As a final year E.E. Ph.D. student, I want my five years back.<p>For some reason, I found many professors in US are doing systems. That is something you can do, and can do better in the industry. Competing with the industry in a disadvantageous position is no fun. Before I was admitted to the Ph.D. program, I dreamed of exploring the science for the sake of pushing the human knowledge forward, but I can hardly see anyone in my neighbourhood is doing that. They are just pushing their publication count forward. That's it. It depends on the school culture, maybe. But I see this as a norm.