-2

This is my question:

I want to do a thesis but my qualifications are bad so I do not know if I will be able to find a thesis advisor.

What can I do? Are there universities who do not care about qualifications if you have some ideas?

I can propose some ideas for thesis (in .pdf) but do not know if they will be enough.

ff524
  • 108,934
  • 49
  • 421
  • 474
Jose Javier Garcia
  • 281
  • 3
  • 10
  • In what country and in what field is this in? You say your qualifications are low, but what are they anyway? Do not post your thesis ideas, that's not what your question is about. – Stephan Branczyk Sep 26 '16 at 10:51
  • 2
    Qualifications (are at least considered to) demonstrate academic ability. Why would a university want to take on a student who demonstrated "bad" levels of academic ability? I made this exact same point the last time you asked this question (as far as I can see, it's since been deleted). If you believe that you do in fact have academic ability then you need to find some way to demonstrate it – Ian_Fin Sep 26 '16 at 10:51
  • 5
    See also http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237/how-does-the-admissions-process-work-for-ph-d-programs-in-the-us-particularly – Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩 Sep 26 '16 at 11:15
  • my country is spain :D but if i have to go abroad it does ot matter , qualification mean 1.5 o 4 (biggest , and 1 the lowest) – Jose Javier Garcia Sep 26 '16 at 11:41
  • 6
    What makes you believe that you will do better in a PhD? I think that will inform your considerations. – Captain Emacs Sep 26 '16 at 12:47

1 Answers1

4

If you got less-than-average results in you Bachelor/Master program, you should seriously consider not to do a PhD. While you might find an advisor if you try and look long enough (at a small or unimportant university), it is not unlikely that you eventually fail to finish your PhD and just wasted some years.

If you have problems in understanding difficult concepts in physics (which is often the reason for bad marks), then it may be not the best idea to enter an environment where people expect you to learn a lot of material from different sources without much help from anybody.

I saw somebody dropping out of a PhD program after 7 years, which is not really desirable.

J Fabian Meier
  • 13,166
  • 4
  • 37
  • 62
  • 4
    In addition to the second paragraph, another reason for getting bad marks in any subject is not putting a sufficient and sustained amount of effort in to the work. It goes without saying this isn't going to help when trying to complete a PhD. – Ian_Fin Sep 26 '16 at 12:30
  • i have some ideas can i present my ideas to the advisor to convince him/her ? or this won't work .. i mean i have some ideas are not revolutionary but i think they may be interesting – Jose Javier Garcia Sep 26 '16 at 12:37
  • 2
    @JoseJavierGarcia Of course you can try to do that. But you should think hard if you really want to do a PhD. It requires deep scientific understanding and a lot of self discipline. – J Fabian Meier Sep 26 '16 at 12:44
  • do not your advisor helps you ? with the calculations or similar ? – Jose Javier Garcia Sep 26 '16 at 12:45
  • 5
    @JoseJavierGarcia The point is that successfully completing a PhD requires much more than ideas. It also takes a foundation in the subject, ability to learn more about a specialized area from papers etc., and largely self-driven sustained effort. You need to find some way, other than lower degree grades, to demonstrate you have a reasonable chance of succeeding. – Patricia Shanahan Sep 26 '16 at 12:46
  • 1
    @JoseJavierGarcia There are actually advisors that help you with the topic or some calculations. But most PhD students I met vastly overestimate the help they will get. To get 2 hours of time every two month or so would be a positive example, but I also saw cases in which the advisor provided a vague topic and then you can meet him again when you're done. – J Fabian Meier Sep 26 '16 at 12:49
  • 5
    Supervisors might help with calculations at the limits of what a good MSc student can be expected to know; but not at the limits of a weak one. Otherwise, the supervisor could do the work on their own. What's the point for them to do double work: do the calculation themselves and also drag someone else behind? I expect my students to know how to do the standard computations after around 2-3 months into the PhD, and the more advanced computations after 1 year. – Captain Emacs Sep 26 '16 at 13:32