Be water, MIT friend
I just finished my third year of graduate school in the Mathematics Department. I work in Fourier analysis, a part of math that studies qualitative and quantitative questions about the overlapping patterns of waves. Before I was thinking about Fourier analysis, when I was a new graduate student, I was considering the question of what […]
A thermodynamic model of friendship
Keeping up with friendships is energy-intensive
Disclaimer: I have not taken a physics class in years, and the unavoidable inaccuracies in the discussion that follows should in no way reflect poorly on the professors/department that bestowed a physics degree upon me back in the day. Friendships take energy to maintain. Entropically speaking, the preferred arrangement is total disorder, an every-person-for-themselves world. […]
Why Would You Want to Do a PhD?
Student perspectives on the value of a graduate degree
If you are reading this blog post, there is a good chance that you are thinking about a PhD, possibly at MIT. But MIT or not, almost every doctoral program would ask you why you are interested in their program and how it fits into your career goal. A typical answer would be: I am […]
To stay in academia or not, that is the question
Weighing the costs versus the benefits of pursuing an academic career
Should I stay in academia or not after I graduate? It’s a question that most PhD students find themselves asking at some point in their graduate careers. Some have unequivocal answers from the beginning, while others struggle with the decision even towards the end of their studies. Some just don’t want to think about it […]
Turning to the Dark Side
Questions about Industry Options for PhD Candidates
Last semester I Ubered home every night. Often times I got into interesting talks with the drivers. Whenever my PhD study came up in conversations, two of the most typical responses were, “Oh so do you want to teach afterwards” and “are you going to be a professor?” I am always baffled there. To be […]
