It is better to have it/not need it than Vice-Versa.

Definitely appreciate you bringing that to my attention though. A lot to think about.

49

Anytime. You can do this sort of research for a lot of jobs, and you can follow it though to the next likely steps of a career (appropriate, as a PhD is essentially a research degree!). Some advice from students doing PhDs in Ecology can be found here:

http://www.phd-survey.org/advice/ecology.htm

Note that the most common advice loops around the principle that the more you are clear about what your research interests are and where you want to go with them the more likely the PhD process is to be successful- and vice-versa.

50

I am going to say this one more time in terms that are as straightforward as possible. A PhD will make you overqualified for many jobs and will close doors that would otherwise be open to you. Only go after a PhD if you are interested in a career in research. Please evaluate your career goals against your education goals before you make a dire mistake.

51

Absolutely wrong reason to apply to a PhD program

Ditto.

Nope. As Boneh3ad notes, a PhD will make you over-qualified for some/many jobs. Moreover, think about the opportunity costs: the 5-7 years that it will take to earn a doctorate would be better spent working in a Park, earning promotions and moving up the ladder. A PhD will not automatically make you as a senior exec in teh park system …

52

@bluebayou

Thanks, I guess my worry is committing at this point to the job market since I’m still unsure what I want to do. Research isn’t something I’ve ruled out completely and I’ve heard several comments from those with doctoral degrees that is much easier to finish now opposed to trying to start again once you’ve been out of school for a while.

Also, I worry that my funding/GRE scores might expire.

Essentially I think my dilemma can be summed up as, now is the perfect time to do a PhD in terms of drive, funds, scores. The issue is I don’t know exactly what job I want.

So if I go into the job market right now, I have no clue where to start and I’d feel as though I’d be wandering aimlessly. Then if I find I’d rather do research and decide to do a PhD, I get screwed by having to retake the GRE (I did a 8/hr per day prep program for it and know my score will drop exponentially if I have to retake) and also I have a contingency scholarship from my previous program that provides partial funds if I start my PhD by a certain time.

What I am trying to convey is that I don’t think my situation is normal. If I knew that I wanted to be 100%, I would do that.

It seems like for most people not knowing should point them away from a PhD. However, it is hard to turn down what seems like a great opportunity especially if it is time limited.

The other thing is I spoke to my graduate advisor about being “overqualified” and they said that while that may be true for some fields, it is largely an overblown claim. I am not making any judgement just saying I’m receiving mixed signals.

53

Nobody said adulting was easy :slight_smile:

if you are running ‘what if’ mind experiments, have you run them the other way? Such as…what if you start a PhD program and work out that it isn’t what you want? if that realization hits in a year, is it ok to have ‘wasted’ the year, chalk it up to a lesson learned, and start over? What if it hits when you are ABD? What if you run out of the “partial funds” before you are far enough along to have raised your own grant money? What if you realize that you DO want to do a PhD but you are in completely the wrong program?

It should be a live option- or the degree should be the entry ticket to the kinds of jobs you really want- before you go forward.

How much does the (normal) anxiety of “I have no clue where to start” color this thought process? The commitment to a PhD program is more significant than getting a first job! It really is a lot different than a taught Masters program.

Full disclosure: I finished a BA, then worked for a few years. That work led me to realize that I needed a Masters, so I went back and got one. That was fine for a number of years, then my overall objectives changed and I went back for a PhD. Because of my work experience and a Masters, my PhD was 3 years, top to bottom, and it was fully funded. It’s a clear line and a great story- in retrospect. In truth, it was anything but that at the time- it was inching forward through regular bouts of uncertainty, leavened with a friend pointing me to a contact for a first job here, a supervisor pointing out an opportunity there, some (what looked like) bad luck in between (employer folded), etc. That’s how most careers progress. They pretty much always make more sense in hindsight.

Do some field research (!) into where your real interests lie. Start with what you know for now: you are interested in field work, some sort of ecology / wildlife management. Start doing the base coursework that you will need anyway (the science classes) and look for research internships to do at the same time. Feel your way forward, being honest with yourself about what you are drawn to.

54

OP, have you considered doing a post-baccalaurate program?

I ask because you mentioned that you want a PhD because you want guidance from more experienced researchers for narrowing and defining your interests. That’s not what a PhD is for, though, and that’s generally not what doctoral advisors will do. They are more or less expecting you to come in with your interests already relatively well-defined.

However, a post-baccalaureate program is really well suited for what you want to do. One such program is the NIH’s IRTA program, which takes recent college grads and places them in NIH research labs for 1-2 years. There are also similar programs at Columbia and at the University of Pittsburgh (Hot Metal Bridge).
Another potentially better option is to try to get a role as a junior research assistant/associate at an organization that does environmental-related research. Given your background, you’d probably have an easier time finding such a role that straddles policy and life sciences. But this may give you the research experience you need; it would also give you connections with PhD-holding scientists that could recommend you, and some of these orgs have affiliations with universities (or are divisions of universities) and will allow you to take graduate-level classes in the area at a discount or for free. You’d likely be more competitive for those kinds of positions than for a doctoral degree right now.

If you have a master’s degree already, or are finishing one up, all the better. You can compete for master’s-level research associate positions at the same kinds of organizations. Look at institutes dedicated to ecology/environment; they are often attached to universities, but sometimes are independent nonprofits, NGOs, or government organizations. That’ll both help you bridge the gap and determine whether a research career is really for you.

It’s so, so normal for new college graduates to not be 100% sure of what they want to do next. That shouldn’t dissuade you from entering the job market, though. Lots of people go into working without clear plans of what they want to do be doing 10 or 5 or even 2 years from now. In fact, that’s how you figure that out - you work a job, note what you like and don’t like, and try to get closer to that the next role you move to…rinse and repeat. I have a PhD, and my PhD program did not help me figure out what kind of work I want to do. The only thing that did that was working part-time jobs and internships during my doctoral degree.

55

“So if I go into the job market right now, I have no clue where to start and I’d feel as though I’d be wandering aimlessly”

Not at all - you;ve said yiu ‘could see yourself’ running a national park someday. Look at entry level positions in the Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/workwithus.htm