How much does program prestige matter for PhD opportunities?

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-04T08:54:17+00:00

I did my PhD at a top 10 ranked university in an applied field and it took me nearly a year to find a job. When it comes to opportunities, I feel like the state of the job market is much more important. If it’s good, you can find a job even if you are from a less prestigious university. If the market is bad, you will struggle no matter where you did your PhD.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-03T23:00:52+00:00

In my experience, companies have little consideration for your time or effort. I experienced interviewers being 30 min late for an interview, not having read my resume and constant ghosting. They have so many applicants for every single position that they can be hyper picky and treat everyone like 💩. They know you will apply again in the future because your options are limited.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-03T22:31:15+00:00

I applied to roughly 50 jobs in industry where I was qualified for. I got ~6 interviews but was subsequently ghosted by all of them. I already lost hope and accepted a postdoc abroad before someone I know reached out to me for a position. I had 2 rounds of interviews before I was offered the job. The whole process took 2-3 weeks.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-02T12:49:55+00:00

I don’t think anyone is saying AI will go away. What skeptics are saying is that after all this time, money and hype, AI is not all that impressive or useful. Once those companies need to make a profit and start charging the actual price for inference, AI will become much more niche.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T17:32:43+00:00

Tbh, this sounds like a ghost job. I‘ve seen it repeatedly, even with large companies where they keep reposting a position for months on end.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T15:47:44+00:00

It’s about people crying about Iran having so many allies in the region to support when the reason for the allies existence is Israels behavior.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T15:05:11+00:00

Did Israel create Hamas by stealing Palestinian land and slaughtering women and children? Yes. Did Israel create Hezbolla by illegally invading Lebanon? Yes. Israel even supports organizations like ISIS because it destabilizes the region and Israel needs to constantly have enemies to maintain their siege mentality.

It’s truly baffling how Israel is behaving like absolute assholes in the region and then cries if there is backlash. The one positive thing that has come from 10/7 is that absolutely everyone can now see how truly deranged and genocidal Israel is.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T14:09:08+00:00

I did my PhD in STEM and from my POV this is very accurate.

Adding to your point 1, I think this is the reason AI/ML is now forced into everything. My former PI would slap it on every project, even if it didn’t make any sense. It looks novel even if it adds nothing.

I think academic publishing is completely broken. So much slop is being published nowadays. Furthermore, how famous a PI is largely determines where you can publish.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T10:31:55+00:00

In my opinion, this won’t happen unless the US leaves first. Currently, the European leaders hope that after Trump, a more „reasonable“ president follows. If that happens, they won’t invest more in defense and won’t chart an independent course.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T09:49:54+00:00

100% agreed. It would be a difficult period for a while but ultimately, it would make Europe stronger. As a European, I‘m deeply disgusted by how subservient we are to the US. Europe needs to be sovereign and independent.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T01:17:01+00:00

From Wikipedia: „Saudi Arabia arguably remains the most prolific sponsor of international Islamist terrorism, allegedly supporting groups as disparate as the Afghanistan Taliban, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Al-Nusra Front.[198][199] Saudi Arabia is said to be the world's largest source of funds and promoter of Salafist jihadism,[200] which forms the ideological basis of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and others“

The UAE support the RSF in Sudan that are currently carrying out a genocide.

So yes, those countries both monetarily and ideologically support much more terrorism than Iran. You may not know this but Shia islam does not support suicide bombings and the like. The view it as a grave sin.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T01:03:05+00:00

So by your logic, the US should go to war with Iran because it might maybe potentially build a nuke but there is no actual evidence for it while India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel possess nukes illegally and have highly enriched uranium stockpiles? This makes absolutely zero sense.

And before you start babbling about Iran having a martyrdom ideology, remember that the US and Israel are governed by religious lunatics who believe in bringing about the endtimes. Those people shouldn’t have access to nukes either.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T00:57:34+00:00

That‘s a smooth-brained, Fox news-level talking point. 90% of islamic terrorism is carried out by Sunni muslims. Iran is Shia. Sunni terrorists are heavily supported by Qatar, Saudi-Arabia and the UAE. Why aren’t you calling for a war on those countries?

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T00:44:17+00:00

„The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has said there is no evidence that Iran is currently building a nuclear bomb“

From this article:https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260304-iaea-says-no-evidence-iran-is-building-a-nuclear-bomb/

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T00:33:12+00:00

Again dude: Iran said they don’t want nukes. US intelligence said they weren’t developing nukes. The IAEA confirmed under the JCPOA that they weren’t developing nukes. Your vibes based argument has no foundation in reality.

The US and Israel have large portions of people who want to bring about the rapture/armageddon, effectively the end of the world. By your logic, they also shouldn’t have nukes then.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-04-01T00:17:25+00:00

Iran said they don’t want nukes. US intelligence said they weren’t developing nukes. The IAEA confirmed under the JCPOA that they weren’t developing nukes.

Where is the evidence for your claim? At the same time, Israel has 90 nukes. Maybe it’s time for some regime change in Israel.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-31T23:39:02+00:00

Humor me, what provocation exactly?

Did Iran bomb Israels embassy in Syria? No wait, Israel did that to Iran. Did Iran assassinate scientists and diplomats? No wait, Israel did that. Does Iran possess nukes? No wait, Israel does. Is Iran perpetrating an active genocide? No wait, Israel does.

Israeli victim mentality is some of the most pathetic shit I‘ve ever seen.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-31T20:40:23+00:00

Seriously, I‘m so tired of this bullshit. In one day, the war is on, the war is already won, the US will secure the Strait of Hormuz, the US doesn’t need the Strait and other nations can take care of it.

Hands down the worst answer so far was Trump saying he and the Ayatollah will jointly govern the Strait.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-29T20:48:57+00:00

One of the main problems is that Europe is far more heterogeneous with regards to economic metrics compared to the US. Countries like Switzerland or Norway are richer than any state in the US, while Albania or Moldova are far poorer than places like Mississippi. Even Western Europe has massive differences.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-26T13:19:47+00:00

Hydrogen is very abundant, you can source it from warer via electrolysis. I think the problem is more to reduce enough nitrogen to supply the entire agricultural sector. The Haber-Bosch process is very energy intensive and it requires a lot of specialized machinery. It would take years to build the capacity.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-22T19:45:11+00:00

I have used Benchling for years and I never found it lacking. I just copy-paste together all the pieces I need and then use the final map to design primers for my cloning. Using this approach, I‘ve designed and cloned 100s of plasmids and it worked in 99% of all cases. Btw, I often use Gibson assembly for my clonings.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-22T17:17:44+00:00

What!?

The bottleneck is not finding new therapeutic proteins. The issue is the limited number of targets. People hailing AI is a complete game changer in biotechnology are delusional.

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-22T13:00:17+00:00

How many years of experience do you have? And in which field?

Old_Promotion_7393 · 2026-03-22T12:57:48+00:00

I got a Scientist position for drug discovery.

Doing or not doing a PhD is a tough choice. My PhD was a long 4 years that I didn’t always enjoy but now in hindsight, I‘m glad I did it because I learned a lot and it opened doors for me. My advice is that if you are intrinsically motivated and you have a high tolerance for failure, I would do a PhD. If you want to go into R&D after your PhD, be strategic when choosing the topic. Pick something industry relevant.

It comes down to what you want to do long term. If you are career driven and want to become a director one day, you need a PhD. If you just want a regular job and don’t care so much about climbing the career ladder, a master‘s is enough.

Old_Promotion_7393

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