Month: January 2017

The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.

Keep Pushing.

by Matt Might

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge: phdknowledge-001

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

phdknowledge-002

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

phdknowledge-003

With a bachelor’s degree, you gain a specialty:

phdknowledge-004

A master’s degree deepens that specialty:

phdknowledge-005

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

phdknowledge-006

Once you’re at the boundary, you focus:

phdknowledge-007

You push at the boundary for a few years:

phdknowledge-008

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

phdknowledge-009

And, that dent you’ve made is called a Ph.D.:

phdknowledge-010

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

phdknowledge-011

So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

phdknowledge-012

Keep Pushing.  

The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. This post originally appeared at Matt Might’s Blog and appeared on BusinessInsider.com in this format.