Oct 16, 2007 9:57 PM GMT
So I'm at that point in my life where I have to choose if I want to take the Ph. D. path or not in some science. In an ideal world it would be an easy choice... of course I would. But here's a few things that are making the decision difficult:
Earning a Ph. D. can take 5-6 years during which you get minimal pay. After this, you have another 2-4 years of postdocs, which are generally not great pay, but decent. That's 7 to 10 years of crappy to decent pay. On the other hand, getting a masters in an engineering field, or going for an MBA yields salaries of $60K to $80K per year to start, and these are merely two year programs. So in two years you can have pretty good pay.
Second, getting a tenure-track position seems pretty tough these days from what I've seen. The appeal Ph. D.s have at least in academia (other than bragging rights) is job security due to tenure. But I've seen many young professors who are not able to get tenure because of limited funding for research. It makes me a bit afraid to spend 7 to 10 years and have very little to show for it.
On the other hand, studying sciences is fairly enjoyable, probably more than other job occupations. I'd still enjoy other jobs that are mentally stimulating, such as engineering or management that I gave as examples above, but probably a little less so than doing research. But that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be happier doing research, if for example I have to go from school to school in search for tenure and the like.
I'm also afraid that if I don't pursue a Ph. D. I might regret it later, or if I do pursue it it might end up not being worth it and a huge waste of time that I could have used to start building my life.
So... what are your thoughts on this? Any input is appreciated since the time has come for me to make this decision. When it was far away it was easy to be idealistic about it and say "yeah, sure Ph. D.!!" but now that it's comming closer and I actually have to consider the effects of these things on my life... hmm not as easy any more
Earning a Ph. D. can take 5-6 years during which you get minimal pay. After this, you have another 2-4 years of postdocs, which are generally not great pay, but decent. That's 7 to 10 years of crappy to decent pay. On the other hand, getting a masters in an engineering field, or going for an MBA yields salaries of $60K to $80K per year to start, and these are merely two year programs. So in two years you can have pretty good pay.
Second, getting a tenure-track position seems pretty tough these days from what I've seen. The appeal Ph. D.s have at least in academia (other than bragging rights) is job security due to tenure. But I've seen many young professors who are not able to get tenure because of limited funding for research. It makes me a bit afraid to spend 7 to 10 years and have very little to show for it.
On the other hand, studying sciences is fairly enjoyable, probably more than other job occupations. I'd still enjoy other jobs that are mentally stimulating, such as engineering or management that I gave as examples above, but probably a little less so than doing research. But that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be happier doing research, if for example I have to go from school to school in search for tenure and the like.
I'm also afraid that if I don't pursue a Ph. D. I might regret it later, or if I do pursue it it might end up not being worth it and a huge waste of time that I could have used to start building my life.
So... what are your thoughts on this? Any input is appreciated since the time has come for me to make this decision. When it was far away it was easy to be idealistic about it and say "yeah, sure Ph. D.!!" but now that it's comming closer and I actually have to consider the effects of these things on my life... hmm not as easy any more
