Reading some of these tales about PhD interviews I am reminded of the day my mum got hers.
I would have paid to be a fly on the wall for this young ladies first job interview after she achieved her PhD.

On the evening my mum got her PhD about 6 mths. before she popped he clogs, we took her to the venue. I arranged that if she needed me to assist her onto the stage I could - she didn't.

Anyhoo - whilst the boffins onstage are reading out PhD's and their recipients they come across this pearler.
A young lady who is slightly overweight and vaguely "gothy" looking steps up onto the stage to be awarded with a PhD in "The use of the Klingon language in the study of Modern Linguistics" or something very close to that.
I shit you not.

Now, here in Oz (AFAIK) once you get you Masters you no longer have to pay HECS - which is what you have to repay to the government for your degree and any post-grad stuff. Student loans?
So this woman had spent at least a couple of years probably at taxpayers expense (PhD students are still eligible for Austudy - which is the equivalent of a welfare payment for students) using university resources for free - the uni doesn't get any more money from HECS remember, to pursue her dream of watching old Next Gen, Voyager, Enterprise and [shudder] Deep Space 9 episodes in order to get an accredited qualification.

How quietly do you think you would mumble your PhD topic when asked in job interviews "What was your doctorate in?" if you were her?
EDIT: The above is in no way meant to denigrate the amount of time and effort it goes into achieving a PhD. More about the choice of subjects some people have made in order to get such a lauded qualification.
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sun 24 Nov 2013, 8:23, 24 replies)

lady's

( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Sun 24 Nov 2013, 12:57, closed)

her

( drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Sun 24 Nov 2013, 14:16, closed)

The thing with linguistics is
generalisable rules can be extrapolated from any language. Constructed languages can be particularly interesting as they represent an experimental form which can test the limits of generative grammar.

It's a shame her PhD was in Klingon rather than Volapük, maybe then you would take her seriously.
( Zuowan, Sun 24 Nov 2013, 14:13, closed)

Yeah but she'll never have a 44000l saltwater pool and a cheating spouse with a PhD in Star Wars.

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Sun 24 Nov 2013, 15:04, closed)

Why would a study of the academic use of the klingon language require her to watch dvds?
(cs1ca, Sun 24 Nov 2013, 20:42, closed)

Good question. I just guessed that since the tv shows were where the concept originated it would be the most obvious study media.
I suppose there are many printed editions of all sorts of books written in Klingon these days.
She was obviously breaking new ground.
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sun 24 Nov 2013, 21:22, closed)

A study of the use in academia of a language is not the same as studying the language.
(cs1ca, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 0:56, closed)

So, you wanted to mention that your mum had a doctorate,

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 8:55, closed)

I get the feeling that
I've let my high achieving academic family down.

Then again I've probably earnt more without a postgrad qualification than my mum earned with all of her postgrad stuff.

So there we have it.
I've got her doctorate on our hallway wall. It's got my daughter's Kindergarten Certificate slotted in to it.

Apparently to some people that stuff is important. It's a piece of paper in a picture frame to me.
Then again I don't have a PhD.
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 9:07, closed)

Ah, I've finally realised where the term "non-doctor" originates

(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 9:12, closed)

is that like a
non-sequiter?
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 9:15, closed)

You mention it five times a week on here along with your crappy pool and ugly step-daughter, you tragic fucking whale of lose.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 9:18, closed)

But congratulations on earning more in your little adolescent pc fixing job
than she earned in the six months between graduating and dying.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 9:19, closed)

Looking classy
right here.
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 9:26, closed)

It's obviously useless
but a Phd is a Phd.

Much the same as pointless degrees, it shows an ability to focus on a subject, to deconstruct and organize knowledge.

She won't find a lot of Klingons to talk to, but she'd make a fucking good researcher.

As she now has the Dr. bit, she really should change her surname to Spock though.
(username failed moderation, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 10:14, closed)

Ooooow!
Thread deletion.

I'm guessing by shambo - the mod's have never been that quick before.

I'm sorry if I made you look like a dickhead shambo. Actually.
I'm not. You did it all yourself.

Well done you.


(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Mon 25 Nov 2013, 11:49, closed)