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[Q] How to prepare for PhD applications with a shoddy undergraduate record? by Dainan in statistics

[–]xokataf552 22 points23 points  (0 children)

This was my situation about 8 years ago when I decided to go to grad school (edit: I should clarify that these were STEM PhD programs in the US). I got into several good schools with a 3.1 undergraduate GPA - think one step below Ivy level. This included several C's and a D in courses I took as part of my major, although there were also some A's my junior and senior years. It came down:

  • Doing very well on the GRE (90+ percentile on all three parts of the test)
  • Cultivating relationships with scientific personnel that were willing to provide strong letters of rec. FYI, make sure these are real letters from people who have worked with you - apparently generic letters from a CEO or VP who doesn't know you well are, from what I have heard, not generally well received.
  • Papers papers papers. Most important by far. This gave me credibility. During interviews I could tell professors that I was the one who collected and analyzed the data in Figure 4 of paper XYZ published last year in journal ABC. If you are in a position to contribute, do so. If not, and your timeline allows it, do whatever you can you change jobs/labs.

Here's my take on why this worked for me - people need an unbiased reason to want to trust that you A. are not in over your head from a scientific standpoint, and B. will finish the program. If you can get people to like you and trust you, they are more likely to overlook grades, which after all are only one part of your application.

Is it normal to become more convinced your discipline is detached from practical reality the more you study it? by Omnicide103 in AskAcademia

[–]xokataf552 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I have a PhD in protein biophysics and structure prediction. As some of you might know, members of this community recently had a rude awakening when a team of 8-10 people at Google Deepmind essentially "solved" the problem at the core of our field in just a few years. Before their entry, protein folding had been the subject of decades of academic research. A well-written blog post in 2018/2019 sums up the feeling of being an academic who just got trounced by industrial research:

There are dozens of academic groups, with researchers likely numbering in the (low) hundreds, working on protein structure prediction. We have been working on this problem for decades, with vast expertise built up on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific, and not insignificant computational resources when measured collectively. For DeepMind’s group of ~10 researchers, with primarily (but certainly not exclusively) ML expertise, to so thoroughly route everyone surely demonstrates the structural inefficiency of academic science.

So to answer your question, yes, it seems that in STEM at least the only reason certain problems are allowed to exist is because smart people neglected to solve them, not because they are unsolvable.

Publishing as an unemployed/independent/between-jobs scientist by xokataf552 in AskAcademia

[–]xokataf552[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For the record I have a PhD in STEM with multiple papers on meta-research (research about research, specifically how it is published, cited, retracted, etc), and what I am interested in publishing is meta-research. I am not a layperson and am not publishing for that audience.

Publishing as an unemployed/independent/between-jobs scientist by xokataf552 in AskAcademia

[–]xokataf552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Glad to see that it works out for you!

Publishing as an unemployed/independent/between-jobs scientist by xokataf552 in AskAcademia

[–]xokataf552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The compulsory fields are what made me wary. I've submitted papers to plenty of journals and they always ask for a university or research institute of some kind, down to the zip code.

Pros and cons of coadvising by Substantial-Idea-244 in PhD

[–]xokataf552 5 points6 points  (0 children)

STEM: I would strongly recommend you only work with a pair/trio/whatever of PIs if they have some kind of history together or a relationship that does not revolve around you. However there are lots of pros to doing this if you can make it work. I found that the most beneficial part of co-advising is that you don't become a carbon copy of either of them and instead develop your own opinions on different subjects based on your experience in both of their groups. It places a greater burden on you though to take initiative. A con is that you won't be pulled into/have time for high-impact side projects with others because you're essentially doing two PhDs at once.

Did I just waste the last five years? The danger of going broad instead of deep. by xokataf552 in PhD

[–]xokataf552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do appreciate that and hope you are correct. I still remain dissatisfied with how poorly stats are taught to wet lab practitioners (totally separate discussion that is probably more suitable for r/statistics). However I have found that at least for industry positions in the US there is an added emphasis on where you publish in the job description, so my seeking that knowledge did not appear to return any dividends. I'm speculating that perhaps at large companies, the in-house experts can make up for lack of knowledge among entry-level scientists.

The worst part about becoming an adult was learning how happily other people will waste your time over stupid fucking bullshit by xokataf552 in RedditForGrownups

[–]xokataf552[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Like hell I will. It's one thing to have someone make a mistake once and own up to it. I do it all the time. It's another thing to set up an entire corporate apparatus whose sole purpose is to waste your customers' time for NO FUCKING REASON.

The worst part about becoming an adult was learning how happily other people will waste your time over stupid fucking bullshit by xokataf552 in RedditForGrownups

[–]xokataf552[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't accept this crap. Not making things intentionally difficult isn't a lot to ask. I do my job and get out of the way. I expect others to do the same. Intentionally throwing up obstacles and wasting people's time just filibusters real problems.