Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge. (Graphic shows an empty circle.) By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little. (Graphic shows a small filled blue circle in the center of a much larger empty circle.) By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more. (Graphic shows a slightly larger filled green circle around the blue one.) With a bachelor's degree, you gain a specialty. (Graphic shows a slightly larger filled orange circle around the blue one, but with a small bump on one side.) A master's degree deepens that specialty. (The orange bump is now a spike reaching about halfway to the radius of the empty circle.) Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge. (The spike reaches the radius of the empty circle.) Once you're at the boundary, you focus. (Graphic zooms in to the small portion that touches the line.) You push the boundary for several years, until one day, the boundary gives way. (Graphic shows a minuscule outward dent of the spike penetrating the circle.) And that dent you've made is called a Ph.D. Of course, the world looks different to you now. (Zooms in to the minuscule portion.) So don't forget the bigger picture. (Graphic zooms out to show the vast expanse of circle that remains empty.)

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