I’m a procrastinator… Making big decisions is not really my thing so I tend to wait till the last minute. For example, I haven’t decided if I want to go to do my MS until my last semester as an undergrad.
Similarly, I’m two semesters away from a Masters and I still don’t know if I want to continue my education. I think I do want to get a PHD but I still don’t have this crystal clarity of mind that comes about only when you make decisions the last minute.
But I think the last minute is here already. I just talked to one of my professors and he told me that if I want to get to a decent school I need to start applying now. Crap!
I don’t even know where to go… Who has good CS programs around here? I definitely want to stay local, but I have no clue which schools are good and which suck. I spent the past 5 years of my life here at MSU. I would do a PHD here, but we don’t even have a CS PHD program here. I figured I’ll sort all of this out next semester – but it seems like I might need to start now.
Of course if I fuck this up and apply to late, I can always take a semester/year off and try looking for a job in the industry. Sigh… I’m confused…
Check out Stevens if they’ve got a PhD program; Otherwise, get out there and start putting all of that knowledge and problem solving abilities you’ve been harnessing to use on the job. I’ve been an MSU comp sci alumn now for less than a year, and I feel that i’ve learned more since I graduated than I learned in all of my comp sci classes combined. Good luck to you in whatever endevors you pursue!
– Andrew Gershman
Yeah, I do realize that some (most?) of the stuff they teach us in classes is crap. But I do enjoy academic life.
I enjoy learning new things, and being a student allows me to be a slacker, procrastinator and a lazy bum without impacting my ability to be successful at what I do :)
And it would be pretty sweet to attach a PHD to my name :)
Thanks for the advice :)