It's enough for me to know that I have absolutely 0 desire to do a PhD or be a professor. I'm also so glad that I had a teaching assistantship that meant I got paid for doing this rather than going into debt for it. If you're in a field that has paid assistantships there is no reason to ever go into debt for a masters. It's nice to have the big bulk of this done.
What is the deal with master's theses, they are even less likely than a doctoral dissertation to be read by anyone, published anywhere important, have any influence.
What is the deal with master's theses, they are even less likely than a doctoral dissertation to be read by anyone, published anywhere important, have any influence.
So now's your chance, show us it
My advisor says he's gonna try to have this published. For me to be the main author in the journal I'd have to go through that whole submission process, and I just can't bring myself to care enough about being the 1st author to do that, but this has at least been good practice at application of what I've learned. It probably won't be too influential, but how much of that can be reasonably expected from a 1st significant research project? And I'm not submitting it here, because it's a 100% chance of doxing myself, and I know you guys won't want to read it, because even I don't want to read it. But the idea is just showing what you can do more than classes can.
It's enough for me to know that I have absolutely 0 desire to do a PhD or be a professor. I'm also so glad that I had a teaching assistantship that meant I got paid for doing this rather than going into debt for it. If you're in a field that has paid assistantships there is no reason to ever go into debt for a masters. It's nice to have the big bulk of this done.
It would be a shame to give up on PhD now. PhD programs in STEM desperately need Americans. Yet many capable American students do not pursue PhD.
It's enough for me to know that I have absolutely 0 desire to do a PhD or be a professor. I'm also so glad that I had a teaching assistantship that meant I got paid for doing this rather than going into debt for it. If you're in a field that has paid assistantships there is no reason to ever go into debt for a masters. It's nice to have the big bulk of this done.
It would be a shame to give up on PhD now. PhD programs in STEM desperately need Americans. Yet many capable American students do not pursue PhD.
For me a big part of even getting a masters was that I took time picking my undergrad major and ended up doing econ to finish on time when stats was what I really wanted to do, so at that point getting a masters in stats wouldn't take much more time than finishing after changing my major, so may as well get the higher degree in that case. I have no logic like that for a PhD and academic research isn't what I want my whole career to be, so doing another 2-4 years for the sole purpose of some kind of patriotism doesn't make much sense.
Congrats! I have an MS in the same. I remember doing my defense (which really wasn't bad, mostly some soft questions and a presentation, so nothing like a PhD). I finished and walked all the printed and bound copies and nonsense over to the dept secretary, she validated I had everything they needed, and I was out the door. Haha, best feeling ever. I ended up working for someone I met in the program and it's worked out well.
I'd never guess a track and field fan to be into statistics.
I was into stats before I was into running. I actually don't like baseball believe it or not. Yeah there's a bunch of stats in it, but it's just the most boring sport to actually watch for me. I'd rather watch people run in circles 25 times. I definitely think about stuff like expected goals in soccer, shot efficiency in basketball, and what teams "should" do on 4th down in football though. On behalf of all statisticians, I'm sorry for reducing the variety of shots attempted in basketball, but you're welcome for football teams going for it on 4th down more.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
Congrats! I have an MS in the same. I remember doing my defense (which really wasn't bad, mostly some soft questions and a presentation, so nothing like a PhD). I finished and walked all the printed and bound copies and nonsense over to the dept secretary, she validated I had everything they needed, and I was out the door. Haha, best feeling ever. I ended up working for someone I met in the program and it's worked out well.
I'm not stressing the defense too hard because I don't think my advisor would let me submit if there was a decent chance I'd fail it.
It would be a shame to give up on PhD now. PhD programs in STEM desperately need Americans. Yet many capable American students do not pursue PhD.
For me a big part of even getting a masters was that I took time picking my undergrad major and ended up doing econ to finish on time when stats was what I really wanted to do, so at that point getting a masters in stats wouldn't take much more time than finishing after changing my major, so may as well get the higher degree in that case. I have no logic like that for a PhD and academic research isn't what I want my whole career to be, so doing another 2-4 years for the sole purpose of some kind of patriotism doesn't make much sense.
It's not just patriotism, it's also getting paid going to school, and a really good job at the end of it. If you choose academia path, publish a few papers until you get tenure then it's easy sailing. Teach two semesters then get summers off. You won't find a gig like that in corporate America.
For me a big part of even getting a masters was that I took time picking my undergrad major and ended up doing econ to finish on time when stats was what I really wanted to do, so at that point getting a masters in stats wouldn't take much more time than finishing after changing my major, so may as well get the higher degree in that case. I have no logic like that for a PhD and academic research isn't what I want my whole career to be, so doing another 2-4 years for the sole purpose of some kind of patriotism doesn't make much sense.
It's not just patriotism, it's also getting paid going to school, and a really good job at the end of it. If you choose academia path, publish a few papers until you get tenure then it's easy sailing. Teach two semesters then get summers off. You won't find a gig like that in corporate America.
Writing this makes me absolutely despise the idea of reading and editing this stuff all the time. I've seen how much my advisor read and gave feedback on this and I want none of that. If I change my mind I can just apply to PhD programs with some work experience.