POSTGRADUATE DEGREE - Choosing A Supervisor, Research Topic And What It Takes To Be Successful.
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Should you do a postgraduate degree? What is takes to do a postgraduate degree. Dealing with postgraduate research. How to choose a postgraduate supervisor and research. How to be successful at pursuing your postgraduate degree.
Featured guests: Prof Zurab Janelidze (Professor of Mathematics, Stellenbosch University); Dr Simo Mthethwa (Lecturer of Mathematics, University of Kwa Zulu-Natal)
Doing research comes with a rollercoaster of emotions. There are days where you're excited that you're doing it, discovering interesting ideas and there are days where you're just in the dark, don't have an idea on how to achieve what you have in mind. If I were to tell how many times I cried while doing my master's research 😭😂 the frustrations! This just gave me the motivation to keep going, I think I'm doing well😊
Wow, keep pushing Jeanette. I know what you're going through. Research is a journey. I remember I once got stuck on problem for two months when I was doing my PhD. That problem got to a point of frustrating me. I actually stopped working on the problem and pursued other problems. It was when I was working on other problems that I finally had an idea of solving that problem I was stuck on. The advice I was given on such situations is that you must sometimes "switch off", that is, taking intentional breaks or activities that are not related to your research. With me, I found out that I actually get a lot of ideas when I'm "switching off", because when you do that you don't force your mind to think and to come up with solutions. I guess the mind functions well when it's not under pressure.
The advice to study your discipline is quite critical.
Indeed Thabiso. Thank you!
Hey Ben, I have a question about postgraduate degrees. You know, sometimes when people apply for jobs, some companies tell them that they are overqualified for the position. In that case, what is the best advice you can give to an undergraduate who plans to pursue a postgraduate degree? Anyways, I really liked the intro booms 💥!!!
I think it depends how much your field is in demand. If it’s a scarce skill field they’ll prefer PhD’s or masters rather than degrees. Just like mathematics/computer science, companies prefer postgraduates.
Hi Gudani. Boom,...maybe I should use this as an intro moving forward. Regarding your question, I concur with Huios1000, I think it depends on the profession or industry you want to get into. It's important to do extensive research on the profession, career or industry you want to get into. In that way you'll know the entry level qualifications.
Minimum requirement for Academia is PhD yoooh 😅 I love Mathematics too but at this point I don't know whether to go for Pure/Applied/ Financial Mathematics 🙌🙌🙌
Hi Nyameko. Regarding choosing which mathematics discipline to follow, I always advice students that your choice should be based on which discipline do you enjoy and have passion for, and also what do you want to do after you graduate. If after graduating you want to go to corporate then applied mathematics or financial mathematics can be a good choice. Even with pure mathematics you can get into corporate, It's just that applied mathematics and financial mathematics have concepts related to corporate. Pure mathematics is more of abstract mathematics.
@@benmahudu7431 thank you for sharing 🤝