Re: PhD Program Molecular Medicine
^ Thanks for the information. I checked from California state Uni Berkeley. and they require students to complete 1 year of coursework that includes statistics, data analysis (quantitative methods etc.) etc. Also, they don't allow student to work, has to be full time. They provide some jobs inside the uni though.
I'm hoping to get the course work exemption because I have taken these courses, have some work experience in both quantitative & qualitative techniques. besides my thesis in masters was totally based on qualitative reasearch as well.
I've one more question i.e. what do you plan to do after completing your PHD. Would you prefer to work for a company or for any university. I believe that being a part of faculty is the best thing after PHD. Is it true?
CoolBreeze,
1 year of coursework sounds very enticing… it’s significantly lesser than most other North American schools. However, with lesser courses, there’s also lesser opportunities for getting exemptions because Universities are interested in promoting their Ph.D. graduates partly based on the rigor of training that they’ve received.
Re: jobs… yes, most Universities have an upper limit of 10 or 12 hours per week of work inside the University and the pay per hour is decent. You typically would get hired as a TA or RA. If you have a flexible and understanding supervisor, this could change though. For my first two years, my supervisor allowed me to work 15 hours outside the University in another teaching position since it paid better than internal work. After you defend your proposal though (usually mid or end of third year), some Universities allow you to switch your status to part-time at which point you can explore gainful employment.
In terms of my future plans, I’m already working in academia… and intend to continue. I already have three or four research projects in the pipeline and have potential Govt. grants promised to me after I graduate. Along with research and teaching, I also plan to take one term off every year to do some consulting work in order to stay in touch with the industry.