Posted by: pire October 14, 2008
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In these hard times, the only people who can sit back and relax as the world crumbles around them are (tenured) professors. To be one, you need a PhD:)
Seriously, I think PhD is a great asset if you are a research minded man. Also, if you don't have PhD, I think sometimes it comes back to haunt you after you become successful in your profession.I met two Nepali in the past: one was working with a UN agency and he always regretted not having PhD because it was hampering his promotion (shuruma 80K offer dekhera aaihale, but now I am having problem as others are leapfrogging me in my career, he would say). Another Nepali was old, 50 years or so, and told me he wanted to have a quick phd, because in his organization, it was a must to have PhD to be the director of his branch. He thought he was well qualified to be the director, had a lot of experience, but they always asked PhD for that position. He was telling that to a 25 years old man, and I thought it was quite funny.
Another thing is it matters where you get PhD from. In PhD, most celebrated institutions are Harvard (not for engineering, though),MIT, Berkeley and Stanford. Though it depends on the major you are interested in. These four seems to be great in all majors they offer, and that's why they also have strength in interdisciplinary subjects. But if you are planning to get PhD from some bad institute, then you should think carefully before what you do. Do the good cost benefit analysis.Also, it is not easy to get into PhD programs in top schools, the competition is so intense that you probably don't see many Nepali there, unless they have undergraduate degree from some top private schools in the USA, or unless they have fullbright award that foots their bill.
Seriously, I think PhD is a great asset if you are a research minded man. Also, if you don't have PhD, I think sometimes it comes back to haunt you after you become successful in your profession.I met two Nepali in the past: one was working with a UN agency and he always regretted not having PhD because it was hampering his promotion (shuruma 80K offer dekhera aaihale, but now I am having problem as others are leapfrogging me in my career, he would say). Another Nepali was old, 50 years or so, and told me he wanted to have a quick phd, because in his organization, it was a must to have PhD to be the director of his branch. He thought he was well qualified to be the director, had a lot of experience, but they always asked PhD for that position. He was telling that to a 25 years old man, and I thought it was quite funny.
Another thing is it matters where you get PhD from. In PhD, most celebrated institutions are Harvard (not for engineering, though),MIT, Berkeley and Stanford. Though it depends on the major you are interested in. These four seems to be great in all majors they offer, and that's why they also have strength in interdisciplinary subjects. But if you are planning to get PhD from some bad institute, then you should think carefully before what you do. Do the good cost benefit analysis.Also, it is not easy to get into PhD programs in top schools, the competition is so intense that you probably don't see many Nepali there, unless they have undergraduate degree from some top private schools in the USA, or unless they have fullbright award that foots their bill.