Very Funny to see this video's title in March when acceptances and rejection are already coming out. My initial response was "No, I got in, it was a good statement believe me!" It makes sense though, both cause it's in response to a tweet from a professor reading them and also for students who want to apply next year.
Pinning this comment so people read the description and realize they need to work on these applications early. Congrats on your acceptance, I hope you enjoy grad school!
As someone who has never thought seriously about going to grad school, I have to say that the name "personal statement" is a dumb name given what you've described. You're basically saying, "Never put anything personal [in the normal meaning of that word] in your personal statement." For first-generation students, this is 100% a "gotcha, bitch!" name.
@@seanbeadles7421 Completely agree, this pretty much filters in those "in the know" at the exclusion of everyone else. It's a great way to lose potential qualified applicants and just end up with the children of academics.
Agree, as a foreigner when I see requirement of personal statement I think like "WTF do you want? Everything important for the commission is in research statement already". And what is interesting, you can't find reliable information what it should be and "good" examples online. It's like University/employer ask you "Please, BS for us a little bit"
@@scotty15002It sucks, but on the other hand... it ironically makes sense. People who are children of academics will typically "know the rules" and would generally need a little less guidance on certain things because they would have already known those tidbits beforehand. An example I have on hand is... if you work in Tech, you *DO NOT* bring a camera into work, and you most certainly *DO NOT* pull out your phone and take pictures of your workplace to share on social media. People who grew up with someone who works in Tech would probably hear about these issues beforehand; people who don't are far less likely to hear about it. It is a *big deal*, as data leaks and the like can happen with the photography issue, and could lead to dismissal if it is seems like you could end up being a security risk that way I... don't like the personal statement thing either due to the veiled discrimination thing going on either. It's not even that veiled if you actually are aware of what's up =/
It's hard to understate how bad my Masters application was. I had been self employed for my whole working life. I did my bachelors 12 years ago and i couldnt contact any of my old Prof's and it was an unrelated subject. I had no references at all. My personal statement was basically "Trust me bro, i got this". They let me in though.
@@hamc9477 Australia doesn't even ask for personal statement. I applied for masters at University of Melbourne and only needed past transcript and a CV.
I applied for a summer research program at a fairly good university my Junior year, and due to their application process being terrible I accidentally got accepted to their PhD program, but didn't receive any funding. I always thought it was a scam, but also that it was hilarious that a school like that would let somebody without a Bachelor's degree into their PhD program.
I didn't apply to graduate school until I was in my 30s so I had no recent/current professors to ask. I'm lucky that my PI and my business office contacts were lovely enough to write glowing letters of recommendation because seriously, what other option is there? Still, I think my personal statement for my current graduate position boiled down to: 'I've published x amount of papers on these topics, and I absolutely love what I do, but there's more for me to learn and I am excited to explore '... even that felt too Disney hopeful for a statement, but 🤷🏽♀️.
I really enjoy your stream or consciousness videos, it took about 25 minutes, but I think you might have answered your own question. That student from Sri Lanka who plans to go back to teach, well that’s what the statement is for. Most students won’t fall into the inspirational hardship category here, so they’ll default to a “I loved the stars when I was young” answer. And that’s ok. But not everyone will. And that’s why your idea of a lottery would miss out on this final level of decision making. Super analysis as usual :)
Now I'm trying to remember what the process was like when I applied to physics grad schools in 2005. I don't _think_ I remember writing a personal statement, just a research statement, so I'm wondering if these have become standard for grad school applications since then. But it's also quite possible I just blocked it out. I had done no research in undergrad, which was obviously stupid, but managed to get into a good program based on good grades and a good GRE. Also, I had never heard of grad students being asked to host prospective new students in their homes before, and now that I've heard about it I'm angry. That's totally insane. If someone had asked me to do that, I would have assumed they were joking and laughed in their face.
This video and advice also applies to any high level job interview or career especially in any creative or highly competitive fields. The same criteria are used just in a bit different formats. At a job interview for example, when at the end they ask, "tell us something about yourself", that's the personal statement and the same do's and don't would apply here as well. Great advice all around for both getting into school and for getting past some panel interview for a highly competitive dream job. The general rule is also to talk about what "value" you can bring to the "organization" vs just listing your accomplishments without that context, without attaching them to how you can be a valuable asset and bring value or what you can do for them. The last thing any panel wants to hear is your personal bs you are dealing with, or feeling like they should owe you something because you think you are a star. Therefore it's wise to focus on what you can do for them and what value they can extract from you being there.
Time to send this to all my undergrad friends! Tis the season! I saw this video after I got accepted to grad school but i totally agree with it and definitely had the same ethos going about it. Loving grad school!
I take your point, but having interviewed many hundreds of software developers, one of the biggest holes, especially with fresh grads, was that I couldn't even convince myself that they wanted to be a software developer. A story about how they were fascinated with some demo they saw in 4th grade and that caused them to dive into learning the subject matter would totally give me a hook. This included people with master's-level degrees, and it was truly baffling how someone could get through a graduate program without finding at least one or two things that they could fake enthusiasm about.
The personal statement has always been the hardest part for me, I love talking about what I study but hate talking about myself. Unless I got poisoned or hurt by the things I study.
you kind of have to start worrying about it from your sophomore year or you might not have enough research experience to get into your top choice schools. They practically want a fully fledged researcher to apply for the positions (and they get them, because there are many people doing just that).
@@mariosblago94 Fair enough. I'm in my first year rn and am working on getting some research experience. It's a bit tough though since I don't really know for sure what I'm gonna major in yet.
@@kiddrone8336 it doesn't matter much as long as you're working in a lab... any lab. The academia machine runs on free labor, so the professors encourage volunteering to afford a living wage... 🫠
My takeaway here is that US academia is weirdly particular, and also particularly weird. Not like academia in Germany isn't weird to be sure, but yours is just off the charts. Seriously. My most heartfelt (and non-sarcastic, I swear) commendations though for moving away from the "all the noise, none of the signal" cesspool that is Twitler. And also really dig the contents of your bookshelf.
I was broke in my senior year, so I only applied to grad programs where the fee could be waived or bypassed. Contact the department or check their website before applying to the school. Some departments have this process where you apply to them "unofficially" and if they accept you, they'll pay the fee for the official graduate school application. And even if they don't have something like this in place, contact them anyway and explain your situation. In my experience, they're always friendly and accommodating. If nothing else, they always need TAs, lol.
My experience applying to grad school was a bit different, but I think that could be because I left the US for grad school. My university asked me to do these things/gather these materials for my application: 1. Online application form (basic info about myself) 2. Letter of application to the dean of the college (there is a culture of asking official permission of the powers that be to accomplish tasks; so every application for anything includes this kind of thing. In my case I talked about what I wished to study and what degree path I was planning on doing.) 3. Official transcripts from undergrad with an apostille because it’s international 4. Personal CV 5. Personal data form (redundant personal information plus addresses, living situation after moving, hopeful course of study, and an official photo for records) 6. Birth certificate 7. Research plan (my research aims during my degree with citations) 8. GWA computation form (gwa is like gpa except it is only grades from relevant course works; so in an excel sheet I entered all my course numbers and names and corresponding grades in grade point form so that the grad school could more easily see how I did within my majors; in my case my class list was very long because I was a triple major in undergrad) 9. 2-3 letters of recommendation (I sent two; there is a recommendation form for the recommender to fill out, and then they can attach a long form letter if they wish, which mine both did of course) 10. Copy of undergraduate degree After they reviewed the application, I was then scheduled an interview via Zoom with two of the professors from the department. There we discussed my background and research aims, and they also confirmed my language skills (later on I had my undergraduate university provide official certification as well because of grad school requirements). After the interview I just waited for the acceptance letter. As you can see, there was no personal statement, nor did this university and culture particularly care about that.
In biology you get a lot of people with grandparents who died of cancer as their impetus to get interested in biology. Every field has its 'look up at the stars'
Man, your end stories were wild. I appreciate this video, interesting to hear what graduate applications sound like. I snuck a coterminal Masters of (Electrical) Engineering out of my college (RPI) and always felt like a false graduate student. The application, finance, and graduation requirements were vary different from the Masters of Science research stuff. So much agree with your position on the personal statement. It's so hard to understand who you are at that age for some of us anyways, feels so strange to try and present some cohesive sparkle to unknown entities.
Nah. There are no "false" graduate students in Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Masters of Science vs Masters of Engineering simply reflect different applications of the foundational Electrical Engineering. Depending on your overall career goals, one makes sense and the other does not (for the most part). P.S. Do you miss Troy, NY?
Great video. I advise people just to keep it simple in those statements. Discuss their skills and background and demonstrate how they are a safe pair of hands, and leave it at that. Wild stories make recruiting committees laugh, but do not yield offers.
Very good advice! I'm retired, so I was in grad school long enough ago that the entrance process was quite different, but I spent the last thirty years of my career hiring technical people and it is *exactly* the same process. Hundreds of resumes, no time to read them all, and dire consequences if you hire the wrong person. (A project for which you have responsibility is late. This is *your* personal failure.) Hiring matters a lot and it's hard. You describe beautifully the rigorous filter that has to be the start of it all. But if anything, I think you're being a bit too nice. Telling people to follow their hearts is, if heeded, much more likely to harm them than to help. *Focus* on getting through the filter. Then, and only then, focus on being selected. Remember that if the people doing the selection/hiring are good people trying to do their job, they will be desperate for information which might be a clue to the best people. But they *must* throw out 90% of the applications before they can concentrate on the heap that are left.
I asked ChatGPT to provide me with a personal statement. This was the output. Sure, here's a sample personal statement for graduate school studying astrophysics: As a young child, I was always fascinated by the night sky. Every clear night, I would stare up at the stars in wonder, trying to make sense of the vast and mysterious universe that surrounded me. As I grew older, my curiosity about the cosmos only deepened, and I began to read more and more about astrophysics, trying to grasp the complex theories and concepts that underpin our understanding of the universe. It was during my undergraduate studies in physics that I realized my passion lay in the field of astrophysics. I was captivated by the idea of using physics to explore the most fundamental questions about the universe, such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the origins of black holes and galaxies, and the evolution of the universe itself. My undergraduate research experience focused on computational astrophysics, where I worked with a team of researchers to develop simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxies. Through this experience, I gained a deep appreciation for the power of simulations and the insight they can provide into complex astrophysical processes. Now, as I look towards graduate school, I am excited to continue my journey of discovery in astrophysics. I am particularly interested in exploring the intersection of astrophysics and cosmology, and I am eager to work with leading researchers in this field to deepen my understanding of the universe and contribute to our collective knowledge of the cosmos. I believe that the graduate program in astrophysics at [university name] would provide me with the ideal opportunity to pursue my academic and research goals. I am confident that the program's rigorous coursework and world-class research facilities would challenge and inspire me, and I am eager to join the vibrant community of researchers and students who are dedicated to advancing our understanding of the universe. Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the astrophysics community and pursue my passion for exploring the mysteries of the cosmos. Boring... !, Maybe I needed a better AI prompt? I don't think ChatGPT is quite ready for Astrophysics
I remember very carefully reading directions for my personal statement. If you don't want to read certain things in applications all you have to do is put that in the instructions.
I'm just writing a personal statement to be a part of a non-paid "Scholarly group" and I'm so nervous about it even though someone nominated me for it. I hate writing about myself. Thanks for the advice!
A personal statement should be where you explain how the skills or experience you have will translate into you being good at the job you are applying to - the personal statement is the equivalent of a cover letter. Explain why your skills/experience will set you apart
My way too honest personal statement to the university where I got my BSEE would be something like "I would like to teach at this university because 75% of your professors are garbage who not only don't put much effort into teaching the courses, but openly resent having to teach instead of writing essentially worthless books or doing research that probably never gets used by anyone." I've been in industry for years now and I'm still pretty bitter about this. The professors who knew their stuff and cared about teaching stood out like sore thumbs. Fortunately these videos have thoroughly convinced me I don't want to return to academia.
This sounds daunting. In Melbourne Australia in the 2000s, I just needed to provide my BSc physics honours grades, research proposal and preferred PhD supervisor. No application fees.
The reason they told you that you were their least favorite is because they wanted you to think that the slave labor teaching job they offered was your best option. They probably said the same thing to the other interviewees.
I got accepted into physics graduate school about 40 years ago ... in canada. this was almost entirely on the basis of getting some high marks in some top level undergrad courses. i had nothing else going for me read them cards and weep, all you people who are trying to do it today. ... the pie is shrinking. less crumbs to go around, for the 99%
Well, as a kid I was fascinated by stars (a cousin has built a 50x refractor with lenses and mirrors sold by a science journal as a kit and we would carry the heavy mf to the top of the hill to observe Jupiter satellites in freaking January), but when I applied for a film school, I said I liked westerns. I wasn't accepted until, in the third attempt, I said I was fascinated by the Dutch Renaissance paintings, so that's what you want to say when applying to a film school...
I thought I had a good rapport with one of my profs. Luckily I didn’t have the same profs write me letters for every school. Every school that I applied to with his letter I was rejected, the rest I was accepted. Not sure when I stepped on his toes but apparently we weren’t as friendly as I thought.
I was the second person in my family to graduate college and the first to go to grad school... I was fortunate to have, as an undergrad, worked with (and taught for) the department head, the dean of the college, and the guy that became my graduate advisor. I basically told them I wanted to go and they waved their wand. That said, I didn't go to a good school, I went to a close school. It also paid shit. Basically enough to cover tuition and have a second job so I could live.
Also, 'personal statements' are very American. In a lot of countries, you just don't need anything like that. So somebody might have very good English, might not be a first-generation student, but might still be puzzled about what to write.
Me, applying to a humanities program, but still listening (alternative universe me who is just a bit stronger at math might have gone your route though).
I've only ever applied for PhDs in Italy and I've never had to write a personal statement, but I did have to take entrance "tests" where we had to write longform essays on a random topic in our field. (The topic was selected for us.) What a wild application process.
I’m applying for grad programs this fall as a non traditional student. I can’t believe I happened on this, no one gave this info to me in my years up til now.
When you mentioned University of Cincinnati I was like that can't be a coincidence lol. I'm going there for graduate school right now. Anyway fuck kentucky!
Hi Angela. My son graduated from UIUC in mathematics in 5 semesters where most of the classes where online due to the pandemic and he never had a professor for more than one class. No real bonds were made with any professors so any referrals will be quite generic. He's looking to go to grad school for mathematics but doesn't have recommendation letters. Any suggestions to correct this? Thank you for the great video and your time with this question.
There are a few things but many of them are expensive --- First -- He should contact a professor or two that he got a high grade in an upper level course with and tell them what is going on. There might be specific resources or research opportunities in his department for post-bac students. Second -- post-bac research opportunity would be the words to google to find nearby opportunities to get research training outside of undergrad. UIUC is nearby Fermi lab and Argonne lab right? They may have these positions. Third-- He could take additional courses as a post-bac student with those professors he likes that do cool research and intentionally tell them that he is building his resume for a grad school application and ask if they have any research. Fourth --- He could apply for a masters in math (which would be unfunded) and then apply to phd positions after. Fifth -- He could shoot his shot and apply for math phd programs in the Fall. Smaller state schools might understand his predicament if his grades and research statement are good enough. Maybe have him watch my postdoc exodus video to get an idea of the loss of income and earning potential that comes with getting a phd though!
@@acollierastro Thank you for your response and time. We'll certainly look into these. I am pretty sure at this point he isn't interested in pursuing a PhD, thought that could always change.
I 100% thought that Personal Statement meant a statement about what you wanted to bring to the field. "My personal Statement!" But maybe that was good? I got in. I am a 1st generation student.
I'm not applying for grad school or even smart enough to do so, I just enjoy hearing smart people rant about random niche stuff. That said, your captions here have left me with Roxette stuck in my head, so thanks for that.
AC: "In dinosaur school..." Me: You tell about how you walked 20 miles to school in all weathers, and got slaps for breakfast, punches for lunch and a whipping for dinner. Wait... Which dinosaurs are we talking about again? 😉
Seems like a lot of this could be avoided by making the instructions on the essay more clear. Not everyone is going to know to go look on the internet for clarification, they're just going to read the instructions and follow them to the best of their abilities.
being recommended 8 months later for a position you dont want after being told you were the 3rd choice out of 3 for a position that no longer exists is wild 😅😅
Let me humbly suggest if you are film school perhaps it would be better to say that you were impressed by the cinematography of Bergman's "Winter's Light," than "Lord of the Rings." If like a large number of people, you can't bring yourself to say anything good about "Winter's Light," you are probably going to have a miserable time at Film School. Either way, you should probably watch "Winter's Light" to see what you are getting into.
Personal statements sound just as annoying as cover letters. while not being a person in the science community i really hate this part of applying to places. ill note i work in IT so my world maybe very different than the one spoken of here.
This video has managed to make me more upset about Academia than anything else ever has, which is impressive. The idea that a university is going to be looking at an applicant being like "what are you going to do for us?" Is just gross to me given that most people see graduate SCHOOL as education, not a job. Speaking of someone with two graduate and who still thinks this way I'm watching this video and wondering how the hell I even got in.
As a European I'm confused about what exactly "undergrad" and "grad school" mean in your context. In Sweden you have a three year bachelors, 2 year master and then you can apply for a PhD position. Does "undergrad" refer to bachelor or bachelor + master? Can you apply for a PhD position after only three years of university education?
Generally undergrad programs in the US are 4 years long. Some people immediately apply to a PhD program after that, but some either don't want to commit to that, or more likely don't get funding, and at least stay in the field and move towards some additional degree that might make it more likely that they'll get into a PhD program later.
The education system is so inefficient and the barrier to entry is absurd. As an American these videos will be the closest thing to education I'll ever get
I'd love to go to grad school but I wasn't the best student, my gpa is abysmal. And I never did research. 2 years into the workforce, and my hopes are very low.
Not one of the five people, but found that fascinating anyway. My question is do they always go through the application documents in that order? (Obviously the c-note is always first) Also do they tell you which level you reached? Probably not if they just ghost you.
..... Hearing you talk about this just made me extremely anxious about applying. Am I really going to just be thrown out for having a low GPA? My advisor doesn't seem too concerned when I told him I wanted to apply to UIUC because they're one of the top schools in condensed matter but they have a GPA cutoff of below 3.00. Im below that and he told me that my research experience and letters of recommendation are more important. He suggested i do well on the GRE and explain my low GPA in my personal statement (it's hard to find time to do your homework when you're picking up extra shifts and still behind on rent) and in my final stretch I'm going to do my best to get over that threshold. Still, what if i don't? Will any of that even matter if they don't even look past the GPA? At the end of the day, there are other schools but i can't afford to apply to them all either
"...but what really kept my attention was Super Mario 64. I was fascinated by the boost it gave to my imagination, after it had shown me an entirely new world that I could see, and hear, and interact with. That's why I'm so interested in this computer science program - because of the love I have for video games. You see, I spent my youth experiencing such gems as '𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒁𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒂: 𝑴𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓𝒂'𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒌', and it revealed to me the power that computers have for bringing ideas into reality..."
I propose that instead of $100 everybody needs to enclose a 100mL bottle of blood with their application. All applicants should have a roughly equal amount of blood, and it shows an appropriate level of earnestness. Reviewers will open and confirm blood authenticity prior to dumping it into a big bucket and accepting the application for consideration.
And then the accepted students get all the blood to use in their research! (sadly not particularly useful if you're going for a PhD in like, linguistics or something)
Same. I had a bad GPA in college but a successful career. I'm Thinking about grad school. This video definitely encouraged me to not waste my time and money. Such needless gatekeeping. To think you could do everything right, just to have your application thrown out because you never established a strong relationship with a professor.
Damn, I just applied to a master's program two days ago and I literally did exactly that with my motivation letter. Now I'm even more sure they probably won't accept me :(
Man I put off applying to graduate school specifically because of the application fees and the personal statement. First-generation means having none of the resources to be able to do either of those well and everybody around me had the same "well I dunno write about why you're interested in XXXXX" shrug. Thankfully I was able to find a master's program that had no app fee, no tuition, and no personal statement and decisions were based on grades in relevant coursework and CV. Most transparent and simplified application I've had and I love my program. Now that I'm looking at PhD programs, you have no idea how helpful this is to me. I'll probably come back to it when I apply but honestly, thank you for this. This video was the realest insight into grad school application committees I've gotten and first-gen students really need someone who knows what they're doing to tell them what's going on. We sure as hell don't. This is such important knowledge for us. Thank you!
This is really nice! The most important advice is to ask people in your field though. I'm sure you have some good mentors in your masters program. Good luck with your apps!
I love how you called this niche but you presented it all super interestingly for people like me who have no personal investment in higher education. I didn't even know what a personal statement was before this video but I watched the whole thing.
Angela! You are a first rate story teller. I'm not in the process of applying to graduate school but found this video interesting and entertaining. You gave people applying to graduate school great advice on how to go through the process. BTW, I only went as far as a masters degree in molecular biology. That was enough school for me.
I felt a little PTSD watching this not because of my own experience so much, which was a long time ago and ended up working out fine for me in the end, but for the part at the end with the adjunct/assistant professor thing. For me it's like a creepypasta story but in academia, and your delivery does not disappoint.
This is why I'll always prefer the industry over academia. In the industry you can literally come off the street, apply to a job, you get tested, and if you're a good fit you get the big bucks and if you're selective enough about which jobs you apply for, you'll have fun tackling problems that are just as interesting. Not to mention a lot of companies have a hard time finding people, so competition is rarely tough.
It _really_ depends on the industry. Oh so many places still have education requirements, and while the movement for abolishing them is gaining strength, there's a really practical reason for not: H1B visas-if a position doesn't require higher education in a niche field, you won't be able to recruit and hire international talent. And if you _absolish_ education requirements, you're putting at risk the immigration status of the people you brought in on those visas. *tl;dr-America's garbage immigration system ruins everything*
which field are you in? In mine it seems so often that academia is where the open-ended questions are, and industry mostly wants to improve the tech they sell.
Omg I love your videos so much! I have just discovered you and I thought you'd have many more subs. I love the way you approach your content, I like a break from highly produced vids.
Angela - Most PhDs on RUclips are science communicators. How refreshing a real person; not just a scientist. I will never forget the start of your channel with the courage you showed to go on the record about sexual harassments. Your real person common sense style is greatly appreciated in world of false narratives and performers.
![Cody Johnson - I'm Gonna Love You (with Carrie Underwood) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yy9PuYMU29g/mqdefault.jpg)
Very Funny to see this video's title in March when acceptances and rejection are already coming out. My initial response was "No, I got in, it was a good statement believe me!" It makes sense though, both cause it's in response to a tweet from a professor reading them and also for students who want to apply next year.
Pinning this comment so people read the description and realize they need to work on these applications early.
Congrats on your acceptance, I hope you enjoy grad school!
"Ever since I was a kid, I've hated space"
-there, that's a freebie for anyone applying. Guaranteed to make you stand out!
“I’m applying to this astrophysics program to hopefully destroy space from the inside out”
Wait, isn't that the backstory of the main antagonists from _Life, the Universe and Everything?_
its insane how true this is
I learned fluid dynamics so I would have total mastery over my lifelong nemesis: fluid.
As someone who has never thought seriously about going to grad school, I have to say that the name "personal statement" is a dumb name given what you've described. You're basically saying, "Never put anything personal [in the normal meaning of that word] in your personal statement." For first-generation students, this is 100% a "gotcha, bitch!" name.
Yea it reeks of a classist shibboleth
@@seanbeadles7421 Completely agree, this pretty much filters in those "in the know" at the exclusion of everyone else. It's a great way to lose potential qualified applicants and just end up with the children of academics.
Agree, as a foreigner when I see requirement of personal statement I think like "WTF do you want? Everything important for the commission is in research statement already". And what is interesting, you can't find reliable information what it should be and "good" examples online. It's like University/employer ask you "Please, BS for us a little bit"
@@scotty15002It sucks, but on the other hand... it ironically makes sense. People who are children of academics will typically "know the rules" and would generally need a little less guidance on certain things because they would have already known those tidbits beforehand. An example I have on hand is... if you work in Tech, you *DO NOT* bring a camera into work, and you most certainly *DO NOT* pull out your phone and take pictures of your workplace to share on social media. People who grew up with someone who works in Tech would probably hear about these issues beforehand; people who don't are far less likely to hear about it. It is a *big deal*, as data leaks and the like can happen with the photography issue, and could lead to dismissal if it is seems like you could end up being a security risk that way
I... don't like the personal statement thing either due to the veiled discrimination thing going on either. It's not even that veiled if you actually are aware of what's up =/
Fellow star trek enjoyer i see. TNG?
really enjoyed paleontology referred to as "dinosaur school" like maybe u are a dinosaur who is applying for dinosaur graduate school
"Despite my shortcomings, I have a great interest in writing about this field." - Tyrannosauru S. Rex
NCSU has a model farm with a sign, "Chicken Educational Unit" 😂 bok, bok, bah-ok...
😂
I was thinking the same thing. And how sad it was that the dinosaur graduate spent their formative years in a museum.
Professor, upon reading the dinosaur’s personal statement: “Clever girl.”
It's hard to understate how bad my Masters application was. I had been self employed for my whole working life. I did my bachelors 12 years ago and i couldnt contact any of my old Prof's and it was an unrelated subject. I had no references at all. My personal statement was basically "Trust me bro, i got this".
They let me in though.
Good vibe, man
money talks
Australia?
@@hamc9477 england
@@hamc9477 Australia doesn't even ask for personal statement. I applied for masters at University of Melbourne and only needed past transcript and a CV.
I applied for a summer research program at a fairly good university my Junior year, and due to their application process being terrible I accidentally got accepted to their PhD program, but didn't receive any funding. I always thought it was a scam, but also that it was hilarious that a school like that would let somebody without a Bachelor's degree into their PhD program.
ROFL as a former pastry chef, the number of "I love learning to bake pies with my grandma" we got on applications was unbelievable... But we loved it!
Haha...I guess it's better than "I love eating pies". :)
(I think a lot of gamers think wishfully that game development means getting paid to play games.)
I had a friend who applied to NASA to become an Astronaut. He now has his framed Astronaut rejection letter proudly displayed on his living room wall.
I didn't apply to graduate school until I was in my 30s so I had no recent/current professors to ask. I'm lucky that my PI and my business office contacts were lovely enough to write glowing letters of recommendation because seriously, what other option is there? Still, I think my personal statement for my current graduate position boiled down to: 'I've published x amount of papers on these topics, and I absolutely love what I do, but there's more for me to learn and I am excited to explore '... even that felt too Disney hopeful for a statement, but 🤷🏽♀️.
I think hopeful earnestness takes a lot more courage than bland cynicism
I'm not applying I just want my personal statement dissed retroactively
I really enjoy your stream or consciousness videos, it took about 25 minutes, but I think you might have answered your own question. That student from Sri Lanka who plans to go back to teach, well that’s what the statement is for. Most students won’t fall into the inspirational hardship category here, so they’ll default to a “I loved the stars when I was young” answer. And that’s ok. But not everyone will. And that’s why your idea of a lottery would miss out on this final level of decision making. Super analysis as usual :)
Now I'm trying to remember what the process was like when I applied to physics grad schools in 2005. I don't _think_ I remember writing a personal statement, just a research statement, so I'm wondering if these have become standard for grad school applications since then. But it's also quite possible I just blocked it out. I had done no research in undergrad, which was obviously stupid, but managed to get into a good program based on good grades and a good GRE.
Also, I had never heard of grad students being asked to host prospective new students in their homes before, and now that I've heard about it I'm angry. That's totally insane. If someone had asked me to do that, I would have assumed they were joking and laughed in their face.
This comment is to encourage the youtube algorithm to promote this video; the upvote is for the diss of Ohio relative to Kentucky.
This video and advice also applies to any high level job interview or career especially in any creative or highly competitive fields. The same criteria are used just in a bit different formats. At a job interview for example, when at the end they ask, "tell us something about yourself", that's the personal statement and the same do's and don't would apply here as well. Great advice all around for both getting into school and for getting past some panel interview for a highly competitive dream job. The general rule is also to talk about what "value" you can bring to the "organization" vs just listing your accomplishments without that context, without attaching them to how you can be a valuable asset and bring value or what you can do for them. The last thing any panel wants to hear is your personal bs you are dealing with, or feeling like they should owe you something because you think you are a star. Therefore it's wise to focus on what you can do for them and what value they can extract from you being there.
Time to send this to all my undergrad friends! Tis the season! I saw this video after I got accepted to grad school but i totally agree with it and definitely had the same ethos going about it. Loving grad school!
I take your point, but having interviewed many hundreds of software developers, one of the biggest holes, especially with fresh grads, was that I couldn't even convince myself that they wanted to be a software developer. A story about how they were fascinated with some demo they saw in 4th grade and that caused them to dive into learning the subject matter would totally give me a hook.
This included people with master's-level degrees, and it was truly baffling how someone could get through a graduate program without finding at least one or two things that they could fake enthusiasm about.
The personal statement has always been the hardest part for me, I love talking about what I study but hate talking about myself. Unless I got poisoned or hurt by the things I study.
I’m not applying to graduate school but I have run across this when applying for typical jobs so this is helpful!
Sounds like a scary & stressful process. Glad I still have a few years before I need to worry about this
you kind of have to start worrying about it from your sophomore year or you might not have enough research experience to get into your top choice schools. They practically want a fully fledged researcher to apply for the positions (and they get them, because there are many people doing just that).
@@mariosblago94 Fair enough. I'm in my first year rn and am working on getting some research experience. It's a bit tough though since I don't really know for sure what I'm gonna major in yet.
@@kiddrone8336 it doesn't matter much as long as you're working in a lab... any lab. The academia machine runs on free labor, so the professors encourage volunteering to afford a living wage... 🫠
My takeaway here is that US academia is weirdly particular, and also particularly weird. Not like academia in Germany isn't weird to be sure, but yours is just off the charts. Seriously.
My most heartfelt (and non-sarcastic, I swear) commendations though for moving away from the "all the noise, none of the signal" cesspool that is Twitler. And also really dig the contents of your bookshelf.
I was broke in my senior year, so I only applied to grad programs where the fee could be waived or bypassed. Contact the department or check their website before applying to the school. Some departments have this process where you apply to them "unofficially" and if they accept you, they'll pay the fee for the official graduate school application. And even if they don't have something like this in place, contact them anyway and explain your situation. In my experience, they're always friendly and accommodating. If nothing else, they always need TAs, lol.
My experience applying to grad school was a bit different, but I think that could be because I left the US for grad school.
My university asked me to do these things/gather these materials for my application:
1. Online application form (basic info about myself)
2. Letter of application to the dean of the college (there is a culture of asking official permission of the powers that be to accomplish tasks; so every application for anything includes this kind of thing. In my case I talked about what I wished to study and what degree path I was planning on doing.)
3. Official transcripts from undergrad with an apostille because it’s international
4. Personal CV
5. Personal data form (redundant personal information plus addresses, living situation after moving, hopeful course of study, and an official photo for records)
6. Birth certificate
7. Research plan (my research aims during my degree with citations)
8. GWA computation form (gwa is like gpa except it is only grades from relevant course works; so in an excel sheet I entered all my course numbers and names and corresponding grades in grade point form so that the grad school could more easily see how I did within my majors; in my case my class list was very long because I was a triple major in undergrad)
9. 2-3 letters of recommendation (I sent two; there is a recommendation form for the recommender to fill out, and then they can attach a long form letter if they wish, which mine both did of course)
10. Copy of undergraduate degree
After they reviewed the application, I was then scheduled an interview via Zoom with two of the professors from the department. There we discussed my background and research aims, and they also confirmed my language skills (later on I had my undergraduate university provide official certification as well because of grad school requirements). After the interview I just waited for the acceptance letter. As you can see, there was no personal statement, nor did this university and culture particularly care about that.
In biology you get a lot of people with grandparents who died of cancer as their impetus to get interested in biology. Every field has its 'look up at the stars'
i've been militated against many times for following directions. never again!
Man, your end stories were wild. I appreciate this video, interesting to hear what graduate applications sound like. I snuck a coterminal Masters of (Electrical) Engineering out of my college (RPI) and always felt like a false graduate student. The application, finance, and graduation requirements were vary different from the Masters of Science research stuff. So much agree with your position on the personal statement. It's so hard to understand who you are at that age for some of us anyways, feels so strange to try and present some cohesive sparkle to unknown entities.
Nah. There are no "false" graduate students in Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Masters of Science vs Masters of Engineering simply reflect different applications of the foundational Electrical Engineering. Depending on your overall career goals, one makes sense and the other does not (for the most part).
P.S. Do you miss Troy, NY?
Great video. I advise people just to keep it simple in those statements. Discuss their skills and background and demonstrate how they are a safe pair of hands, and leave it at that. Wild stories make recruiting committees laugh, but do not yield offers.
In architecture school the equivalent was: please don't say you used to play with LEGOs as a child 😂
Very good advice! I'm retired, so I was in grad school long enough ago that the entrance process was quite different, but I spent the last thirty years of my career hiring technical people and it is *exactly* the same process. Hundreds of resumes, no time to read them all, and dire consequences if you hire the wrong person. (A project for which you have responsibility is late. This is *your* personal failure.) Hiring matters a lot and it's hard.
You describe beautifully the rigorous filter that has to be the start of it all. But if anything, I think you're being a bit too nice. Telling people to follow their hearts is, if heeded, much more likely to harm them than to help. *Focus* on getting through the filter. Then, and only then, focus on being selected.
Remember that if the people doing the selection/hiring are good people trying to do their job, they will be desperate for information which might be a clue to the best people. But they *must* throw out 90% of the applications before they can concentrate on the heap that are left.
And saying that GPA doesn't matter past the standard is bad advice.
Nice breakdown. Lot of jobs outside of academia require personal statements too. So this vid will be helpful to many people.
I asked ChatGPT to provide me with a personal statement. This was the output.
Sure, here's a sample personal statement for graduate school studying astrophysics:
As a young child, I was always fascinated by the night sky. Every clear night, I would stare up at the stars in wonder, trying to make sense of the vast and mysterious universe that surrounded me. As I grew older, my curiosity about the cosmos only deepened, and I began to read more and more about astrophysics, trying to grasp the complex theories and concepts that underpin our understanding of the universe.
It was during my undergraduate studies in physics that I realized my passion lay in the field of astrophysics. I was captivated by the idea of using physics to explore the most fundamental questions about the universe, such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the origins of black holes and galaxies, and the evolution of the universe itself.
My undergraduate research experience focused on computational astrophysics, where I worked with a team of researchers to develop simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxies. Through this experience, I gained a deep appreciation for the power of simulations and the insight they can provide into complex astrophysical processes.
Now, as I look towards graduate school, I am excited to continue my journey of discovery in astrophysics. I am particularly interested in exploring the intersection of astrophysics and cosmology, and I am eager to work with leading researchers in this field to deepen my understanding of the universe and contribute to our collective knowledge of the cosmos.
I believe that the graduate program in astrophysics at [university name] would provide me with the ideal opportunity to pursue my academic and research goals. I am confident that the program's rigorous coursework and world-class research facilities would challenge and inspire me, and I am eager to join the vibrant community of researchers and students who are dedicated to advancing our understanding of the universe.
Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the astrophysics community and pursue my passion for exploring the mysteries of the cosmos.
Boring... !, Maybe I needed a better AI prompt? I don't think ChatGPT is quite ready for Astrophysics
I remember very carefully reading directions for my personal statement. If you don't want to read certain things in applications all you have to do is put that in the instructions.
I'm just writing a personal statement to be a part of a non-paid "Scholarly group" and I'm so nervous about it even though someone nominated me for it. I hate writing about myself. Thanks for the advice!
I love these video essays and presentations and speeches on RUclips.
Idk? Personal statement is like the bonus thing that makes you standout right? So what makes you standout? It's not just vibes.
A personal statement should be where you explain how the skills or experience you have will translate into you being good at the job you are applying to - the personal statement is the equivalent of a cover letter. Explain why your skills/experience will set you apart
I would treat a personal statement more like a cover letter. Show them you can fit in by looking at the values of the institution and department.
My way too honest personal statement to the university where I got my BSEE would be something like "I would like to teach at this university because 75% of your professors are garbage who not only don't put much effort into teaching the courses, but openly resent having to teach instead of writing essentially worthless books or doing research that probably never gets used by anyone."
I've been in industry for years now and I'm still pretty bitter about this. The professors who knew their stuff and cared about teaching stood out like sore thumbs.
Fortunately these videos have thoroughly convinced me I don't want to return to academia.
This sounds daunting. In Melbourne Australia in the 2000s, I just needed to provide my BSc physics honours grades, research proposal and preferred PhD supervisor. No application fees.
The reason they told you that you were their least favorite is because they wanted you to think that the slave labor teaching job they offered was your best option. They probably said the same thing to the other interviewees.
I got accepted into physics graduate school about 40 years ago ... in canada.
this was almost entirely on the basis of getting some high marks in some top level undergrad courses. i had nothing else going for me
read them cards and weep, all you people who are trying to do it today.
... the pie is shrinking. less crumbs to go around, for the 99%
Well, as a kid I was fascinated by stars (a cousin has built a 50x refractor with lenses and mirrors sold by a science journal as a kit and we would carry the heavy mf to the top of the hill to observe Jupiter satellites in freaking January), but when I applied for a film school, I said I liked westerns. I wasn't accepted until, in the third attempt, I said I was fascinated by the Dutch Renaissance paintings, so that's what you want to say when applying to a film school...
I thought I had a good rapport with one of my profs. Luckily I didn’t have the same profs write me letters for every school. Every school that I applied to with his letter I was rejected, the rest I was accepted. Not sure when I stepped on his toes but apparently we weren’t as friendly as I thought.
I was the second person in my family to graduate college and the first to go to grad school... I was fortunate to have, as an undergrad, worked with (and taught for) the department head, the dean of the college, and the guy that became my graduate advisor. I basically told them I wanted to go and they waved their wand.
That said, I didn't go to a good school, I went to a close school. It also paid shit. Basically enough to cover tuition and have a second job so I could live.
Also, 'personal statements' are very American. In a lot of countries, you just don't need anything like that. So somebody might have very good English, might not be a first-generation student, but might still be puzzled about what to write.
Me, applying to a humanities program, but still listening (alternative universe me who is just a bit stronger at math might have gone your route though).
this is actually great advice and probably explains a lot about my applications 😅
I've only ever applied for PhDs in Italy and I've never had to write a personal statement, but I did have to take entrance "tests" where we had to write longform essays on a random topic in our field. (The topic was selected for us.) What a wild application process.
I feel personally attacked by this title. LOL
I’m applying for grad programs this fall as a non traditional student. I can’t believe I happened on this, no one gave this info to me in my years up til now.
When you mentioned University of Cincinnati I was like that can't be a coincidence lol. I'm going there for graduate school right now. Anyway fuck kentucky!
Hi Angela. My son graduated from UIUC in mathematics in 5 semesters where most of the classes where online due to the pandemic and he never had a professor for more than one class. No real bonds were made with any professors so any referrals will be quite generic. He's looking to go to grad school for mathematics but doesn't have recommendation letters. Any suggestions to correct this? Thank you for the great video and your time with this question.
There are a few things but many of them are expensive ---
First -- He should contact a professor or two that he got a high grade in an upper level course with and tell them what is going on. There might be specific resources or research opportunities in his department for post-bac students.
Second -- post-bac research opportunity would be the words to google to find nearby opportunities to get research training outside of undergrad. UIUC is nearby Fermi lab and Argonne lab right? They may have these positions.
Third-- He could take additional courses as a post-bac student with those professors he likes that do cool research and intentionally tell them that he is building his resume for a grad school application and ask if they have any research.
Fourth --- He could apply for a masters in math (which would be unfunded) and then apply to phd positions after.
Fifth -- He could shoot his shot and apply for math phd programs in the Fall. Smaller state schools might understand his predicament if his grades and research statement are good enough.
Maybe have him watch my postdoc exodus video to get an idea of the loss of income and earning potential that comes with getting a phd though!
@@acollierastro Thank you for your response and time. We'll certainly look into these. I am pretty sure at this point he isn't interested in pursuing a PhD, thought that could always change.
I 100% thought that Personal Statement meant a statement about what you wanted to bring to the field. "My personal Statement!"
But maybe that was good? I got in.
I am a 1st generation student.
i dropped out of college and I didn't even need a statement
this video should be taught in schools. you are awesome
Luckily I never said "lol I'm allergic so I love immunology". In fact I don't talk about immunology at all, I just stay factual in what I want to do.
From the first time I put my tounge on a 9v battery ...
Btw, just breathe, it's ok, it's fine.... Any time these things are said, take a shot and get drunk.
Pointing it out with love, don't change a thing.
BEST GRAD SCHOOL ADVISE EVER!
I'm not applying for grad school or even smart enough to do so, I just enjoy hearing smart people rant about random niche stuff. That said, your captions here have left me with Roxette stuck in my head, so thanks for that.
Wait, there’s a dinosaur school???
In the UK applications are free. The catch is you pay for gradschool
Man the American research landscape is really hellish, absolutely have not encountered most of this on my research journey
AC: "In dinosaur school..."
Me: You tell about how you walked 20 miles to school in all weathers, and got slaps for breakfast, punches for lunch and a whipping for dinner. Wait... Which dinosaurs are we talking about again? 😉
like the majoras mask transitions
It's ok for undergrad intern applications, which is all I've dealt with, but even cringey there.
Seems like a lot of this could be avoided by making the instructions on the essay more clear. Not everyone is going to know to go look on the internet for clarification, they're just going to read the instructions and follow them to the best of their abilities.
being recommended 8 months later for a position you dont want after being told you were the 3rd choice out of 3 for a position that no longer exists is wild 😅😅
Let me humbly suggest if you are film school perhaps it would be better to say that you were impressed by the cinematography of Bergman's "Winter's Light," than "Lord of the Rings." If like a large number of people, you can't bring yourself to say anything good about "Winter's Light," you are probably going to have a miserable time at Film School. Either way, you should probably watch "Winter's Light" to see what you are getting into.
Personal statements sound just as annoying as cover letters. while not being a person in the science community i really hate this part of applying to places. ill note i work in IT so my world maybe very different than the one spoken of here.
This video has managed to make me more upset about Academia than anything else ever has, which is impressive. The idea that a university is going to be looking at an applicant being like "what are you going to do for us?" Is just gross to me given that most people see graduate SCHOOL as education, not a job. Speaking of someone with two graduate and who still thinks this way I'm watching this video and wondering how the hell I even got in.
As a European I'm confused about what exactly "undergrad" and "grad school" mean in your context. In Sweden you have a three year bachelors, 2 year master and then you can apply for a PhD position. Does "undergrad" refer to bachelor or bachelor + master? Can you apply for a PhD position after only three years of university education?
Generally undergrad programs in the US are 4 years long. Some people immediately apply to a PhD program after that, but some either don't want to commit to that, or more likely don't get funding, and at least stay in the field and move towards some additional degree that might make it more likely that they'll get into a PhD program later.
"This loser likes space! Toss them out!" 😂
The education system is so inefficient and the barrier to entry is absurd. As an American these videos will be the closest thing to education I'll ever get
I'd love to go to grad school but I wasn't the best student, my gpa is abysmal. And I never did research. 2 years into the workforce, and my hopes are very low.
How did my professors let me submit grad school apps that read like one of these essays then?? WTF?
Not one of the five people, but found that fascinating anyway. My question is do they always go through the application documents in that order? (Obviously the c-note is always first) Also do they tell you which level you reached? Probably not if they just ghost you.
You should sell t-shirts that say "it's fine".
Brett Kavanaugh's personal statement: "I LIKE BEER!"
Man this makes me glad I failed my career just after the bachelor's degree part. This sounds stressful lol.
..... Hearing you talk about this just made me extremely anxious about applying. Am I really going to just be thrown out for having a low GPA? My advisor doesn't seem too concerned when I told him I wanted to apply to UIUC because they're one of the top schools in condensed matter but they have a GPA cutoff of below 3.00. Im below that and he told me that my research experience and letters of recommendation are more important. He suggested i do well on the GRE and explain my low GPA in my personal statement (it's hard to find time to do your homework when you're picking up extra shifts and still behind on rent) and in my final stretch I'm going to do my best to get over that threshold. Still, what if i don't? Will any of that even matter if they don't even look past the GPA? At the end of the day, there are other schools but i can't afford to apply to them all either
ok but what if I REALLY love space?
6:24 why don't they just stop calling you in a personal statement and call it what they really want people to write
"...but what really kept my attention was Super Mario 64. I was fascinated by the boost it gave to my imagination, after it had shown me an entirely new world that I could see, and hear, and interact with. That's why I'm so interested in this computer science program - because of the love I have for video games. You see, I spent my youth experiencing such gems as '𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒁𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒂: 𝑴𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓𝒂'𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒌', and it revealed to me the power that computers have for bringing ideas into reality..."
I propose that instead of $100 everybody needs to enclose a 100mL bottle of blood with their application. All applicants should have a roughly equal amount of blood, and it shows an appropriate level of earnestness. Reviewers will open and confirm blood authenticity prior to dumping it into a big bucket and accepting the application for consideration.
And then the accepted students get all the blood to use in their research!
(sadly not particularly useful if you're going for a PhD in like, linguistics or something)
@@APSejuani Donate it to a frat. They wouldn’t have to spend as much on goat blood.
How do you know it’s the grad student’s own blood? You have to send it for DNA testing. So then they also need to send you $1000 for the DNA test.
@@zornslemon They can always take the blood from person's veins on spot or something
Listening to you makes me grateful that I am a college dropout.
same
Same. I had a bad GPA in college but a successful career. I'm Thinking about grad school. This video definitely encouraged me to not waste my time and money. Such needless gatekeeping. To think you could do everything right, just to have your application thrown out because you never established a strong relationship with a professor.
Damn, I just applied to a master's program two days ago and I literally did exactly that with my motivation letter. Now I'm even more sure they probably won't accept me :(
Hopefully it goes well anyways. I'm sending you positive vibes
It’s such a common mistake, if your application is otherwise great im sure your personal statement won’t negatively effect you. Good luck!
Dear Mr Derp, I am watching this video 5 months late. Could you please give us an update? Did you get in? I hope you did!
Best wishes!
@@BramHeerebout Oh my god, just now I saw the notification of your reply. Sorry!
But I DID get accepted!! Thank you so much for your wishes!!
@MrDerp72 Hey thank you for the update! That is positive news. Good luck with your adventure. Italy is wonderful!
Man I put off applying to graduate school specifically because of the application fees and the personal statement. First-generation means having none of the resources to be able to do either of those well and everybody around me had the same "well I dunno write about why you're interested in XXXXX" shrug. Thankfully I was able to find a master's program that had no app fee, no tuition, and no personal statement and decisions were based on grades in relevant coursework and CV. Most transparent and simplified application I've had and I love my program. Now that I'm looking at PhD programs, you have no idea how helpful this is to me. I'll probably come back to it when I apply but honestly, thank you for this. This video was the realest insight into grad school application committees I've gotten and first-gen students really need someone who knows what they're doing to tell them what's going on. We sure as hell don't. This is such important knowledge for us. Thank you!
This is really nice! The most important advice is to ask people in your field though. I'm sure you have some good mentors in your masters program. Good luck with your apps!
Whoa - no app fee AND no tuition? Can't be in the USA right
The 100 dollars is absolutely wild in my opinion. Promotes inequity.
They want to make sure you understand the game is pay-to-win, so they make you ante up
Acollierastro: "And I hope not to make a habit of making videos about tweets... because that's so pathetic"
Little Joel: "Am I a joke to you?"
something tells me Little Joel would agree at his own expense
This intersection of academic nerds and little Joel watchers is so funny to me. Are we all just the same person?
@@bettievw huh when did I write this comment? I could've sworn I had no account by that name. Ah, good reminder to go check on Little Joel as well
@@bettievwwe ARE all the same person. Cool, huh?
Still waiting for Medium Joel.
how about: "In high school I never read Michio Kaku because I knew even back then that he is a hack?"
❤❤❤😂🎉
Genius!!!
I'm so tempted to bring up some musical analog but that would be too cruel to the musicians.
As a non-academic whose partner is a professor, i appreciate all these glimpses into that world.
I love how you called this niche but you presented it all super interestingly for people like me who have no personal investment in higher education. I didn't even know what a personal statement was before this video but I watched the whole thing.
Angela! You are a first rate story teller. I'm not in the process of applying to graduate school but found this video interesting and entertaining. You gave people applying to graduate school great advice on how to go through the process. BTW, I only went as far as a masters degree in molecular biology. That was enough school for me.
Damn, it is actually good that im stupid so I dont have to be scientist and participate in hell you describe.
Exactly what I'm thinking lmao
You're really great at talking about things in a captivating way. I'm an undergrad and have no use for this information imho but it was interesting!
I’m a high schooler who wants to be an astrophysicist and this channel is a goldmine of horror stories and advice
How it going a year later into your undergrad studies? Is it relevant now?
I felt a little PTSD watching this not because of my own experience so much, which was a long time ago and ended up working out fine for me in the end, but for the part at the end with the adjunct/assistant professor thing. For me it's like a creepypasta story but in academia, and your delivery does not disappoint.
"it was 2019, so it was *before*"
This is why I'll always prefer the industry over academia. In the industry you can literally come off the street, apply to a job, you get tested, and if you're a good fit you get the big bucks and if you're selective enough about which jobs you apply for, you'll have fun tackling problems that are just as interesting. Not to mention a lot of companies have a hard time finding people, so competition is rarely tough.
You also learn a lot more in industry.
It _really_ depends on the industry. Oh so many places still have education requirements, and while the movement for abolishing them is gaining strength, there's a really practical reason for not:
H1B visas-if a position doesn't require higher education in a niche field, you won't be able to recruit and hire international talent. And if you _absolish_ education requirements, you're putting at risk the immigration status of the people you brought in on those visas.
*tl;dr-America's garbage immigration system ruins everything*
which field are you in? In mine it seems so often that academia is where the open-ended questions are, and industry mostly wants to improve the tech they sell.
Omg I love your videos so much! I have just discovered you and I thought you'd have many more subs. I love the way you approach your content, I like a break from highly produced vids.
Angela - Most PhDs on RUclips are science communicators. How refreshing a real person; not just a scientist. I will never forget the start of your channel with the courage you showed to go on the record about sexual harassments. Your real person common sense style is greatly appreciated in world of false narratives and performers.