Is it possible to pursue a Ph.D. without incurring any additional educational debt whatsoever?

[munna21977]

Ph.D. s are very poorly paid. Graduate Schools are full of Foreign students or those american students who have benefit of minority fellowships. students are hired for Ph.D.s not on merit but on the opportunity of not paying them money. Many Indian/chinese/korean are working on partial salaries on the mercy of american professors. lot of politics and frustration in graduate school.

[Highpointer]

Originally Posted by marie5v

If you have three master's degrees and still can't get a decent job, I wonder about your choice of subjects and ability to network/be political/kiss butt when necessary. To succeed as a PhD you really need those skills more than a good GPA.

It's all about research. If you can't do good enough research to choose the right PhD program, then you probably won't succeed as a PhD student anyway.

I have an M.A. in Geography, an M.S. in Civil Engineering, and an MBA. My undergraduate degree was in Computer Science. My potential area of research will be in geographic information systems (G.I.S.), applied to water resources or energy development.

I have been seeking a career in G.I.S. for many years, but I have been unable to secure such a job due to lack of experience in the field. I am determined to get that experience.

I have been networking, networking, networking. It is my goal to earn a Ph.D. to culminate my academic career doing research in a field I truly enjoy.

[Highpointer]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Iassume you have current school debt, I would be working a graveyard shift to get that paid off.

Have you considered the military? They have an uncanny way of getting folks on track, (and paying off SOME school debt, potentially ALL)

I am too old for the military. I am trying to find as much work as possible, and I would consider working a graveyard shift.

Originally Posted by loloroj

Why the USA? You better rethink this one VERY carefully. If you're coming here because somehow you think it's some kind of haven for the gleaming Ivory Tower, you better get sober real quick. You might be picked up primarily due to the fact that foreign GS are willing to work for very little. I've heard WAY too many sob stories from foreign students who get here and find that all their illusions were shattered when they ran into situations where they couldn't afford to live on what they were getting paid.

Moreover you better do a whole lot more research into what is happening with NSF/NIH grants, and what is taking place with research money. Too many tenured profs, which is suppose to indicate some kind of expertise in the field, can't find research money, and the ones that do find some are getting less than in years past. Point is that if research money is being cut, then the need for PH.d's is far less than ever before. And if so, then the need for PH.d candidates is as well. If you're thinking that the US is the place for you to get big money for science, then I would suggest you are poorly informed regarding what's going on here.

I don't know you, but from perceived sentiment of the OP, you may be laboring under some bad thinking. As one other poster wrote, figure out what's going on in the real world regarding whatever field it is you want to study before you make the jump to come over here. We really don't need any more foreign students getting our tax money simply because TPTB don't want to pay US grad students a higher salary...

I am not foreign. I am an American citizen living in the USA.

[ragnarkar]

Ridiculous question.. how do all the Chinese and Indian students do it considering they're not eligible for loans?

Find some of these people, ask around, and copy their model.

Originally Posted by ragnarkar

Ridiculous question.. how do all the Chinese and Indian students do it considering they're not eligible for loans?

Find some of these people, ask around, and copy their model.

They do science/engineering, where the students get paid.

As for science PhDs, it's not as doom and gloom and some here are portraying. Bio and chemistry seem to churn out huge numbers of PhDs and there simply aren't enough jobs for all of them. The same problem hit physics decades ago when everyone wanted to do high energy and there just wasn't enough need for all those PhDs.

OTOH, if one goes into some sort of applied science, industry is always an option, and pays much much better than academia or government. The jobs are also easier to get as there are many more of them.

The science PhDs I know who aren't making good money are those who are either committed to a particular research track (e.g. thin film photovoltaics as opposed to anything in semiconductor physics), or those who are unwilling to relocate for a good job.