- #1
dsanz
- 42
- 2
Hello everyone,
I'm currently on my last year as an undergraduate, and I've been thinking a lot about going into graduate school lately. I have some big doubts regarding the big question of weather I should or should not enter grad school and try to pursuit an academic career.
1. First off... I have a girlfriend and our relationship is quite serious and strong. I am really thinking about marrying her in the future (hopefully not so distant future). I will be 23 years old this August. Getting a physics Ph.D will take between 4 and 7 years I believe. So supposing I get my Ph.D just before I'm 30, I would then search for post-doc positions and probably, if everything goes well, land a decent job when I am around 33 or something. So that's 10 years (and I think I'm being very optimistic) before getting a decent, stable income and in order to be thinking about having a family. I don't know if I'd be willing to wait that long before getting a nice house for my future wife (and possibly children). How do physics Ph.D's handle this situation? Do they just put a stop on those other plans for 10 or more years and wait to land a good job? Or do they go along with their personal plans and see how they survive and handle everything while they're still students??
2. Second, and I know this has probably been answered before... What other kinds of jobs do physics Ph.D's normally land? I put normally in bold because I know there are a lot of people who get jobs totally outside their field (this happens in every discipline), and those are probably not good references. But, what other job could you reasonably aim at with a physics Ph.D at hand?
And another question, related to the last one: if instead of getting a Ph.D I get a Masters in physics, do I get these same other jobs? What would be the advantages/disadvantages with each degree?
And just some info. about myself: I live in Mexico, speak english fluently, and I'm majoring in physics and engineering. I really have a passion for physics. The two main fields that have caught my eye are general relativity and elemantary particles. I actually took a GR course while studying as an exchange student in Toronto, Canada. I understand that taking the Ph.D path is very, very, tough, and demans some great deal of discipline and hard work. I want to make sure if the tough road is worth the wait so that I can live a happy and satisfying life. I suppose some or most of you won't be able to answer all of my questions, but I'll be very glad with any input anyone can give me. I hope that your responses will help me in deciding what to do in this critical point of my life.
I'm currently on my last year as an undergraduate, and I've been thinking a lot about going into graduate school lately. I have some big doubts regarding the big question of weather I should or should not enter grad school and try to pursuit an academic career.
1. First off... I have a girlfriend and our relationship is quite serious and strong. I am really thinking about marrying her in the future (hopefully not so distant future). I will be 23 years old this August. Getting a physics Ph.D will take between 4 and 7 years I believe. So supposing I get my Ph.D just before I'm 30, I would then search for post-doc positions and probably, if everything goes well, land a decent job when I am around 33 or something. So that's 10 years (and I think I'm being very optimistic) before getting a decent, stable income and in order to be thinking about having a family. I don't know if I'd be willing to wait that long before getting a nice house for my future wife (and possibly children). How do physics Ph.D's handle this situation? Do they just put a stop on those other plans for 10 or more years and wait to land a good job? Or do they go along with their personal plans and see how they survive and handle everything while they're still students??
2. Second, and I know this has probably been answered before... What other kinds of jobs do physics Ph.D's normally land? I put normally in bold because I know there are a lot of people who get jobs totally outside their field (this happens in every discipline), and those are probably not good references. But, what other job could you reasonably aim at with a physics Ph.D at hand?
And another question, related to the last one: if instead of getting a Ph.D I get a Masters in physics, do I get these same other jobs? What would be the advantages/disadvantages with each degree?
And just some info. about myself: I live in Mexico, speak english fluently, and I'm majoring in physics and engineering. I really have a passion for physics. The two main fields that have caught my eye are general relativity and elemantary particles. I actually took a GR course while studying as an exchange student in Toronto, Canada. I understand that taking the Ph.D path is very, very, tough, and demans some great deal of discipline and hard work. I want to make sure if the tough road is worth the wait so that I can live a happy and satisfying life. I suppose some or most of you won't be able to answer all of my questions, but I'll be very glad with any input anyone can give me. I hope that your responses will help me in deciding what to do in this critical point of my life.