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is a phd past the point of diminishing returns?

Virtually every scientific, engineering, and business discipline is quite familiar with the concept of diminishing returns, the point where no matter how many more tweaks you make or how much you work...

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yes, education is good for you, stop whining.

It’s often said that politicians are two faced, and generally for a good reason. While the double standards of a disturbing majority of them fill entire libraries dedicated to cataloging modern...

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how academia unplugs from the outside world

Over at Cosmic Variance, there’s a recent post by Sean Carroll about getting tenure at a research university and if it’s really accurate in its description of what it takes to become a tenured...

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go to college, get a degree, and then what?

Back in January, two researchers who wanted to measure the benefits of college education tracked the gains and losses of some 2,300 college students across numerous majors in different universities,...

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why we need to rethink higher ed once again

Once upon a time, I heavily criticized a financier who took to the web to declare that college is for chumps and instead of immediately going off to get a four year degree as is prescribed by custom,...

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academics double down on their defense

One would think that following more than a year of very public debate about college education, student loans, and how an entire generation is being left behind in social and economic terms despite...

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college advice, pretentious posturing included

Quite a few science and academic blogs are abuzz with links and quotes from an article by a former English professor and current essayist William Deresiewicz lamenting the state of higher education....

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why a phd may just not be worth it, redux

With grad school finally winding down, I have a choice to make. Should I take a short break after my master’s, start drafting a CV, and applying for a PhD program, or should I just stick with what I...

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should you really consider a foreign university?

We’ve discussed college education in depth on this blog. Over the years we covered why it’s probably not the best choice for everyone, how instead of opening doors to new and rewarding careers it can...

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so how many humanities scholars do we need?

On this blog, yours truly harps a lot about the benefit of a STEM major and relentlessly pounced on those who seem to believe that humanities makes one a better person than the sciences, especially...

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the absurd post-college guessing game

Ever since my foray into grad school, college education has been a recurring topic here as I struggled how to balance the advice given to me about what to study and how far to keep going, and the...

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why there are phds in the unemployment line…

According to what we’re often told, if we work hard, study, get good grades, and go to college, we’ll have good jobs that let us make a steady living and the typically poor college student days will be...

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why college is not a quick fix for poverty

If you’re gainfully employed for all intents and purposes, and one day find yourself off work sick because while your boss wants you at work he or she isn’t interested in your germs also being in the...

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to code or not to code? that is the question…

When living and working in the modern post-industrial world, you need to be computer literate, despite what a few people with whom I worked in the past may think. I’m sure you know the people in...

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want more stem grads? open your wallet…

After years of warnings about low graduation rates in STEM disciplines from tech companies and DARPA, the call for more enrollments in scientific and engineering programs, and better, more...

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the futile search for the goldilocks employee

Say you’re an employer in today’s economy and you’ve reached a point when you need to hire more people to meet customer demand. Considering the high unemployment rates and the most educated workforce...

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when conspiracy theorists have a valid point

A while ago, a seemingly harmless opinion article about digital currency on a current events site provoked a flood of conspiracy theorists claiming that digital money was a tool for the New World...

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learning your abc’s and int/void mains?

As an old expression teaches us, when you have a hammer, all your problems look like nails, so it’s no surprise that Silicon Valley bigwigs interested in improving education quickly turn to coding and...

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are today’s science funding recommendations doing more harm than good?

Nature recently published a thorough look at Norman Augustine, an engineer who now advises political bigwigs on how to allocate research and development dollars for scientific ventues. A lot of his...

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why companies and colleges aren’t working together

Generally the informal rule around Weird Things is not to persue the same topic two days in a row, but there are always exceptions, especially in the case of hard data that brings the points discussed...

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