Category Archives: Surviving Grad School

Helpful info on Do It Yourself grad studies, because you gotta do so much of it by yourself… But you’re not alone…!

So… What are you gonna do after your PhD?

My labmate Navid found this key and randomly gave it to me. We don’t know what this key is for nor who it belongs to. But Navid labeled it “the key that opens all doors”. What an awesome thought! Now I have a key that opens all doors on my keychain. lol

Yes. That’s right. I’ve been asked this question three times this past week (and I JUST started my PhD).

It’s one of those questions that fans of PhD Comics, myself included, might file in the “Do not ask PhD students” pile (some of these questions include “How’s your research going?” and “How long have you been doing your PhD?”).

Actually, I don’t mind answering this question nor being asked this question. Typically people who ask me this are either interested in joining the incredible world of academia (or robotics research) themselves, or are genuinely interested in my research work/topic that they are curious where I want to take my research.

So none of the motivations for asking these questions poke my heart in any way. It actually gives me the opportunity to reflect on my adventures into the forest of academia. More importantly, it gives me the chance to let others know that just because someone wrote an article on the Economist about how doing a PhD is a terrible idea in terms of job prospective point of view, that really shouldn’t be the main reason for you to stop pursuing what you really want to do in your life. If it does, then maybe research (or the field) isn’t really your passion.

Some of the arguments on The Economist article, which I read a while back (2010), are as follows.

a) “A PhD may offer no financial benefit over a master’s degree. It can even reduce earnings”…. “The earnings premium for a PhD is 26%. But the premium for a master’s degree, which can be accomplished in as little as one year, is almost as high, at 23%. In some subjects the premium for a PhD vanishes entirely.”

b) “Many students say they are pursuing their subject out of love, and that education is an end in itself. Some give little thought to where the qualification might lead. In one study of British PhD graduates, about a third admitted that they were doing their doctorate partly to go on being a student, or put off job hunting. Nearly half of engineering students admitted to this.”

c) “The organisations that pay for research have realised that many PhDs find it tough to transfer their skills into the job market. Writing lab reports, giving academic presentations and conducting six-month literature reviews can be surprisingly unhelpful in a world where technical knowledge has to be assimilated quickly and presented simply to a wide audience.” – quotes from the Economist article.

They are all valid points. If you really care about money, and money is your top priority, then you should probably take a good look at the number and critically think about the figures.

And if you think of tenured faculty positions as the ultimate end to your academic journey, then you might look at the number of PhD students who graduate vs. the number of faculty positions available every year and let out a deep sigh. That’s only if that’s the only ultimate end you’re aiming for. But why should it be?

I read a really great report written by Dev Aujla, an acquaintance of mine, a while back called Occupation: Change the World (you can get a free copy on-line via the link). The report outlined how, in contrast to our parents’ generation where education and career were tightly coupled as though the type of education you get is input to your formula that spits out an output called career/success, people in our generation can find/build successful and meaningful careers with a little bit of willingness to take on a nonlinear path. I believe that if you are open to opportunities as they come, rather than trusting third party sources to predict your future probability of success (using their definition of success to judge your own) and directly applying it to your present decision to pursue your passion, you really shouldn’t have anything to worry about in terms of whether you will have happy life after grad school. Of course, that’s just my opinion.

I told one of prospective grad students that every time I answer the question, I am reminded how I am really glad that I am doing my PhD.

Yes, it is probably going to be the soul sucking hair tearing years of finding an answer to my research question. But yes, it will probably be worth it, because as soon as I find out that the question I’m trying to answer isn’t really worth it, then I will also have some idea as to why that is the case and can move forward from there. So the journey itself can only be worthwhile overall — of course, again, that’s imho. And yes, I think I will enjoy the process of the soul sucking hair tearing experience because I know from my master’s that, beneath it all, it is a lot of learning, fun, and challenging yourself to grow into a better person/researcher.

Within human-robot interaction (my field of research), there isn’t really an abundance of industry jobs out there — let alone roboethics as a matter of fact (also my field of research). And I don’t think there is such a thing as “academic insurance” you can enroll today that will guarantee to pay you a certain amount of money after you graduate if you don’t end up with your dream job at the end of the tunnel.
But, as I recently told the prospective student, if you are already worried about not being hired by someone in the future, then you might want to boost your confidence a little bit and have some faith in your own ability to create your own paths. 😉

Even while looking at 3+ more years of doing my PhD here at UBC, I have no doubt in my mind that my future (after getting my PhD) is going to be filled with excitement, bright paths forward, and happiness. Because, if it isn’t then can’t I find something that will make it so? Of course, I may become super bitter and depressed by the end of my PhD and may laugh when I read this post again. But I hope that my future me — if I do become bitter and depressed or anything like that that is — will continue to find ways to remain creative, not just in research or making stuff, but in designing my own life and my career.

For example, other than applying for a faculty position, I could work for a government organization, apply for an industry position, continue working as a communicator of scientific information on the web, start my own company, work as an independent consultant, etc. Just think about it. So many possibilities!

As long as I don’t rely on decades old formulas someone else has developed as my life’s instruction manual (e.g., do undergrad, go to grad school, do postdoc, apply and hope to god you get hired somewhere), and maintain a level of willingness to take on whatever comes in my way, I think I have no reason to worry about the things the Economist article outlined.

And, although I don’t have my PhD yet and can’t provide a concrete example from my life that everything is going to work out for everyone, I’d like to encourage those of you considering grad school to think about grad school from a positive perspective as well. It doesn’t matter what the numbers or other people tell you is a good or bad life choice, just believe in your own abilities and go for it!

A few epic fails and laughing at myself

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Oh hello there, it’s been a while (and welcome new grad students!).

I think I often start my blog posts by explaining/justifying how long I haven’t been writing on iMech. I don’t think that’s healthy, but it’s hard not to be apologetic about this. I’m actually in Genoa, Italy, sitting at an eloquently prepared breakfast table by myself, typing away, and feeling quite uneasy and somewhat certain that one of the ants on the table will get into my laptop and short circuit.

Yes. I know. You might be thinking “AJung, stop it. Why on earth are you online and blogging? Get out there and enjoy the city.” But no worries. I’ll be quick on this one.

My temporary room in Genoa. 🙂

I just wanted to say that the weekend before flying out on my Europe trip (which is a work trip, not a vacation by the way — trust me on this one), I had an awesome time at the Gambier island with 17 other MEGA people. That’s thanks to Dr. Sheldon Green, our department head, who generously and courageously opened up his cottage for us grad students who wanted to go an epic retreat together. We had some (long) hiking sessions and amateur yoga sessions, but that trip deserves a longer post that this one. So I will post about it later and do justice.

The reason why I am blogging right now — my toast is gradually being donated to the ants btw… hmmp! — is that I had a few epic fail moments this morning and last night.

I had been in Bielefeld, Germany all of last week, and arrived at Genoa, Italy last night to meet with collaborators of mine and to give a talk at a workshop held here. It’s my second time visiting Genoa, and luckily so because my collaborators just happen to be located at such a beautiful city. But what I had forgotten about my first trip to Genoa made me go through a series of epic fails last night. And here are a few.

1) I forgot the fact that power plugs in Italy are different from Germany/NL. But I somehow managed to find the only plug in the entire house that allows me to use my two-prong plug. Yay! I feel like I’ll run into the same problem when I go to Switzerland later this week… hmmp…

2) I did not study Italian last year. I think I tried for like one day and forgot about it because of my mad thesis writing. So I made up for it by getting a 3G plan (a.k.a. google translate on the go). 3G is working now but I still don’t know my Italian phone number. Umm… yeah I should figure that out…

3) In Germany, I sat next to a lady and a child who were sneezing like crazy and now I think I have a cold. Drinking lots of orange juice everywhere I go in order to fight the cold is fighting my bladder room to try local drinks.

4) Feeling like I’ve been away from my family/friends for too long, I skyped home. Woke up the entire family (4am in Ontario) …

Dinner at a pizzeria I discovered last night. Yum~ super thin crust pizza~

So, going through these epic fails within such a short span of time, I was reminded of the time I first moved to Vancouver. When I was trying the transit system for the first time, I was so confused as to which direction I should put the transit tickets through (I didn’t have my U-pass then). And I didn’t know where to go to get a decent dinner for the first few days, because I lacked the type of local knowledge I now take for granted. And that was just me moving from one part of Canada to another. My move from Korea to Canada was more dramatic, but that’s another story.

It’s exciting. But at the same time, it makes you sigh that day to day events are so… eventful when you are not used to the environment you’re now in. With the ambitious thought that I might travel to Genoa more often than I had imagined a few years ago, I am going to explore the city and make this place a little bit more familiar to me than it is now (I’ve already discovered a cozy pizzeria nearby and haven’t got lost yet).

For now, here is a song that’s giving me an extra energy boost right now that, I hope, might give you an extra boost too (sorry, it’s K-pop, but oh well, I’m Korean lol).

Big hugs to everyone new to Vancouver, UBC, or a new environment in general. 🙂

P.S. By the way, I had no idea they’d give me an Italian ad on YouTube when I’m in Italy. Wow!

Getting Ready for Grad School… Part 3: Courses.

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Hello everyone,

It’s another beautiful day in Vancouver. The sun is shinning and there’s abundance of summer berries in the markets — for cheap!

That also means that I am in the mood for having berries mixed in ice cream and whipped cream and condensed milk all together, everyday. It’s perhaps terrible for my body. But I assure you I’ve got at least some exercise done this month to account for it. Organized by MEGA, I went hiking with Mech Eng grad students to the Shannon Falls. It was about six hours of hiking alongside this beautiful body of water that falls about 335 meters (the third highest fall in BC, apparently). It turns out that everyone who went hiking with me were completely fine the day after, whereas I had to take the elevator to go up half a flight of stairs because my thighs were screaming to me “stop moving so much, bah~!!!”

Anyways, long story short, it’s wonderful to spend time in Vancouver in the summer. Unlike Toronto, where the humidex is hitting something above 40 making you feel like there should be a law to make A/C mandatory in all buildings, you probably feel quite pleasant wearing nothing to wearing a long-sleeve shirt in Vancouver.

So if you’re a student coming from another country/city where summer isn’t so pleasant, I would say that it might be worth while to arrive here a bit early, so that you have some time to enjoy the city and its weather before the Fall semester starts in September.

Speaking of the upcoming semester, I should really talk about courses.

I actually blogged about this a while back, and gave an example list of courses I took. So, some of it is repeat, but I figured I’d mention some of the same things and add some other, just because it’s that time of the year.

When I first started grad school, I wasn’t sure what I should be doing differently from undergrad. At the University of Waterloo, courses were more or less chosen for you, schedules optimized to help you survive the week with your classmates. Their Mechatronics program was prepared such that you don’t really have to pick anything other than electives until you hit fourth year. Everyone in my class took the same course with me for the first three years of my undergrad.

So, when it came to choosing my courses for grad school, it was a bit of a confusing experience for me.

First of all, it looked like I had to choose everything. There was/is this helpful program guide the Department has set up that let me know what mandatory things I had to take are. Simply put, if you are an MASc student, you must enrol in the MECH 599 and 598 courses. You should also register for the section that last for both winter terms 1 and 2. If you’re a PhD student, you should enrol in the MECH 699 and 698 courses. Keep in mind, these are not your typical classroom courses where you sit down and take notes. It’s just some administrative thing you need to do to make sure that the Department and the University knows that you’re enrolled in the MASc or the PhD program. MECH598 is actually a seminar course, and you need to attend it for an hour every week. There’s more to it, but maybe I’ll talk about it some other time (I can babble on about that course for quite a while I’m sure).

Oh, and I never really got used to what Winter 1 and Winter 2 terms mean. But I figured it out eventually. So a typical ‘Fall’ term in other schools are considered Winter term 1 at UBC. It starts in early September and ends in early/mid December. Winter term 2 at UBC is kinda like a Winter/Spring term, because it goes from January until the end of April. And then, there are two summer terms, also named 1 and 2. The Summer Term 1 lasts from May until June, and Summer Term 2 goes from July to August.

One thing to keep in mind, for those of you who are international students, is that Canadian universities usually consider an academic year to last from September to April. That means that if an academic year starts in September of 2012, you’re still in the academic year of 2012 in April even if your calendar tells you that it’s April of 2013 today. Confusing? Yes. I know. So if you see the two options, 2012 Winter and 2012 Summer, in the UBC Student Services Centre (yes, it exists online : https://courses.students.ubc.ca) keep in mind that your 2012 Winter Term 2 selections are actually for the semester that lasts from January to April of 2013.

When you first decide on courses, it’s wise to book yourself into courses for both the winter terms. That’s because most students do it that way, from what I’ve heard, and hence all the courses you might like to take in Winter term 2 may be gone by the time you feel like registering for them in November/December. Don’t worry about the summer ones for now.

The key difference in choosing courses in undergrad vs. grad I think is that you need to kind of talk to your supervisor(s) before you enrol in courses. I know some profs don’t really care. Some students take super irrelevant courses, just for fun and just because the tuition is the same. But you should at least take courses that are relevant to your research, so that your courses will help you along the way. So, before settling down on a course or two, ask your supervisor about what courses he/she/they’d recommend you to take. They might even have a canned list of courses to recommend for you (like a list of courses they’d recommend all of their grad students to take).

Another difference is that you don’t really take as many courses in grad school as you would in undergrad. Back at the University of Waterloo, I used to take five courses per term or something along the lines. I think it’s kind of typical of engineering undergrad students in Canada to take just as much. But in grad school, it’s a bit different. You’ll be studying things that no one will teach you in a course, because you’ll be working on things that have not been discovered yet, thoughts that need further thinking, knowledge that hasn’t really made it to the world. That means you become your own teacher, with the guidance of your supervisor(s). So consider your research time as taking an independent study ‘course’ and be prepared to leave some time in your week to do just that — teach yourself.

One thing that I didn’t know before is that you can actually take courses from the Simon Fraiser University if you are not satisfied with the list of courses offered at UBC. I haven’t done this myself, but I know a couple of people who did this. Apparently UBC has an agreement with SFU to make this happen in an not-so-painful way.

Anyways, now that I’ve enrolled for my mandatory courses, I think I will just slip out of the lab and ‘continue working’… outside…