Things to consider before going for a PhD | Part 1 | IIT prof's advice

Students need to consider a lot of issues before deciding to go for a PhD. While there are many resources giving advice to students just starting out on their PhD or for those students who wish to go abroad from India, there are not many resources giving guidance to Indian students who are thinking of doing a PhD in India itself. Therefore in this video I cover the issues spanning across job prospects, stipend, and marriage that students should seriously think about before deciding to go for a PhD in India.

This video is part of a YouTube playlist where I give various general advice to students at different levels (Bachelor, Master, PhD):

Video by: Dr Jeevanjyoti Chakraborty, Mechanical Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur

Interesting questions, comments from the above form may be featured in future YouTube videos.

Disclaimer: I am a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering Department of IIT Kharagpur. However, the views expressed in this video are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my Department or my Institute.

#jc #IITKharagpur #IITprof

[Prof_JC]

Interesting questions, comments from the above form may be featured in future YouTube videos.

[souravkar]

General disclaimer **: IF ANYONE IS REALLY WANTS TO PURSUE Ph.D., THEN DO IT SERIOUSLY !! ONLY THOSE CANDIDATES SHOULD GO FOR Ph.D. WHO ARE ONLY AND ONLY RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC ORIENTED

[raunakdey]

Truthbombs after truthbombs. Many of us, the young students discuss these aspects, but I rarely see a prof making such a video. Your channel is a gem.

[RahulKumar-zlnm]

I have seen that many professors in premier institute have their own ego and even they don't allow young professors to excel and make them like them.
Also In India PhDs must be trained professionally so that they can go to industry not just a paper publishing machine.
Most important financial security is important

[saibalendusarkar]

Dear Dr. JC. I really clapped when you said, being a Prof. you are never gonna get rich even if you lead an upper middle class life. Thanks for the video. I feel motivated.😄

[Mohankumardash]

Hello Sir, Mohan here. I hope you remember me from the applied elasticity class of 2019. I am doing my PhD now in France, and everything you told about the general lifestyle of a PhD seems very accurate to me. Now I feel, I am not the only one who has these thoughts and uncertainties, it is a part of the PhD journey and we need to embrace it. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[souravkar]

Sir, You have really portrayed all the tiny but very very important aspects of a Ph.D. pursuing student who is balancing personal lifestyle, marriage, children (if any), and monthly income. Even I am a Faculty, at Department of Civil Engineering, and balancing my personal life, monthly income, and obviously Ph.D. (most important) life !!.

[ShubhamSharma-zfkd]

Very insightful! I am currently a PhD student at IISc working in the area of computational mechanics. Currently going through some of the issues you highlighted and sometimes I feel like quitting the Phd program. But it's some relief that I am not the only one. Thanks for covering these points from an Indian student perspective doing phd in India. If you can make some video on what makes a great PhD thesis, that would be extremely helpful.

[anubhutivashist]

Many will benefit from this video as it will help them adjust their expectations from a PhD accordingly. The topic is quite relevant and I am glad that it is coming from an expert and indeed other online videos on PhD life hardly address this need to strike a balance between our family's expectations, our own ideas about a PhD, and the rewarding yet challenging life of a researcher. This is essential for women candidates who, I think, should clearly state to their parents what a PhD entails before starting one and how their family's unconditional support, in addition to the academic support, is crucial for its successful completion. When I was doing my MPhil, I was in a hostel and it was an everyday affair to hear a PhD candidate in her room crying and desperately pleading her parents to give her more time. They would try to make their parents or relatives understand that they have had a very long and tiring day in the lab and simply can't get into any discussion about marriage. The tiredness and frustration in their tone was simply saddening. Now I am witnessing the same pressure to get married and even though my parents are supportive it is the relatives who don't seem to understand why I would want to delay getting married for a PhD. So the point you have made about them not having the necessary experience to comprehend the challenges or even life of a researcher makes a lot of sense. Thank you for sharing this :)

[prabhuchemics]

Very practical explaination. Kudos to the Professor. Another important point is that to get a supportive guide for PhD.

[koustuvdutta]

I wish I would have known this before joining to PhD. Todays guys are lucky to have such an honest professor speaking up from his life experiences in youtube.

[avinashtiwari]

Although i m not into academics any more but It always feels so great listening to u....your communication has that empathy of true guardian.

[codinger]

Thanks for providing such a holistic overview of the life of a Ph.D. fellow.

Just to add my point of view, if your research has been on domains of Computer Science or Applied Mathematics or Financial Engineering (Eg, Machine Learning, Stochastic Modelling, Statistics, Quantitative Finance, Computer Vision, etc.) whole new opportunities, apart from the academic setting, open for students to join as a Researcher at Big Companies directly at the senior levels, or work at HFT firms (Jane Street, Citadel, 2 Sigma, etc) building Models as a Quantitative Researcher/Trader. And there is no upper limit to what you can make at these companies.

[gayathrirajesh]

Dear Sir, thank you for your efforts to guide the student community. My father did his PhD in organic chemistry from IIT Kanpur from 94-99. He often tells me that many of them landed up in PhD because they had ‘nothing else to do’. (My father has been pursuing corporate research after his post doc) There was nobody to guide him back then, but thanks to advancements in technology, present day students are able to connect with accomplished faculty like you!

[triggerCIVIL]

Thank you sir for your valuable advice.... My all friends have joined PhD but I didn't felt from inside to do PhD still I applied and in many iits bcz everyone was doing but i ended up getting admission no where bcz I didn't prepare as per the requirements that I must possess for the interview...
But your guidance made my though clear as my heart was not accepting to invest for more 5 years and may be bcz I'm not that much passionate in research and also thinking that having no garentee of the career... Might be it will be helpful to some... But it's not mine cup of tea
Thanks prof. Having the prof. Like you is a blessings ☺️
And also i feel girls are not given that much preference in PhD although many are doing or may be I have only felt that..

[prityarpitapanda]

Really relevant and helpful for students who are unaware of these points...thnks a lot sir for covering all those points...🙏🙏

[swati]

Hello, sir, my education background is not engineering, but I can also relate to this, Begin a postgraduate student, I was confused whether to do my PhD or start working . I came from a middle class family, so I also need to think financially, thank you for giving your valuable advice on this matter. It was really helpful for me ....🙏

[ashishsaxena]

As a young phd student, I understand every point. Even I might take package after doing masters from IIT Guwahati. Many of my friends are dng that. They also call me stupid. But I was firm on my dicision. I took admission in IIT for my PhD knowing I will not earn much in future. This is the thing I wanted and even i waited. One thing you are right abt many people join PhD because of It motivates me. Thanks for such kinda video ♥️

[roshanmis]

I am so thankful youtube recommended this when it did. I am old (36+ now) and after carefully considering my motivations, background and aim in life I decided against. I have been working in the non-profit research sector and being an academic looked like a normal transition but you have opened my eyes. Thank you again for making this video. It was hard enough to explain to my family my decision to leave a high-paying tech job to go work in the non-profit sector and they would never accept something like this.

P.S. I studied at KV IIT KGP

[janardansingh]

A very pragmatic & well informed advice Sir, I would just add rather clarify to the audience that "fierce & killing competition" also includes the non transparency & corruption by all manners prevailing in the recruitment in the universities & higher learning institutions exceptions excluded, I have been observing this for more than 3 decades as an HR expert also.