Life as a PhD Student

Brent Pappas
University of Central Florida

Stevenson 1301
12:00 PM

An increasing number of undergraduate students are choosing to remain in school after obtaining their Bachelors in order to pursue a graduate degree, especially a PhD. The PhD program offers many benefits, including more job opportunities, higher salaries, and expert-level knowledge. But the road to obtaining a PhD is fraught with obstacles, requiring one to think critically about a problem for years while writing and publishing papers on their findings. Nonetheless, these challenges are worth facing, as the skills one gains will overcoming them will last a lifetime. In this talk, I share the reasons why I believe the PhD is ultimately worth pursuing, and give you a clear idea of what to expect from the program by recounting my past five years as a Computer Science PhD student.