What would you study?
 

So, a genie gives you $600 million, with one stipulation: you must go back to school and get a PhD. In something. Somewhere. In whatever field you choose, however long it takes. Now, with $600M, you can buy your way into any program, and that's enough moolah to make sure you'd never have to work again.

What school would you go to, and what would you study? :eyebrow:

Egyptology.

I'd have to do some research on particular schools.

There is no PhD in Wine. There is however a very prestigious "M.W. Master of Wine" It requires two years of study in the M.W. program and five years of employment in the wine industry, followed by the taking of a massive examination covering all parts of wine. details are here

Only 251 people are certified M.W.

Does this count?

Finish my acting degrees, though to get a doctorate it would be in Shakespeare, with my masters in directing.

Off the top of my head it would be Anthropology.

oh and I'll have Painting and music for dessert.


now what do I do with the change? I've got 500M left.

Genetics and Psychology: To find the gene that causes people to behave stupid, and be able to explain it in laymens terms so they would stop breeding.

astrophysics

Hm, isn't there a PhD in music...?

I'd go the Iowa Writer's workshop (University of Iowa) for a Master's in Creative Writing. Then I'd get my doctorate from the school of journalism at the University of Chicago.

For total enjoyment, Music. I would like to actually have the time to master one of the nine or ten musical instruments that I can play. I think it's actually nine. Number ten is voice, which is an instrument on a technicality.

For practicality, I would like to have the PhD in Clinical Psychology that I've been avoiding for lack of time and money.

Evolutionary Psychology - it should be a religion, if people want "answers"

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with LJ -- astrophysics, specifically cosmology. Either the U. Az. or U.Hawaii. Okay, definitely UH.
And UT, for $600M you could get a PhD in wine. Trust me. :)

Astrophysics would be a close second for me.

Ohh umm I've thought about ophthalmology too.

Maybe it'll turn out to be interdisciplinary studies.

[edit to correct hideous misspelling]

Computer Science - Stanford or MIT
Jazz - Berklee?

I know a lot of people who got degrees in beer, but their diplomas said something else.

This is a really hard question because of the $500M left. If you already have an undergrad degree, the doctorate will take you 3 years and then you've got the rest of your life to do what you like with that money.

You don't need that much just to live. A decent but frugal life can probably be guaranteed with $10M, managed averagely. So if you "set aside" $100M for "living", you are set to live pretty much any lifestyle you choose.

So then what, well, if you have a specific interest in life that you could do full-time and be fulfilled by, you pick that one topic to study, and then you do that as your life's journey.

But suppose you were really ultra motivated. You could pick finance as your study category, and then you would have the knowledge to use that much cash and do arbitrage deals and possibly double it. At that point you could spend all your time giving the money away and become a charity celebrity.

At the same time you still have the problem of having enough money to set any other people up with a life, as well as yourself. This fact will affect every friendship and relationship you have.

My new concept is to take economics. I've always loved it and at least I would understand how all that money operated.

Few people complete a doctorate in this amount of time. (Maybe two years for courses... but then it's the dissertation that kills you.)

But I'm quibbling; call it six years. As you say you still have a large pile of cash. Assuming you're still alive when you're done; you're sure to incur the wrath of your non-rich graduate student colleagues as well as your non-rich professors (without whose approval you'll never wear that hood).

I don't want a PhD. Every subject that ever held interest for me became boring and painful once I began to study it in real detail for a while. If there were such a thing as a PhD in liberal arts, I'd be interested.

If I had $600M, could I join a program and bribe my way to a diploma?

I have interests in science, so I would probably chose something like archaeology, paleontology, geology, astronomy. Actually the field of astro-archealogy, where they study things like Stonehenge and lots of other temples would be cool.

From a practical standpoint, another field would be better. Like UT mentions, some sort of finance or economics field would be a smart move.

have i offended you in some way? I cannot recall ever butting heads with you in the past.

when i was a wee bit, i wanted to be a stewardess on TWA (they got to wear little white go-go boots)

but my interests passionately vear to social anthropology (University of Kent)

I don't see why you couldn't do both? Your dissertation could involve research on airline passengers.

thanks for believing in me. . . . :)

think i could do it in those little white boots?

I admit I have a little thing for Harvard. 600m should be enough to get me in. I think I'd go for education, with a twist of cognitive psych.

I just thought your PhD would be in...

Cock! :lol:

Well there would be no point otherwise, would there?

exactely!

[insulting frenchman in the holy grail] i've already got one, you see. oh yes, it's verry nice![/cleese]

Astrophysics, astronomy, engineering, architecture (you did say $600 million, right?), communications, theater and cheese making.

Linguistics. Just because. With a side order of sign language.

History.

Oh, and symbology :D

whose history?

The winners' of course.

Ooh, I also might go for theology. Even though I'm mostly against organized religion, I find it hugely interesting. Can you get a doctorate in that?

Oh, and what would I do with the leftover money? I'd keep probably... 500 grand, give the rest to charity and music programs for poor people, then start a band anyway and try to get rich offa that like I would have without the 600,000,000.

The history of French fries. And :spam1:

Well you've got me curious now. Do you have a pic of these famous boots? The only photo I could find didn't show her feet.

You'll find Southwest Airlines' version here - which evidently inspired the TWA version.

http://static.flickr.com/54/149410471_07c5a4e453.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/49/149410469_d6d0f52223_o.jpg

its similar (read: same) as Nancy Sinatra liked to walk in.
http://static.flickr.com/54/149411520_16e5c3a4a4_o.jpg

USC, to get a DMA in Jazz Studies.

Which, as it turns out, is exactly where I will likely be in about 2 years. The University I've been lecturing at is putting together a full-time faculty position for me, and one of the benefits is that they pick up the tab for all continuing education - including release time from teaching.

smoothmoniker,

listened to some of your compositions on your web site. i like it. please give a head's up if you're performing locally.

i'm in l.a.:juggle:

I can get a PHD on the internet, in almost anything, for next to nothing, according to my email. :rolleyes:

I learned a valuable lesson in college. I loved sports - college football, basketball and baseball. I was (and still am) a huge fan of the college game. So, while in college, I joined the sports staff of the newspaper and eventually got some big assignments that put me at the writer's table on courtside of nationally televised basketball games, in the dugout at baseball games and on the sidelines of big intersectional rivalry football games.

After one year, I left the staff because I couldn't be a fan anymore. I couldn't cheer, couldn't get plastered after the game, I got way too close to the players and coaches for whom its not a game but their lives.

I love astrophysics and quantum physics but I fear that if I try to study it too hard, I'll lose my sense of wonder and curiousity and get bogged down the complexity and uncertainty. I'm content reading a Hawking or Feynman book -leaving the tireless calculations to them.

If I were to study something else... something new... it would be to acquire knowlege and skill that I could use everyday. I'd choose a degree from the American Culinary Institute (I SUCK at cooking), Survival school (learning to live off the land), or (even though they don't exist in their prior form) a Shaolin Temple to learn all the ancient wisdom the Chinese had to offer before the communists destroyed it.

I would bribe my way into private tutoring with well learned persons, studying initially (although by no means strictly, nor in this order, although it is my current list of priorities):

- ceramic art & engineering
- welding/fabrication (frame building), machining, industrial metal casting
- sculpture & material engineering
- mechanical engineering
- woodworking
- spanish, greek, german
- masonry/bricklaying


Periodically I would take "okay, you've told me enough, now I'm going to go and practice for a few years" breaks. And "read a stack of books and then sit, sipping coffee & thinking leisurely about them" breaks.

And then I would teach art at a community college.

also modern dance and voice.


Just to see if there is any groove in there or any octive other than middle c.

Congratulations, sm! That sounds like a great gig for you.

Thinking back, my absolute favorite class in all of college (that I also never expected would intrigue me in the slightest) was statistics. But I guess you can't get a PhD in that... economics would be the closest thing I guess.

I just thought of something ... with all that cash ... can I just study for the sake of studying and enrichment/enlightenment, without having to chase the degree? There's a lot of stuff that I'd like to know more about ...

Oh man, if it were a "choose your own adventure", with no need for a degree at the end, I would just take 2 years off to shadow Lawrence Lessig. Called it a PhD in "Applied Ethics of Intellectual Property."

Well that's the thing, I can see doing a dissertation but I don't want to puke back lecture notes on exams and stuff.

Excellent point. Getting into something you love, that deeply, can have unintended results. There is a real risk in mixing vocation and avocation. :thumb2:

I would respectfully offer a different observation, Beestie. There are good reasons to fear study, learning, testing etc. I know, I'm a poster child for test taking anxiety. But this:

isn't one of them. It's nice to enjoy the wonder, the infinite majesty of the heavens gained by lifting one's gaze after dark, sure. But wonder and curiosity and complexity and uncertainty don't vary in inverse proportion. You could do it.

Let me offer one analogy. I am not a student of classical music, nor do I speak Italian. I cannot escape a sense of wonder when listening to Verdi's Requiem. I don't think that learning Italian, or gaining some formal understanding about classical music would diminish my appreciation for that masterpiece. Or any other piece in any other language.

The math you spoke of is the language of astrophysics and quantum physics. You would be able to understand what they were saying instead of relying on some interpreter's report (an article about the subject) saying "What they're talking about is really cool!".

I don't think your analogy works. I think you would become a player, ON the team, not just close to the team. The athletes themselves--they cheer, they celebrate, and you'd be with them, one of them, part of it.



footnote:

Sorry if was up in your face. It's your answer, your imaginary scenario, do what you want. You just accidentally mashed one of my buttons about "I can't do it because..." and I reacted. I stick to my answer, but I don't want to stick you in the eye with it, y'know?

With $600M, I'd spend the rest of my life studying probably. I'd finish up Archaeology (am doing that now), then maybe astrophysics, graphic design, hieroglyphs, latin, veterinary sciences or ... There's just so many things I want to do.

And if it really can be anything at all, I'd like to get a PhD in Star Trek.

[quote=BigV] I am not a student of classical music, nor do I speak Italian. I cannot escape a sense of wonder when listening to Verdi's Requiem. /QUOTE]
That's just because that shit is played by big bands.....
and they have a huge payroll so they pick music that they don't have to pay royalties on. :lol:

Changed my mind again. For $600 Million I want to go to whatever University the kids go to after Hogwarts and take a degree in Magick and Wizardry, with a minor in Divination.

And ride that vibrating broom? ;)

That'd be nice... :)

I understand that a concentration in Sex Magick is available. Maybe I can be the TA?

I would probably study Tahitian ( reo maohi) .

Har! I have just had a slightly reduced version of that happen to me *grins*

I was offered a place at leeds University to read history....okay it's not a PhD but it's damn close :)

I have been wanting to do a degree for years and now am in position to do it....

So, in answer to the question; I would study History, with a particular focus on European Medieval:) School of choice would probably be the school I walked away from when I was an arrrogant 18yr old (Christ Church College, Canterbury) or failing that Leeds Uni:)

Leeds is better than Canterbury DanaC .

Canterbury is just an ex-poly with a judiciously chosen posh name . It is actually the University of Kent at Canterbury . Not content with the appellation 'university' for what is essentially still a third-grade poly , they whip the cream up further with words like 'Christ College ' . Christ College is an Oxford college , and like typing schools all over the world , certain institutions like to cash in on certain enigmatic names .

DanaC , go for Leeds . An honest redbrick university .

Already got m'place lined up :)