tomyum
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Posts posted by tomyum
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Hello all,
I was a PhD student in a highly ranked institution (top 5). Since i was in a such a prestigious program, it was very hard for me to quit despite hating every day of my life at grad school. But finally I have made my mind and want to take a masters and leave. The thing that discouraged me from getting a PhD in physical chemistry was that most people who were graduating from my lab and other labs at my school were doing post-docs after post-docs to support themselves or getting really shitty jobs in industry. It does not seem like getting a PhD will advance my career in any way. My friends who I did undergrad with are earning much more money and have better job options than those that are graduating with a PhD.
Money is not super importnat to me, but after all that hard work and sacrifice, I feel that I deserve better. I did chemistry and math as an undergraduate. I regret that I did not continue with my math career and went into some job that paid better. Has anyone made a transition form a science career to business or consulting or any job that pays well? If so, can you please give me some tips.
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I am a second year graduate student. I got stuck with some problems in my research durin I don't have concrete results yet. A lot of my cohorts are going to conferences to present theier research and I feel like I am the only one who is not signing up for conferences. When do graduate students need to start attending conferences and do you need to publish before you can apply to attend a conference?
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Thanks everyone for your replies. A job that pays me about 80K is what I will be happy with after my PhD. I am a computational/theoretical chemist. Computational research is pretty big in pharmaceuticals , however my research is not related to drug design. It is more of quantum computation. Can I get a well paying non-academic job with a PhD. in quantum chemistry? What kind of companies can I take a look at?
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Most people in my lab go to either academia or finance but rarely industry. It is really strange how people can switch from chemistry to finance. How difficult is it to go into finance from chemistry? I really like my research group/ project but it is very academia oriented.
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I do quantum chemistry and a little bit of cheminformatics, so I am a bit scared that I might be stuck in academia. What kind of research in theoretical/computational chemistry has a good prospect in industry? It seems like pharmaceuticals is the easiest one to get a job in but my research group is not interested in that. I really like the research that I am doing right now but I don't want to waste my time doing research that won't be of much value to me later on.
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So what kind of positions in industry pay a decent amount? something like 80 K? Before I decide on my PhD project, I just want to make sure that I will get a decent job in industry. I don't want to go into academia but seems like most people from my lab go to academia. I want to design my PhD in such a way that I will have lots of good options outside academia.
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I was talking with a friend who is finishing up her PhD and her post doc position only pays about 40 K, which is just a little more than the regular graduate student stipend which has really surprised me. I heard that is typical salary for a post doc. Is that true? After more than five years of graduate school, does your earning potential only increase by 10 K. That is really disappointing. How much do people typically earn in industry or other jobs immediately after graduating?
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I go to Harvard. However, I don't want to give a wrong impression of the graduate program here. It is really nice, the people in my lab are also really nice. I do think it is a wonderful place to be for graduate school. The problem is mainly because of my poor academic background. When I see the amount of work that the undergrads do here or talk with my friends about their undergrad, I do feel that my undergrad was very easy and because of that my academic background is not so good. Also I am not used to working a lot of hours while most people seems to be comfortable doing so because their undergrad was equally stressful. I think all the problem that I am having is because of me and not because of how the program is structured here. It really sucks to be a stupid person among all the smart people. I think I am not good enough to be here and just got in by luck.
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The class I am taking is tough, so I have to study hard enough to get a passing grade i.e. B. I wish I could spend less time on my homework, which is such a time sucker, but I am afraid that if I don't do well in the homework, I might perform really badly in my exams. I had a really tough time with my course last semester and I studied like crazy to pass them. My background in chemistry is not that strong, which is making my classes really tough for me. I feel really underprepared for graduate school. My research requires a lot of programming and my programming skills are not that good either. So learning programming is taking a lot of time too. Juggling all these things, on top of teaching, leaves very few time for actual research.
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Thanks Eigen. I work about 35 hours in lab each week, and study and prepare for the class I am teaching during the evening. I am at a R1 school and most of my peers spend a ridiculous amount of time in lab. I work about 14 hours during workdays because of labwork, homework and teaching but take Saturdays and half of Sunday off. I think I will go insane if I start working on weekends as well. I don't know how other people in my cohort can work like 80-100 hours per week . I think I will slowly get used to it.
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Hello,
I am a first year grad student in chemistry. We had rotations during the first semester, so we were not expected to do research seriously. Now that I have joined a lab, I am having a hard time figuring out how much research should I do. I am taking a class and teaching as well, which takes most of my time and I have only little time left during the week for research. I feel like I am not being productive enough in terms of research. The only way I can fit in some serious research work is if I work crazy number of hours each week. How much progress in research do people in chemistry PhD make during their first year?
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tomyum, I've been hitting many of the same problems you've been facing, and I'm just barely hanging on. Today, when lab work was going horrendously as usual, I started listing out each obstacle I've run into as a beginning grad student, and coming up with possible solutions for each--baby steps. It's wonderful how much support this forum provides! P.S. I've been lurking in the Earth Sci. forum but I think I'm going to get back to posting more-or-less regularly now. Do it!
It's okay waddle! Things will eventually work out! We just have to stay strong and hang in there. I heard first year is about survival and keeping one's sanity intact and things get a lot better after that. We are already near the end of this semester!
Good luck. We can make it through the first year 
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It is nice to see a Harvard thread here! i am also living in the graduate dorms but the grad dorms are not as social and fun as I had expected it to be. My floor sucks even more. It is so quiet and I am starting to get very lonely in grad school. How has living in the dorms been for you guys? How are you guys socializing at Harvard? I meet some people at dudley house/dudley events sometimes but I really haven't been able to form a stable, nice group to hang out with. I went to a small school for undergrad where everyone knew each other, and people were very friendly so I had no problem making friends. You just saw the same people and you did not have to formally ask them to hang out, things just happened spontaneously. Things are so much formal here. I have to constantly ask people to come and hang out and I just feel like I am being needy and I wait for them make a plan but that doesn't happen. I tried hanging out with my classmates but their interest and mine are so different that I have not really been able to connect well with them. Moreover, we talk a lot about our discipline and sometimes there is a sense of competition. I really want to make good friends outside my department. Do you guys have any tips for socializing at Harvard? How do people in a big schools like Harvard make good friends?
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Thanks you guys for taking the time to write such long nice post for a complete stranger! I feel so much better. You guys can't even imagine how much your posts have made my life better. I really feel motivated now and I am trying to reach out to people and make friends. I asked a couple of acquaintances if they were interested in going out for dinner tonight and most of them were trying to make friends like me. I also talked with my academic counselor about my course work, academic probation and other things like that. It was really helpful. I can't thank you guys enough. I was already at the point of giving up but now I really want to try and make my grad school experience and social situation better
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It depends upon the school that you are applying to. I only studied for two weeks for the chem GRE and did very poorly on it but still managed to get admitted to some really good chemistry programs. Schools like Stanford and MIT seem to put much more importance to the Chem GRE but others like Harvard, UPenn don't care much about it.
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Yes, we have had a couple of grad students get bounced out for grades. I like to think that grades can only hurt you, not help you. And what I mean by that is in graduate school (in so far as the sciences) you are really gauged on how productive you are, not how good your course work was. You just need to do good enough to get by so far as grades.
If you tank a class and go on academic probation, so what, just repeat it. It sucks, but it is not the end of the world, even though it may seem as much right now. Keep your chin up.
Thanks for the encouraging words! I am hanging in there. On top of academic stress, graduate school is very lonely. There is so much work that I really don't have time to socialize and make good friends. I had a really good group of friends as an undergrad, and despite the pressure of school work, it was okay because I had a really supportive social life. But now if some small thing goes wrong, I totally panic and I keep thinking about it. Moving to a new city, loneliness and academic pressure - all of this is very hard to deal with. I used to eat in dining hall in my undergrad, so there were always people around and it was nice. Now I don't even feel like eating as eating alone is so depressing. I have lost a lot of weight since I joined grad school. I hope things with get better but I feel so helpless. These two month have been really hard. Does grad school get any better after the first year/ after completing course requirements?
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Eigen: Thanks for the reply! yes, my school has rotations and they have been going really well so far. I really enjoy being in the lab. I am taking four courses but only two of them are chemistry courses, the other two are seminar style pass/fail courses which just require attendance. I do study with my classmates, they are really collaborative and nice and we work on the problem sets together. But the classmates that I work with already have masters degree or have taken similar undergrad courses so are much more better prepared. The prof. has not said how he is going to grade the midterms but my percentage grade is really low. I only made a 37 out of 100 in one of my exams.
Eisenmann: it feels nice to know that I am not the only one who is really worried about grades in grad school! Everyone around me seems to be so much more prepared for grad school. I wish you good luck with your graduate work.
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I am a first year Phd student in chemistry and I am having a very hard time in my courses in grad school. I did pretty badly in my midterms despite studying really hard. In one of my classes I am so lost, I don't understand anything at all and I am certain that I will fail it. I need to maintain a B average, otherwise I will get kicked out of the program. I had a near perfect GPA in undergrad, got accepted into most of the top ranking graduate schools that I applied to, and I thought I was smart enough for grad school but now I feel like I am very under-prepared/ not smart enough for grad school . I went to a small school and did liberal arts, so I think my background is not strong enough. Has anyone been kicked out of grad school after failing to maintain the minimum grade point average? I asked a couple of people at my school and most of them say that it is pretty impossible to fail out of a Phd unless you deliberately try to. I really don't know how true that is.
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Thanks a ton for all the info!
Your other questions:
1) Depends on the group and the amount of interest by your peers. Rotations are great for this reason.
2) I recommend the dorms for your first year. You will make a ton of friends outside of your discipline.
3) Harvard has an oral research proposal after your second year. When you pass this, you advance to candidacy.
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The rankings of Harvard and Northwestern are pretty much the same, both are one of the top 10 schools for chemistry. The department at NU is bigger though and people are much nicer but on the other hand I like Cambridge much more than Evanston. My fear about Harvard is that people will be super competitive and it will be hard to find good friends but I don't know if I am correct to assume so. I already have a couple of friends at NU and the people there are super warm and friendly and I know I will not have any difficulty fitting in there but I don't know how things will be at Harvard. I am an international student and fitting in a new place takes me relatively longer. That is my main concern - not being able to fit in. :S
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Students at Harvard sometimes conduct research with two PIs, though it is more common to see students working under one PI while collaborating with an allied group. Group meetings often have visitors from other groups, as there is a HUGE amount of cooperation.
You'll find that some students work independently and others do not. I prefer to work independently, but I still meet with my peers to discuss problem sets before they're due.
The chemistry program is very diverse, and some of my best friends are internationals. Our cohort often throws parties and outings to Boston, and these trips include everyone. You will blend in as well as you try to blend in, if you know what I mean.
I wouldn't worry too hard about the multicultural environment at Harvard..
Thanks proxility, you have been of great help! Which field of chemistry are you in? Do you know how the dynamics in the theory groups are? I think Alan is a pretty nice person and most of the people in his group are really nice. Do you know how the group dynamics in the Shaknovich group is? I didn't get the chance to meet graduate students from the Shaknovich group. Another problem is that these are only two people that I am interested in Harvard. Luckily they are taking students next year but I am not sure if I will be able to get in these groups. Do you know how hard it is to get in you first choice research group at Harvard? And do you recommend staying in the dorms or off campus? And I heard that even if you can collaborate with MIT, Harvard doesn't like to lose students to MIT PIs so it is not really encouraged, how true is that? and can you collaborate outside the CCB department? for example I am also interested in someone in the physics department.
One more thing: what kind of exams does harvard have? To my knowledge there are no prelims or qualifiers at Harvard? so on what basis are students evaluated?
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I'm just speaking from experience. There is plenty of collaboration, cooperation, and interaction between the students. That said, I hope you are able to arrive at a decision. Both are excellent programs.
Proxiity do you go to harvard? Do students do joint research with two PIs? What kind of collaboration takes place between labs?
My main concern is that I went to a very small school which did not have a strong chemistry program. Many of the prospectives had already taken graduate level courses, therefore I think I will need helpful classmates. Is working together for assignments encouraged and practiced? or do students work very independently? Moreover, how is the diversity in the chemistry program? can international students easily blend in?
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This is a false assumption. Did you visit Harvard last week?
yes, I did. Why do you think that it is a false assumption?
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Both schools are pretty good at funding, so funding is not much of a concern. I am more concerned about the research environment. I fear that Harvard might be too competitive and seems like the students don't help each other out.
You should email the PIs at each school to see how long they will fund you, in case you don't get a PhD within 5 years. Some PIs will fund students for more than 5 years. I know of a student who went to the same undergraduate and graduate school for 15 years (6 years for undergraduate and 9 years for graduate). He selected that particular school because he knew it was a safe option since he would still get his PhD even if he can't get them within 5 years.
Jobs for PhD dropout in chemistry?
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Hello everyone! Thank you for your suggestions. I dropped out of my Phd program in May and since then I had not logged into grad cafe, so I just saw the posts. I left grad school and now I work as a computer programmer. I am so glad that I made the move. The work hours are manageable and I have time to pursue my other hobbies. The increase in salary has been drastic and my quality of life has been splendid. Going to grad school was the stupidest decision I have ever made in my life.