>>11484565(1/2)
>>Go to grad school for hard science / mathI did a PhD in Physics
>>Engage in extremely taxing and mentally laborious work for 12+ hours a day earning effectively minimum wage (if even that)I was not paid but had to pay fees, funded by student loans.
>>Be your advisors little bitch doing all his running around (grading exams, lecturing calc 1 or organizing inane lab "experiments" to hungover mech eng. fratbros etc.)>>Waste your time on ridiculous bullshit because your advisor said so>>Do this for YEARSI avoided that. Avoid medieval grade war lords at all cost. Germany is bad for that, UK and US are better.
>>Graduate in your mid-to-late twenties, broke as shit and in tons of debtI was 28 and broke. I had one bag of books/literature and one suitcase with clothes. That was most of my earthly possessions.
>>Oops! Turns out you're not in the top 0.01% of PhD graduates, so you don't get to do any of the science you actually want to do (and that made you choose to pursue science in the first place)I was not in the top either and I met someone who was elite tier, wondered if this really was a human. Mastering everything from calligraphy and any language to science is not where I am.
>>Pick up a few post-docs for a few years doing essentially the same as you did during your PhDWell first of all you have to move around. I did my PhD in one country and two stints of post doc in two different countries including Japan. It was worth it in all ways other than monetary.
>>Oh would you look at the time, mid-thirties already?I got out before 35, the student debt was towering and salaries were bad. After monthly payments on loans, food, housing and transport I had nothing left. And I spent zero on alcohol and high cost items such as a GF. Not that any would have me, of course, women here do credit checking and I was not the last of the great spenders.
