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dong xinliang

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what really do you want? can you ensure it right?

I major in ecology now, but I found that I am favor of statistics more recently. In the next semester I will have a opportunity to apply Ph.D. of ecology without testing, because I will graduate in 2013. In addition, I want to take part in the Ph.D. exam of statistics for my dream. I know it is very sweet to make the dream true, but there is also many risks and hinderings on the way to get it. Think it simply, if I apply the Ph.D. without testing, I could save a lot of time to do something else, for example, learning the statistic by myself, writing, reading and so on.
so how to select? Thanks.

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    James Zhang 30+

    • +2
    Aug 17 2012: When I came out of high school, I wanted to be an artist, but I also was pretty good at math. So I looked into something like animation, but my parents didn't want me to do this because it wasn't a very secure profession. The fact that I began to question myself whether I really wanted to go into animation/art meant that this wasn't my passion.

    I am now at Georgia Tech as a Computational Media major, some new major that is a blend of communication and media studies and computer science. And now, being exposed to so many cool things like games, media, digital technology, film, digital art, web design, social media, programming, computational logic, etc. I am no longer limited to just simply math, art, and animation, and I feel that this unique mix of backgrounds give me an edge over a lot of people, even though I don't go into too much detail into each field of studies. And really, I could go into any one of these fields, do well, and live a sustainable life if I really wanted to.

    So my point is, don't limit yourself just because your major tells you that you shouldn't do statistics. The exam itself and the PHD label itself are not important, what's important is the opportunities that the exam and the PHD provides. You do what you think needs to be done and what you think are important.

    And personally, I don't see why you shouldn't do ecology and statistics. That would make an interesting combination of knowledge/skillsets that would put you an edge over a lot of other people.

    And finally there was a recent tedtalk where there was one girl who stopped pursuing her Master's to do what she believes needs to be done: http://www.ted.com/talks/caitria_and_morgan_o_neill_how_to_step_up_in_the_face_of_disaster.html
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      dong xinliang

      • 0
      Aug 18 2012: 张，不知道你来自哪里，看你名字应该是同胞啊。谢谢你的建议和提醒，生态学的领域需要很多统计学的知识，也正因如此我才对统计学感兴趣的，后来了解到统计学更多的相关知识才想专攻统计学。是的，考试和博士并不能说明什么，关键是看个人追求，我们都是将近30岁的人了，要对自己的未来做一个清晰的规划。当然除了统计和生态之外我还有许多事情可以做，我喜欢书法，尽管现在写的不好，但是我相信通过努力一定可以写出拿的出手的作品。我决定了考统计学的博士，再次谢谢你，希望以后多交流。
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        James Zhang 30+

        • 0
        Aug 18 2012: I'm unfortunately not very literate in Chinese, despite my family's cultural background, but I did put that into Google Translate.

        Anyways, no problem! Just do whatever you think/feel is right and nature will take its course for better/worse depending on how you look at it :)
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          dong xinliang

          • +1
          Aug 19 2012: :) Thanks a lot, and I am sorry that I did not know that you are not familiar with Chinese. you are very kind.

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