Patriot Act Roundup: American Local News and College During COVID-19

[zoaster_toaster]

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Hasan Minhaj has been on a roll covering the troubling decline of local newspapers in America and whether a college degree is worth pursuing amid a pandemic and how they treat the people who work there.

Source 1, 2

OP Note: I'm extremely mad at my undergrad alma mater's treatment of grad students.

Comments

[beysactingcoach]

Also I’ll be applying for an MD/PhD soon and welp good to know who to cross off my list

[zoaster_toaster]

I'm especially mad at UC Santa Cruz because I had a really great education there (despite Hasan's constant clowning on it) but UC heads were already slashing entire programs in the 2008/2009 crash (when I graduated btw) as they gave execs raises and them punishing grad students is horrific.

[fernandocolunga]

Omg praying 4 u
Get ready for 8 years of pain

[beysactingcoach]

Oh it’s gonna be more than 8 years more like 11 lol

[misao7]

Also a STEM PhD over here. I hate to say it but we have to be honest about the problem if we're going to solve it -- we have it really good compared to the humanities.

[slinkydinks]

Well, (at least, in biomed, and have heard similar from chemistry) we were also doing back-to-back time course experiments, pulling 60-80 hr work weeks, acting as lab managers for penny-pinching PIs, TA-ing, organizing for the department/school that barely supports us and postdocs, and enduring mental/emotional abuse. I don't know how rampant that sort of burnout/toxic culture is in social sciences, but I'm not sure the meager stipend over 6-7+ years makes up for all of that. I also got this prevailing mentality from PIs that because you're paid, you should just shut up and eat your food.

[bananainpyjamas]

You probably already know this but just in case: Your experience as a PhD student can vary A LOT within the same department based on your PI/advisor. So once you're admitted, be sure to talk to senior (i.e. third year or higher) students in the labs you're looking at.

Also, it's going to suck no matter what but there are places where it will suck less and at least as an MD/PhD you will have decent job prospects on the other side.