nottinghamscience - 2009-01-06
How does one rise from being a lowly undergraduate to an esteemed professor? Three scientists explain how the academic system works and how they won recent promotions. More about what science is REALLY like at http://www.test-tube.org.uk/
Physical Biochemistry, for when you can't decide which science to pursue so you just do all of them.
@Chris Hoskinson You must have a pretty boring life, haven't you?
50 to 500 pages? 50 pages it is!
rainers10 A mathematics PhD thesis for you then. Full of equations.
"Professors in the top of the food chain"
does that mean they eat students
Yes, but indirectly
@supermarc45 Yeah, they tend to eat the lecturers and post-docs who eat the graduate students who eat the undergrads
@forkevbot And what do the undergrads feed on??
@Barath Raj Beans on toast.
No they eat the second top on the food chain... or anything under them actually
why are so many people demoralised? becoming a professor means doing research and hard work...why would you think everyone has to be easy so everyone can be a professor?
@Anal Prolapse In My Bum When I'm Filled With Cum By Onii-Chan And His Friends While I'm A Cumdump I am not sure quite how you worked out that I enjoy cereal in the evening, but nonetheless, I do not even have a reddit account, I steer clear of that kind of nonsense. Talking of nonsense, "I am le intelligent", when you look at it, is also nonsensical, because 'le' is French for 'the', "I am the intelligent". I think all you have demonstrated is that for this time, I read a book by it's cover, or title perhaps more accurately, and was correct.
@The Aura Tree If your ignorant mind doesn't know this: the "le" was put in due to associating Reddit and sticking "le" in everything during the old times of Reddit - times when you still were in kindergarten.
You contradict yourself as you call yourself "smart" yet you "judge a book by its cover", the least intelligent thing to do.
I appreciate your trolling efforts and your display of ignorance, but the block button says otherwise.
If you will continue to troll like you usually do in your pathetic life, then it will be put to use.
@The Aura Tree Lemme suggest you to step down from your imaginary pedestal and to get down from the high horse. The only thing you're superior at is making an idiot out of yourself. All you do is chant "I'm better than you bla bla now go away".
Bye, moron.
Enjoy being a pathetic oxygen wasting imbecile.
It's not the hard work and research they find demoralizing, its that even with all that there is no guarantee that you will get a job.
DarthMooglenator That’s life. Don’t let fear or uncertainty prevent you from achieving your goal. Professorship.👍
Wow, as a first year undergrad with aspirations of one day making a living from research, this is so demoralising!
it is a ridiculous video. they should make one called how to become a Surgeon. 3 ways to become a professor. do 2 of three things. 1) research 2) teach 3) do administration
@Moses Bullrush still batshit crazy today?
If planetary temperatures are caused by the sun and not by carbon dioxide, why is Venus hotter than Mercury even though Mercury is closer to the sun?
@Moses Bullrush still into it or you developed a brain chum?
Didn’t this start with university
This job literally has no extrinsic value, at least not until one climbs the ladder, but the process is so long and strenuous that one has to wonder if the reward at the end does any justice to the investment demanded all throughout. It is so sad, these are the people that truly make a contribution to humanity, but what else can one expect from a society that does not value education. I now have a much more profound respect for all my tenure professors.
What do you mean by "all my tenure professors"?
In my whole degree I was never taught by one full professor, they're too busy running their departments to be giving classes to undergrads. I had plenty of senior lecturers or associate professors but not the professor, let alone more than one (were they from different departments?)
@QuasiELVIS Perhaps where you live it is somewhat different? I had a number of tenured professors who ran courses. I had one in sociology, one in math, one in a critical reading course, and one in physics at least. So quite a wide range of disciplines. It was in the US. It was at a very large university that has a lot of research, and was somewhere between average and ivy league as far as ranking/reputation in most areas. In all of these cases, the professors enjoyed teaching. Also I think maybe I actually had 3-4 tenured professors run my courses in physics (my major) because the department was somewhat small and a large portion of the upper level electives are taught by tenured professors.
@forkevbot I think the difference is in this country there is only one professor which is the head of the department. Americans refer to all their teachers as professors.
@QuasiELVIS well no and yes. We do refer to all of our PhD level instructors as professors, but there are still assistant and associate professors before becoming a tenured professor. The head of a department in America is usually referred to as the chair (or chairs sometimes). And in fact after doing a fair bit of looking into my past I was instructed by the chair in one course.
$260,000 a year plus research scholarships and contracts sounds ok to me (Australia)
This was a really well edited video.
HahahahahahahaahahhahahH
Ikr
1. be smart.
2. be lucky
3. know people.
Be nasty. Be dishonest.
Deipatrous, no be a liar but kind
"easy"
HOLY **** and I thought that obtaining a PhD was something prestigious...
Oh dear, that post-doc trap sounds scary. Why didn't they go into more detail on how to avoid that! Just "you're in trouble", great.
@Miles Anderson Yeah that's true too. Having experience in multiple areas is always a bonus as long as others respect you for it. You get to do research in different area, but at the same time, you don't have sufficient time to get in depth in to the research. Thus less chance other's will find it useful. Weird situation to be in.
@The One Yeah. I'm just finishing my Masters, and I'm having to really decide where in the world and in what exact area of nonlinear optics or laser tech I'm going to apply for a PhD in. It's too much to think about. Almost wish I had an agent, hahahah.
@Miles Anderson Nice, I'm about to get undergrad in Computer Science. Probably going to work a bit and the industry experience before I start my graduate studies.
University of Rochester is well known for optics. University of Colorado Boulder is well known for Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. But every big university should have research groups in most major categories of research. I sort of let fate influence my decision. I was told I should choose the school that I am are willing to live in for years, and that what specifically you do in research comes secondary. I chose the University of Maryland College Park because it was more metropolitan (near DC) among the two universities :( that I got accepted to. I'm hoping to take advantage of my 1st year lab rotations to get some breadth and exposure, but ultimately, I will probably work in the field of ultrafast lasers.
@The One Weird that they don't desire it. You can do interdisciplinary research after that. That's very valuable!
"easy" steps.
"Easy"
[sigh]
The title could as well be "How to screw up your life".
The perfect blossom is rare as it is beautiful. One could spend a lifetime searching for the perfect blossom, and it would not be a wasted life.
professorship has nothing to do with any kind of "blossoming"
they are all beautiful (teary eyes)
@Edward Taylor Exactly.....I watched this video and others on youtube while trying to look for phd admission like 4 months ago just to prepare myself for what to expect if I am taking this path and still didnt see the challenges as a reason to back out.....I got my admission letter last week and will be starting my doctoral programme in marketing in September......I have been saying for years that this is what I want to do ....I am already planning on post doc.......I am sure this will be fulfilling for me
One day... One day man.
No. My friends. No.
A few of us finished our doctorates In less then 2 years.
Promotions are a joke if your paying for it. Basically you are PAYING
This is depressing. It just takes so long...
For years I haven't known at all what I wanted my career to be because my talents are so vastly separate, but for the first time, I found a career that I want. This video may have changed my life.
Shoot for the stars! Nothing is impossible if you commit. I have high hopes for you!
your comment actually inspires me
dude im never gunna make it that far lol ... thats an absurd amount of time and effort o_o
Mh sorry, we kind of ruined it for you. :(
@Fredrik Palmén yeah i feel bad now.
lol its fine
will smith
You can do it!
When I first got to university I was surprised to find out that some of the professors were horrible at teaching! :-( They may be very competant in their field of studies, but it seems like sometimes their ability to pass on their knowledge to others wasn't given much of a look at. Of course, from what I've seen from these videos that certainly isn't the case at Nottingham! ;)
Professors are on the top of the food chain when it comes to the knowledge of the world.
3:24... "Lecturer, what I call the first grown up job in academia"... which you might get by your mid 30s...
It turns out that after 10-15 years of training, 90-95% of postdocs are simply discarded... despite being the principal agents involved in research (lecturers usually have to divide their time between writing papers, lecturing, and applying for grants, rarely stepping into the lab...)
A pretty shocking way to run an industry, and curiously relatively recent. I have met many retired professors who got their first 'grown up job' after their masters degree at age 23-24.
I just meant that you can teach without a ph d, but for the title of professor, you do need a ph d.
thank god we live in a world where you can be dumb and still have a job that keeps you from starving to death, or I would be screwed because there is no way I could pass the first classes let alone the phd crap
+Fred Sandford The needs people who can do labor, the world needs people who can sit down and think and the world needs people who have a mix of both. So everyone can have a job.
If everyone does a Ph.D. there would be no houses for people to live, no cars for people to drive, nobody to cook foods for people to eat, nobody to grow crops, nobody to build and maintain the roads, nobody to keep the streets safe, and it would not even be possible because there would be no funding for so many damn Ph.D's.
cryora Artificial Intelligence
aworld where you can have a position in the government even if you are completely incompetent.
Wow!!! Hard work, determination + patience.....
5:30 probably the most beautiful thing ive ever heard
hmm it almost feels like it would be easier to become a doctor..
It's my goal to be a research professor in chemistry. I hope I make it this far.
Hey, 3 Years later I’m about to graduate with a bachelors in biochemistry. I’m about to pursue a Master’s in bioinformatics. I don’t want to be a chemistry professor anymore
AtomSmashingMachine why not?
thanks for the update! Im also pursuing Masters.
@AtomSmashingMachine nice
Yea...
If I had 100 extra IQ points...
@lol lol You, too.
Your username is everywhere. You must be a great procrastinatior. Or are there many of you, disguised under the same name? Anyway, you are pure inspiration.
IQ isn't gained or lost, it's proven to be had.
No it isn't, IQ isn't some perfect test. You can train to get a better result, and your result can change day to day
morgengabe1 It has to be trained for
wow this'll definately help me to know how become a proffessor one day great vid!
so what ur sayin is i should start writing the 500 pages now
Trevor MUA how far?
Researchers, in general, are not necessarily trained to teach... that is one hole in the schooling. Some of the top universities require PhD students to do some teaching, as a teaching assistant. This is very useful.
A lovely clear explanation of the process. Thank you ;¬) and congratulations to th the lucky newly promoted threesome!
Or study medicine for 4/5 years and be called a "Doctor" with your chin up
7 Years at least
its a dr. med, its not compareable to a phd. that's why more and more dr. meds make their phd.
@Berserk1337 yea the salaries are not comparable either. M.D make about hmm 150k more than an instructor?
@dog full tenured professors are in the 125k+ of course medical is a whole different chain more money in general. Top of Medical can easy get 500k annually
Anyone who thinks becoming a doctor is 4-5 years clearly is an idiot who hasn't done any research. It takes minimum 7 to 9 years and a LOT of job experience. Why do you think so many people go insane during their doctor studies? Its ridiculous
That's a lot of education required to teach.
9:30 That has GOT to be the longest damn flight in the history of aviation!
I'm a postgraduate student studying towards BEd Honours degree, my goal is to obtain a PHD before reaching 35 years.
This is just depressing. I'm glad I saw this video now (as a first year undergraduate) as opposed to someone who is already part way through their Ph.D. I'll be sure to go into industry after my Bachelor! (Seriously though, this system really needs to fucking change, no wonder there aren't as many scientists as there should be).
Not everyone can be a professor, only so many vacancies. You do not need to be one to qualify as a scientist. The system has worked well for many years, why change it? Think its unfair because its so hard?
@Derek Thomson Has nothing to do with being hard. Its the fact that you won't have a decent salary until you're 40 years old.
Who knows how many brilliant people have decided to pursue business or engineering, instead of science, simply because they wanted to have a job and a normal life, before turning 40.
+Adam Wojtczak It depends on where you go... For example, for computer science, if you have a PHD, you can either choose to go into academia (and aim to be a professor) or go into industry (and aim to be a scientist). Microsoft and google hire PHD's all the time to do research, and they pay them VERY well. Industry will always pay more than academia. If you decide to go into industry as a PHD, you will only be 28-30 years old. If you want to go the academia route, then yes.. becoming a full professor takes several years and you will be much older.
O__O
So, if you close your eyes, you'll realize the curly haired professor sounds exactly like Samwell Tarly.
Thanks for this post! i really enjoyed the content.
Thank you for the info.
almost done 2nd year mech eng. wow I've got a long way to go xP
What an insight! So interesting and a revelation about what it takes to become a professor. What an achievement, well done. Not sure I could do it!
What I got from this video is that the 50-500 page thesis is the easy part.
from what I know, this step is not that bad actually. You just cut and paste the results that you have been working on for the past 4 years. The rest is just a motivation for the reader in the form of a historical introduction and possible applications, so writing the thesis isn't that bad. The hard part, and it depends mostly on the level of assholeness/professionalism of your advisor, is coming up with the results.
Aha, so that's why I’m not a professor.
I knew there was a reason. I didn’t know there were a thousand reasons.
well I have just finished my Masters thesis, going to move forward to a Ph.D hopefully and after that.... well, you watched the video.
NebulousFound How’s it going?
@chromosome24 lol
awssssooommmeeee video. it taught me soo much thanks :)
On macs we have 256 :D
Very informative!
Don R. Mueller, Ph.D. - 2018-06-16
Step 1: get a jacket with elbow patches. After that you're on your own.
Jan Peternelj - 2018-11-07
It's called a blazer. -Barney Stinson
Bel Diman - 2019-09-11
Step2: Mount steel, sharp spikes on those elbows.
Step3: Hit very hard with those elbows everytime you need to eliminate competition.
A.M. Goudarzi - 2019-10-20
:-))))