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How the hell is it possible to afford one of these things?
Getting a graduate degree
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Minister of Truth
Practically Perfect
Well, for one thing, it takes less time to earn a Master's than it does a Bachelor's. As for Ph.D., you probably have a point...
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<-- sched 2, MJ sched 1
what kathianne said...and if your master doesn't have teaching available....depending on the degree....your masters will pay for itself in probably less than 10 years, then after that, its pure profit above an undergrad....plus, having a masters helps out in getting to the top and making sure you stay on the job
i don't regret going beyond undergrad, get it done, get it done now if you can
i don't regret going beyond undergrad, get it done, get it done now if you can
Minister of Truth
Practically Perfect
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I want to get a PHD in astronomy. :-/
That doesn't seem to be realistic. How do people afford it? Do all astronomers and physicists just have rich parents?
That doesn't seem to be realistic. How do people afford it? Do all astronomers and physicists just have rich parents?
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I'm in the awkward position of not being dirt-poor enough to get any scholarships and not being rich enough to easily afford college. If I took out loans to pay for the length of time a PHD would take I may as well be selling myself into slavery.
Cancel 2018. 3
<-- sched 2, MJ sched 1
i thought it was your masters...
with astronomy, i have no doubt you can teach your way through it, you will teach undergrads, get grants/scholarships if your grades are good and then in phd school, you can actually work on publishing stuff....
trust me, if it what you want to do, do it....i have a friend who didn't want college, wanted a 30K boat and a 40K truck, he had that when he was 25, i stayed in school, drove an older truck and had no boat...his boat and truck are now old....i'm starting to roll in it
Cancel 2018. 3
<-- sched 2, MJ sched 1
don't have your dad claim you (if he does)....one of my parents is well off, but would not help with college, so i applied solely on my own on recieved a couple of scholarships...plus, with obama's new loan program, you should get loans easier and hopefully he will expand program/jobs so you can work your loan off faster....
honestly, you don't understand post grad school....if you have the grades, can teach your way through, it won't cost as much as you think
Mott the Hoople
Sweet Jane
I hear ya bro. I finished my first year of graduate work on my doctorate with a 3.0 but I lost 20 lb's and was $25,000 in the hole and was looking at $250,000 total debt before graduating. I knew that wasn't realistic and since I had no other source to pay for it, I had to drop out. I later go my masters for the bargain basement price of $15,000 and that was in the early 90's. God knows what it would be now. Probably double to triple that.
You really have a few limited choices.
#1. Choose wealthy parents who can pay for your education.
#2. Do well enough that you can be accepted into a graduate program with tuition waver and a stipend. You'll live like shit for 3 to 5 years but you won't be in debt.
Now those two are only if you're on an academic track and desire a career in Academia.
#3. Choose a marketable PhD that pays well in the private sector. Engineering, BioMedical Technology, or one of the profession, i.e., MD, DDS, JD, Architect, etc, cause if you can't achieve #1 or #2 your screwed as you can't pay back $200,000 to $500,000 in student loan debts on a Professors salary.
Unfortunately our educational system has digressed back to only the upper classes can really afford a professional level education. It has passed beyond the means of most middle class people. My father paid for his first thee years of his doctoral education with his GI Bill benefits. My first year of graduate school cost more then the entire cost of my fathers undergraduate and graduate education and that was 20 years ago. His entire college education (graduate and undergraduate) was less than $25,000 and 3/4th of that was paid by the GI Bill.
Mott the Hoople
Sweet Jane
I believe he's referring to a PhD or a Doctorate.
/MSG/
Uwaa OmO
No, they have poor parents. They also have rich student loan providers. It's directly related.
Mott the Hoople
Sweet Jane
No. Just most. You'll just have to compete for the grades dude and smoke the GRE. If you can get accepted as a volunteer at an observatory and work as an intern (at your cost) that helps. If you can network yourself among professional Astronomers and get one to mentor you that helps.
Point being, develop relationships with the professors in your department. Find ways to intern for them. Even if you have to live in a shoe box, eat ramon noodles seven days a week and work 16 hour days. Profs will bend over backwards for students who show a passion and a willingness to work hard. If you don't have that kind of money to pay for a PhD, you need to go talk to the Profs in your dept and find a mentor.
Considering how few paying jobs there are for Astronomers, unless your grades and test scores are exceedingly high, your goal may not be a realistic one. Have a plan B.
Mott the Hoople
Sweet Jane
Again, I believe he's talking about a PhD or a professional Doctorate. Big difference in cost between that and a masters degree and in a lot of cases you have to earn a Master's before you can do the PhD.
No worries. Even a low income hack like me was able to afford a good graduate education. Granted, my graduate school experiences are all from the early 1990s, but it's basically all the same today.
Get excellent grades as an undergrad, get good scores on the graduate record exams, and have good letters of reference from your professors, and apply to some prominent and well funded socialist public universities. Chances are you will be offered financial assistance, in the form of stipends from teaching and/or research assistantships. Which can be supplemented, if necessary, by federal student loans.
And you don't necessarily have to get a Masters before going into a PhD program. If you have the credentials, and references, you can get accepted straight into a PhD program. I got accepted into Univ. of California San Diego Scripps Institute of Oceanography PhD program straight out of undergrad, although I turned that one down.
Another consideration: the stipends some public universities pay for graduates are pretty piss poor. The stipends I was offered from Oregon State University was like less than half the stipends I was offered from University of California. Presumably, because public universities in Oregon aren't as well funded as UC, although I'm not exactly sure why the OSU stipends were so much crappier. So make sure to apply to high-end, well funded, and prominent public universities; i.e., don't apply to Montana State or whatever. I think you can get out-of-state tuition waived in some cases, if you get accepted under certain conditions - but I don't remember exactly how that works.
Also, talk to grad students who are in those graduate programs. They are hip to what kind of stipends are available, and how good they are. And grad students love blabbing about themselves, so they are an excellent resource for getting the low down and the inside scoop.
edit: with regard to astrophysics, or whatever, I would choose a school based on what your ultimate goals are. Good christ, astrophysics? Good luck getting a date with chicks if you're in that geeky field. (just kidding). If you just want to teach astronomy at a community college, you don't need an Ivy League degree. If you want to go into the top-tier of research, an Ivy League or top-tier private university is a foot in the door for those who can afford Harvard or Yale. For the rest of us schmucks who can't afford Yale, I would focus on getting into a top-tier public university - because the alma mater matters if you're going into high-end research. Obviously, not all public universities have the same reputation. And in the teabagging south, I don't think there are a lot of top tier public universities. I do know that a PhD from some where like Univ. of Michigan, Penn State, Washington, or University of California is not laughed out of the room when applying for a top tier research job.
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christiefan915
Catalyst
This is probably not what you want to hear but how about getting a full-time job after college and going for the master's going part-time? At least you'd be in the program and then you might get other opportunities while you're there.
evince
Truthmatters
Ask every one of your instructors this question.
They have done it, seen it done and will have great advice for you.
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I think that science is actually doing pretty good right now because the dems are in office. I don't see what an astronomer could do in the private sector, anyway, besides building planetariums and applying their degree to something unrelated, like finance.
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I was planning on double majoring in SE and Physics so that I could always have an easily marketable back up should I fail to get grades high enough to get some sort of route into an Astronomy program.
How high does my GPA have to be to get into those stipend programs? 3.5? 3.75? It's like 3.42 right now, but I'm still undergraduate. What if I just make really good on the GRE? I typically do a lot better on tests than my GPA would suggest.