Ph.D. vs Other Stuff
Questions
• BS, MS, MBA, or PhD?
• Graduate school right after BS graduation?
• Where should I go to graduate school?
Approximate Time
• BS
– 4 years
– New Associates
• MS
– 1-2 years after BS
– New Bachelors
• MBA
– 2 years after BS
– Usually work for a couple of years first
• Ph.D.
– Less predictable
– About 4-6 years after BS
– Not just for Professors anymore
B.S. and M.S.
What will I be doing?
• You’ll be an engineer!
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Work as part of a product or design team
Work in test or quality assurance
Work in support
Potentially work your way into management of technical teams
• Excellent option if:
– Enjoy solving problems that others put to you
– You don’t enjoy the methodical and sometimes slow world of research
– Your ego isn’t wrapped up in wanting to define product or design
strategy at a high level
– You want to have a decent salary quickly, and are sick of school
B.S. and M.S.
What will I make?
• Starting salary of $55 - $75K
• 18-year salary of $90 - $130K
• Unless you go into management, or are one of the lucky few
to transition into higher-level research/strategy positions
without a Ph.D. ...
B.S. and M.S.
Lifestyle
• Typically quite predictable
• Often a fair amount of travel (to visit suppliers, collaborators,
etc.)
• Crunch periods of intense work near product deadlines
• Typically a decent work/life balance
What is a Ph.D. all about?
• Exclusivity: The highest academic degree anyone can earn
(less than 1% of the population attains the degree)
• Mastering a Subject
• Extending Knowledge
– Explore, investigate, contemplate
– Research
• Industry? Relationship to products?
– Sometimes research leads to new products or improvements,
startups, patents, licensing deals, etc.
– Not typically the measure of success for your work
http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.phd.html
Questions to ask yourself
• Do you want a research career?
• Do you want to direct scientific research and set the agenda
for scientific studies?
• Do you want an academic position?
• Do you have what it takes?
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Intelligence
Time
Creativity
Adaptability
Self-motivation
Competitiveness
Maturity
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Some potentially wrong reasons to
start a Ph.D.
• accomplishment.
Prestige: Don’t think it’s such a great
Once you get a Ph.D., all of your friends will have one
too... :)
A goal in itself
A job guarantee
Trying it out to see how it goes: Ph.D. requires total
commitment
Easier than entering the work force: Opinions vary on
this, but in general this is a *strong* function of advisor.
Better than the alternatives: Will you be at the top of MS
students, or a mediocre researcher?
Wealth: While most science and engineering Ph.D.s make
very good livings, there are other more secure and
optimal paths to wealth.
What can you do with a Ph.D.?
(In your area of study)
• Research position at a corporation (large or small)
– Intel, Micron, Microsoft, National Semiconductor, HP, Agilent, GE,
Siemens, Philips, Toshiba, etc.
– Start-up
• Research position at a National Lab
– Los Alamos, Sandia, Berkeley, Livermore, INL, NRL, etc.
• Academic position
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Professor
Teaching Professor
Research Professor
Staff Scientist
What can you do with a Ph.D.?
(Outside your area of study)
• Consulting
– In your area of expertise
– Management consulting (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Monitor, Accenture)
• • Finance/Banking
– Investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, etc.)
– Hedge funds
– Asset management
• Management
What does it pay?
• Research position at a corporation (large or small)
– Starting cash compensation range: $90 - $110K
– 18-year compensation range: $130 - $200K
• Research position at a National Lab
– Starting cash compensation range: $85 - $105K
– 18-year compensation range: $120 - $180K
• Academic position (engineering)
– Professor: Starting academic year (9 month): $75 - $95K 18-year:
$110-$150K
– Teaching Professor: Lower
– Research Professor: Full year: $90-110K 18-year: $130 - $180K
What does it pay?
• Consulting
– In your area of expertise: $0 - $400K (high end is extreme success, low
end is much more common)
• Management consulting (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Monitor,
Accenture)
– Start: $120 - $160K 18-year: $400K - $2.5M
• Finance/Banking
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Investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, etc.)
Hedge funds
Asset management
Start: $110-$160K 18-year: $400K - $4M
When should you go to Graduate
School?
• Immediately after completing BS
– Best option
– You are use to working long hours and being poor
• After working
– Sometimes companies will pay for graduate school
– Much harder and take longer
Financing Your Education
• Education is worth some debt
• Most Electrical Engineering Ph.D. programs
– Pay your tuition
– Pay a stipend
• BYU $18k - $24k/year
WHERE TO GO
•Can depend on whether you are
interested in academia
Your Repution After Grad School
School Reputation
Advisor Reputation
Dissertation Topic
Publication Record
BYU VS. SOMEWHERE ELSE
Reasons to go to BYU
1. Head start – can
finish faster
2. Social reasons –
love it here, still
looking for spouse
3. Like advisor,
project you are
involved in
Reasons to go elsewhere
1. Other schools have
better reputations
2. Broaden your technical
network
3. Diversity important for
academic jobs
4. Other schools are
doing specific research
you like
YOUR ADVISOR
• Choice of research topics happens before graduate school
• You choose your school and advisor
• Advisor is often locked into long research cycles dictated by
money and momentum