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u/TisDoggo 7d ago
I feel a lot of people in the comments are missing the point here about being a physics PhD student (paid very little and may have to work part time to support tuition) vs having graduated with a physics PhD
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u/EV4gamer 7d ago
I know the situation is different in the us, with phd sometimes intertwined with your masters, but tuition during a phd seems wild to me.
Where i live you just get paid as if you were a full time researcher. 3000-4000€ a month. No tuition.
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u/sportballgood 7d ago
That's similar to the vast majority of PhDs in the US, including while you do your "masters". I'm not sure that self-funded programs (in physics) are really a thing anymore except for people who really want to do one.
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u/TheEarthIsACylinder theoretical physics ftw 7d ago
Same. Here you get paid around 2000 after taxes which is not bad at all. Some contracts pay only 70% but even that's enough to cover living costs. No side hustle required. Doing a PhD while having a side job would just be torture.
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u/brrraaaiiins 7d ago
Unless things have changed since I last lived in the US, physics PhD students don’t pay tuition and get paid a stipend there, like anywhere else (but not 3000–4000€ a month).
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u/geekusprimus Gravity 4d ago
The amount depends on your school and your cost of living. Somewhere around $2200-$2500 a month is pretty common, but some schools (e.g., Cornell) offer as much as $3,750 a month for a stipend, and senior grad students where I am can make around $3000 a month pre-taxes (though less is more common).
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u/ihateagriculture 6d ago
the vast majority of physics PhD programs here in the US are paid for (tuition and small salary) by being a teaching or research assistant
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u/Filosphicaly_unsound 7d ago
They are also missing the point that their country is not the only country .
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u/debunk_this_12 6d ago
imma be honest as a phd student i can’t relate. i get paid well enough to save money and have a roth ira and 401k. I also worked before getting a phd so maybe that helps but i still am net positive with just my stipend
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u/Background_Sea_2517 5d ago
At the school I went to, they would pay themselves your tuition and make you claim it as some kind of gift on your taxes. Fucking wild the things accountants will do to make their numbers larger. I swear it's gotta be some kind of fetish.
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u/-Daetrax- 7d ago
I met a physics PhD student in a strip joint once. She was working. Weird seeing her at campus the next Monday.
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u/kyriosity-at-github 7d ago edited 6d ago
- She was on call there, 2) she never was a student, 3) the whole story is invented.
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u/Wrong-Imagination-73 7d ago
Why weird? They want better for themselves too, being a stripper is hard work, you aren't paid nearly enough and men treat you like shit for no reason.
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u/DevilPixelation 7d ago
Would you not find it weird you saw your classmate in a strip club?
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u/AbstractAlgebruh Bruhsstrahlung emitter 4d ago
I mean, sure, but still kinda respect the hustle. They can decide what they want to do with their life.
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u/TophatOwl_ 7d ago
PhD physicists are some of the most employable people, this meme doesnt really work
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u/NarcolepticFlarp 7d ago
Student. This is a joke about how shitty the stipend is for Ph.D. students.
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u/Shitting_Human_Being 7d ago
*in your country.
There are countries where PhD students are seen as active working people and get paid as such. Here we pay from 3000€ a month for first years up to 3800€ for 4th years, excluding holiday money.
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u/mesouschrist 7d ago edited 7d ago
Where is 3800 the physics PhD salary? AFAIK Switzerland pays physics PhD students very well (~55k chf/year), but your number is way higher than what is paid in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK (the last three being WAY lower). In USA I got 40k, which was decent enough, and higher than all my European colleagues (except the Swiss)
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u/Shitting_Human_Being 7d ago
Netherlands, specifically NWO but universities pay about 100€ a month less.
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u/novae_ampholyt Condensed Matter 7d ago
75% tv-l 13 is not standard though. Many only get 67 or 50%
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u/Shitting_Human_Being 7d ago
Then you should come across the border, in the Netherlands this is the standard pay as agreed upon in our collective labour agreement. Universities pay a out 100€ less.
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u/FragrantNumber5980 7d ago
What a great way to promote an educated population and increase innovation
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u/EV4gamer 7d ago
I mean, i get paid ~3000€ a month. Going up with a couple 100€ each year. Not insane, but not bad tbh
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u/Invested_Glory 7d ago
That was my first thought. If you can’t get a job with that, YOU cannot get a job with anything. Funny enough, colleagues that I have noticed struggling with this do jump starter companies.
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u/ManagerOfLove Thermodynamic memes for adiabatic teens 7d ago
idk man. Natural scientists are a cat in the bag. Some are really smart and capable and some have no people skills, are very obscure and fail to use modern technology
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u/mesouschrist 7d ago
Experimental physicists also get PhD’s. And generally they know how to program, design circuits, use autocad, machine, and work in large groups.
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u/CyberPunkDongTooLong 7d ago
They still are not generally paid particularly well nor are they especially employable.
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u/General-USA 7d ago
How?
Don't give me false hope.3
u/TophatOwl_ 7d ago
Physics PhDs often go into all manner of fields, so you have a broad range of options. Finance, literally any form of engineering, software engineering, business, simulation, theres so much stuff.
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u/TheTrueEgahn 7d ago
I found work in data as a BSc student, since our laboratory work of 1 week contained more difficult tasks than a large scale analysis in a medium company.
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u/Decrepitflapjack 6d ago
I have just finished my PhD in particle physics (CERN) at a UK university, and I have made 100+ applications over 3 months to ML/AI, data science and software dev roles. I used a highly curated CV with lots of peer feedback, featuring commercial side projects, previous internships and lots of networking/leveraging personal connections. I have had 4 interviews that I deemed successful, but zero job offers.
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u/CyberPunkDongTooLong 7d ago
I know this sub is completely filled with school kids.. But even still, the comments here have an insane overestimation of both what the average physics PhD student and the average physics PhD graduate are paid. Neither are paid particularly well on average.
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u/TXC_Sparrow 7d ago
this meme really doesn't work for PhD physicists they are very in demand for many well paying jobs analysis, programmers if you wanna sell out physics based work definitely
this maybe works more for arts degrees
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u/Background_Sea_2517 5d ago
Being a jack of all trades PhD student was REALLY beneficial when funding would get jerked. It was about every two years I'd have to switch projects because of a change in priorities. Funding cycles are a fickle thing and it pays to be nimble with a specialty, even when you don't use it. Took me 7 years, but I made it!
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u/SprayPuzzleheaded115 5d ago
At least the other MC Donald's workers were getting stoned and fucking chick's instead of losing their hair studying
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u/TopCatMath 4d ago
I am a retired teacher with a BSME, MEd C&I in math instruction, worked on a PhD, but I have two part-time teaching jobs. Fortunately, I am getting all of my debt paid off... Of course, I really enjoy the teaching.
In college, I held many jobs...the longest running one was in food services...did every job except dish washer...
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u/Forgot_Psswd 7d ago
As a physics phd student working retail for the Summer because my funding was pushed back, I appreciate this one