Well /sci/ I have to take my 2nd year oral astronomy PHD qualifier

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>>7950634
>oral astronomy test
What's that m80

>>7950638
basically I stand in front of a whiteboard and professors ask my questions for 2.5 hours

>>7950634
Protip: Contrary to popular belief, the Earth revolves around the Sun

>>7950663
aw shit I always forget that one.
What's the other important one? That the Earth is flat, right?

Protips: a^3=P^2M, Rs=2GM/c^2.

>>7950634
Or you could just not get a PhD in astronomy. What are you going to do, be a professor? Be the next Black Science Man?

So what job are you going to get? What are your prospects like?
85% of PhDs aquired in the US in the last 5 years are not working in the field they studied for

>>7950687
The only benefit is that you can feel clever when someone has a heart attack on an airplane and you turn to the person next to you and say "Well, I'm not that type of doctor, ha ha."

>>7950685
>>7950687
>everything is about my career
Is it that awful to spend five years doing something you love before you get a shitty career?

>>7950698
>fell for the enjoying life meme

>>7950687
Also, source?

>>7950687
>being capitalist
>>>/biz/

>>7950634
> oral

>>7951106
Aural

>>7950634
How did it go?

I'm pretty nervous for my math quals.

>>7950638
We used to say that oral examination was better than the alternative...

>>7950634
>astronomy PHD qualifier
Which branch of astronomy are you aiming for?

Bump, let's hear how it went Anon?

>>7953156
this

OP either passed, celebrated and is blackout drunk, or failed and jumped off a bridge.

>>7953388
>OP either passed, celebrated and is blackout drunk
OP here. This is exactly what I did.
It was a terrible experience including doing Bayes Statistics on the board but its over and I'm actually doing some research observations tonight.

>>7952463
I'm currently studying spiral galaxies and bars. Hoping to learn more about maximal disks and whether bar strength is related at all to it

>>7950634
prepare your anus

>>7953692
Why did you persue Astro? I think it's all cool but not as a carrier choice desu.

>>7953772
because I love it. I honestly couldn't stand doing anything else.
the reality is that getting a job to continue doing it is really intense, but its actually much better than people think.
For example, there are at least 3 people (mostly women) in my graduate year that are not planning on remaining in academia. And thus they will be counted in the statistics about how many people don't make it into academia.

Good job OP. Been a lover of astronomy since I was a kid but never ventured into it as a study (mostly home-schooled myself) since my parents paid for my college and didn't want me taking it as they thought it was "not career applicable". Eventually dropped out of college because the classes I did take were fucking boring and completely irrelevant to my interests and it was too late to switch. whodathunk?!

Thinking about going back and persuing the subject I wanted

>>7953700
It was supposed to be oral examination. Oral.

>>7953692
>OP here. This is exactly what I did.
Considering you are alive I'll congratulate you on passing (out).

I had an external examiner who said towards the end of the ordeal that he felt he hadn't sone his job until he had drawn some blood. He did. Crashing in my car a few years later was peanuts compared to this experience.