Being a Prof would be great. What to you teach now? (I'm inferring that you are indeed a professor.)
I study gambling and its history and teach a few classes on...gambling and history. Also writing (creative non-fiction) now and then, too. And I taught a hospitality security class once. I do a lot more research and administrative stuff than teaching since that's they hired me for, but teaching is a lot of fun. Grading isn't, though.
Good luck with the PhD--it's a lot of work but definitely worth it.
^^^
Wow,
shatnertage, that's a very interesting topic/field in which you teach. I wonder how you got into that! It sounds cool.
I agree about all the administrative headaches associated with professorships. That's why I'd really like to not be a true research professor but instead be a teaching professor/lecturer. I knew someone in my department who did the same thing, though he certainly could've qualified for a regular professorship. But handling all those committees, supervising all those MS and PhD students, and the endless writing of grant proposals -- that isn't for me!
I've been fortunate enough to just have the experience of teaching, designing curricula, and of course, grading. I actually found that I loved all of it -- even the grading.
And man, there is a
huge difference between getting an MS and a PhD, at least in engineering. I liken it to the difference between middle school and college. I don't know about how tough/rigorous PhD programs are in other fields, but in EE, you have to contribute novel, useful, information to the field (make a demonstrable contribution to enhance the level of knowledge), demonstrate that you can master any related topic, and publish publish publish. I've got the last one down, but the first two are exceedingly difficult. I just want to teach and do a little research on the side. Boy did I choose the wrong career. Had I done math or statistics, an MS would easily be sufficient to teach, and I'm better at the math part of engineering than the creative problem solving. There's
no way I'm the type of engineer who'd cut it on a starship. I'd be more like crewman Harren from Voyager (though not quite that abstract).
But I make a pretty embarrassing engineer: I don't even know how to change a car tire, change the oil, or even check it. I hate dealing with "real stuff" or tinkering. And I've broken just about every piece of circuitry hardware I've used. About all I'm good for is designing mathematical algorithms to solve problems and statistical data analysis on a computer. I came
so close to studying physics instead. As a sophomore, I was asked by my quantum/solid state physics professor to join him for research, but at the same time an engineering professor asked me to do the same. Obviously I chose the latter. I often wonder how things would've been had I not.
Enough about me. End of rant. Sorry for the TMI.
I apologize to everyone! I couldn't help myself; I'm a little lonely right now as I am forced to mostly just sit in bed and wait until I recover from surgery. Maybe there are other engineers or scientists out there who can relate (not to the surgery but to the other stuff).
