One of the first questions that you might ask yourself when you are thinking about getting into a PhD is: why do you want a PhD, and are those the right reasons?
Because in general, a PhD is not a great life choice. You’re going to work hard. You’re going to be broke. You’re going to struggle with things like stress and imposter syndrome. And, if you’re a current PhD student and having some difficulties, you might want to check out these blog posts.
But despite all the reasons not to do a PhD, people still go for it. Why on earth would anyone willingly sign up to do a PhD?
Because they’re passionate about something.
But first, the question that has to be answered upfront is, what is a PhD?
A PhD is an opportunity to push the envelope of human knowledge a tiny bit and learn things nobody else has ever known before.
It’s an opportunity funded to a certain minimum amount of money to make sure that you can live and learn these new things, but no more than that.
In exchange, you will publish your findings to society, ideally contributing to the betterment of society.
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This quiz will demonstrate some situations you will encounter during your graduate program. Your quiz score will give you a rough idea about your readiness to go for a graduate program and some advice on preparing your mind for a graduate program.
Remember, there are no wrong answers.
So you should only apply for a PhD if you’re passionate about something and you think that spending three or four years of your life at this stage in your life is worth it.
But, there are a lot of reasons not to do a PhD.
Money
You’re going to be so disappointed at the end of completion if this was your only reason to get into a PhD. You will not even get to finish your PhD if money is your only driving force.
But, If you look at the average career earnings for graduates who have PhDs and compare them to graduates who just have undergraduate degrees, those with PhDs earn 38.3% more in total across their careers.
But if you compare the average career earnings for graduates who just have a master’s degree with those who have a PhD, the difference percentage is as little as 8% in some cases.
Therefore, PhD graduates earn more than those with undergraduate degrees but not much more than people who just did a Masters.
PhD graduates spent three or four more years in education further. When they leave academia and move into Industry, they face an awful lot of misconceptions about having a PhD.
They get accused of being overspecialized. They get questions such as, “if you have a PhD, Why aren’t you applying to be a professor?”
You’re also going to be broke while you’re in your PhD program. For most PhD programs, you’re not paying to get your PhD. And you are getting a stipend because you’re working as a teaching assistant or a research assistant. However, that stipend that you’re getting is not very much money. But , there are other ways to earn extra money during a graduate program.
So if your plan is making money, then spending five or six years making no money is probably not a logical way to do this. It’s probably enough to live on. You can definitely make it work. But it will be tough.
So, money is definitely one of those reasons not to do a PhD
Job prospects
If you think that you’ll have more solid job prospects after getting a PhD, this is not inherently true.
Some jobs ask for a PhD, but it sometimes seems that having a PhD is a disadvantage for an awful lot of jobs.
This is also something that varies significantly by discipline.
But particularly if you’re in a field where the dominant job prospect is academia, make sure that you know what your actual job prospects are.
There just isn’t enough demand to fill the supply of PhD graduates in some fields. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a reality.
And it depends mainly on the job demand of your country.
If you only want to be a professor, make sure you find out the market. Also, it would be best if you thought hard about your level of risk aversion.
Apply to do a PhD if you are passionate about something academic. Because you need that passion, Otherwise, you won’t survive.
You had a perfect record at school.
If you were good at school and wanted to keep doing it, it wouldn’t be a good reason to do a PhD because you will not learn much about the things that other people already figure out.
Instead, You will spend most of your time trying to figure out new concepts by yourself, alone (Yes, “Alone” is a critical word to include at the end of that sentence)
For example, you might think, “I’m good at taking classes, and I know I can score, So I’ll be fine doing a PhD”. But, unfortunately, a PhD program is not about taking classes.
You will take a few classes down the road, but they’re not the essential part. You just take classes to learn what you need to know to do your own work.
Also, you’re going to be done with classes after a year, and then the entire rest of the time, you will be doing your own work.
In a PhD, grades don’t really matter when you’re even taking those classes.
But in general, being good at school often means that you’re able to get the correct answers. But a PhD is not about getting the correct answers. It’s much more about asking interesting questions and then answering them yourself.
People who are used to just getting the correct answers tend to struggle when they get into a graduate program.
You had no prior plans after getting a bachelor’s degree.
Perhaps this is the most common reason not to do a PhD.
After you have completed your bachelor’s degree, you might not have a clear idea about what to do next.
Even though you decided to do a PhD, you have to do a job after completing your degree. So, it’s not a lasting solution, and it is clear it’s one of the reasons not to do a PhD.
As mentioned previously, having a PhD sometimes limits your job prospects in some ways.
Do the jobs that you could get with a PhD seem way better than the jobs that you could get now?
If that’s the case, it’d be appropriate to go for a PhD first. But if you could get a job right now, you should do that.
But if it really is just a lack of knowing what to do next, doing a PhD is not a great reason.
You like the reputation that comes with a doctorate.
If you just want the prestige of being a doctor or letters after your name, these are reasons not to get a PhD.
Many people feel pressured to have letters after their name because they want to ensure that everyone knows that they’re the most competent person in the room.
But, you have to understand there are so many other “better” ways to prove your worth.
There are tons of people who don’t have PhDs who have so much respect for being experts in their area.
If you are only concerned about having put up a “PhD” at the end of your Twitter handle, it’d be better to rethink your life choices!
Because you can do much more than that with the knowledge you will gain after completing a PhD.
Sooner or later, you will realize that’d be not the best reason to get a PhD.
Final thoughts
Deciding to do a PhD might be one of the most critical decisions of your life because you’ll be spending four to five years of your adult life working on a particular area of research with limited financial ability.
There are sensible reasons to do a PhD. But, You first have to figure out if you have the right intentions. Understanding the reasons NOT to do a PhD is extremely helpful to find your purpose for doing a PhD.
If you plan to apply for a PhD program, you’re probably getting advice from your friends, professors, parents, and the Internet. Sometimes it’s hard to know which advice to focus on and what will make the most significant difference in the long run. So before you go back to daydreaming about the day you accept that Nobel Prize, here are some questions you might find helpful to take your final decision.
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