mawhidby

Out of curiosity, are you hanging your hammock from studs in the walls, using a hammock stand, or something else?

Recently (as in a crazy experience over the past week), I've been feeling the same way described by you, and by the OP; but I've scaled this up to a much higher abstracted level.

The only way I can really describe it is (in terms of what you just said): "red, green, refactor" your life, not just your job. Constantly question everything you're doing, and find out what you don't like about it. Find the root cause of that feeling, and figure out what you can do to fix it. Find and take the steps to complete that.

Edit: I will add though, that the trick is to do so without stopping progress, as you said.

I'm not so sure that's what he means. If you look in the comments, the OP says "Ah yes. I should have pointed out that this article only applies to PhD programs in the US (in Computer Science). ... A UK PhD, for example, is rarely seen as equivalent to a US-based PhD, precisely because it is so short and does not typically involve coursework."

For the universities I applied to, you are still required to take classes in the PhD program. Even if you already have your Master's and decide to go for a PhD at another university, your class credits may not transfer (in fact, I was told at a graduate visit day at UMD that they don't accept credit from MS programs other than their own), so you might even have to do the required coursework all over again while going for your PhD.

Personally, I was able to find a graduate research assistantship my first semester here at UMD, whereas most of the incoming PhD students are in teaching assistantships. I feel like I'm getting a good taste of how research/the PhD program.

Interesting. If you don't mind my asking, where are you going? For all the schools I applied to, it appeared that the PhD programs required taking classes.

I'm not really sure why the OP says that the Master's has more coursework than the PhD. At least in my Master's program at UMD, the PhDs have to take the same amount of classes as the Master's students. The only difference is that in the Master's, after you're done with your classes, you either write a thesis or a scholarly paper (for non-thesis based), and you're done. If you're a PhD student, you finish your classes, then you spend the next few years working on research towards your dissertation.

He might be referring to more work for an MS Comps, which is the non-thesis Master's. Instead of writing a thesis (which counts as 6 credit hours) you have to take 30 credit hours worth of classes, and half of those classes must be "MS Comps," where at least 50% of your grade in a class (at least here at UMD) must come from exams. I am doing a thesis-based Master's, so I guess you could say I am able to take all my classes just as a PhD student would - in that in most classes there is a research project due at the end of the semester on a topic of your choosing. This allows you to shape the course to your liking and interests.

For me, being a Master's student has afforded me just as many research opportunities as a PhD student; I just won't be here as long.

My first job was at a McDonald's. My parents made me start working when I was 14, and that was the only place that would hire me. That was almost 10 years ago, and I had a similar experience to what you described, but it appears to me that the quality of most of the chains has gotten better (at least in my area). I still don't eat there, though.

Embarrassing story: Since I was only 14, I was pretty shy when working the counter. One of my managers encouraged me to make small talk with the customers while they waited for their food, provided we weren't busy. I was helping a large woman, and mistakenly thought she was pregnant. I asked her "how long until you have your baby?" and she said "Excuse me!?!?" Turns out she was just fat. Needless to say, I don't ask women about their pregnancies anymore, unless they bring it up first. Sounds like a cliche story, but it really happened :(

Not only that, but if it does find a story to the same link, it will upvote it.