speng31b posted:

brown moses: durrrrrrf i did a journalism on twitterrr hurrrr

joepinetree posted:

I know very little of Brown Moses and never interacted with him.

cat botherer posted:

If it makes you feel any better, I did a science PhD, and it was also a total waste of time and I wish I dropped out. At least you actually dropped out!

PostNouveau posted:

What's comps? I thought PhDs didn't have tests it was just like "Do a dissertation and don't piss us off and you get a PhD"

Eason the Fifth posted:

Don't Go to Gradschool

Real hurthling! posted:

i dropped out of a humanities phd because it was really dumb to work so hard and have zero chance for it to ever pay off when even a min wage job would make like 3x more than my stipend.

speng31b posted:

brown moses: durrrrrrf i did a journalism on twitterrr hurrrr

gradenko_2000 posted:

Brown Moses was too stupid to hack it in journalism school

joepinetree posted:

It's like that for a lot of these celeb PhDs. I used to be impressed that the lead singer of one of my favorite punk bands, Bad Religion, had a PhD in zoology. Which he managed to get while touring with Bad Religion. I then saw that his dissertation was a survey of religious beliefs of evolutionary biologists (essentially asking if evo biologists believed in god and evolution) and then I understood. Like, if he was a "regular" grad student, doing the lab thing, working on funding, trying to get publications, the whole 9 yards, their advisor would have never signed off on a simplistic survey of "believe in god y/n," or he would have been referred to a theology department to actually grapple with theological questions.

Zedhe Khoja posted:

half the expats i come across in istanbul are fresh out of school journalism majors and this might be one of the most slanderous things I've ever read about some one I tell you what

joepinetree posted:

In the US, because undergraduate programs are less focused and kind of all over the place, grad programs have comprehensive exams to ensure you know the basics of your field and aren't just an expert in your tiny slice of the discipline. So once you finish credits you take a big test in your field to ensure you know the canon. Sometimes people will fail 1st try at comps. That means a chance to retake the same test with additional feedback. Because you can retake it with feedback, I've ever only heard of one case of failing the retakes.

Jeff the Mediocre posted:

What universities can do with the comps too is make them really hard and try and fail most people on purpose. This is done if there are a lot of undergrads that need a cheap TA teaching them, but not a lot of research positions. Can still get two years of teaching out of students that way. Apparently the school I went to used to do that in my department.

edit: since the papers like to whine about colleges so much, has anybody written an op ed complaining about grad student unionization?

joepinetree posted:

Let's just say that there is a tale in SAL of a prolific poster repeatedly failing their comps. I think people then mistook it for the bar. somehow, but the posts were about comps.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong in dropping out of a PHD program. And getting a PhD doesn't make you particularly smart. A PhD is a credential for a job, not a sign of intelligence or worth.

I am just pointing out that it is super rare to actually get kicked out or fail a PhD program. Most of the time, when someone "fails" out of a Phd program, what it means is that they couldn't secure funding, were told they had no job prospects, and so on. If you are paying out of pocket, they are not going to tell you to stop paying unless it is something really egregious.

It's like that for a lot of these celeb PhDs. I used to be impressed that the lead singer of one of my favorite punk bands, Bad Religion, had a PhD in zoology. Which he managed to get while touring with Bad Religion. I then saw that his dissertation was a survey of religious beliefs of evolutionary biologists (essentially asking if evo biologists believed in god and evolution) and then I understood. Like, if he was a "regular" grad student, doing the lab thing, working on funding, trying to get publications, the whole 9 yards, their advisor would have never signed off on a simplistic survey of "believe in god y/n," or he would have been referred to a theology department to actually grapple with theological questions. But he was a musician first, with no real concerns of getting a tenure track position. So advisor just makes sure its nothing too bad and signs off on it.

speng31b posted:

brown moses: durrrrrrf i did a journalism on twitterrr hurrrr

mawarannahr posted:

br ftw

I have never met this kind of person. I only really met erasmus undergrads and critical bullshit studies grad students who were mostly no different. some of the Arab and Iranian guys were super rich and had been doing undergrad for like 8 years but they were very nice.

Orange Devil posted:

Getting a PhD is an excellent way to gently caress over your life and general mental wellbeing. It's not worth it. Don't ever do it.

Source: ex started to get a PhD when we were together, current girlfriend finished her PhD while we were together. I hope deeply I never have to date anyone anymore as my current relationship will last, but in case it won't I have sworn a blood oath to myself to never ever date another PhD, student or otherwise.

Shear Modulus posted:

Maybe it was grover

Eason the Fifth posted:

Don't Go to Gradschool

Jeff the Mediocre posted:

What universities can do with the comps too is make them really hard and try and fail most people on purpose.

Phone posted:

nah, he got a PE to sign off on his house

Eason the Fifth posted:

Don't Go to Gradschool

Eason the Fifth posted:

Don't Go to Gradschool

ProperGanderPusher posted:

Don’t get your BA at a private college either, unless you get a full ride. Having slightly better instruction isn’t worth 40k a year.

But especially don’t go to grad school.

vyelkin posted:

Whether you're at a private college or a public college, all your profs have PhDs from Harvard and Princeton

cat botherer posted:

It's not necessarily all that much harder to get in from a decent state school to Ivy grad programs than from Ivy undergrad. Everyone is well aware that most Ivy undergrads are dumb as poo poo too, and the rich people connections don't count for as much in research programs.

mawarannahr posted:

mawarannahr posted:

quote:

Today, Gilberg is among the roughly 240,000 Israelis who have been displaced from their homes by the terror attack and the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has killed about 20,000 Palestinians. Gilberg is living with friends in a house south of Jerusalem, where she hopes she will have fewer nightmares, despite periodic rocket attacks and bouts of terrorism. Like many of her former neighbors, she is unsure what her future holds

"The attack has changed me," Gilberg said in a recent phone interview. "I'm still healing. I still haven't fully accepted that I'm a refugee now. I don't know when I can go back to my home."

quote:

For Gilberg, it's a long way from the sense of idealism that drew her from the New Jersey suburbs, half a world away.

Gilberg grew up in a Reform Jewish family in Livingston that emphasized a love of Jewish tradition and of Israel. After a full day at public school, she would attend Hebrew school. She was particularly inspired by her Orthodox aunt and cousins - who were proud Zionists - and with whom she was close.

After graduating from Rutgers in 2019 with a degree in visual arts, Gilberg moved to Israel. Once there, she joined the army, figuring it would help her acclimate to Israeli society and learn Hebrew. She served as a photographer and video editor for the international social media team in the Israel Defense Forces' public relations unit.

She also joined a garin, a small group of foreign soldiers who lived together on Kibbutz Erez and created a family of their own while serving in the military together. Gilberg quickly fell in love with the quiet and natural beauty of the desert village.

She completed her army service two years ago and opted to remain on the kibbutz, where she had grown close with the tight-knit community.

"It was my happy place," she said.