PhD student. Courses are terrible. Fellow grad peers seem ignorant and dull. Am I in the wrong program?

What are your career goals?

I'm also a Ph.D. student (non-traditional...older than most) and I also think my courses suck, for the most part. My goal is to get the degree and move up the ladder.

I didn't even read your post.

The same shit over and over again. Why do you keep posting this same f*cking thread?

you again? wrote:

I didn't even read your post.

The same shit over and over again. Why do you keep posting this same f*cking thread?

^This

Or else, if different people are posting these, it proves that runners are the common denominator and that they are emotionally fragile, self important jerks.

Al grad programs including PHD programs, are entirely different than the undergrad school at that university. It's an entirely different group of teachers, curriculum.

If you are not feeling challenged, then yes, you need to change and you need to change now. Otherwise, you will have spent 6-8 years getting a degree that does not even prepare you for questions at an interview. you would probably be better off going to a trade school, learning how to be a plumber, and never being out of work the rest of your life.

Why can't you just list the names of your undergraduate and graduate majors?

Are you in a department that is so unique that you will give your identity away?

If you knew your graduate field was considered weak why didn't you look into it more carefully before you chose it?

Many of the hard science departments have people who work on the harder fringes of soft science departments. If you can find a professor who you would be interested in working for in a hard science department at your current school you might be able to do your dissertation with them. Their grad students would be better to work with.

As another poster said: what are your career goals? To elaborate, there's a big difference between graduate school and undergraduate school. Graduate school is more like a job. It's pretty one-dimensional, and it should be done in the context of advanced career training. In the sciences, undergraduate tends to give you breadth, and graduate tends to give you depth in one (primarily) specific area. You may want to do some deep thinking about what you want to do work-wise after graduate school and how your graduate program will help facilitate that. It helps to have interesting classes/professors and classmates that you can relate to, but at the end of the day, you're getting a MS/PhD as a credential (and the knowledge and experience that come with the degree) for a career field. If you don't see the degree program helping you out, then bail and start working in your career or find another grad school program that lines up with your interests.

Another point: having a good advisor makes a huge difference. On a practical level, you want someone that is easy to work with. Further, you want someone who has a big-picture view of their field and connections with employers and can give you direction on structuring your classes and research in a promising area.

If you think it might help to live in an area where you have better connections with family and friends versus expecting too much out of your classmates, then that's something else to consider.

801 dude wrote:

you again? wrote:

I didn't even read your post.

The same shit over and over again. Why do you keep posting this same f*cking thread?

^This

Or else, if different people are posting these, it proves that runners are the common denominator and that they are emotionally fragile, self important jerks.

There are plenty of self important jerks on letsrun, but in this particular case, this is the same obsessive weirdo posting the same thread over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Seriously OP, give it a freaking rest already.

I have a very similar problem to the OP. I'm on this message board and my fellow posters seem dull and ignorant. They keep posting the same trolls. Should I change from this message board to another that might have more rigorous and stimulating trolling standards.I just can't relate to my fellow trollers. They are superficial and beneath me. I am unhappy here and can't relate.Should I change message boards?

you again? wrote:

801 dude wrote:

^This

Or else, if different people are posting these, it proves that runners are the common denominator and that they are emotionally fragile, self important jerks.

There are plenty of self important jerks on letsrun, but in this particular case, this is the same obsessive weirdo posting the same thread over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Seriously OP, give it a freaking rest already.

...because they are insane and delusional

you again? wrote:

I didn't even read your post.

The same shit over and over again. Why do you keep posting this same f*cking thread?

Yeah American grad school is a sham for most sciences at most schools... nothing new sadly