you sound like you're going through some quarter-life crisis =\
1. when you check out phd programmes, dont simply go to a school just because its famous and its a top-ranked one. your choice of thesis advisor is most important, because he/she is the one who will open up opportunities for you eventually via networking, and he/she is also the one who has the potential to bring you as far as where you want to go. for my case, i'd pick someone who is one of the masters of the trade. and of course, do some background check on the person. i wont go for someone who doesnt care for his/her student at all totally, no matter how good he/she is. by the way, dont try to run away from teaching duties during your graduate training. learn to love it, because it's all part of the trade. in fact, you'll sometimes learn beneficial things frm your juniors/students =) this is rewarding therefore hahahahah
2. fraud is not rampant; in other words, rare. the general consensus is that most of us here are honest pple making an honest living. thus said, even negative results can also be published because it shows that something's not working or perhaps we shld be looking at some other regions of interest, like what i've published on PRD. for us, sharing is caring. to say fraud is rampant is perhaps due to the fact that every time a fraud comes up, it becomes widely reported by your best friends the journalists, and sometimes fraudsters become even more famous than your nobel laureates, hence their "recognition". sometimes, even what seems to be fraud as reported may not be fraud, simply because of rivalry between rival research groups all aiming to become the first to publish whatever results they're going after, and this is probably one way they kill each other off. again, this statement may not be entirely accurate, anyone can feel free to correct what i've said, thanks =D
black sheep is everywhere. if fraud is "rampant" in science, i dont know how anyone may like to describe the financial sector, when in some circumstances what seem to be corruption morally turns out to be legal after all.
3. tenure is nv easy to achieve. there are pple who travel around the world giving talks and presentations, hoping to impress their future employers after their postdoc, and it's usually tough luck. the job market in academia is not really looking good for the foreseeable future, because there are just simply too many pple applying for a small number of openings in various faculties. thus said, dont be disheartened when at the end of your postdoc eventually you have problems looking for a tenure position. it happens and will happen to most of us. you may probably like to check out non-tenure positions, and yet at the same time publish papers with your colleagues in any lab you're interested to work in (pretty much translates to "doing something for nothing" roughly). with sufficient experience and maybe a few impressive publications, as well as some luck in networking, you may just land that position you've been craving for all the time. oh, networking is impt. eat this. seriously.
4. dont worry too much abt "food on your table". unless lady luck shines on you all the time, you pretty much struggle a bit when you start off initially, just like the rest of us. the money may not be awesome, but it's enough to make ends meet. again, do what you love doing, the wealth will come eventually. i'll love to see you bear this in mind. you're doing this in the first place for a reason, and it's because you love it. there is no meaning in life if you do something you hate just for the money. thus said, it's just like a calling. not everyone on earth has this privilege to go this far like most of us here.
5. even if everything doesnt work out for you in the end, touch wood, your training in physics pretty much allows you to do a lot of things. if at the end, money is all that you're seeking, then you can still pretty much run simulations for financial institutions and they will gladly pay you obscene amounts of cash and drown y
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1. when you check out phd programmes, dont simply go to a school just because its famous and its a top-ranked one. your choice of thesis advisor is most important, because he/she is the one who will open up opportunities for you eventually via networking, and he/she is also the one who has the potential to bring you as far as where you want to go. for my case, i'd pick someone who is one of the masters of the trade. and of course, do some background check on the person. i wont go for someone who doesnt care for his/her student at all totally, no matter how good he/she is. by the way, dont try to run away from teaching duties during your graduate training. learn to love it, because it's all part of the trade. in fact, you'll sometimes learn beneficial things frm your juniors/students =) this is rewarding therefore hahahahah
2. fraud is not rampant; in other words, rare. the general consensus is that most of us here are honest pple making an honest living. thus said, even negative results can also be published because it shows that something's not working or perhaps we shld be looking at some other regions of interest, like what i've published on PRD. for us, sharing is caring. to say fraud is rampant is perhaps due to the fact that every time a fraud comes up, it becomes widely reported by your best friends the journalists, and sometimes fraudsters become even more famous than your nobel laureates, hence their "recognition". sometimes, even what seems to be fraud as reported may not be fraud, simply because of rivalry between rival research groups all aiming to become the first to publish whatever results they're going after, and this is probably one way they kill each other off. again, this statement may not be entirely accurate, anyone can feel free to correct what i've said, thanks =D
black sheep is everywhere. if fraud is "rampant" in science, i dont know how anyone may like to describe the financial sector, when in some circumstances what seem to be corruption morally turns out to be legal after all.
3. tenure is nv easy to achieve. there are pple who travel around the world giving talks and presentations, hoping to impress their future employers after their postdoc, and it's usually tough luck. the job market in academia is not really looking good for the foreseeable future, because there are just simply too many pple applying for a small number of openings in various faculties. thus said, dont be disheartened when at the end of your postdoc eventually you have problems looking for a tenure position. it happens and will happen to most of us. you may probably like to check out non-tenure positions, and yet at the same time publish papers with your colleagues in any lab you're interested to work in (pretty much translates to "doing something for nothing" roughly). with sufficient experience and maybe a few impressive publications, as well as some luck in networking, you may just land that position you've been craving for all the time. oh, networking is impt. eat this. seriously.
4. dont worry too much abt "food on your table". unless lady luck shines on you all the time, you pretty much struggle a bit when you start off initially, just like the rest of us. the money may not be awesome, but it's enough to make ends meet. again, do what you love doing, the wealth will come eventually. i'll love to see you bear this in mind. you're doing this in the first place for a reason, and it's because you love it. there is no meaning in life if you do something you hate just for the money. thus said, it's just like a calling. not everyone on earth has this privilege to go this far like most of us here.
5. even if everything doesnt work out for you in the end, touch wood, your training in physics pretty much allows you to do a lot of things. if at the end, money is all that you're seeking, then you can still pretty much run simulations for financial institutions and they will gladly pay you obscene amounts of cash and drown y