Congratulations. Do you have any advice for those who will be writing a PhD thesis in the sciences in the future? Also, did you go to school in Australia or the US (or another country)? I'm not sure if there's a significant difference in the process between Australia and the US. Probably not anything major, but I don't know.
I'm not 100% sure on what the American program does having not been through it. I went straight from my Engineering undergrad, which included honours (not as a separate year) directly to my PhD.
My advice? Don't fuck around too much. Get in and get done. A good supervisor will help immensely. You need someone who you can work with, but that person also needs to be able to give you the space or the support or both to help you succeed.
^ Australians typically do 3 years of undergraduate work, a year of "honours work" and then 3+ years for a PhD. They don't give the masters degree much merit (heck, I don't think there was a single Australian national in my master's program in Australia), and try and claim their honours degree is pretty much equivalent to an American masters (it's not
). You don't get a masters-by-default if you get an Aussie PhD, like you would in a lot of American PhD programs. Anyway, in general Australians tend to be able to obtain PhDs at a younger age if they work as quickly as possible. You pretty much jump right into your research at commencement of the program, whereas in America you typically take classes for 2 years before even selecting a research topic for your PhD thesis.
In non-Engineering fields (and sometimes in Engineering as well), they often ask you to start with a research masters, however that can be upgraded to a full PhD after a year or so, and in the end you will come out with a PhD.
There are a billion coursework masters out there that have various degrees of usefulness. Some are complete crap. Some are actually useful. We have a master of Professional Engineering in my School, that is basically the 2nd semester of 2nd year and the 1st semester of 3rd year of the undergrad course, with a research project in the 2nd year. The course is designed for people who have come from overseas with degrees from Universities that aren't as recognised, or that don't really offer practical experience, but you get less than what our undergrads get. While there are some good coursework masters, mostly, they are just a fundraising exercise...
^ I see. I'd like to get my PhD relatively soon without wasting too much time, but at the same time I'm certainly in no rush to jump into the workplace. I've got the next half century or so to be a wage slave. I see some people who have their PhD by age 25 or even younger...It's impressive and everything, but I can't help but wonder what the point is.
I went straight into my PhD because I didn't get a job. I was offered a scholarship, so I took it. I'm glad that it is out of the way now, because if I went out into industry, for me to come back and do a PhD would have been a ridiculously massive pay cut, and I would have moved on in my life and possibly got myself a mortgage and all that sort of shit.
I'm a bit annoyed that I've taken so long about everything, but I only have myself, and my inherent laziness to blame. I've turned 30 earlier this year, still don't really have any industrial experience, but almost have a PhD. I'm not an eternal student, but I almost am. It's time to get my shit together and move on
CB.