Reply to Harvard slashing PhD programs + layoffs

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Focus on training US citizens and giving rural and city kids a chance. The US imports way too much foreign talent.[/quote]

I agree in theory, but the US K-12 STEM curriculum is sh*t in most places. It is really hard/too late to correct for a poor foundation once the students are at the college and post-grad level, when you are talking about cutting edge research. That’s how you end up with school like Harvard having to add remedial math courses like pre-calculus to get some of their admits up to speed. [/quote]

It’s not either/or.  We need to get our students better trained and we need to continue to attract the best from other countries. It’s what makes us powerful. [/quote]
We have lots of American students who could get a science PhD.  Most just choose not to because it's really really hard work, takes a really really long time and has very uncertain and not well compensated career prospects.  It's way easier to go work in consulting or for an investment bank than to spend 6 years making 40k/year during your PhD, then two 2-year post doc making $78k, only to fight for a possible faculty job in your 30s.  All of those years as a graduate student and post docs years you're grinding it out with 80+ hour work weeks, going into the lab 7 days a week.  If you don't get a faculty job, you have to try to find an industry job and those prospects really depend on your specialization.  Many end up working at Starbucks.  American students have other options.[/quote]
A science PhD? No not really. There’s plenty of careers and you’d actually get priority as domestic talent, but people usually aren’t qualified or actually mature enough to get though a PhD program. It’s also a bit strange to argue that there aren’t many Americans in phd programs but to then say PhD students end up at Starbucks- something international job applicants can’t work at.

I think many more people go into consulting cause it’s easy to get from a top school, career offices at top schools push everyone into it, and it’s super easy to bs an interview spewing how passionate you are about whatever McKinsey does that isn’t some borderline  crime.[/quote]
If even a small percentage of those from top schools trying for med school or who go into consulting or banking decided to stay in science and get a PhD, programs would be overwhelmed.  And I don't buy the argument that there's top 50 science grads who are totally unequipped to enter a PhD program. The issue is that there are options for those tops students that are less work and more lucrative.[/quote]

Then you don’t understand what it takes to get through a science PhD program. I absolutely believe that many top grads are unequipped - I’ve witnessed them flame out first hand. And we already prioritize recruiting American students because they’re eligible for federal training grants (and are therefore cheaper for the university). [/quote]

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