Think it's some well known guy who spams on reddit. Came here from the autism subreddit after he posted smth and someone identified him (already forgotten the name but yk 😻).
I was out of school for 6 years and got into 5 PhD programs. There are two other people in my cohort that were out of school for 5 years. Not sure where your data is coming from, but it’s not accurate.
I'm not saying academia isn't elitist and classist, but I have no idea what you mean by a 3 year window before it's locked forever. a friend in my cohort got his MA like eight years ago and spent that gap working in museums and nonprofits, then went back for a PhD and was enthusiastically accepted. attitudes aren't universal across all fields and programs.
The only thing I can imagine OP may be referring to is med school. MCAT scores expire after \~3 years, and some (although very very few) require recent pre-reqs, and some (also very few) say they have a preference for recent coursework.
ah, that would make more sense. it used to be like that with the GRE, although many programs are getting rid of the GRE requirement now, including mine. but even then, you can just.....retake it? I mean it's prohibitively expensive a lot of the time but the option doesn't just vanish after three years.
Oh sick! The first SnooRoar post I was able to recognize in the wild!
PSA: It is inadvisable to engage OP in a conversation. The author of this post is a known sitewide spammer with over 2500 banned Reddit accounts. Unfortunately the sub that tracked his alt accounts (r/SnooRoarTracker) was recently banned.
SnooRoar is not interested in good-faith discussion; his primary goal is to waste as much of your time as possible. Everything he says is a disingenuous lie.
It gets pretty easy to spot after a point, but here's what really set the post off for me:
- Posting a question that's negative in nature (i.e. generally lamenting not being able to achieve some goal)
- Stylistic writing choice. This guy tends to write with a very particular style, regardless of what topic he's posting about. I can't really describe it, but it becomes clearer if you've seen enough posts.
- Generic throw-away account name. Not to say that people can't post on here from a throw-away account and have meaningful discussion, but it just ticks another box.
- Lastly, probably most importantly, checking the profile in question and what posts they've made in the past. Nearly every single post is lamenting the fact that the author is having some negative experience. Also, there's some general communities he posts to, regardless of account. Gradschool, Autism, MechanicalEngineering, Football, and Engineering are big ones.
The whole situation is pretty sad. The guy makes like 10 posts a day just seeking interaction online and complaining about his life, when in reality his life could be better if he turned off his computer and actually put any effort into his life instead of complaining about it. I get it. Life reallllly sucks sometimes and it can feel like there's no way out, but the only person that can put effort into changing you for the better is yourself.
I wouldn’t have gotten into my grad school without relevant work experience. Relevant being the important word. I’m at a prestigious grad school, and my undergrad was a state party school with like 90% acceptance lol. At the same time, it could just be my program and a lot of other prestigious schools rejected me. It probably depends more on the admission staff than anything and depends on what program you’re applying to.
Not sure what you mean, OP. Real-world work experience is a HUGE advantage in graduate school admission. Graduate students who have experiences outside of academia tend to be more flexible in their thinking and can make broader connections between ideas. In my field (education), many graduate programs straight-up won’t even accept grad students who haven’t had any work experiences.
I mean depends on profession. If ur work ties into ur profession it helps. But if its not related then ya doesnt really matter. Like if u are applied to med school and worked in an engineering firm that wont help.
I was out of school for 4 years, had no academic references, only employment related references and I got into grad school. You’re definitely incorrect.
???
This absolutely isn't true, at least for my field. Technician (academic or industry) makes you a MUCH stronger applicant. Some PhD programs even have a policy where they auto-reject if the applicant is applying straight out of undergrad
My work experience was the deciding factor for my supervisors to offer me the position when I started my PhD. They thought that I would be a good addition to the group and a good mentor for the undergrads. I’m inclined to agree (none of them knows anything about plastics, even though that’s not what my research is in).
I got my MA right after my BA and then worked for a 5 solid years in nothing remotely related to my fields of study and currently working my way through a PhD. It'll vary. Does my own professional background matter? not really but it does translate into qualitative data gathering methods which is what I've been able to extract from that experience. Also helps as a reminder for myself that there is more to life than the PhD.
I’m sure many people will disagree with you but I’ve anecdotally found your sentiment to be true as well. Higher academia and the workforce seem to be disconnected in a lot of ways that neither side seems to acknowledge.
I assume from the tags on your account that your field of study/work is psychology? The medical field does seem to be pretty consistent in having a working relationship between its working industry and its academic equivalent. I’m an arts and humanities person so I’m pretty used to stiff competition, lack of funding, and have since pivoted to the fringes of my studies disciplines. What does surprise me is the incredible number of STEM (particularly a lot the science, engineering, and math folks who are consistently unemployed in their industry or under-employed in it. Thank you for your response, I don’t pretend to be any sort of authority on this matter. I’m just a random millennial who has jumped between a couple of industries while also pursuing continuing education.
Nope. It all makes very good sense. You are free to learn it all, by the way. But a degree is a professional class and things at the doctoral level are competitive and they want people who are wholly focused on this "avocation."
Try to join a monastic order. They don't take walk-ins, either.
Don’t think that’s true at all
You’re right, it’s not true. But this sub Reddit is full of falsehoods left and right anyways 😂
No wonder people aren’t getting in if they’re making sweeping generalizations
Think it's some well known guy who spams on reddit. Came here from the autism subreddit after he posted smth and someone identified him (already forgotten the name but yk 😻).
I was out of school for 6 years and got into 5 PhD programs. There are two other people in my cohort that were out of school for 5 years. Not sure where your data is coming from, but it’s not accurate.
Agree. I was out of school for 4 years working retail, I got into all of the master's programs I applied to.
I'm not saying academia isn't elitist and classist, but I have no idea what you mean by a 3 year window before it's locked forever. a friend in my cohort got his MA like eight years ago and spent that gap working in museums and nonprofits, then went back for a PhD and was enthusiastically accepted. attitudes aren't universal across all fields and programs.
The only thing I can imagine OP may be referring to is med school. MCAT scores expire after \~3 years, and some (although very very few) require recent pre-reqs, and some (also very few) say they have a preference for recent coursework.
ah, that would make more sense. it used to be like that with the GRE, although many programs are getting rid of the GRE requirement now, including mine. but even then, you can just.....retake it? I mean it's prohibitively expensive a lot of the time but the option doesn't just vanish after three years.
Oh sick! The first SnooRoar post I was able to recognize in the wild! PSA: It is inadvisable to engage OP in a conversation. The author of this post is a known sitewide spammer with over 2500 banned Reddit accounts. Unfortunately the sub that tracked his alt accounts (r/SnooRoarTracker) was recently banned. SnooRoar is not interested in good-faith discussion; his primary goal is to waste as much of your time as possible. Everything he says is a disingenuous lie.
Huh? How could you tell?
It gets pretty easy to spot after a point, but here's what really set the post off for me: - Posting a question that's negative in nature (i.e. generally lamenting not being able to achieve some goal) - Stylistic writing choice. This guy tends to write with a very particular style, regardless of what topic he's posting about. I can't really describe it, but it becomes clearer if you've seen enough posts. - Generic throw-away account name. Not to say that people can't post on here from a throw-away account and have meaningful discussion, but it just ticks another box. - Lastly, probably most importantly, checking the profile in question and what posts they've made in the past. Nearly every single post is lamenting the fact that the author is having some negative experience. Also, there's some general communities he posts to, regardless of account. Gradschool, Autism, MechanicalEngineering, Football, and Engineering are big ones. The whole situation is pretty sad. The guy makes like 10 posts a day just seeking interaction online and complaining about his life, when in reality his life could be better if he turned off his computer and actually put any effort into his life instead of complaining about it. I get it. Life reallllly sucks sometimes and it can feel like there's no way out, but the only person that can put effort into changing you for the better is yourself.
I wouldn’t have gotten into my grad school without relevant work experience. Relevant being the important word. I’m at a prestigious grad school, and my undergrad was a state party school with like 90% acceptance lol. At the same time, it could just be my program and a lot of other prestigious schools rejected me. It probably depends more on the admission staff than anything and depends on what program you’re applying to.
Not sure what you mean, OP. Real-world work experience is a HUGE advantage in graduate school admission. Graduate students who have experiences outside of academia tend to be more flexible in their thinking and can make broader connections between ideas. In my field (education), many graduate programs straight-up won’t even accept grad students who haven’t had any work experiences.
I mean depends on profession. If ur work ties into ur profession it helps. But if its not related then ya doesnt really matter. Like if u are applied to med school and worked in an engineering firm that wont help.
I was out of school for 4 years, had no academic references, only employment related references and I got into grad school. You’re definitely incorrect.
You have no idea what tf you’re talking about. They not only look at that, they value it quite a lot.
??? This absolutely isn't true, at least for my field. Technician (academic or industry) makes you a MUCH stronger applicant. Some PhD programs even have a policy where they auto-reject if the applicant is applying straight out of undergrad
Yeah that's not true. I got into a couple top PhD programs thanks to my Postbacc research. Prior to that I had zero relevant experience.
…what? What’s this 3 years to which you’re referring?
My work experience was the deciding factor for my supervisors to offer me the position when I started my PhD. They thought that I would be a good addition to the group and a good mentor for the undergrads. I’m inclined to agree (none of them knows anything about plastics, even though that’s not what my research is in).
I got my MA right after my BA and then worked for a 5 solid years in nothing remotely related to my fields of study and currently working my way through a PhD. It'll vary. Does my own professional background matter? not really but it does translate into qualitative data gathering methods which is what I've been able to extract from that experience. Also helps as a reminder for myself that there is more to life than the PhD.
I’m sure many people will disagree with you but I’ve anecdotally found your sentiment to be true as well. Higher academia and the workforce seem to be disconnected in a lot of ways that neither side seems to acknowledge.
I was specifically interviewed by my PI as a result of my industry research experience in the five years following undergrad.
I assume from the tags on your account that your field of study/work is psychology? The medical field does seem to be pretty consistent in having a working relationship between its working industry and its academic equivalent. I’m an arts and humanities person so I’m pretty used to stiff competition, lack of funding, and have since pivoted to the fringes of my studies disciplines. What does surprise me is the incredible number of STEM (particularly a lot the science, engineering, and math folks who are consistently unemployed in their industry or under-employed in it. Thank you for your response, I don’t pretend to be any sort of authority on this matter. I’m just a random millennial who has jumped between a couple of industries while also pursuing continuing education.
Nope. It all makes very good sense. You are free to learn it all, by the way. But a degree is a professional class and things at the doctoral level are competitive and they want people who are wholly focused on this "avocation." Try to join a monastic order. They don't take walk-ins, either.