Jane,
I agree completely. In fact, even before asking the "why" question, or
at least something to ask at the same time is: IF you NEED graduate
school to achieve your goals (career, etc.). You should definitely
decide WHAT your goals/dreams/interests are and then do your homework.
If you can achieve them without graduate school, then graduate school is
an immense waste of time in which all you'll achieve is helping some
professor get promoted and boost their publication and grant record.
Better to spend those years on things that take you steps toward your
dreams (and hopefully making a little money along the way, and ACHIEVING
something significant).
If you decide that you must go to graduate school, do a LOT of research
on the labs you are thinking about joining before picking one - and talk
to EVERY and all people who work in those labs and especially those who
use to (students and postdocs especially) and are now elsewhere. The
latter can and will probably give you more honest and better informed
opinions of the lab.
Dr. Aaron T. Dossey
Unemployed Ph.D. Entrepreneur
On 7/19/2012 9:43 PM, Jane Shevtsov wrote:
Hi Jeremy,
You haven't told us the most important thing -- WHY you're doing a
Master's and want to do a PhD. Answer that, and you'll be well on your
way to picking a topic, with the rest being a matter of finding a
specific question.
I also highly recommend the book _On Becoming a Biologist_ by John
Janovy, Jr. It is a very wise book that deals with these types of
questions.
Good luck,
Jane Shevtsov
On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 8:55 AM, Jeremy Fontaine
<fonta...@student.umass.edu> wrote:
Hello all, this upcoming Fall semester I will be attending the University of
Massachusetts Lowell to obtain my Master's Degree in Biology with the
possibility of a Biotechnology option. I want to do a Master's Thesis
because I want to get my PHD later on, but I am really not sure what I want
to do my master's thesis on. I completed my bachelors degree in Biology at
the University of Massachusetts Amherst and learned a great deal.
Some guidance or advice for the process of picking a thesis topic or how to
approach the situation would be very helpful.
Thank you,
Jeremy
--
Aaron T. Dossey, Ph.D.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Founder/Owner: All Things Bugs
Capitalizing on Low-Crawling Fruit from Insect-Based Innovation
http://www.allthingsbugs.com
https://www.facebook.com/Allthingsbugs
1-352-281-3643
