How many of you have or are pursuing a PhD?

How many of you have or are pursuing a PhD?

Maybe we can turn this into a thread offering advice and support to people interested in pursuing a PhD:

What's your field?
Does the school know about your status?
How are you financing your studies?
How did the application process work for you?

Well to be honest I'm just going start college this year but my goal is to get my associate degree(community college) and then my bachelors degree. I haven't decide yet if I want a Masters because I don't how am going to feel after 4 or 5 years of college. I heard that a PhD is not really worth it because the pay is not that much higher if you have a Masters degree and it takes more years of college.

I'm going to major in Mechanical Engineering
I haven't applied yet.
My mom is going to help me out and hopefully I can get a job.

I have the option of entering a PhD at an Ivy right now. Im actually steering away from it, keeping it as a backup incase i cant do what i really want to.

1) My field would be Biomedical Engineering.
2) I met them and they know about my status.
3) They would finance it in full.
4) Normal application process as an International.

Come clean about your situation. International is no problem because they look for people who come from abroad. Its worth coming clean about your status so they can do the research and know how to handle it. Dont attend a PhD program if you have to pay for it.

Could you PM me details? I'm looking at starting a Master's in the fall, and if med school doesn't work out, I would at the very least want to get my PhD (or maybe get started depending on when I would be eligible to apply for med school). Field would be Biology/Biochemistry/Chemistry or something business related (I have broad interests).

My thoughts on masters and PHD programs: Unless someone is paying you to take the classes(*) and do the research, you are not doing work worth doing

(*) "Professional" master's degrees like MBAs are excluded, of course.

+1 TexasDreamy, you got the right idea/approach.

what details are you looking for? Masters program = you pay. Medical school, sorry to say, will not likely work out (unless you are in texas). Most schools dont look at internationals, others look at them after USC and LPR's. Others require full tuition (200k+) in an escrow bank account. I have kind of accepted this and as hard as it may be for some, moved on. Unless youre willing to wait it out til you get LPR, might be reasonable if youre like 17-18 years old.

Its good to have broad interests. If you are going to go for a higher degree, get a doctorate. That means go for the PhD. Never EVER pay for a PhD Program. Its just NOT worth it. Starting phd salaries are around 60-80k across the country (academia). Industry jobs are hard to come by. Let the PhD program sponsor you, and then let the lab sponsor you after you've picked one (by sponsor i mean with money to fund your education, not immigration related). I would say if you have decent gre scores (new scale: 165+ math/ 155+ verbal) and a decent gpa (3.5+) you should not have much trouble getting into a PhD program. But do your homework first, know what youre getting into.

1st yr PhD student at an Ivy. School knows about my status and is giving me a full ride including a stipend. I applied as an international. Field is molecular bio.

Also, I got in pre DACA. Now post DACA, acess to federal funds is possible.

you can apply for fellowships / grant money from the NIH?

So are people applying for higher degrees not finding jobs or what? In my field, someone holding a PH.D doesn't earn that much. experience is mostly preferred