1. My PhD Experience Mireia DosilIFAE-Barcelona29/III/03 1993-1997: B. Sc. Degree in Physics by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) ● 1997-1999: Diploma Thesis in MAGIC on studies of background for an Air Imaging Cherenkov Telescope Camera ● 1999-now: PhD Thesis in ATLAS on discovery potential and mass extraction of the MSSM charged Higgs ● No experience on real data ● No experience on hardware BUT This is a two fold perspective: Astrophysics Particle Physics

2. ● Undergraduate studies: 4 years (it was 5 years until 1992) ● PhD studies: 1) Diploma thesis ~ 2 years 2) Thesis ≥ 3 years 3) PhD courses (during the first year in the PhD): ● Problems with organization: e.g. some of them took place “virtually” ● More investment from the government is needed ● Grants (only for 4 years!): ● Spanish Science Ministry ● Generalitat de Catalunya ● UAB Young researchers in Spain have no employment rights: no unemployment compensation, no health insurance,... ● More information about situation of young researchers in Spain: http://www.precarios.org Organization in Spain (UAB)

3. 1)Postdocgo abroad and join a HEP experiment 2)A job in industry but sometimes, the more studies one has, the more difficult it is to find a job 3)None of those? What comes after PhD?

4. ● Almost all of the students finish their PhD degree ● 15 PhD students at the moment ● Good atmosphere among us ● Main difficulties of new students: ● Get familiar with the experiments working discipline ● Learn programming languages and tools used in HEP ● Become comfortable with English language ●.... Students @ IFAE

5. Conclusion The one million $ question: It's worth doing a PhD? because: One enjoys research One wants to learn new things everyday One likes team working in international collaborations But most important: one likes Physics! One is not excited about Physics anymore NO! One wants to become rich One hates computers... because :