Current Events > Can an average intelligence person get a PhD? Is there a point

(+) Yeah! (+)

What is the value of an average intelligence thesis lol... or teacher... or writing tutor

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Not going through with this will be one of my biggest regrets in life

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I've never gone for a PhD, but a number of my bosses were professors, and from my observations, I don't think it's necessarily just a matter of intelligence but instead hard work.

also, idk if your university has one, but where I work, there's this program that helps transition undergraduate students to postgraduate programs.

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In some fields, Id say yeah. There will be other factors.

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g0ldie posted...

I've never gone for a PhD, but a number of my bosses were professors, and from my observations, I don't think it's necessarily just a matter of intelligence but instead hard work.

also, idk if your university has one, but where I work, there's this program that helps transition undergraduate students to postgraduate programs.

Yeah. I know hard work is important and that's why I asked. I guess in my head I think of dissertations as useful knowledge that should be high quality, but I guess it isnt that necessarily.

I can get into one with a few (well, more than a few) extra courses, but my issue is... I am not smart. So I don't know if my work would be quality, even if it was serviceable as a result of hard work

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None if you dont have a real passion for whatever the subject is. That and adding to the total sum of human knowldgevin some way, shape, or form.

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Dedication is a bigger factor than intelligence.

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Prismsblade posted...

None if you dont have a real passion for whatever the subject is. That and adding to the total sum of human knowldgevin some way, shape, or form.

I don't know of I have a passion for the subject or if I just like the idea of the subject. Studying on my own doesnt go far because I have limited knowledge and resources.

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Most fields you could be well below average intelligence and still easily make it.

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Dakimakura posted...

Most fields you could be well below average intelligence and still easily make it.

The point being, is there any point to just doing that? I want to do research and have it read and interacted with

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I think it's worth your while to look into any programs/resources your school might offer related to PhD programs, because they might offer you someone(s) to talk to who can offer you better insights/personal experiences, since what they can really meaningful.

and if you're successful in getting into the program of your choice, you'll also get an advisor, iirc.

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g0ldie posted...

I think it's worth your while to look into any programs/resources your school might offer related to PhD programs, because they might offer you someone(s) to talk to who can offer you better insights/personal experiences, since what they can really meaningful.

and if you're successful in getting into the program of your choice, you'll also get an advisor, iirc.

I'm 90% decided to just forget about it, but I still want to make topics about it <_<

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if it's something you want, I don't think it could hurt just to look into it, even if you decide it's not for you.

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Youll never be as smart as dragoneerzero

You are the product of 300,000 years of survival. You have a knack in something. It is a matter of finding your strengths. You need to find a topic that will have easily recognized value to others so you get credit while you are alive and you need to bring a new perspective to it. It is best to have 3 to 5 topics and work on all of them simultaneously.

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I have a guy working for me that's getting his PhD in History.

Hes not very smart but hes powering along. If he was really smart, hed see how much debt and no job hes gonna have

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Anyone can get a PhD.

Anyone can solve a difficult problem.

Anyone can get paid to solve difficult problems.

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Sure if they're willing to spend 5 years working on it

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Depends on the area. Some PhDs are more rise and grind than others.

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@COVxy please advise

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g0ldie posted...

if it's something you want, I don't think it could hurt just to look into it, even if you decide it's not for you.

Yeah. I don't really want to do that because I always feel like a clown with a dream talking to such people

soulunison2 posted...

Youll never be as smart as dragoneerzero

How did you know exactly what this was about?

CobraGT posted...

You are the product of 300,000 years of survival. You have a knack in something. It is a matter of finding your strengths. You need to find a topic that will have easily recognized value to others so you get credit while you are alive and you need to bring a new perspective to it. It is best to have 3 to 5 topics and work on all of them simultaneously.

I'm good at restaurant dishwashing but you can't get a PhD in that

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Lots of bullshit in this topic from people who have read very little about intelligence. To answer your question TC, many people that fall in the "high average" range of intelligence (which is roughly an IQ of 110 to 119) obtain PhDs, but it really depends on the subject. A person with an IQ in the double digits is almost certainly incapable of getting a PhD.

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Godnorgosh posted...

It's less about intelligence and more about:

* Do you want to put in the time and work?
* Does earning a PhD make sense for your goals?

I have no goals other than researching collaboratively and discussing topics at a high level in a productive way, and to figure out this strange idea I have

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Shadowplay posted...

Lots of bullshit in this topic from people who have read very little about intelligence. To answer your question TC, many people that fall in the "high average" range of intelligence (which is roughly an IQ of 110 to 119) obtain PhDs, but it really depends on the subject. A person with an IQ in the double digits is almost certainly incapable of getting a PhD.

I havent been officially tested but I went to a high ranked school and did alright once I learned the basics. So I'm probably at least 105.

But I don't just mean IQ anyway, other stuff goes into intelligence metrics

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Has far less to do with intrinsic ability as it does being willing to dedicate the vast majority of your time (I spent most of my PhD working 60+ hours a week, usually at least 6 days a week) to studying a field, and then eventually a very narrow topic within the field.

I'm just not gonna talk about IQ because I think it's not really an important discussion here (more like a red-herring).

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COVxy posted...

(I spent most of my PhD working 60+ hours a week, usually at least 6 days a week)

lol I dont have that kind of time

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MedeaLysistrata posted...

I havent been officially tested but I went to a high ranked school and did alright once I learned the basics. So I'm probably at least 105.

But I don't just mean IQ anyway, other stuff goes into intelligence metrics

I think you're conflating general knowledge with intelligence. General knowledge correlates positively with IQ, but different people with similar levels of intelligence can vary widely with how much they know, partially due to education and unequal opportunities and incentives for self-education and fostering intellectual curiosity. I would say the fact that you're posting in a coherent manner on an obscure message board instead of posting barely readable gibberish on Facebook (like many people) bodes well for your level of intelligence.

IQ is basically something that measures performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks that are correlated to varying degrees with something known as the g-factor. The psychologist Charles Spearman, who was a pioneer in the development of the statistical methods used in psychology, noticed that on the tests he developed that people typically did not have wildly varying scores across different domains; scores on his tests seemed to be pointing to a single phenomenon, what he coined the g-factor.

As you can imagine, there's no single part of the brain that we can look at with a CAT scan to measure how intelligent someone is with precision. Therefore, we are still reliant on measuring an abstract construct, the g-factor, using the imperfect (yet powerful) IQ test.

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some of the dumbest people I've met have PhD's

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feels like its based more on tenacity than inteligence

Slayerblade11 posted...

feels like its based more on tenacity than inteligence

Maybe?

I'm conflating "get a phd" with "be a known academic"

Maybe not though

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I think you, like most people, just interpret well educated as something like intelligence.

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IQ is the least relevant factor in...anything really.

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COVxy posted...

I think you, like most people, just interpret well educated as something like intelligence.

Yeah, I guess I can write papers with non academics

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Slaya4 posted...

IQ is the least relevant factor in...anything really.

wrong

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Single most effective way to increase your IQ is to just get more years of education.

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Getting a PhD is really more about how much you can pay than how smart you are.

If good jobs just went to smart people, things would be a lot different and a lot better. Who your parents know and how much you can pay is more important than your intelligence or diligence.

COVxy posted...

Single most effective way to increase your IQ is to just get more years of education.

I do want to have a high IQ...

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Depends on how many hours of butt touching you're willing to do.

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DarthDemented posted...

Depends on how many hours of butt touching you're willing to do.

About a STP's worth

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I guess if all the how-to research and write methods are all in books I can skip a PhD. I'm sure I can try to befriend someone who does it professionally eventually, to get my student-teacher mentor fix

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Can an average intelligence person get a PhD?

Short answer: yes.

How useful that PhD might be: debatable.

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Payzmaykr posted...

Getting a PhD is really more about how much you can pay than how smart you are.

I didn't pay a cent for my PhD and that's the norm for math PhDs.

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PhD is a sign of low intelligence. Imagine willingly going into indentured servitude.

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WalkingLobsters posted...

PhD is a sign of low intelligence. Imagine willingly going into indentured servitude.

Because someone needs more education than normal to figure stuff out? Seems unfair

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