A pyramid of questions.

More questions on the doctorate, courtesy The Visitor.

Visitor : You said, having a doctorate helped you do things differently, as a result of the training that one gets while dong research. I presume that generalization is also one of the skills that grad students acquire along with their degree (a generalization?); so you could generalize about factors that entice students to go abroad for their studies?

Me : No. That is a skill I was born with! I have gotten in trouble so many times in the past for generalizing things. Every person has their reason. (Only reason that my logic sounds like generalization is because of poor use of statistics. The three Indian students who joined grad school at the beginning of the fall quarter were all Iyer boys from Madras! So the perception of the non-Indian grad students that year was generalized based on the three of us. The FOB Chinese grad student's idea of a desi dude was a Madrasi with thayir saadham in his lunch box. It is a bad idea to generalize, except for evoking humor.

Are the opportunities for a Ph.D from the West more than for a person with a Ph.D from India?

Me: It used to be. In the mid nineties, there was talks of a bill that would restrict hiring foreign grad students. It was probably more difficult for grad students from India to get jobs here. Don't know about things now. We will have to survey todays graduating class!

If getting a Professorship is more difficult in India than in the US, does it mean that the Indian professors are the best?

Me: Don't want to start a flame war in this blog, but now who is doing the generalization? Who said getting a Professorship in the US is easy? The politics here is as bad or worse than the politics in Indian Universities. You had to be a post doc for a few years, get another Ph.D on Suckuptology and eventually could become a professor, do the publish or perish thing and dream of that magical six letter word "tenure"! Changed my mind after seeing some old friends have fun in R&D labs, without worrying about "tenure".

A related observation/opinion (mine)-the IITs, IISc and BHU (you could also include the IIMs) are 'good' because of the quality of students and is not necessarily related to the quality of the faculty. Of course the faculty in these institutes may be the best in India.

Me: It is the faculty and the students. The faculty are good at motivating the kids at a time when they are easily influenced. Most of these kids have the same drive when it comes to competition!

Now a hypothetical question: Had you done your Ph.D from India, what would you be doing now? (multiple perceived endpoints are allowed).

Me: I am tempted to say something along the lines of "The verger at St. Peters!". I will refrain from a smartass answer. I would have probably ended up working for the government in some research facility. Would not have lasted as a chai driking post-doc for four five years!

Now a bonus question for anyone who would answer!

I know how difficult it is these days to hire an Indian grad student who has just finished a Ph.D, what with the H1 quota, DHS rules etc.

What does the employment scene for Ph.D's from Indian Universities look like today?

I cannot wait to post pics and videos of the little ones tomorrow. Enough talk about the past!

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