What questions do (did) you have about earning an MS in the sciences?
March 25, 2015 4:50 PM Subscribe
I'm putting together a document for future MS students and want to make sure that I'm covering the important bases. What things did you want to know/would you want to know before starting a Master's degree? Field-specific or school-specific things (e.g., questions like "Where is the library") are okay, but I'd also like things that are more general. Thanks!
I would like to see a comprehensive list of employment positions of recent graduates, including numbers for those that remain in academia, those that are unemployed, and those that are working outside of the field. Along with this, I'd like to see a median starting salary of graduates from this program. Any unknown positions and salaries should be acknowledged with something like "30% unknown."
posted by Durin's Bane at 5:03 PM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Durin's Bane at 5:03 PM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Be careful who you sleep with in graduate school because that person might be your colleague/reviewer one day. Dead serious on this one
posted by BadgerDoctor at 5:07 PM on March 25, 2015
posted by BadgerDoctor at 5:07 PM on March 25, 2015
For some fields, it might be good to explain why a MS is an advantage over going straight to a PhD. In my field, it's common not to bother with them and to go straight from undergrad to PhD or else to spend a couple of years as a lab tech instead of the MS. I don't know that applies to your program's field, but if it does--explain the pros and cons of doing a MS.
What's the return on investment? How much debt can a student in the program expect to wind up with, and what return on a future career is there? Is there funding for Masters' students, and if so how easy is it to secure? TAships? What is the rent like in your city? Are there any tips on partitioning your time to get work done effectively? How should you relate to PhD students, postdocs, and undergrads in your new lab--what kinds of things can you expect from them? Will you spend much time with your advisor? How much research to classwork will you be doing?
posted by sciatrix at 5:13 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
What's the return on investment? How much debt can a student in the program expect to wind up with, and what return on a future career is there? Is there funding for Masters' students, and if so how easy is it to secure? TAships? What is the rent like in your city? Are there any tips on partitioning your time to get work done effectively? How should you relate to PhD students, postdocs, and undergrads in your new lab--what kinds of things can you expect from them? Will you spend much time with your advisor? How much research to classwork will you be doing?
posted by sciatrix at 5:13 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
What is Zotero and why is it such a great tool?
posted by Little Dawn at 6:08 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Little Dawn at 6:08 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mendeley forever!
But yeah, pick one of those two and make goddamn sure all the students know about it. (Or both!) I am editing a thesis proposal as we speak and my PI, who does all their citations by hand, keeps making these weird comments on my citation manager's handiwork. I cannot imagine trying to do that, as I toss citations in and pull them out on the fly and would go nuts trying to keep them organized--I'm glad I could just modify my citation style to fix the issue on everything at once instead of having to go painstakingly through the whole thing.
posted by sciatrix at 6:14 PM on March 25, 2015
But yeah, pick one of those two and make goddamn sure all the students know about it. (Or both!) I am editing a thesis proposal as we speak and my PI, who does all their citations by hand, keeps making these weird comments on my citation manager's handiwork. I cannot imagine trying to do that, as I toss citations in and pull them out on the fly and would go nuts trying to keep them organized--I'm glad I could just modify my citation style to fix the issue on everything at once instead of having to go painstakingly through the whole thing.
posted by sciatrix at 6:14 PM on March 25, 2015
This doesn't really apply to my master's, as it's a terminal professional degree, but brainstorming...
What are the job prospects for those who don't continue on to a Phd?
-What kinds of jobs are realistic? Academic or Industry?
What kind of skills will I learn that are transferable to a wider area of jobs?
-Is the coursework statistics heavy for example
I would want to know all the gory details about how classes and labs and such work.
-For example, will I have a lot of evening classes? What is the workload like over the summer?
What are the funding/grant opportunities for conferences and such?
What programs are used in that department for writing articles, compiling research, etc.
-It would be nice to know what is used widely at that school so that you can prepare ahead of time instead of trying to work out all those details while juggling all the demands.
What is the role of an advisor and what is advisor and what is an advisor not. -This may seem obvious, but the role of advising is different at the graduate level.
What percentage go on to a Phd? Straight into work? What percentage finish their degree in the prescribed time? If they further their education, what schools are they going to? If work, where are they working? What is the unemployment rate after six months - year?
posted by Aranquis at 6:24 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
What are the job prospects for those who don't continue on to a Phd?
-What kinds of jobs are realistic? Academic or Industry?
What kind of skills will I learn that are transferable to a wider area of jobs?
-Is the coursework statistics heavy for example
I would want to know all the gory details about how classes and labs and such work.
-For example, will I have a lot of evening classes? What is the workload like over the summer?
What are the funding/grant opportunities for conferences and such?
What programs are used in that department for writing articles, compiling research, etc.
-It would be nice to know what is used widely at that school so that you can prepare ahead of time instead of trying to work out all those details while juggling all the demands.
What is the role of an advisor and what is advisor and what is an advisor not. -This may seem obvious, but the role of advising is different at the graduate level.
What percentage go on to a Phd? Straight into work? What percentage finish their degree in the prescribed time? If they further their education, what schools are they going to? If work, where are they working? What is the unemployment rate after six months - year?
posted by Aranquis at 6:24 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
What are the backgrounds of last years incoming students? And where did last year's outgoing students go?
If you answer this with percentages, please also provide some idea of actual numbers. My otherwise reputable professional science master's program was annoyingly vague about enrollment numbers due to its expanding online degree options. Don't do that.
posted by deludingmyself at 9:36 PM on March 25, 2015
If you answer this with percentages, please also provide some idea of actual numbers. My otherwise reputable professional science master's program was annoyingly vague about enrollment numbers due to its expanding online degree options. Don't do that.
posted by deludingmyself at 9:36 PM on March 25, 2015
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posted by zsazsa at 4:57 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]