Recent content by ander

For whatever it's worth, my recommendation is to relearn algebra, geometry, and trig so that you attain a whole new and more profound understanding of mathematics. I found myself in a similar situation, and I ended up using the khan academy and some textbooks to relearn math from 1 + 1 = 2...

All the weird pure math PhDs I know work at Burger King.

This is very true. I grew up in a family of tenured professors with 45+ years teaching at the same university. One point that nobody has made so far in this thread (as far as I've read) is that no matter how hard it is to get a full professorship, there are many downsides to academic life. You...

True, and not all menial work is created equal. I (like you maybe) have a fear of ending up spending my life carrying out experiments I care nothing about in a lab somewhere. This is maybe caused by the story of my hs chem teacher who left a prestigious chem phd program because as I understood...

After many years of mental health treatment, untreated ADD has come up as a possibility. I have been prescribed accordingly, etc. so I'm not asking for medical advice. Anyway, For the past week I've been reading on the internet about ADD to educate myself about the disorder, but I've mostly...

Thanks so much for that link. I'd never heard of Mayr before. As somebody who has moved back and forth between philosophy and the sciences, I often crave this sort of thing.

I don't think it matters what discipline you're in. Besides, there is a lot to learn from menial tasks. Wisdom rather than knowledge. I learned more about 21st century late capitalist existence hole-punching manuscripts than I ever did reading books on cultural theory.

If you're really, really good and decide to go into academia, you may get to work on interesting problems. If you're really, really good and you decide to go into industry, you may get to work on interesting problems. There are plenty of people in the University of South XYZ running the same...

Thanks for the link. Despite trying to rally for a more idealistic approach to the career-search, I have to admit that I long ago gave up on the dream of dedicating my life to discovering the mysteries of the life and the universe when I realized that academia isn't so different from any other...

So the rate is constant and the number of openings are predictable. How does this equate to there being no jobs whatsoever?

There's only one way to find out. And make sure you don't base any important life decisions on the advice you get from strangers on the internet.

We don't know what field the OP would be applying to, we don't know how strong his application will be, and we don't know what the market will be in 7+ years, so I think it's premature to say that "the jobs aren't there." If as you say he ends up working the private sector anyway, then he may as...

This should be engraved in stone and displayed in every college campus.

I recommend going straight to the source and looking at labs where you think you'd like to work as a grad student and postdoc. Then look at what degrees most people have in those labs. In the case of malacology, my guess is that most have biology degrees, but I may be wrong about this. Always...

Then you may want to consider a career in academia. You have more vacation and free time that most jobs, and in theory you have some say in what you dedicate your time to. If you work for a company you'll need to commit to whatever your boss feels you should commit to that day. But maybe you...