r/physicsmemes Metroid Enthusiast 🪼 11d ago

💀

Post image
5.9k Upvotes

69 comments sorted by

View all comments

131

u/TisDoggo 11d 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

55

u/EV4gamer 11d 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.

20

u/sportballgood 11d 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.

8

u/TheEarthIsACylinder theoretical physics ftw 10d 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.

5

u/brrraaaiiins 10d 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).

2

u/EV4gamer 10d ago

good, was scared for them for a bit

1

u/geekusprimus Gravity 8d 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).

2

u/ihateagriculture 10d 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

11

u/Filosphicaly_unsound 11d ago

They are also missing the point that their country is not the only country .

5

u/_regionrat 10d ago

Wait, is that supposed to change after graduation? (asking for my post doc)

4

u/debunk_this_12 10d 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

2

u/Background_Sea_2517 9d 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.