Time to make a big decision — 2 years ago
I am one semester away from phase 1 of getting my doctorate, namely getting my bachelor’s degree. I was a self-taught computer programmer for a number of years, and also worked as a writer and editor, all without a degree. I thought for a long time that I felt the calling to work as a professor: teaching and research are really what interest me, though I had difficulty choosing a topic to specialize in. I decided on math for the bachelor’s degree, and then “we’ll see” for the Ph.D.
So now it is time to decide what to do for the Ph.D. I have my options down to math, computer science, or cognitive science. Computer algebra systems (like Mathematica) might be the best research topic for me, combining both comp sci and math. It is a very, very difficult decision, though, and I have to make it very soon: most of the top grad schools’ application deadlines are already closed, and the 2nd-tier ones close in only a week or so.
I made a big list of research topics that I’d like to work on, to see which field best fit them. Computer science and cognitive science match up best. But I can’t see teaching comp sci or cog sci after getting the Ph.D. I most of all want to teach undergraduate-level math. And I’m much more interested in the coursework needed for a math Ph.D.: I crave to learn more analysis, abstract algebra, topology, and differential geometry. But I’m well aware that the job market for math professors is extremely tight: about 100 qualified people for every opening in the U.S. It would be much easier in comp sci. Cog sci is a total unknown, but very scary in that there are only about 30 cog sci departments in the whole world (give or take). On top of that, my credibility for getting into a good math Ph.D. program is fairly low (I could use more senior-level coursework and a better score on the Subject GRE), while my credibility for comp sci is pretty good, and for cog sci it’s decent (I have a few publications).
I could delay the big decision by getting a master’s in math and then deciding what to do for the Ph.D. But then I will be 42 when applying to a Ph.D. program.
If anyone else has wrestled with the decision of what discipline to go into for grad school, I’d love to hear your story.
