should i do a phd or not

• 3 . 01 . 20
• Leaving Academia

Is a PhD Worth It? I Wish I’d Asked These 6 Questions First.

• Posted by: Chris

Updated Nov. 19, 2022

Is a PhD worth it?

Should I get a PhD?

A few people admit to regretting their PhD. Most—myself included — said that they don’t ( I wrote about why in this post ).

But we often say we don’t regret stupid things we’ve done or bad things that happen to us. This means we learned from them, not that we wanted them to happen.

So just because PhDs don’t regret it, doesn’t mean it was worth it.

But if you were to ask, Is a PhD worth it, it’s a different and more complicated question.

When potential PhD students ask me for advice, I hate giving it. I can’t possibly say whether it will be worth it for them. I only know from experience that for some PhDs the answer is no.

In this post, I’ll look at this question from five different directions, five different ways that a PhD could be worth it. Then I give my opinion on each one. You can tell me if I got the right ones of if I’m way off base. So here we go.

This is post contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Roostervane!

tl;dr It’s up to you to make it worth it. A PhD can hurt your finances, sink you in debt, and leave you with no clear path to success in some fields. But PhDs statistically earn more than their and have lower unemployment rates. A PhD also gives you a world-class mind, a global network, and a skill set that can go just about anywhere.

Should I Get a PhD?

tl;dr Don’t get a PhD by default. Think it through. Be clear about whether it’s going to help you reach career goals, and don’t expect to be a professor. A few rules of thumb- make sure you know where you want to go and whether a PhD is the ONLY way to get there, make sure it’s FUNDED (trust me), and make sure your program has strong ties into industry and a record of helping its students get there.

1. Is a PhD worth it for your finances?

My guess: Not usually

People waste a lot of their best years living on a grad stipend. To be honest, my money situation was pretty good in grad school. I won a large national grant, I got a ton of extra money in travel grants, and my Canadian province gave me grants for students with dependents. But even with a decent income, I was still in financial limbo–not really building wealth of any sort.

And many students scrape by on very small stipends while they study.

When it comes to entering the marketplace, research from Canada and the United States shows that PhD students eventually out-earn their counterparts with Master’s degrees. It takes PhDs a few years to find their stride, but most of us eventually do fine for earnings if we leave academia. Which is great, and perhaps surprising to many PhDs who think that a barista counter is the only non-academic future they have .

The challenge is not income–it’s time. If you as a PhD grad make marginally more than a Master’s graduate, but they entered the workforce a decade earlier, it takes a long time for even an extra $10,000 a year to catch up. The Master’s grad has had the time to build their net worth and network, perhaps buy a house, pay down debt, invest, and just generally get financially healthy.

While PhDs do fine in earnings in the long run, the opportunity cost of getting the PhD is significant.

The only real way to remedy this—if you’ve done a PhD and accumulating wealth is important to you, is to strategically maximize your earnings and your value in the marketplace to close the wealth gap. This takes education, self-discipline, and creativity, but it is possible.

I tried to calculate the opportunity cost of prolonging entry into the workforce in this post .

2. Is a PhD worth it for your career?

My guess: Impossible to tell

Most of my jobs have given me the perfect opportunity to see exactly where I could be if I’d stopped at a Master’s degree, often working alongside or for those who did and are further ahead. In terms of nuts and bolts of building career experience section on a resume, which is often the most important part, a PhD is rarely worth it. (Some STEM careers do require a PhD.)

However, at the start of my post-graduate educational journey, I was working part-time running teen programs and full time as a landscaper. I had an undergraduate degree. Despite my job and a half, I was still poor. My life had no direction, and had I not begun my Master’s to PhD journey I probably would have stayed there.

The PhD transformed me personally. It did this by developing my skills, or course. But even more so, it taught me that anything is possible. It took a poor kid from a mining town in northern Canada and gave me access to the world. It made my dreams of living abroad come true. I learned that anything is possible. And that will never go away.

It’s changed the course of my life and, subsequently, my career.

It’s impossible for you to know if it’s worth it for your career. But you can build a hell of a career with it.

So it wouldn’t be fair for me to say, “don’t get a PhD.” Because it worked out for me, and for some it does.

But there are a heck of a lot of people who haven’t figured out how to build a career with this thing. Which is one of the reasons Roostervane exists in the first place.

Psst! If you’re looking at doing a PhD because you don’t know where to go next with your career–I see you. Been there. Check out my free PDF guide– How to Build a Great Career with Any Degree.

3. Is a PhD worth it for your personal brand?

My guess: Probably

There’s some debate over whether to put a Dr. or PhD before or after your name. People argue over whether it helps in the non-academic marketplace. Some feel that it just doesn’t translate to whatever their new reality is. Some have been told by some manager somewhere that they’re overqualified and pulled themselves back, sometimes wiping the PhD off their resume altogether.

The truth is, if you have a PhD, the world often won’t know what to do with it. And that’s okay. Well-meaning people won’t understand how you fit into the landscape, and you may have to fight tooth and nail for your place in it. People may tell you they can’t use you, or they might go with what they know—which is someone less qualified and less-educated.

It happens.

But someone with a PhD at the end of their name represents an indomitable leader. So grow your possibilities bigger and keep fighting. And make your personal brand match those three little letters after your name. Do this so that the world around can’t help but see you as a leader. More importantly, do it so that you don’t forget you are.

Should I put “PhD” after my name on LinkedIn?

5 reasons you need to brand yourself

4. Is a PhD worth it for your sense of purpose?

Is getting a PhD worth it? For many people the answer is no.

PhDs are hurting.

If you’ve done one, you know. Remember the sense of meaning and purpose that drew you towards a PhD program? Was it still there at the end? If yours was, you’re lucky. I directed my purpose into getting hired in a tenure-track job, and got very hurt when it didn’t happen.

And people have vastly different experiences within programs.

Some people go through crap. But for them their research is everything and putting up with crap is worth it to feel like they have a sense of purpose. Many PhDs who are drawn into programs chasing a sense of purpose leave deeply wounded and disenchanted, ironically having less purpose when they started.

While new PhDs often talk about the PhD as a path do doing “something meaningful,” those of us who have been through entire programs have often seen too much. We’ve either seen or experienced tremendous loss of self. Some have friends who didn’t make it out the other end of the PhD program.

But there are some PhDs who have a great experience in their programs and feel tremendously fulfilled.

As I reflect on it, I don’t think a sense of purpose is inherently fulfilled or disappointed by a PhD program. There are too many variables.

However, if you’re counting on a PhD program to give you a sense of purpose, I’d be very careful. I’d be even more cautious if purpose for you means “tenure-track professor.” Think broadly about what success means to you and keep an open mind .

5. Is my discipline in demand?

Okay, so you need to know that different disciplines have different experiences. Silicon Valley has fallen in love with some PhDs, and we’re seeing “PhD required” or “PhD preferred” on more and more job postings. So if your PhD is in certain, in-demand subjects… It can be a good decision.

My humanities PhD, on the other hand, was a mistake. I’m 5 years out now, and I’ve learned how to use it and make money with it. That’s the great news. But I’d never recommend that anyone get a PhD in the humanities. Sorry. I really wish I could. It’s usually a waste of years of your life, and you’ll need to figure out how to get a totally unrelated job after anyway.

TBH, most of the skills I make money with these days I taught myself on Skillshare .

6. Is a PhD worth it for your potential?

My guess: Absolutely

Every human being has unlimited potential, of course. But here’s the thing that really can make your PhD worth it. The PhD can amplify your potential. It gives you a global reach, it gives you a recognizable brand, and it gives you a mind like no other.

One of my heroes is Brené Brown. She’s taken research and transformed the world with it, speaking to everyone from Wall-Street leaders to blue-collar workers about vulnerability, shame, and purpose. She took her PhD and did amazing things with it.

Your potential at the end of your PhD is greater than it has ever been.

The question is, what will you do with that potential?

Many PhD students are held back, not by their potential, but by the fact that they’ve learned to believe that they’re worthless. Your potential is unlimited, but when you are beaten and exhausted, dragging out of a PhD program with barely any self-worth left, it’s very hard to reach your potential. You first need to repair your confidence.

But if you can do that, if you can nurture your confidence and your greatness every day until you begin to believe in yourself again, you can take your potential and do anything you want with it.

So why get a PhD?

Because it symbolizes your limitless potential. If you think strategically about how to put it to work.

PhD Graduates Don’t Need Resumes. They Need a Freaking Vision

By the way… Did you know I wrote a book about building a career with a PhD? You can read the first chapter for free on Amazon.

So if you’re asking me, “should I do a PhD,” I hope this post helps you. Try your best to check your emotion, and weigh the pros and cons.

And at the end of the day, I don’t think that whether a PhD is worth it or not is some fixed-in-stone thing. In fact, it depends on what you do with it.

So why not make it worth it? Work hard on yourself to transform into a leader worthy of the letters after your name, and don’t be afraid to learn how to leverage every asset the PhD gave you.

One of the reasons I took my PhD and launched my own company is that I saw how much more impact I could have and money I could be making as a consultant (perhaps eventually with a few employees). As long as I worked for someone else, I could see that my income would likely be capped. Working for myself was a good way to maximize my output and take control of my income.

It’s up to you to make it worth it. Pick what’s important to you and how the degree helps you get there, and chase it. Keep an open mind about where life will take you, but always be asking yourself how you can make more of it.

Check out the related post- 15 Good, Bad, and Awful Reasons People Go to Grad School. — I Answer the Question, “Should I Go to Grad School?” )

Consulting Secrets 3 – Landing Clients

Photo by Christian Sterk on Unsplash There’s a new type of post buzzing around LinkedIn. I confess, I’ve even made a few.  The post is

You’re Not Good Enough… Yet

Last year, I spent $7k on a business coach. She was fantastic. She helped me through sessions of crafting my ideas to become a “thought

$200/hr Expert? Here’s the Secret!

Photo by David Monje on Unsplash I was listening to Tony Robbins this week. He was talking about being the best.  Tony asks the audience,

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Should I Get a PhD? 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Decide

Suppose that while you’re in college, one of your professors challenges you to look at the world from a different perspective. Or perhaps you discover that you’re really good at research and writing. Or you’re realizing that your classes are making you want to learn more about your discipline—even teach it. At this point, you might be asking,

“ Should I go to graduate school ?  Should I get a PhD?”

Given that it usually takes 3-7 years to get a PhD and academia is extremely competitive, this is no light question to be asking. Here are a few things to consider before applying to graduate school .

1). Do I have what it takes to be an academic?

Professional academics wear a lot of hats, from researching and writing, to presenting and teaching. You’ll also need to be independent, focused, self-directed, and passionate about your discipline to succeed. 

Before committing to a PhD program, make sure you actually care about what you are going to be studying. On top of this ask yourself if you are ready to work hard and to push yourself to become a better researcher, writer, public speaker, etc.

2). Is getting a PhD worth the time and money?

Grad school takes time. And to borrow an old business clich é , “time is money.”

While scholarships and fellowships will help offset the the actual cost of graduate school (see question 4 for more on this), it’s worth considering the opportunity costs involved.

Your peers will be starting jobs and earning money; your income (if it exists at all) will be much more modest. Carefully weigh the expected payoff against the time and money spent and opportunities forgone.

3). Is this what I really want to do?

Some people go to grad school because they’ve aren’t sure what they’d like to do after getting their undergrad degree—they’re trying “find themselves.” This is not a good reason to enroll in a PhD program , given the challenges I’ve already mentioned above.

Go to graduate school only if it’s what you really want to do. 

4). Can I secure funding from my PhD program?

A good degree program which believes in your potential will offer you at least some funding, even if it won’t fully fund your degree.

If you can’t secure financial assistance in any of the PhD programs you apply to, this could be a sign that you should consider career paths other than academia.

5). What do I have to look forward to after I get my PhD?

Once you have your PhD, you’ll enter the world of academia and all it entails: balancing research with teaching, working to get your research published, and seeking tenure.

If this excites you, it might be worth spending the next few years of your life in graduate school (as long as you also have a good sense of what you’ll do with your degree before you commit to a PhD program and the career that follows). If life after graduate school sounds miserable to you, that’s a good indication you should consider pursuing a different career.

Previous Post How to Choose a PhD Program: 3 Tips

Next post how to prepare for a paper presentation at an academic conference.

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Should I do a PhD? 4 things I wish I knew before starting my PhD

Editor’s Note: This post is by Alon Loeffler, co-founder of Find My Pathway, who is completing a PhD in Physics at The University of Sydney after an undergraduate degree and honours in Psychology .

So you’ve finally finished 3-5 years of an undergraduate degree . Maybe an honours year too. Perhaps you’ve even taken a year off to travel and find yourself.

What now? Should you take on another 3-5 years of study, and take on the daunting task of doing a PhD?

Here are 4 things I wish I knew before ultimately making the decision to pursue my PhD.

“A night out with PhD colleagues at a bar, you might meet the next Nobel prize winner”

1. A PhD will give you so much more than just a career pathway

During my first year as a PhD student, I learned a lot about my new field. Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology were not areas I had much experience in from a Psychology background. Pursuing a PhD in the school of Physics opened me up to a huge range of new topics, technologies and people, which I never would have been exposed to previously. Choosing to move cities from Melbourne to Sydney to undertake my studies also impacted my life drastically: a new house, new friends, and new experiences.

I learned more about myself in the past year than I did in the entirety of my undergraduate degree. Before my PhD, I never thought I could gain complex skills and adapt to a new discipline so quickly. I had to throw myself into uncomfortable, sometimes awkward social and professional situations. From all of this, I came out a better person – and much closer to the  real  me than I was before.

So many people I know opt to travel to find themselves, which is great. But for me, one year of a PhD did more than a lifetime of travel ever could (although travel is also a huge part of a PhD).

Pursuing a PhD will help you understand your limitations, both good and bad. You will learn how much better at learning new things you are than you believe, and you will face and overcome challenges that you didn’t even think possible. You will hone cutting-edge skills while meeting incredible people who have powerful, and deep-reaching connections.

At a night out with friends at a bar before your PhD, you might meet some fun, interesting people. But at a night out with PhD colleagues at a bar, you might meet the next Nobel prize winner .

How will a PhD help you in your career?

Visualise your career pathway and get personalised career guidance, opportunities and insights.

2. There are many different paths into a PhD

I’ve been asked many times about the requirements for pursuing a Doctorate degree. Are there qualifying exams for a PhD? Do you need to complete a masters degree to start a PhD? Can I do a PhD while working full time?

The answers to all of these questions will depend on which institution you apply to, and your personal circumstances. In Australia, there are no qualifying exams for PhD degrees. Having a masters degree might help you receive a scholarship for your PhD, but is not necessarily a requirement. Many Doctoral programs in Australia only require a year of honours as part of your undergraduate studies.

However, there are many exceptions to this as well. Most universities should allow you to start a Masters degree, and then switch to a PhD after one year. If you’re working full-time or part-time you can also pursue a PhD on a part-time basis, where the workload is much more manageable, but the duration of the program is increased. You might also be able to undertake an industry PhD program, where your company partners with a university to sponsor your doctoral candidature.

Interested in finding your pathway into a PhD? Take a look at the  Pathways  page and select your field.

3. What you plan to do is not always as great as what you accidentally do

Before you even start your PhD, you will be required to write plans about what your research will cover. Planning is a crucial component of completing a PhD within the time you are allocated. Without to-do lists, or general ideas about what you will be working, or search for during your doctorate, you will certainly be lost.

I use a really great note-taking and to-do list app called Typora  which offers a markdown editor with support for LaTeX styling.

Plans and to-do lists will help you keep track of your goals and research. But things don’t always go according to plan. There will be times where you get sidetracked and go off on a reading tangent about topics that seem unrelated; or situations where an unexpected result might push your research in a completely unexpected way.

When these serendipitous events occur, don’t be afraid to chuck out your plans and follow the unexpected. Some of the most important inventions to date happened completely by accident, many times during research on a completely separate topic (Penicillin, microwave ovens and Cornflakes are a few examples of this).

However, abandoning all your plans and pursuing an entirely accidental discovery could also be very costly. Plans can and should be broken when it is important to do so, but new plans should take their place, and help shape the altered course of your research as soon as possible. Make sure you meet regularly with your supervisor to track and update your plans, so that when something accidental and lucky does happen, you will feel comfortable enough to test it without losing all your hard work.

4. Everyone feels like they are inadequate sometimes

Imposter syndrome – my old friend. Imposter syndrome is the niggling feeling in your mind that you just can’t seem to get rid of, like an itch at the back of your throat. It’s a sensation of dissatisfaction and inadequacy in everything you do.

Imposter syndrome can be the hardest part of a PhD.

Sometimes you try and read a research paper, or a book, and the words all seem to blur together, none of it sinking in. Other times you might accidentally delete important data, or have a conversation with another student or professor who seems to know  so much more . You might feel like you will never be as good as that person, or that you are so far out of your depth and you’ve forgotten how to swim.

On the brighter side, imposter syndrome is incredibly common, and not just in PhD students, but even CEOs of major companies.

It took me over a year to realise this and come to terms with this feeling. I wish I had known to expect it before starting my PhD, and how to deal with it.

How do you deal with this feeling?

A lot of practice. Determination. Hard-word and self-kindness.

It doesn’t matter if your experiment didn’t work the first time, or if a guest speaker seems so much more knowledgeable than you. I guarantee two things: 1) They too have felt this way once, or still feel this way, and 2) You will one day be looked at by other people in the same light – an expert in your field.

Be kind to yourself. Believe in your process. Open up to your friends and supervisors regularly, and work to fix what you don’t like. If you do these things, imposter syndrome will become the easiest part of your PhD, and that means you’re in a really good place!

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The Savvy Scientist

Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

Is a PhD Worth It? Should I Do a PhD?

It’s been almost a year since I was officially awarded my PhD. How time flies! I figure now is a good time to reflect on the PhD and answer some of life’s big questions. Is a PhD worth it? Does having a PhD help your future job prospects? Am I pleased that I did a PhD and would I recommend that you do a PhD?

In this post I’ll walk through some of the main points to consider. We’ll touch on some pros and cons, explore the influence it could have on your career and finally attempt to answer the ultimate question. Is a PhD worth it?

Before we get into the details, if you’re considering applying for a PhD you may also want to check out a few other posts I’ve written:

• How Hard is a PhD?
• How Much Work is a PhD?
• How Much Does a PhD Student Earn? Comparing a PhD Stipend to Grad Salaries
• Characteristics of a Researcher

Are you seated comfortably? Great! Then we’ll begin.

The Pros and Cons of PhDs

When I have a difficult decision to make I like to write a pros and cons list. So let’s start by breaking down the good and bad sides of getting a PhD. Although I’ve tried to stay objective, do take into account that I have completed a PhD and enjoyed my project a lot!

These lists certainly aren’t exhaustive, so be sure to let me know if you can think of any other points to add!

The Good Parts: Reasons to Do a PhD

Life as a phd student.

• You get to work on something really interesting . Very few people outside of academia get to dive so deep into topics they enjoy. Plus, by conducting cutting edge research you’re contributing knowledge to a field.
• It can be fun! For example: solving challenges, building things, setting up collaborations and going to conferences.
• Being a PhD student can be a fantastic opportunity for personal growth : from giving presentations and thinking critically through to making the most of being a student such as trying new sports.
• You are getting paid to be a student : I mean come on, that’s pretty good! Flexible hours, socialising and getting paid to learn can all be perks. Do make sure you consciously make the most of it!

Life As A PhD Graduate

• The main one: Having a PhD may open doors . For certain fields, such as academia itself, a PhD may be a necesity. Whilst in others having a PhD can help demonstrate expertise or competency, opening doors or helping you to leapfrog to higher positions. Your mileage may vary!
• You survived a PhD: this accomplishment can be a big confidence booster .
• You’ve got a doctorate and you can use the title Dr. Certainly not enough justification on it’s own to do a PhD, but for some people it helps!

The Bad Parts: Potential Reasons Not to Do a PhD

• It can be tough to complete a PhD! There are lots of challenges . Unless you’re careful and take good care of yourself it can take a mental and physical toll on your well being.
• A PhD can be lonely ( though doesn’t have to be ), and PhD supervisors aren’t always as supportive as you’d like them to be.
• Additionally, in particular now during the pandemic, you might not be able to get as much support from your supervisor, see your peers or even access the equipment and technical support as easily as in normal times.
• You might find that having a PhD may not bring the riches you were expecting . Have a certain career you’re looking to pursue? Consider trying to find out whether or not having a PhD actually helps.
• Getting a job with a PhD can still be tough . Let’s say you want to go for a career where having a PhD is required, even once you’ve got a PhD it might not be easy to find employment. Case in point are academic positions.
• Even though you’ve put in the work you may want to use your Dr title sparingly , it certain industries a PhD may be seen as pretencious. Also, use your title sparingly to avoid getting mistaken for a medic (unless of course you’re one of them too!)

Is a PhD Good For Your Career?

If you’re wondering “Should I do a PhD?”, part of your motivation for considering gaining a PhD may be your career prospects. Therefore I want to now dive deeper into whether or not a PhD could help with future employment.

It is difficult to give definitive answers because whether or not a PhD helps will ultimately depend a lot upon what kind of career you’re hoping to have. Anyway, let’s discuss a few specific questions.

Does a PhD Help You Get a Job?

For certain industries having a PhD may either be a requirement or a strong positive.

Some professions may require a PhD such as academia or research in certain industries like pharma. Others will see your qualification as evidence that you’re competent which could give you an edge. Of course if you’re aiming to go into a career using similar skills to your PhD then you’ll stand a better chance of your future employer appreciating the PhD.

In contrast, for other roles your PhD may not be much help in securing a job. Having a PhD may not be valued and instead your time may be better spent getting experience in a job. Even so, a PhD likely won’t have been completely useless.

When I worked at an engineering consultancy the recruitment team suggested that four years of a PhD would be considered comparable to two or three years of experience in industry. In those instances, the employer may actively prefer candidates who spent those years gaining experience on the job but still appreciates the value of a PhD.

Conclusion: Sometimes a PhD will help you get a job, othertimes it wont. Not all employers may appreciate your PhD though few employers will actively mark you down for having a PhD.

Does a PhD Increase Salary? Will it Allow You to Start at a Higher Level?

This question is very much relates to the previous one so my answer will sound slightly similar.

It’ll ultimately depend upon whether or not the industry and company value the skills or knowledge you’ve gained throughout your PhD.

I want to say from the start that none of us PhD-holders should feel entitled and above certain types of position in every profession just for having a PhD. Not all fields will appreciate your PhD and it may offer no advantage. It is better to realise this now.

Some professions will appreciate that with a PhD you’ll have developed a certain detail-orientated mindset, specialised knowledge or skills that are worth paying more for. Even if the position doesn’t really demand a PhD, it is sometimes the case that having someone with a PhD in that position is a useful badge for the company to wave at customers or competitors. Under these circumstances PhD-holders may by default be offered slightly higher starting positions than other new-starters will lower degree qualifications.

To play devil’s advocate, you could be spending those 3-4 (or more) years progressing in the job. Let’s look at a few concrete examples.

PhD Graduate Salaries in Academia

Let’s cut to the chase: currently as a postdoc at a decent university my salary is £33,787, which isn’t great. With a PhD there is potential to possibly climb the academic ladder but it’s certainly not easy. If I were still working in London I’d be earning more, and if I were speficially still working at Imperial in London I’d be earning a lot more. Browse Imperial’s pay scales here . But how much is it possible to earn with a PhD compared to not having one?

For comparison to research staff with and without PhDs:

As of 2023 research assistants (so a member of staff conducting research but with no PhD) at Imperial earn £38,194 – £ 4 1,388 and postdoctoral research associates earn £43,093 – £50,834 . Not only do you earn £5000 or more a year higher with a PhD, but without a PhD you simply can’t progress up the ladder to research fellow or tenure track positions.

Therefore in academia it pays to have a PhD, not just for the extra cash but for the potential to progress your career.

PhD Graduate Salaries in Industry

For jobs in industry, it is difficult to give a definitive answer since the variety of jobs are so wide ranging.

Certain industries will greatly reward PhD-holders with higher salaries than those without PhDs. Again it ultimately depends on how valuable your skills are. I’ve known PhD holders to do very well going into banking, science consultancy, technology and such forth.

You might not necessarily earn more money with a PhD in industry, but it might open more doors to switch industries or try new things. This doesn’t necessarily mean gaining a higher salary: I have known PhD-holders to go for graduate schemes which are open to grads with bachelors or masters degrees. Perhaps there is an argument that you’re more employable and therefore it encourages you to make more risky career moves which someone with fewer qualifications may make?

You can of course also use your PhD skills to start your own company. Compensation at a start-up varies wildly, especially if you’re a founder so it is hardly worth discussing. One example I can’t resist though is Magic Pony. The company was co-founded by a Imperial PhD graduate who applied expertise from his PhD to another domain. He sold the company two years later to Twitter for $150 million . Yes, including this example is of course taking cherry-picking to the extreme! The point stands though that you can potentially pick up some very lucrative skills during your PhD.

Conclusion: Like the previous question, not all industries will reward your PhD. Depending on what you want to go and do afterward your PhD, it isn’t always worth doing a PhD just for career progression. For professions that don’t specifically value a PhD (which is likely the majority of them!) don’t expect for your PhD to necessarily be your ticket to a higher position in the organisation.

Is a PhD Worth it?

What is “it”.

When we’re asking the question “is a PhD worth it?” it is a good idea to touch on what “it” actually is. What exactly are PhD students sacrificing in gaining a PhD? Here is my take:

• Time . 3-5 (more more) years of your life. For more see my post: how long a PhD takes .
• Energy. There is no doubt that a PhD can be mentally and physically draining, often more so than typical grad jobs. Not many of us PhD students often stick to normal office hours, though I do encourage you to !
• Money. Thankfully most of us, at least in STEM, are on funded PhD projects with tax free stipends. You can also earn some money on the side quite easily and without paying tax for a while. Even so, over the course of a PhD you are realistically likely to earn more in a grad job. For more details on how PhD stipends compare to grad salaries read my full analysis .
• Potential loss of opportunities . If you weren’t doing a PhD, what else could you be doing? As a side note, if you do go on to do a PhD, do make sure you to take advantage of the opportunities as a PhD student !

When a PhD Could Be Worth It

1. passion for a topic and sheer joy of research.

The contribution you make to progressing research is valuable in it’s own right. If you enjoy research, can get funding and are passionate about a subject by all means go and do the PhD and I doubt you’ll regret it.

2. Learning skills

If there is something really specific you want to spend three year or more years learning then a PhD can be a great opportunity. They’re also great for building soft skills such as independence, team work, presenting and making decisions.

Do be aware though that PhD projects can and do evolve so you can’t always guarantee your project will pan out as expected.

If there is the option to go into a career without a PhD I’d bet that in a lot of cases you’d learn more, faster, and with better support in industry. The speed of academic research can be painstakingly slow. There are upsides to learning skills in academia though, such as freedom and the low amount of responsibility for things outside your project and of course if you’re interested in something which hasn’t yet reached industry.

3. Helping with your career

See the section further up the page, this only applies for certain jobs. It is rare though that having a PhD would actively look bad on your CV.

When a PhD May Not Be Worth It

1. just because you can’t find another job.

Doing a PhD simply because you can’t find a job isn’t a great reason for starting one. In these circumstances having a PhD likely isn’t worth it.

2. Badge collecting

Tempted by a PhD simply to have a doctorate, or to out-do someone? Not only may you struggle with motivation but you likely won’t find the experience particularly satisfying. Sure, it can be the icing on the cake but I reckon you could lose interest pretty quickly if it is your only motivation for gaining a PhD.

Do I Feel That My Own PhD Was Worth It?

When I finished my undergrad I’d been tempted by a PhD but I wasn’t exactly sure about it. Largely I was worried about picking the wrong topic.

I spent a bit of time apprehensively applying, never being sure how I’d find the experience. Now that I’ve finished it I’m very pleased to have got my PhD!

Here are my main reasons:

• I enjoyed the research and felt relatively well fulfilled with the outcomes
• Having the opportunity to learn lots of some new things was great, and felt like time well spent
• I made new friends and generally enjoyed my time at the university
• Since I’d been interested in research and doing a PhD for so long, I feel like if I’d not done it I’d be left wondering about it and potentially end up regretting it.

In Summary, Is a PhD Worth It?

I’ve interviewed many PhD students and graduates and asked each one of them whether the PhD was worth it . The resounding answer is yes! Now of course there is some selection bias but even an interviewee who had dropped out of their PhD said that the experience had been valueable.

If you’ve got this far in the post and are still a little on the fence about whether or not a PhD is worth it, my advice is to look at the bigger picture. In comparison to your lifetime as a whole, a PhD doesn’t really take long:

People graduating now likely won’t retire until they’re in their 70s: what is 3-4 years out of a half century long career?

So Should I Do a PhD?

Whether a PhD is worth all the time and energy ultimately comes down to why you’re doing one in the first place.

There are many great reasons for wanting to do a PhD, from the sheer enjoyment of a subject through to wanting to open up new career opportunities.

Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that practically every PhD student encounters difficult periods. Unsurprisingly, completing a PhD can be challenging and mentally draining. You’ll want to ensure you’re able to remind yourself of all the reasons why it is worth it to provide motivation to continue.

If you’re interested, here were my own reasons for wanting a PhD.

Why I decided to pursue a PhD

Saying that, if you’re interested in doing a PhD I think you should at least apply. I can’t think of any circumstances where having a PhD would be a hindrance.

It can take a while to find the right project (with funding ) so I suggest submitting some applications and see how they go. If you get interesting job offers in the meantime you don’t need to commit to the PhD. Even if you start the PhD and find you don’t enjoy it, there is no shame in leaving and you can often still walk away with a master’s degree.

My advice is that if you’re at all tempted by a PhD: go for it!

I hope this post helped you to understand if a PhD is worth it for you personally. If it is then best of luck with your application!

Considering doing a PhD? I have lots of other posts covering everything about funding , how much PhD students earn , choosing a project and the interview process through to many posts about what the life of a PhD student and graduate is like . Be sure to subscribe below!

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4 Comments on “Is a PhD Worth It? Should I Do a PhD?”

Hi Thanks for the post . I have been struggling to make a decision regarding doing a PhD or doing a second masters . I’m currently doing an msc civil engineering online (because of covid) so for my research I am not able to conduct lab experiments. Therefore my research is more of a literature review / inductive research. So I feel I’ll be at a disadvantage if I were to apply for a phd program especially at high ranking universities like oxford , imperial etc What are your thoughts?

Hey Esther,

I completely appreciate that it’s not an ideal situation at the moment so thanks for reaching out, it’s a great question. A few thoughts I have:

• If you are already tempted by a PhD and would do a second masters simply to gain lab experience, there is no harm in applying for the PhD now. At the very least I suggest considering reaching out to potential supervisors to discuss the situation with them. The universities realise that current applicants won’t have been able to gain as much research experience as normal over the last year. Practical lab experience has halted for so many people so don’t let it put you off applying!

• If you don’t get in on the first go, I don’t believe it looks bad to apply again with more experience. I applied for PhDs for three years, it doesn’t need to take this long but the point is that there’s not much reason to give it a go this year and stand a chance of getting accepted.

• Although we can be optimistic, even if you were to do a second masters it may not be guaranteed that you can gain as much lab experience as you’d like during it: even more reason to start the ball rolling now.

I hope that helps, let me know if you’d like any other further advice.

Best of luck. 🙂

Funny, every one i have talked to as well as myself when we asked ourselves and others whether the PhD was worth it is a resounding ‘No.’

I guess it comes down to a Blue or Red Pill, LoL.

Hi Joe, thanks for sharing this. I’ve spent enough time on the PhD subreddit to see many other people who haven’t had good experiences either! On the flipside many people do have positive experiences, myself included. There is perhaps an element of luck as to what your research environment turns out to be like which could somewhat dictate the PhD experience, but ultimately I do think that answering whether or not a PhD has been worth it really depends a lot on why someone is pursuing a PhD in the first place. I’m keen to make sure people don’t have unrealistic expectations for what it could bring them. I really welcome hearing about different experiences and if you’d fancy sharing your perspective for the PhD profiles series I’d love to hear from you.

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Is it a good time to be getting a PhD? We asked those who’ve done it

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Career Sessions was sponsored by a grant from Inspiring SA ( https://inspiringsa.org.au/ ).

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The number of Australian PhD graduates reached around 10,000 a year in 2019, twice as many as in 2005. However, the number of PhDs has been exceeding the available academic positions since as early as the mid-1990s. In 2020, universities purged around 10% of their workforce due to the pandemic, and many university careers are still vulnerable .

Given these statistics, you might wonder if doing a PhD is still a good idea. Based on our discussions with PhD holders, there are still plenty of very good reasons, which is good news in 2021.

Read more: 2021 is the year Australia's international student crisis really bites

In June 2020 we interviewed 12 PhD holders from multiple disciplines for our podcast Career Sessions to investigate the question: why do a PhD?

Why do a PhD?

The PhD is a mechanism for developing high-level research skills, learning about rigours of science or the development of theory. It sets you up with project management, problem-solving and analytical skills that are meaningful within and beyond academia.

“It just taught me all those transferable skills, project management, and also now starting businesses. I’m amazed at how close starting a business is to doing a science project.” – Dr Andy Stapleton

For our interviewees, the PhD is an opportunity to dive deeply into a topic they are passionate about. They also considered contributing new knowledge to be a privilege. The process taught them to be better thinkers, critical thinkers, and to view the world through new eyes.

“The mental fitness to work at a high level, to be able to think at a high level, to be able to write it […] The topic is less important.” – Dr Gareth Furber

The PhD is a voyage of discovery to a better understanding of how things work. It gives them a credible platform from which their voice can be heard and respected, and they can contribute to change.

“I think it’s definitely like a springboard or something. It launches you into a whole other place and it gives you […] more of a voice. It’s a political act for me. It’s about making change.” – Dr Elizabeth Newnham

The PhD is a tough and sometimes painful journey, but ultimately rewarding. The extraordinary was tempered by frustration, and the experience shaped their lives, increasing self-confidence and leading to new self-awareness.

Read more: PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities

When asked whether they would they do it again, no-one hesitated in saying “yes”.

“You will never stretch your brain in a way that a PhD forces you to.” – Professor Kate Douglas.

The PhD is not necessarily a golden ticket to an academic career, but the experience and skills you develop will be meaningful for your future.

“What I’d done in my PhD gave me a lot broader sense than just my own personal experience. There were a lot of people that have heard me speak and a lot of that’s been informed by the PhD. So it might not be direct, but it’s informed who I am.” – Dr Susan Close

Advice from our guests

Keep both your eyes and your mind open. Pick a topic you are passionate about. Speak to people both within and outside academia to find out where this could lead. Think about whether you actually need a PhD to get to where you want to be.

You’ll have to make some judgement calls about how a PhD can fit into your life.

And find the right supervisor! They are the most important relationship you will have throughout your candidature, and they are a solid reference for what comes next. Finding the right supervisor will always enhance your PhD experience .

Read more: Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?

A PhD isn’t right for everyone. Ask yourself, is it the right time for you and your research interests? Are you resilient? Mental health among PhD students is poor

Our podcast guests have witnessed PhD students’ struggles. The pathway of a PhD candidate is not linear. There are many ups and downs. You will meander in many unplanned directions and often take wrong turns.

When you have completed your PhD, the hard work is really just starting. It is a gateway, but there are a lot of PhDs out there. It is what comes next that really counts.

“It’s a gateway. You’re learning how to do research. But if you really want to be successful afterwards, you need to apply that, and be diligent about that as well, and have a good work ethic.” – Dr Mark Krstic

Read more: 1 in 5 PhD students could drop out. Here are some tips for how to keep going

A PhD in any field is an achievement. Even the most niche topics will contribute knowledge to a field that is important for many people. The reward is intrinsic and only you can identify how doing a PhD will contribute to your life. It gives you a great toolkit to identify the doors that are appropriate for you.

“The first paper was the most exciting thing. […] at that time I thought of papers as like a version of immortality. My name is on something that will last forever. I think this is my legacy.” – Dr Cameron Shearer

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Big PhD questions: Should I do a PhD?

If you are reading this, chances are that you have already decided to do a PhD. Yet, you may know someone who is considering a doctoral degree (or you may be offering such a position as a supervisor to prospective students). This post is for them . In this new type of post, we will look at big questions facing any PhD student. Today, we analyze the question that precedes all the other big PhD questions: “should I do a PhD?”. Below, I offer a couple of quick, simple ways to look at this important life decision, and a list of 10 factors to consider when offered (or seeking) a PhD position.

The other day, some researcher colleagues told me about a brilliant master student of theirs, to whom they were offering the possibility of doing a PhD in their lab. However, the student was doubtful: should she embark on this long and uncertain journey, on a low income, foregoing higher salaries (and maybe more stability) if she entered the job market right away? Her family and friends, not really knowing what a PhD or academia are like, were also giving all sorts of (sometimes contradictory) advice. Should she do a PhD?

This simple question is not asked nearly as much (or as seriously) as it should. Many people (myself included!) have embarked on this challenging, marathon-like experience without a clear idea of why it is the right choice for them, for that particular moment in their lives. Given this lack of clarity, we shouldn’t be surprised by the high rates of people that drop out of doctoral programs , or that develop mental health issues , once they hit the hard parts of the journey.

So, let’s approach this big PhD question from a few different angles…

A first short answer: Thinking about the career path

When I started my PhD back in 2007, coming from a job in the industry, I only had a very nebulous idea that I might like to do research professionally (albeit, to be honest, what I liked most about research was the travelling and the working with foreign, smart people). My employer back then was encouraging us to earn doctoral degrees as a way to pump up the R&D output. Thus I started a PhD, without a clear idea of a topic, of who would be my supervisor, or what I would do with my life once I had the doctoral degree in my hands.

This is exactly what some career advice experts like Cal Newport say you should NOT do . They argue that graduate degrees (also including Master’s) should not be pursued due to a generic idea that having them will improve our “job prospects” or “hirability”, that it will help us “land a job” more easily. Rather, they propose to take a cold, hard look to what we want to do after the doctorate (do I want to be a Professor? if so, where? do I want a job in the industry? in which company? etc.). Then, pursue the PhD only if we have proof that a PhD, from the kind of university program we can get into 1 , is a necessary requisite for that job .

If you aspire to be an academic (and maybe get tenure), do not take that aspiration lightly: such positions are becoming increasingly rare and competition for them is fiercer than ever. Take a look at the latest academic positions in your field at your target university, and who filled them. Do you have a (more or less) similar profile? In some highly prestigious institutions, you need to be some kind of “superstar” student, coming from a particular kind of university, if you want to get that kind of job.

In general, I agree with Cal that we should not generically assume that a PhD will be useful or get us a job in a particular area, unless we have hard evidence on that (especially if we want a job in the industry!). Also, I agree that the opportunity cost of a PhD should not be underestimated: if you enroll in a PhD program, you will probably be in for a reduction in salary (compared with most industry jobs), for a period of four or more years!

Yet, for some of us, the plan about what to do after the PhD may not be so clear (as it was my case back in 2007). Also, being too single-minded about what our future career path should look like has its own problems 2 . Indeed, there are plenty of examples of people that started a PhD without a clear endgame in mind, who finished it happily and went on to become successful academics or researchers. Ask any researcher you know!

So, if this first answer to ‘should I do a PhD?' did not give us a clear answer, maybe we need a different approach. Read on.

A longer answer: Factors for a happy (or less sucky) PhD

If we are still unsure of whether doing a PhD is a good idea, we can do worse than to follow the decision-making advice I have proposed in a previous post for big decisions during the PhD. In those posts, I describe a three-step process in which we 1) expand our understanding of the options available (not just to do or not do a PhD, but also what PhD places are available, what are our non-PhD alternative paths, etc.); 2) analyze (and maybe prototype) and visualize the different options; and 3) take the decision and move on with it.

However, one obstacle we may face when applying that process to this particular decision is the “analytic intuition” step , in which we evaluate explicitly different aspects of each of the options, to inform our final, intuitive (i.e., “gut feeling”) decision. If we have never done a PhD or been in academia, we may be baffled about what are the most important aspects to consider when making such an evaluation about a particular PhD position, or whether a PhD is a good path for us at all.

Below, I outline ten factors that I have observed are related to better, happier (but not necessarily stress-free!) PhD processes and outcomes. Contrary to many other posts in this blog (where I focus on the factors that we have control over ), most of the items below are factors outside our direct control as PhD students, or which are hard to change all by ourselves. Things like our current life situation, what kind of person we are, or the particular supervisor/lab/topic where we would do the PhD. Such external or hard-to-change aspects are often the ones that produce most frustration (and probably lead to bad mental health or dropout outcomes) once we are on the PhD journey:

• Time . This is pretty obvious, but often overlooked. Do we have time in our days to actually do a PhD (or can we make enough time by stopping other things we currently do)? PhD programs are calibrated to take 3-4 years to complete, working at least 8 hours a day. And the sheer amount of hours spent working on thesis materials seems to be the most noticeable predictor of everyday progress in the PhD , according to (still unpublished) studies we are doing of doctoral student diaries and self-tracking (and, let’s remember, progress itself is the most important factor in completing a PhD 3 ). And there is also the issue of our mental energy : if we think that we can solve the kind of cognitively demanding tasks that a PhD entails, after 8 hours of an unrelated (and potentially stressful) day job, maybe we should think again. Abandon the idea that you can do a PhD (and actually enjoy it) while juggling two other day jobs and taking care of small kids. Paraphrasing one of my mentors, “a PhD is not a hobby”, it is a full-time job! Ignore this advice at your own risk.
• Money . This is related to the previous one (since time is money, as they say), but deserves independent evaluation. How are we going to support ourselves economically during the 3+ years that a PhD lasts? In many countries, there exist PhD positions that pay a salary (if we can get access to those). Is that salary high enough to support us (and maybe our family, depending on our situation) during those years? If we do not have access to these paid PhD positions (or the salary is too low for our needs), how will we be supported? Do we have enough savings to keep us going for the length of the PhD? can our spouse or our family support us? If we plan on taking/keeping an unrelated job for such economic support, read again point #1. Also, consider the obligations that a particular paid PhD position has: sometimes it requires us to work on a particular research project (which may or may not be related to our PhD topic), sometimes it requires us to teach at the university (which does not help us advance in our dissertation), etc. As stated in the decision process advice , it is important to talk to people currently in that kind of position or situation, to see how they actually spend their time (e.g., are they so stressed by the teaching load that they do not have time to advance in the dissertation?).
• Having social support (especially, outside academia). This one is also quite obvious, but bears mentioning anyways. Having strong social ties is one of the most important correlates of good mental health in the doctorate , and probably also helps us across the rough patches of the PhD journey towards completion. Having a supportive spouse, family, or close friends to whom we can turn when things are bad, or with whom we can go on holidays or simply unwind and disconnect from our PhD work from time to time, will be invaluable. Even having kids is associated with lower risk of mental health symptoms during the doctorate (which is somewhat counter-intuitive, and probably depends on whether you have access to childcare or not). A PhD can be a very lonely job sometimes, and there is plenty of research showing that loneliness is bad for our mental and physical health!
• An attitude of learning . Although this is a somewhat squishy factor, it is probably the first that came to my mind, stemming from my own (anecdotal, non-scientific) observation of PhD students in different labs and universities. Those that were excited to learn new things, to read the latest papers on a topic, to try a new methodology, seem to be more successful at doing the PhD (and look happier to me). People that are strong in curiosity seem a good match for a scientific career, which is in the end about answering questions (even if curiosity also has its downsides ). This personal quality can also be related to Dweck’s growth mindset (the belief that our intelligence and talents are not fixed and can be learned) 4 . If you are curious , this mindset can be measured in a variety of ways .
• A knack for systematicity and concentration. This one is, in a sense, the counterweight to the previous one. Curious people often have shorter attention spans, so sometimes they ( we , I should say) have trouble concentrating or focusing on the same thing for a long period of time. Yet, research is all about following a particular method in a systematic and consistent way, and often requires long periods of focus and concentration. Thus, if we find ourselves having trouble with staying with one task, idea or project for more than a few minutes in a row, we may be in for trouble. The PhD requires to pursue a single idea for years !
• Valuing autonomy . As I mentioned in passing above, a PhD is, by definition, an individual achievement (even if a lot of research today requires teamwork and collaboration). Thus, to be successful (and even enjoy) the process of the PhD, we have to be comfortable being and working alone, at least for some of the time. Spending years developing our own contribution to knowledge that no one else has come up with before, should not feel like a weird notion to us. Even if it occasionally comes with the uncomfortable uncertainty of not knowing whether our ideas will work out. In human values research they call this impulse to define our own direction, autonomy 5 , and many of my researcher friends tell me it is a very common trait in researchers. However, these values are very personal and very cultural. To evaluate this factor, we could simply ask ourselves how much we value this autonomy over other things in life, or use validated instruments to measure relative value importance, like the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) .
• Liking and/or being good at writing . I have written quite a bit here about the importance (and difficulty) of writing in the PhD . Be it writing journal and conference papers, or the dissertation tome itself, every PhD student spends quite a bit of time writing, as a way of conveying new knowledge in a clear, concise and systematic way. Learning to write effectively is also known to be one of the common difficulties of many PhD processes 6 , due to reasons discussed elsewhere . Hence, if we hate writing, we should think carefully about spending the next 3+ years doing something that necessarily involves quite a bit of writing, other people spotting flaws in your writing, and rewriting your ideas multiple times. Please note that I don’t consider being a good (academic or nonfiction) writer a necessary requisite for a PhD, as it can be learned like any other skill (again, the learning attitude in point #4 will help with that!). But being good at it will certainly make things easier and will let you focus on the content of the research, rather than on learning this new, complex skill.
• Compatibility (or, as they call it in the literature sometimes, the “fit”) of our and their personalities, ways of working (e.g., do they like micro-managing people, but you hate people looking over your shoulder?) and expectations about what a doctoral student and a supervisor should do.
• A concern for you as a person. Since this is difficult to evaluate as we may not know each other yet, we could use their concern about the people that work in their lab (beyond being just a source of cheap labor), as a proxy.
• Enthusiasm for the field of research or topic, its importance in the world, etc. A cynic, jaded researcher may not be the best person to guide us to be a great member of the scientific community.
• A supervisor that is well-known, an expert in the particular topic of the dissertation. Looking at the number of citations, e.g., in Google Scholar is a good initial indicator, but look at the publication titles (are they in similar topics to those they are offering you as your doctoral project? if not, that may mean that this person may also be new to your particular dissertation topic!).
• Related to the previous one, does this researcher have a good network of (international) contacts in other institutions? Do they frequently co-author papers with researchers in other labs/countries? We may be able to benefit from such contact network, and get wind of important opportunities during the dissertation and for our long-term research career.
• Openness (and time!) to talk about what the doctoral student job entails, potential barriers and difficulties , etc. This can be a proxy to both their general busyness (you will not get much guidance if they can never meet you because they have too little time) and their communication skills (something critical to consider when signing up to work closely with someone for years).
• Whether the supervisor is an ethical person. This is very important but seldom considered (maybe because it is hard to evaluate!). For sure, we don’t want to be backstabbed or exploited by our supervisor!
• Whether this person(s) is known to be a good supervisor . Have they already supervised other doctoral students to completion, in nominal time and with good grades? Do they regularly attend trainings and professional development about doctoral supervision? Do they seem to care about this part of their job for its own sake (rather than as a mere medium to get cheap labor)?
• You may be wondering how you are going to gather information about all the aspects mentioned above. Sometimes you can ask the supervisor directly, but you can also talk with current PhD students of this person, or students in the same lab/department (but do not take what they say at face value: partisanship, gossip or rivalries may be at work!). If you have the time and the opportunity, try to “prototype” (see the decision process post) the experience of working with this supervisor: do a master thesis with them, or a summer internship, or use the work on a joint PhD project proposal (a pre-requisite before being accepted as a doctoral student in some institutions). Some things we don’t know we like until we try them!
• Of course, all of the above are two-way streets. As prospective students, we also need to show to a potential supervisor that we are open to talk about expectations, that we are somewhat flexible, dependable, etc. Be very conscious of this in your interactions with supervisors and other people in their lab!
• The lab/department where you will do the dissertation . Again, there are many things to consider here. Is there an actual research group, or will we be doing our research in isolation with our supervisor? Normally, the former is preferable, since that gives us more resources to draw from if the supervisor is not available. Is the research group well known in the field (again, look at citations, invited talks, etc. of different group members)? But especially, try to get an idea of the lab’s working atmosphere : is it stressful, relaxed, collaborative, competitive…? As with the previous point, we could prototype it by spending some time working there, or we can interview one or more people working in the lab. If we do the latter, it is better to go beyond direct questions that will give vague (and maybe unreliable) answers, like “it’s good”. Rather, take a journalistic approach, and ask people to narrate concretely what the routines are in the lab, when and how did they last collaborate with another student, or the last conflict arising in the lab. Then, decide whether this kind of ambience is a good fit for you .
• The concrete PhD topic . We should find out (e.g., from our prospective supervisor) whether the topic of the dissertation is already well-defined, or rather we will have to explore and define it ourselves (both options have pros and cons, and again it depends whether we value more autonomy and exploration, or having a clear path ahead). Is the area or keywords of the PhD topic going up or down in popularity (see here for a potential way to find out)? Are there clear funding schemes that specifically target this kind of research topic, at the national or international level? How easy is it to collect evidence for this kind of research (empirical data is a critical element in almost all research fields, so we want easy and reliable access to them)? I would not evaluate a PhD topic on the basis of whether we love it right now, as we never know much about any research area when we start a doctorate (even if we think we do!). An attitude of learning and curiosity (see #4) will take care of that. Rather, talk with the supervisor about how the research process might look like, what kind of activities will take up most of our time (reading papers? doing labwork? interviewing people?): do we find those activities interesting?

Yet, after considering all these 10 factors separately, we may not be clear on the decision (maybe some aspects are good, others not so much). If, after all this thinking and gathering of information we still are not sure, there is one last idea I can offer…

One last answer: We cannot really know (the PhD as a transformative experience)

We could also frame the question of whether to do a PhD as what philosopher L.A. Paul calls a “transformative experience” 8 . Doing a PhD is a big life decision (like becoming a parent or taking a powerful drug) through which we probably will transform ourselves into another person , with different preferences and even different values.

I can think of many ways in which I am a different person now, due to the transformative experience of doing my PhD: I am now able to read and understand scientific papers (e.g., when I come across a new idea or “expert”, I go and read actual research papers about that), and I can evaluate the reliability of different types of evidence; I trust more scientific advances and consensus; I am more comfortable speaking (and writing) in English; I am more aware of culture and life in other countries, and I have less chauvinistic views of foreigners (due to my international experience gained as a researcher). Et cetera .

Paul’s argument regarding transformative experiences is that there are limitations to simulating (i.e., imagining) whether we will like the experience, as our own values and preferences may be changed by the very experience we try to simulate. For similar reasons, there are limits to the usefulness of asking others about the decision (and trusting their testimony), since they also have different values, preferences and coping strategies than us. Even looking at the latest and most reliable research on the topic (e.g., whether PhD students end up happier and/or more satisfied with their lives than people who did not take that choice) is of limited help, since such research (of which there is little!) often concentrates on average effects, and we may not be “average”.

What to do, then?

L.A. Paul’s way out of this dilemma seems to be a reframe of the question: "Will I be happier if I do a Ph?“ , "Should I do a PhD?“ . Rather, we can ask: “Do I value discovering my new self as a researcher/doctor?" . In a sense, this new question targets a key intrinsic value we may (or may not) have: Do we appreciate learning, exploring, getting novel experiences, discovering and remaking ourselves (related to point #4 above)? If yes, a PhD might be a good idea. If we prefer stability, things (and our life) as they have always been, the status quo … maybe we will not appreciate this transformation that much.

There is no right or wrong answer. Only your answer.

The diagram below summarizes the main ideas in this post. Reflect upon these questions, and make your own choice. Take responsibility for your choice… but don’t blame yourself for the outcome , i.e., if it does not work out as you expected. There are too many inherent uncertainties about this decision that cannot be known until we actually walk the path.

Summary of the ideas in this post

Did these arguments and factors help you think through the decision of doing (or not doing) a PhD? What did you decide in the end and why? I’d be very curious to know… Let us know in the comments section below!

Header photo by Zeevveez

This seems especially important in the U.S. higher education and research market, which is quite clearly stratified, with research-focused and more teaching-focused universities, “Ivy Leagues”, etc. ↩︎

If we get obsessed with going a particular way and we fail to achieve it (or even if we achieve it and find out that it’s not what we thought it’d be), we may end up feeling stuck and/or depressed. See Burnett, W., & Evans, D. J. (2016). Designing your life: How to build a well-lived, joyful life , for ideas on how to get “unstuck” in those cases. ↩︎

De Clercq, M., Frenay, M., Azzi, A., Klein, O., & Galand, B. (2021). All you need is self-determination: Investigation of PhD students’ motivation profiles and their impact on the doctoral completion process. International Journal of Doctoral Studies , 16 , 189–209. ↩︎

Claro, S., Paunesku, D., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 113 (31), 8664–8668. ↩︎

Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture , 2 (1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1116 ↩︎

Sverdlik, A., Hall, N. C., McAlpine, L., & Hubbard, K. (2018). The PhD experience: A review of the factors influencing doctoral students’ completion, achievement, and well-being. International Journal of Doctoral Studies , 13 , 361–388. https://doi.org/10.28945/4113 ↩︎

Masek, A., & Alias, M. (2020). A review of effective doctoral supervision: What is it and how can we achieve it? Universal Journal of Educational Research , 8 (6), 2493–2500. ↩︎

Paul, L. A. (2014). Transformative experience . OUP Oxford. ↩︎

Luis P. Prieto

Luis P. is a Ramón y Cajal research fellow at the University of Valladolid (Spain), investigating learning technologies, especially learning analytics. He is also an avid learner about doctoral education and supervision, and he's the main author at the A Happy PhD blog.

Google Scholar profile

Is a PhD worth it now in 2023? [the data]

Deciding to pursue a PhD is a decision not to be taken lightly. Whether or not it is worth it for you depends on a number of circumstances such as your career goals, financial stability, stage in life, support networks, interest in the subject, ability to self-motivate and so much more.

Arguably, for most people, a PhD is not worth it. If you want to enter academia you have no other option than to do a PhD. However, there is often a much better return on investment from other educational pathways such as master’s, professional degrees and work experience.

For some people, the act of getting a PhD is more than for financial return or reward. They have a deep connection with the subject and want to research it. They are willing to put up with the sacrifices required to do a PhD because of their drive for a particular research field.

 These types of researchers are relatively rare.

This article will go through everything you need to know about whether or not PhD is worth it in 2023 and the most important things you should consider before launching into your PhD application process.

Should I Get A PhD?

Deciding whether or not to pursue a doctoral degree is a huge life decision. It can easily take up to 7 years to get a PhD in some countries.

This is a time when others are laying the foundations of their life and have a job starting to build up experience in their professional field.

Doing a PhD delays adult life for most young PhD students.

PhD regret is a real thing and in my youtube video, I share all of the things you need to be aware of when making the decision to do a PhD.

Study referenced in the video: click here.

A doctorate requires an immense amount of work and dedication. And therefore you need to be absolutely certain it is the right decision for you.

If you have a passion for:

• teaching at a university,
• public service,
• or your job has pay scales that can only be reached with a PhD

then getting a PhD may be a perfect choice.

On the other hand, if you are looking for career advancement opportunities or increased earning potential, then it might not be right for you.

There are other options such as a Masters, graduate diploma, or work experience that could potentially open more career advancement opportunities.

If you want to know more about PhDs check out my other articles:

• How long does it take to get a PhD? Complete a PhD quickly
• How long does it take to get a PhD part time? Complete a PhD on your own time. 
• How difficult is it to get a PhD? The real doctorate struggles.

Is getting your PhD worth it for your career?

A PhD is certainly worth it for many careers, especially those in academia, research and education.

A PhD provides you with the skills to:

• perform academic research independently,
• write for peer-reviewed publications,
• present findings to peers
• manage a multi-year project with multiple stakeholders
• teach undergraduate classes
• and much more

These skills are incredibly valuable and well compensated in some careers .

It is also important to consider that a PhD can also help you develop specialized skills and knowledge that are highly valued in certain industries, such as data science and analytics.

A PhD can open up doors to new opportunities that undergraduate and masters degrees do not.

However, a PhD doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to be compensated better in the workplace with a higher salary.

Let’s take a look at whether or not a PhD is worth it for your finances.

Is a PhD worth it for your finances? Whether a PhD will boost your bank balance. 

Whether or not a PhD is worth it for your finances highly depends on what you’re using your PhD for.

In my experience, a PhD does not guarantee higher wages upon graduation. In fact, it is often a better return on your investment to get a master’s degree and a couple of years of experience in a career to maximise your earning potential.

This is backed up with data.

You can see in the graph below that, on average, the maximum earnings someone can make is with a Masters or professional degree.

Across all of the different subject areas, it is often better to get a professional degree that is directly related to your career rather than pursue a PhD.

It takes many more years to get a PhD and quite bluntly – it does not make financial sense to do a PhD.

For many, the stipend associated with being a PhD student can help to pay for grad school and other expenses during their studies but there is a huge shortfall compared to the wage if you had started a job.

Even if you don’t go into academia, many companies recognize the value of having a PhD but may not offer a financial benefit.

Why is a PhD a bad idea for most people?

Arguably, a PhD is a bad idea for most people because it requires a tremendous amount of time, effort and money to complete, and there are very few job opportunities in academia available.

Also, as we have seen above, it is quite often not financially sensible to pursue a PhD.

Many students embark on a PhD program with the expectation that they will get an academic job upon completion of their studies, but this is not guaranteed. And, is in fact, the exception.

The competition for postdocs and other academic jobs is high and there is no guarantee of job security once you get one.

Having an undergraduate degree already makes you eligible for many jobs outside academia so getting a PhD may not be the best use of your time or resources.

For all these reasons, many people opt out of getting a PhD and pursue alternative career pathways.

What are the Risks of Getting a PhD?

Earning a PhD can be costly both in terms of time and money, and it may take several years to complete a successful doctoral program.

Also, there are many other risks and costs associated with getting a PhD that are not talked about.

These include:

• return on investment
• opportunity cost
• reduced earning potential in early years
• reduce networking with professionals
• and many more.

In my YouTube video below I talk about whether or not get a PhD is worth the effort:

Furthermore, there are risks associated with getting a PhD. One risk is that the long timeframe of earning a PhD may lead to burnout or fatigue for the PhD student.

Another risk is the fact that the value of a particular Ph.D may fluctuate over time, so it’s important to consider whether or not the Ph.D will be worth it in the long run.

There’s always a risk that humanity’s understanding of certain fields could change suddenly, rendering an individual’s doctoral degree obsolete or less valuable than anticipated.

For these reasons and more, individuals considering getting a PhD should evaluate their options carefully before making such an important commitment.

Have you thought realistically about your job prospects?

Some people can get very excited thought of doing a PhD. However, this excitement is incredibly short-lived once they realize that there are no job prospects upon graduation.

When considering job prospects, it is important to think realistically about the opportunities available for when you graduate.

For many PhD students, the dream is to secure a tenure-track position in academia. However, this can be difficult with so many PhDs vying for limited positions in universities and colleges.

Therefore, it is important to consider other options outside of academia as well. This isn’t something that many young PhD students want to hear – but it is where most of them will end up.

Many PhDs have found success in fields such as healthcare, finance, and technology.

Additionally, some PhDs have even gone into non-traditional fields such as teaching English abroad or starting their own business.

I chose the pack of starting my own business and have had a much more fulfilling life and satisfaction from that than I ever did during my years in academia.

No matter what path you choose after completing your PhD, it’s important to remember that there are many opportunities out there for PhD students – both inside and outside of academia.

They may not be obvious at the beginning – just keep searching into you find one that excites you.

PhD Degree Alternatives

There are many alternatives to getting a PhD that can still lead to successful career paths in different fields.

Sure, they may not be as prestigious. They may not even be particularly exciting – but for your career, they offer a much better return on your investment both in terms of time and money.

 We have seen, above, that it is actually much better to settle into a career with a Masters and then upskill with various professional degrees until you reach your desired earning potential.

It PhD is not a guaranteed ticket to a higher-paying job – building up credibility and experience in a particular role is.

There are many other degree alternatives including:

• graduate diplomas
• professional degrees
• vocational courses
• a much more

that can help boost your earning potential.

However, there truly is no alternative to a PhD if you want hard-core research experience and to open up the career pathway to lecturing and research.

For people that want to enter academia I often say that they should have a fallback plan so that when their ideas of becoming a researcher fall away they have a comfortable and realistic backup plan that they would enjoy.

You’ll be amazed how many people don’t know what they would do if they won’t in academia. In today’s highly competitive world that is not good enough.

It is important to explore all of one’s options before committing to pursuing a PhD degree so that they can make an informed decision about their future career path.

Wrapping up

This article has been through everything you need to know about whether or not a PhD is worth it now and all of the important questions you need to ask yourself.

You need to look at your career goals, the financial gains you expect to make with a PhD and what other opportunities open up upon graduation.

However, there are some extreme costs that come with letting a PhD including reduced earning potential for many years, stressing and anxiety, reduction in professional experience, and many others which will need to be addressed if you decide to go down the postgraduate PhD route.

Whatever you decide I hope that this article has provided you with enough formation to help make a decision one way or another.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

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Why You Shouldn’t Get a PhD

The road to a doctorate is long, arduous, and paved with abandoned scholarship. Don't start the PhD process before you consider all the obstacles (and rewards). Here's what you need to reflect on before making the leap.

1. What is your motive for getting a PhD?

Examine your true motivation for wanting to earn a PhD and how the degree makes sense within your larger plan. Despite the obstacles, people stay in doctorate programs because they enjoy learning for learning's sake. They relish the opportunity to tackle intellectual problems and explore new areas of knowledge. For some there is the added appeal of taking time out from the traditional job market as you pursue what you love. But if it's your ambition to become a professor you should be aware that the PhD track is no guarantee of a life in academia .

2. Have you thought realistically about your job prospects?

Many PhD students hope to find a tenure-track position at a good college or research university after graduating (although others do pursue satisfying careers outside of academia). The reality is that academic positions are increasingly difficult to come by. Many PhDs have to settle for temporary or non tenure-track teaching positions, which can be just as demanding as full-time work but without the salary. Be prepared to follow jobs to colleges on the other side of the country or to adjust your career expectations.

Read More: Graduate School Application Timeline

3. Can you live frugally?

Getting a doctorate is intellectually rewarding. Unfortunately, it doesn't tend to be financially rewarding, at least not in the short term. Most PhD students live on their earnings from teaching and research assistantships or other low-paying employment. So, your starving student days may not be behind you.

4. Are you ready for the workload?

Graduate courses are far more rigorous than those you took as an undergrad, and first-year PhD students usually take around three classes. Many grad students also serve as teaching assistants (TAs) and must learn how to juggle their needs along with their students. And of course, in the final three years of the PhD program, you'll mainly focus on writing the dissertation and preparing for oral exams.

5. How do you handle pressure?

Each year, some PhD candidates do not meet the requirements of their graduate programs and are asked to leave. Others choose to leave because they are burnt out, or their interests have changed. Some students who don't complete the PhD leave with a master's degree; others leave with no degree at all. You should be prepared for these scenarios by making a back-up plan.

Successful PhD students thrive in a highly intellectual environment, are willing to work very hard with only a possible payoff, love their field of study, and don't mind forgoing impressive paychecks. If this sounds like you, forge ahead!

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Doctorate vs. PhD: Understanding the Key Differences [2024]

If you’re interested in pursuing a doctoral degree, you may wonder about the differences between a doctorate vs. PhD.

A doctorate and a PhD are both terminal degrees that allow you to develop specialized knowledge and skills in your chosen field. But these degrees typically have different areas of focus, requirements, and career outcomes.

Editorial Listing ShortCode:

Understanding the difference between PhD and doctorate can help you pick the degree that most aligns with your career aspirations and interests.

What’s the Difference Between Doctorate vs. PhD Degrees?

A doctorate and a Ph.D. are the highest college degrees students can earn. Graduates of both types of programs receive the title of “doctor” and may qualify for specialized careers in their fields.

But, while doctorate programs focus on professional competencies and knowledge, PhD programs prioritize academic research.

What Is a Doctorate Degree?

A doctorate degree is a professional degree that enables students to become experts in a specific field or industry. This degree focuses on applying academic research and theories in the workplace to improve performance and solve problems.

Courses vary by field and program but typically emphasize professional skills like collaboration, leadership, and project management. Additionally, many doctorate programs require students to complete a capstone project that addresses real issues affecting their industry.

Graduates often qualify for advanced administrative, leadership, and managerial positions in their fields.

What Is a PhD Degree?

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree is an opportunity to strengthen your academic research skills and generate original knowledge. This degree trains students to become independent scholars who conduct cutting-edge research in their areas of expertise.

PhD curriculums cover advanced concepts and theories in a discipline. They also teach students qualitative and quantitative methodologies to design studies and conduct research. Additionally, most PhD programs require students to produce a dissertation that contributes fresh knowledge to the field.

Current professionals with PhDs often work as academic researchers and professors. They may also secure government and industry jobs.

Key Differences Between a PhD vs. Doctorate Degree

What’s a PhD degree ? What’s a doctorate degree? The main difference between a doctorate and a PhD is their area of focus. A doctorate prioritizes applied knowledge and professional skills, while a PhD emphasizes academic research. Let’s compare some more differences between a professional doctoral degree vs. PhD.

A doctorate enables students to become expert practitioners in their discipline. Students study existing concepts and theories and learn how to apply these ideas in the workplace.

By contrast, a PhD prepares students to conduct innovative research and educate others.

Goals and Outcomes

Doctorate programs help prepare students for senior administrative and leadership positions in their industries. They also help students enhance their professional competencies and tackle industry-specific challenges.

Students who pursue PhDs aim to advance their disciplines by generating new knowledge. They may also publish peer-reviewed research and teach undergraduate courses.

Student Population

Doctorate degrees are designed for current or aspiring working professionals who want to become industry leaders. These programs also enable students to increase their knowledge and credibility.

PhD programs attract students who want to expand their knowledge of research methodologies and theories. These learners also frequently pursue academic careers.

Admissions Requirements

Doctorate and PhD programs typically require students to have bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Additionally, prospective doctorate students may be asked to provide evidence of work experience, while PhD students might demonstrate their research abilities with a writing sample.

Program Length

Requirements vary by program, but full-time students typically complete a doctorate in 3 to 5 years. Programs that require a capstone project may take longer. For those considering quick degrees, a number of universities now offer accelerated doctoral programs online .

PhD programs often take 4 to 7 years to finish. The speed at which students research and write their dissertations can significantly impact the timeline.

The curriculum for doctorate programs typically centers on practical skills and contemporary issues in the field. Topics may include communication, ethics, and leadership.

PhD programs offer classes on research methods, theories, and disciplinary trends. Students also learn how to write journal articles and present at conferences.

Assessment and Completion Requirements

Doctorate and PhD students both complete 2 or more years of coursework. They also demonstrate their knowledge during comprehensive exams.

Doctorate students may produce a capstone project that applies their knowledge to real problems. By contrast, PhD students write dissertations based on original research.

If You Have a PhD, Are You a Doctor?

Is a PhD a doctor ? While graduates who earn a PhD are referred to as doctors, a PhD is different from a Doctor of Medicine (MD).

Doctors with MDs are medical doctors who can legally prescribe medications, perform surgery, and treat patients. They typically apply existing medical knowledge instead of conducting research. Doctors with PhDs don’t have any of these abilities. Instead, they have specialized knowledge and perform academic research in a particular field.

PhD or Doctorate Degree – Which Is Right for You?

Understanding the difference between a doctorate and a PhD can help you select the right degree for you.

Professional doctorate degrees help students become leading practitioners and problem solvers. By contrast, PhD degrees enable students to hone their research skills and learn advanced concepts. Both degrees allow you to enrich your understanding of your chosen discipline or profession. They also help you boost your credentials and develop new skills.

After you decide between a doctorate degree vs. PhD, you can explore program options from accredited schools to find the best fit.

To Be or Not To Be a PhD Candidate, That Is the Question

Originally published in the AWIS Magazine.

By Katie Mitzelfelt, PhD Lecturer, University of Washington Tacoma AWIS Member since 2020

Choosing whether or not to work toward a PhD, and then whether or not to finish it, can be very difficult decisions―and there are no right or wrong answers.

Obtaining a PhD is a prestigious accomplishment, and the training allows you to develop your critical-thinking and innovation skills, to conduct research into solving specialized problems, and to learn to troubleshoot when things don’t go as expected. You develop a sense of resilience and a commitment to perseverance, skills which are rewarded when that one experiment finally works and when the answer to your long-sought-after question becomes clear. However, finishing a PhD involves a lot of work, time, and stress. It is mentally, physically, and psychologically exhausting.

There are other ways to hone critical thinking and problem-solving skills and many careers that do not require a PhD such as teaching, science communications, technical writing, quality control, and technician work. Opportunities exist in industries from forensics to food science and everywhere in between.

Countering the Stigma of Perceived Failure

Often we mistakenly view a student’s decision not to pursue a PhD, or to leave a PhD program, as giving up. Many academics view non-PhDs as not smart enough or strong enough to make it. But this is simply not true. In April 2021 Niba Audrey Nirmal produced a vulnerable and inspiring video on the topic of leaving graduate school, titled 10 Stories on Leaving Grad School + Why I Left , on her YouTube channel, NotesByNiba .

In making the video, she hoped to change people’s minds by naming the stigma, shame, and guilty feelings that come with leaving a PhD program. She highlights ten stories from others who either completed their PhD programs or chose to leave, and she goes on to openly share her personal reasons for ending her own doctoral studies in plant genetics at Duke University.

The people showcased in the film share the reasons behind their respective decisions to leave or to stay, as well as heartfelt advice encouraging viewers to make the decision best for them. Participant Sara Whitlock shares, “I decided to leave [my Ph.D. program] . . . but I still had to kind of disentangle myself from that piece of my identity that was all tied up in science research, and that took a long time, but once I did, I was a lot happier.”

Another participant, Dr. Sarah Derouin, states, “Everyone is going to have an opinion about what you do with your life. They’ll have an opinion if you finish your PhD; they’ll have an opinion if you don’t finish your PhD. At the end of the day, you have to realize what is best for you . . . and then make decisions based on that, not on what you think other people will think of you.” In her film, Nirmal recommends the nonprofit organization PhD Balance as a welcoming space for learning about others’ shared experiences.

A Personal Choice

So, do you need a PhD? It depends on what you want to do in your career and in your life. It also depends on your priorities―money, family, free time, fame, advancing science, curiosity, creating cures, saving the planet, etc. (Note that what you value now may shift throughout your life. Your journey will not be a straight line: every step you take will provide an experience that will shape who you are and how you view the world.)

Your decision whether or not to pursue a PhD should be based on your specific goals. Whether or not you obtain a PhD, remember that your journey is unique. The breadth of our experiences as scientists is what yields the diverse perspectives necessary to tackle the world’s difficult problems, now and in the years ahead.

The stories below, based on my own interviews, provide examples of the personal experiences and career choices of some amazing and inspiring scientists. Some of them decided to skip further graduate studies; some chose to go the whole distance on the PhD route; and still others left their doctoral programs behind.

Mai Thao, PhD, Medical Affairs, Medtronic

After completing her undergraduate degree, Dr. Thao worked in a private sector lab. She shared “work was physically exhausting, with little reward. I had no autonomy; instead, I entered a production line similar to the ones that my own parents had endured to provide a living for my family.” While the studies she was working on were important, Dr. Thao felt her contributions to those studies, were minimal. She asserts, “Being naive and a bit arrogant, I thought at that time that I was clearly made for better and greater things, so I quit right in the middle of the Great Recession [2007–2009].” She then pursued a master’s degree in chemistry from California State University, Sacramento, and went on to complete her doctorate in chemistry and biochemistry at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Thao reflects, “In retrospect, I knew that having a PhD would offer me better opportunities and ones with true autonomy.”

When asked how satisfied she is with her decision to complete the doctoral program, Dr. Thao says, “I go back and forth about being satisfied with my decision . . . I was clueless about financing college and even declined multiple schools that offered me full academic scholarships. Today I slowly chip away at my financial error. On the other side, I do have a PhD and can afford to chip away at my mountain of student loan debt. I am also fortunate to be able to really live in the present, to save for the future, and to give.”

Today, Dr. Thao is a scientific resource consultant for internal partners and external key stakeholders at Medtronic. She says, “My day-to-day can range from providing evidence from the literature to supporting scientific claims for marketing purposes. My favorite part of my job is being able to add scientific value to the projects I support. It’s always so rewarding to see how the ideas of engineers and scientists materialize and then to see how the commercial team takes it to market to make a great impact on patients, and I get to see the entire process.

Tam’ra-Kay Francis, PhD, Department of Chemistry, University of Washington

Dr. Francis currently works as a postdoctoral scholar in the chemistry department at the University of Washington. Her research examines “pedagogies and other interventions in higher education that support underrepresented students in STEM. [My] efforts engage both faculty and students in the development of equity-based environments.” She is currently investigating the impact of active learning interventions in the Chemistry Department.

Dr. Francis acknowledges that deciding to pursue a doctorate is a very personal decision. “There are so many things to consider— time, finances, focus area, committee expertise and support, and next steps,” she says. “Not every job requires a PhD, so it is important to stay informed about the expertise required for a career that you are considering.”

She provides advice to prospective graduate students, telling them to do their due diligence when seeking out programs that are right for them. “When interviewing with potential advisers, don’t be afraid to ask specific questions about things that are important to your success. Ask them about their expectations (for example, their philosophies on mentoring and work-life balance) and about the types of support they provide (for example, help with research funding, mental health, and professional development).”

She also suggests reaching out to graduate students in the groups or departments you are interested in. “Ask them directly about what the culture is like and about how they are being supported.” She wants to remind students that they do have a voice and a say in their graduate career. “Your needs will change throughout graduate school, so it is important that you find advocates, both within and outside of your institution, to champion you to the finish line. It is very important that you build your network of support as early as possible,” says Dr. Francis. She credits her adviser, mentors, committee, and former supervisors as being crucial supports in her journey.

“In the first year of my doctoral program, I found an amazing community of scholars from a research interest group (CADASE) within the National Association of Research in Science Teaching. It was a great space to find mentors and build connections in a large professional organization,” said Dr. Francis. At the institutional level, Dr. Francis served as vice president of the Graduate Student Senate and was a member of the Multicultural Graduate Student Organization. For Dr. Francis, her participation in these groups and organizations contributed to her professional growth, sense of community, and success in graduate school.

Liz Goossen, MS, Senior Marketing Specialist at Adaptive Biotechnologies

Reflecting on her decision not to pursue a doctorate, Goossen acknowledges, “I spent a lot of time in graduate school researching potential career paths one could do with a PhD, [and even organized] a career day featuring a dozen speakers from across the country in a variety of scientific fields. By the end, I felt that none of these career options would be a good fit for me (or at least not a good enough fit to warrant five or more years in my program). I worried about going through all of my twenties without starting a 401(k) or having normal working hours, and [I also worried about] all of the other trade-offs there are between finishing a PhD and joining the workforce. I lived in Salt Lake City at the time, and the job market was flooded with PhDs who were overqualified for many of the available positions. By leaving [school] with a master’s, I had more options.”

When asked if she is satisfied with her decision, Goossen says she is 99% satisfied. “There are times I encounter jobs requiring a PhD that look enticing, and [that’s when] I wonder if it may have been nice to have one, but those moments are rare.”

Maureen Kennedy, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Washington Tacoma

Dr. Kennedy shares that a major factor in her decision to complete a doctorate was the financial support she received. She says, “I was able to maintain funding through research agreements and occasional teaching opportunities that I loved! This consistent funding allowed me to enjoy the freedom of pursuing my PhD on research I found very fulfilling, while also gaining valuable teaching experience. I always felt at home in an academic setting and was happy to stay there while being supported.”

Dr. Kennedy reports being very satisfied with her decision to pursue a doctorate and attributes this satisfaction to knowing that she is making “an impact, both through teaching new generations of students and through being able to continue to pursue [her] favored research topics.” She reflects on some of the positive and negative impacts of her decision: “As a PhD, I am able to direct my own research agenda with relative independence. One major trade-off is that by pursuing an academic career, my salary is likely less than I could get in the private sector with the same skills. My lifetime cumulative salary will also likely be less, due to the years living off of research and teaching stipends, rather than [benefiting from] full-time employment and salary. Also, my years spent as a research scientist funded by soft money, or periodic research grants, were often uncertain; when one grant was winding down, [I had to pursue] new grants.”

Dr. Kennedy remarks that as a tenure-track professor, she has diverse daily activities, which she finds appealing. She shares, “Some days are focused on teaching (particularly during the academic year), some days on research (particularly during the summer), and some days I am able to do both. Before the pandemic, I would come to campus several days a week, but I was also able to work from home on other days. Days are often filled with lectures and office hours, or meetings with research collaborators. I carve out times to focus on reading and writing when I can and when deadlines are approaching. It is definitely a balancing act of time management and of planning, to ensure I am able to fulfill my teaching and research commitments.”

Dr. Kennedy advises that a doctorate “is a long-term commitment. If your goal (or passion!) is a lifetime of leading independent research (with or without teaching), a PhD will help to broaden your available opportunities and will open doors for you.” She cautions that a PhD can “delay your career trajectory and salary growth,” and so she suggests that you carefully research career opportunities and requirements to see whether a doctorate makes sense for you.

Olivia Shan, BS, Restoration Coordinator at Palouse–Clearwater Environmental Institute

Shan attributes her decision not to pursue a graduate degree to cost, lack of time, and uncertainty about what to focus on. She remarks that at some point, she may decide to continue her education, but only if she receives full funding to pay for it. She says she is very satisfied with her decision to enter the workforce right after finishing her undergraduate studies. “After earning my bachelor’s, I worked as a wildland firefighter [and] did [other] jobs I found fun,” says Shan. “Not having any debt after college gave me the flexibility to do what I desired and to explore options. I am all for taking a break from academia and for actually trying out jobs before [narrowing your] focus too far. It would have been a real bummer to spend years on [graduate work I thought I was interested in pursuing] and then later to realize that [this] was not at all what I wanted to do.”

Shan shares that she “adore[s] the diversity of [her] job, and the feeling that [she] is truly helping the environment [and her] community.” She encourages others: “Follow your heart, because you can make a difference no matter your education level. It all comes down to passion, drive, and work ethic!”

Morgan Heinz, MS, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Washington Tacoma

After completing his master’s degree, Heinz began applying to PhD programs, using the network and interests he had already developed in his previous graduate studies. He could not yet see any other paths for himself. He also wanted to teach college courses and saw the doctorate as the only way to accomplish this goal.

He called and emailed students in the lab to ask them what the environment is like. He received very candid responses and ruled out some labs as a result.

Once he started the PhD program, Heinz found that his doctoral adviser was much more hands-off than his master’s adviser had been and required an unexpected level of independence. This less-directed environment was difficult for Heinz to thrive in. He acknowledges, “I did not have the skill of looking at where the science is, looking for gaps, and seeing how I could contribute.”

These early stages of the PhD process helped him crystallize his passions. He realized that he loves learning and teaching, but he didn’t like synthesizing the literature and determining the next question to ask.

Heinz ultimately decided to take a short hiatus from the doctoral program and taught classes. This interlude reaffirmed his passion for teaching and helped him decide to leave his graduate studies behind.

When he first decided to leave the program, he felt like he was giving up, was worthless, and was a failure. Through continued reflection, he realized, “the side routes that I have taken have actually made me stronger as an instructor.”

After leaving the PhD program, Heinz participated in a community college faculty training program and was hired before even finishing it. He says that the community college allowed anyone to enroll, which was philosophically satisfying and emotionally fulfilling, enabling him to offer an education to any student who wanted it. Heinz tries to impress upon his students that there are a lot of different paths in life. He states, “I don’t have a PhD, and I am exactly where I want to be.”

If you are considering a PhD or masters program, Heinz suggests looking to see if they offer health insurance and mental health services — because graduate school can be stressful and depressing. Many programs may even pay a stipend for you to attend. Heinz also advises, “Don’t be afraid to change your mind. Draw some boundaries.”

Finally, Heinz adds, “Don’t be apologetic about the things that you’re interested in and are excited about, even when people tell you that that’s not an arena for you, because of how you look or who you are. If you’re interested in it, then that’s yours, and you can own it. You don’t need a PhD to validate that interest. You don’t need a PhD to prove your worth in that field. Life is too short to not pursue the things that excite you.”

There Are No Wrong Answers

Whatever decision you make, know that it is the right one for you in the here and now. You may grapple with disappointment or frustration along the way, but regret will not help move you forward. Be grateful for your journey and for how it helps you grow.

Listen to stories and advice, but make the choices that feel right for you. Your story is not the same as anyone else’s. What is right for them, may not be right for you. Be the author of your own life. Your story is beautiful, and you are worthy of living it.

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to Niba Audrey Nirmal, Multimedia Producer & Science Communicator, NotesByNiba, and to Brianna Barbu, Assistant Editor, C&EN, for their thoughtful edits and suggestions on this article.

Dr. Katie Mitzelfelt   is currently a biology lecturer at the University of Washington Tacoma. She received her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Utah and researched cardiac regeneration as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington Seattle, prior to transitioning to teaching. She identifies as an educator, content designer, writer, scientist, small business owner, and mom

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10 things you need to know before starting a PhD degree

So you want to do a PhD degree, huh? Here we've got everything you need to know about getting started.

So you want to do a PhD degree, huh? Are you sure about that? It’s not going to be an easy decision, so I’ve put together a list of 10 things you need to know before starting a PhD degree. Oh, and don’t panic!

I have recently graduated from the University of Manchester with a PhD in Plant Sciences after four difficult, but enjoyable, years. During those four years, I often felt slightly lost – and there was more than one occasion on which I didn’t even want to imagine writing up my thesis in fear of delving into fits of panic.

On reflection, I realise that – to quote a colleague – commencing my PhD was like “jumping in the deep end with your eyes closed.” If only I’d known to take a deep breath.

1. Are you sure you want to do a PhD degree?

Let’s be under no false impressions, completing a PhD isn’t easy. There will be times when you feel like Wile E Coyote chasing after the Roadrunner – a little bit out of your depth a lot of the time. It’s four years of your life, so make sure it is what you really want to do.

If you want to pursue a career in science, a PhD isn’t always necessary.

It is possible to make great inroads into industry without a doctoral degree. That said, a PhD can also be a very useful qualification with many transferable skills to add to your CV.

By the time you’ll have finished, you can include essentials such as time management, organisational skills, prioritising workloads, attention to detail, writing skills, presenting to an audience – and most importantly – resilience, to name but a few.

2. Choose your project, and supervisor, wisely.

This is  very  important.

Time after time, our experienced scientists at EI, including Erik Van-Den-Bergh (and I agree) say, “ make sure you’re extremely passionate about exactly that subject. ” When I saw the PhD opening that I eventually was offered, I remember being demonstrably ecstatic about the project before I’d even started it.

I was always interested in calcium signalling and organised a meeting with my potential supervisor immediately, which (to quote Billy Connolly) I leapt into in a mood of gay abandon.

Not only does this help you to keep engaged with your project even through the painstakingly slow times, it also greatly enhances your ability to sell yourself in an interview. If you can show passion and enthusiasm about the project and the science then you’ll be that one step ahead of other candidates – which is all the more important now that many studentships are competitive.

You have to  be the best  out of many, often exceptional candidates.

However, as important as it is to be passionate about your project, make sure that the person who will be supervising you is worthy.

Does your potential supervisor have a prolific track record of publishing work? What is the community of scientists like in the lab you may be working in? Are there experienced post-doctoral scientists working in the lab? Who will your advisor be? Is your supervisor an expert in the field you are interested in? Is the work you will be doing ground-breaking and novel, or is it quite niche?

There is nothing more frustrating – and I know many PhD degree students with this problem – than having a supervisor who is rarely there to talk to, shows little interest in your work, and cannot help when you are struggling in the third year of your project and some guidance would be much appreciated.

Personally, and I was very lucky to have this, I think it’s incredibly useful to have two supervisors. My PhD degree was split between the University of Manchester and the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth. Between my supervisors, I had two people with expertise in different fields, who could give me some fantastic advice from different perspectives. This also meant that I had two people to check through my thesis chapters and provide useful comments on my drafts.

Make sure you are passionate about your subject before taking it to PhD level. And by passionate I mean  really  passionate.

For a start, you will most likely have to write a literature review in your first three months, which if done well will form the main bulk of your thesis introduction and will save you a lot of stress and strain when it comes to writing up.

At the end of your first year, you will have to write a continuation report, which is your proof that you deserve to carry on to the end of your three or four years. This doesn’t leave much time for lab work, which means time management is incredibly important. If you think you’ll be able to swan in at 11 and leave at 3, think again.

Fundamentally, never, ever rest on your laurels! As tempting as it may be to slack-off slightly in the second year of your four year PhD, don’t.

4. Be organised.

This is a no-brainer but still, it’s worth a mention. Take an hour on a Monday morning to come up with a list of short-term and long-term goals. You’ll probably have to present your work at regular lab meetings, so it’s always worth knowing what has to be done (lest you look a pillock in front of the lab when there’s nothing to show for your last two weeks.)

It’s always good to have a timeline of what will be done when. If you have a PCR, maybe you can squeeze in another experiment, read a few papers, start writing the introduction to your thesis, or even start collecting the data you already have into figures.

The more good use you make of your time, the easier it’ll be to finish your PhD in the long run. Plus, it’s lovely to sit back and look at actual graphs, rather than worry about having enough to put into a paper. Once you’ve typed up your data, you’ll realise you’ve done far more than you had anticipated and the next step forward will be entirely more apparent.

5. Embrace change – don’t get bogged down in the details.

Felix Shaw – one of our bioinformatics researchers at EI – put it best when he said, “ it felt like I was running into brick walls all the way through [my PhD]… you’d run into a brick wall, surmount it, only to run straight into another. ”

You’ll find that, often, experiments don’t work. What might seem like a great idea could turn out to be as bad as choosing to bat first on a fresh wicket on the first day of the third Ashes test at Edgbaston. (Yeah, we don't know what that means either - Ed).

Resilience is key while completing your PhD. Be open to change and embrace the chance to experiment in different ways. You might even end up with a thesis chapter including all of your failures, which at the very least is something interesting to discuss during your  viva voce .

6. Learn how to build, and use, your network.

As a PhD student, you are a complete novice in the world of science and most things in the lab will be – if not new to you – not exquisitely familiar. This matters not, if you take advantage of the people around you.

Firstly, there are lab technicians and research assistants, who have probably been using the technique you are learning for years and years. They are incredibly experienced at a number of techniques and are often very happy to help show you how things are done.

There are postdocs and other PhD students, too. Not only can they help you with day-to-day experiments, they can offer a unique perspective on how something is done and will probably have a handy back-catalogue of fancy new techniques to try.

There are also a bunch of PIs, not limited to your own, who are great to talk to. These people run labs of their own, have different ideas, and might even give you a job once you’ve completed your PhD.

Don’t limit yourself to the labs directly around you, however. There are a massive number of science conferences going on all around the world. Some of them, such as the Society of Biology Conference, take place every year at a similar time in different locations, attracting many of the leaders in their respective fields.

If you are terrified by the prospect of speaking at a full-blown science conference and having your work questioned by genuine skeptics, there are also many student-led conferences which will help you dangle your fresh toes in the murky waters of presenting your work.

One such conference, the Second Student Bioinformatics Symposium, which took place at Earlham Institute in October 2016, was a great place for candidates to share their projects with peers, who are often much more friendly than veteran researchers with 30 year careers to their name when it comes to the questions at the end of your talk.

Another great reason to attend conferences, of course, is the social-side too – make the most of this. You never know who you might meet and connect with over a few drinks once the talks are over and the party commences.

7. Keep your options open.

You should be aware that for every 200 PhD students,  only 7  will get a permanent academic post , so it’s  incredibly unlikely that you’ll become a Professor  – and even if you make PI, it probably won’t be until your mid-forties.

You may also, despite having commenced along the academic path, decide that actually, working in a lab environment isn’t for you. Most PhD graduates, eventually, will not pursue an academic career, but move on to a wide range of other vocations.

It might be that Science Communication is more up your street. This was certainly the case for me – and I made sure that I took part in as many public engagement events as possible while completing my PhD. Most Universities have an active public engagement profile, while organisations such as STEM can provide you with ample opportunities to interact with schools and the general public.

You might also consider entrepreneurship as a route away from academia, which might still allow you to use your expert scientific knowledge. There are a variety of competitions and workshops available to those with a business mind, a strong example being Biotechnology YES.

I, for example, took part in the Thought for Food Challenge, through which I have been able to attend events around the world and meet a vast array of like-minded individuals. Many of the participants from the challenge have gone on to set up successful businesses and have even found jobs as a result of the competition.

8. Balance.

Remember that you still have a life outside of your PhD degree – and that this can be one of the greatest opportunities to make amazing friends from around the world.

A science institute is usually home to the brightest students from a variety of countries and can provide a chance to experience a delightful range of different people and cultures. Don’t just stick to the people in your lab, go to events for postgraduate students and meet people from all over campus.

There are usually academic happy hours happening on Fridays after work where you can buy cheap beer, or some lucky institutions even have their own bar. At Norwich Research Park, we not only have the Rec Centre, along with bar, swimming pool, calcetto, samba classes, archery, and a range of other activities, but there are also biweekly “Postdoc pub clubs” which are very fun to join on a Tuesday evening.

Maintain your hobbies and keep up with friends outside of your PhD and you’ll probably find it’s not that gruelling a process after all.

Plus, the people you meet and become friends with might be able to help you out – or at least be able to offer a sympathetic shoulder.

9. Practical advice.

If, after reading all of this, you’re still going to march forth and claim your doctorhood, then this section should be rather useful.

Firstly, make sure your data is backed up. It’s amazing how many people don’t do this and you’d be bonkers not to. Keep your work saved on a shared drive, so that if your computer decides to spontaneously combust upon pressing the return key, you won’t have lost all of your precious work – or have to go through every one of your lab books and type it all up again.

Secondly, don’t leave your bag in the pub with your half-written thesis in it. I did this, the bag was fine, I was in a state of terror for at least half an hour before the kind person at Weatherspoons located said bag.

Thirdly, read. Read broadly, read anything and everything that’s closely related to your project – or completely unrelated. It’s sometimes amazing where you might find a stroke of inspiration, a new technique you hadn’t thought of … or even in idea of where you might like to go next.

Finally, ask questions – all of the time. No matter how stupid it might sound in your head, everyone’s probably been asked it before, and if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

You’ll probably look far less stupid if you just ask the person standing next to you how the gradient PCR function works on your thermal cycler rather than standing there randomly prodding buttons and looking flustered, anyway.

10. Savour the positives.

At the end of all of this, it has to be said that doing a PhD is absolutely brilliant. There’s no other time in your life that you’ll be this free to pursue your very own project and work almost completely independently. By the time you come to the end of your PhD, you will be the leading expert in the world on something. A real expert! Until the next PhD student comes along …

Related reading.

A PhD, is it worth it? Just ask our students

The realities of doing a PhD

My advice for PhD students? See what bites

COVID and my PhD: to lockdown and back

How does a PhD work and how to find the right one

Building the confidence to take on a PhD

PhD life, 10 things we learned in our first six months

What’s the third year of a PhD like? Tips for navigating your PhD

PhD by experience

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Should I do a PhD? You asked Google – here's the answer

Every day millions of people ask Google life’s most difficult questions. Our writers answer some of the commonest queries

T here are lots of good reasons for deciding to do a PhD. Deepening your knowledge of a subject you love is an excellent one. Wondering what to do with the next three years of your life and finding out your university will pay you to stay isn’t so bad either. But seeing it as a fast track to a cushy academic job probably shouldn’t be one of them.

PhDs are often glamourised in popular culture. If you grew up watching Friends, you might recall Ross Geller celebrating getting tenure at New York University. Getting tenure in a US university means you are virtually impossible to fire. Your university trusts in your intellectual brilliance to the extent that it’s willing to give you total academic freedom to research what you want. In short, it sounds like a dream.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what it is. If Ross were a real person and not a fictional character, he wouldn’t have been celebrating getting tenure aged about 30 years old – unless he were a palaeontology prodigy. Instead, he’d be on his first or second postdoc, possibly in underpaid, insecure employment. He would also probably be so busy writing research grant applications he’d have no time to hang around in a coffee shop. If – in a decade’s time – he eventually secured a permanent academic position, he’d be one of only 3.5% of his science PhD cohort who did.

The problem with the academic dream is that the pipeline is broken . Employing lots of PhD students is a great deal for universities – they’re a source of inexpensive academic labour for research and teaching. But it’s not such a great deal for the students themselves. The oversupply of PhDs perpetuates the illusion that there are a lot of academic jobs around. There aren’t – and competition for the few that there are is fierce .

The oversupply of early career researchers means they often feel exploited by their universities. According to the University and College Union, which represents lecturers, more than three-quarters of junior academics are on precarious or zero-hours contracts . Meanwhile, competition for research funding and power-imbalanced relationships between supervisors and junior researchers can make labs and libraries ripe for bullying .

The result, according to recent research from the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust, is that academia is one of the worst careers for stress. Nearly four in 10 academics have reported experiencing mental health conditions.

So why do so many intelligent people who would probably do fantastically well in alternative careers, put themselves through this? Because being an academic can be one of the world’s best jobs . You might get to push the boundaries of knowledge in an area you’re passionate about, work in international teams comprising the world’s greatest minds, and produce work with visible social impact – whether that’s through lecturing students or seeing your research inform policy.

But is it worth it for the majority of PhD students, who’ll never become academics? In some countries, such as the US and Germany , PhDs are increasingly seen not just as a conveyor belt to an academic job, but as an important high-level qualification that leads to a diverse range of careers. In certain industries in the UK, such as science and pharmaceuticals, demand for PhD graduates is growing as their emphasis on research increases.

But at present, a PhD qualification isn’t essential for most jobs . In some industries, a PhD might even set you back, as business leaders often see them as driving a largely pointless three-year wedge between an undergraduate degree and an entry-level position. This is often compounded by unhelpful careers advice from academic supervisors disinterested in the world outside academia .

But doing a PhD in most cases might not hinder your career either. And, if you’re an undergraduate, you certainly won’t be the only one to drift into a three-year stipend while you work out what comes next. Even if you’re not willing to slog it out in pursuit of a professorship, in some subjects more than others, there’s evidence of an earnings premium . In 2010, 3.5 years after graduation, 72% of doctoral graduate respondents were earning more than £30,000 compared with 22% of first-degree graduates.

If you are going to do a PhD, choose wisely – dropout rates are high . Karin Bodewits, a PhD graduate who’s written a book about her experience, says she rushed into hers. “At the end, I was a disillusioned and defeated doctor, without any future plans, to whom a degree from a famous university means marginally less than a Girl Guides’ camping badge,” she says.

Make sure you pick your supervisor for the right reasons . Don’t be swayed by a star-studded academic track record – a supervisor who makes time for their students rather than occasionally texting from their project in Polynesia is worth their weight in gold. Equally, choose a subject you really love: three (often four) years of your life is a long time. It will probably help your career, since the best researchers are those motivated by a passion for their field, and if it doesn’t lead to a glittering professorship, at least you’ll know you spent that time doing something worthwhile.

If you’re still not sure, just take Albert Einstein’s word for it: “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”

Rachel Hall is the editor of the Guardian Higher Education Network

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• Second Master’s or PhD? – A Comparison
• Types of Doctorates

A second Master’s degree is best suited for those who want to work in industry, but first either want to acquire additional knowledge in their current field or move to a new one. A PhD is best suited to those who want to gain advanced research skills and expertise in their current field and pursue a career in research or academia.

Introduction

It’s common for Master’s students to be plagued by the thought of what they will do next as they near the end of their current degree. Whether it’s taking a gap year, starting their career or continuing education, one thing is clear: there are many possibilities.

If you decide to stay in education, you’ll likely at some point consider whether it’s better to do a second Master’s or a PhD. You’d be right to give this serious thought, as the two degrees have significant differences, from their costs and durations, to the career paths they offer.

This page explains the differences between a second Master’s and a PhD, the pros and cons of each, and will help you to decide which of the two degrees is best for you.

Second Master’s vs PhD

Level of specialisation, master’s.

A Master’s degree, regardless of whether it’s an MSc, MRes or MPhil, aims to provide you with targeted knowledge that builds on what you would have learnt from your undergraduate degree. Although each type of Master’s degree has its own focus, such as an MSc on practical knowledge and an MPhil on research skills, the specialisation they offer isn’t as in-depth as that offered by a PhD. This is because they have a wider curriculum and usually utilise several teaching methods, including lectures and tutorials, which provide a range of knowledge around several closely related subjects.

PhDs are the highest form of academic qualification you can obtain and offer more specialised knowledge than any Master’s degree. Unlike Master’s degrees, which are based on a mixture of teaching methods and curriculum, PhDs are purely research degrees and focus on a specific research question.

A second Master’s degree will provide you with specialist knowledge in various subjects in your field. A doctoral degree will provide you with research skills and expert knowledge in a single topic within your field.

Programme Duration

Most Master’s courses take one year to complete, with an MPhil two years. However, the exact duration will depend on your specific course, type of Master’s and university.

A PhD lasts on average three to four years , with part-time studies lasting up to eight years.

Since a doctorate lasts several times longer than a Master’s, it requires a much greater commitment.

Programme Cost

The cost of a second Master’s degree will vary depending on its type, subject and host universities. Based on an analysis by FindAMaster’s , which summarises tuition fees from the International and Postgraduate Fees Survey 2019 , the average academic tuition fee per year for a Master’s degree in the UK is:

The average tuition fee per year for a PhD in the UK is £4,407 for home/EU students and £19,600 for international students .

There are other fees associated with doctoral research projects that aren’t present with Master’s studies. These include bench fees, travel costs for collaborations and conferences, and potential writing up fees for late thesis submissions.

Annually, a second Master’s degree is twice as expensive than a PhD for home/EU students, and slightly cheaper for international students. However, considering the typical duration of these programmes, a PhD becomes significantly more expensive; twice as expensive for home/EU students and four times as expensive for international students:

Notes: (1) The tuition fee values for the second Master’s is based on the average fees for an MSc. (2) The above table assumes a second Master’s duration of 1 year and a PhD duration of 4 years. (3) The fees and durations are indicative – the exact values vary depending on the course and university.

It’s also important to bear in mind that many PhD programmes come with funding which covers the cost of their fees. Many funding packages also include a living allowance (known as a stipend) which is comparable to a low salary. It is usually much more difficult to secure non-repayable funding for a Master’s programme unless it’s integrated with a PhD programme.

Employability

The skills and knowledge gained through a Master’s degree are general enough to apply to other relevant disciplines. For example, a Master’s degree in statistics would enable you to work in finance, medical analysis, and specific engineering fields etc. Due to this, a second Master’s could help make you suitable for an even wider range of professional fields.

Because a PhD focuses on advanced research methods and a specific research question as opposed to the broad field, your career path is usually refined to the more advanced positions which require expert knowledge. This doesn’t mean that you cannot apply your skills elsewhere, but most PhD holders remain in their field after completing their studies.

It’s worth noting, however, that there is a growing trend for PhD holders to use the transferable skills they acquired during their degree to successfully reposition themselves in careers outside of academia. In fact, STEM PhD holders are particularly sought after in the financial sector because of their proven ability to perform complex tasks under strict deadlines.

Both a second Master’s and a PhD offer excellent employment opportunities. However, a second Master’s usually offers greater career flexibility across industries, especially at the beginning of a career. A doctorate opens up the more demanding positions within a field, but can sometimes make it more difficult to change industries.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Second Master’s

Improving skills:  A second Master’s can strengthen your skills within your current field. For example, suppose you have an MEng in Biomedical Engineering. Here, you know of the technical aspects and their application, but you do not necessarily know how to innovate and develop them further. You could fill this skills gap with an MRes or an MPhil that would provide you with complimentary research and investigatory skills. Improving your skills won’t only help you advance faster in your career faster but may also open up future roles that would not otherwise be available to you.

Career change:  After completing your first Master’s degree, you may decide that the field is no longer suitable for you. In these scenarios, a second Master’s degree can facilitate career changes. This will have obvious limitations, for example, you shouldn’t expect to be able to do a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering with a Master’s in Classical Literature, however, if you already have a Master’s in another type of engineering, this transition would be possible.

Bridge between different Industries: In STEM subjects, there is extensive interaction between different industries. Although this interaction has always existed, it has grown steadily as more industries try to innovate and tackle more ambitious projects. There’s an obvious need for multidisciplinary roles, and a second Master’s degree in a relevant subject can make you desirable for this reason.

Disadvantages

Perception: If you carry out a second Master’s in a field unrelated to your first, even if to facilitate a career change, it can lead to potential employers perceiving you as unfocused. Although this shouldn’t be the case for large multidisciplinary organisations, it may deter the more specialised companies.

Salary: While a second relevant Master’s in the same subject field may increase your earning potential, a second unrelated Master’s is unlikely to. Although an unrelated second Master’s isn’t a disadvantage if being used to facilitate a career change, it will probably be an unnecessary use of time and money if you intend to stay within your current career path.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a PhD

Establishing yourself as an Expert: Any individual who holds a doctorate is considered an expert in his or her field. Therefore, a PhD has not only a prestigious status but also opens up roles in advanced research and academia.

Commitment: A PhD shows your willingness, commitment and motivation to learn. This makes you highly desirable for employers, as a strong passion for continuous learning usually correlates with the potential to become industry leaders.

Less freedom:  Taking three to four years to complete, a PhD is a huge commitment. As a result, many feel pressured to stay in their field to ensure that their PhD was ‘worth’ it, even if they no longer feel that the field is the right one for them. Although it is still possible to change paths after your doctorate, and many do so successfully, many feel ‘locked’ into their path after they finish their studies.

Over-qualified: You may find it difficult to find a job outside of research or academia, as employers may consider you over-qualified and therefore believe that you will quickly leap from the role to a more challenging one. They may also believe you lack practical work experience compared to your counterpart, who has a Master’s degree and has been working in the industry whilst you were working on your academic studies.

Cost: While PhD programmes can come with funding that helps to finance tuition fees and living costs, the funding usually covers only the first 3.5 years of full-time programmes and the first seven years of part-time programmes. You may be determined to complete your doctorate within this timeframe, but it is not uncommon for students to experience setbacks in their research that take them beyond the period for which they’re funded for. This means they have to pay the rest of the fee themselves, which can be a significant burden for some, especially if they lack the savings to do so.

Deciding between a second Master’s and a PhD may seem like a tough decision, but ultimately it depends on what your career goals are. Therefore, the first thing to do is to ensure you’ve thought about your future and have a good idea of where you want to go after your education.

A second Master’s is best suited to those who want to either gain more specialised knowledge in their current industry or make a job change by transitioning into a new industry. A PhD is best suited for those who want to gain advanced research skills and knowledge in their field and pursue a career in research or academia.

Either way, both options offer great opportunities and will open new doors for you. Which of the two degrees is better for you depends on which door you would like to open.

Browse PhDs Now

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Join thousands of other students and stay up to date with the latest PhD programmes, funding opportunities and advice.

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FIVE points you absolutely MUST KNOW before starting your PhD journey

Keep your checklists ready! Here are some of the things that one should not miss before applying for PhD

1. Background check of supervisor and research group. How to do it?

To ensure that your interest aligns with the potential supervisors you have shortlisted, look into their previous works and other contributions to the field. Look into the lab/group they are heading and their current projects. Ensure that you are working in a productive and supportive environment.

2. Gained admission into a reputed institution but forgot to look into your supervisor? This might not be a wise move

Well, relying solely on your institution's reputation would lead you nowhere. Examine your supervisor's Google Scholar profile, research articles and their publications. Understand the relevance of their project with yours and their ability to provide fruitful guidance.

3. Do not forget to ask for help. But how does one go about seeking help from former and current PhD students?

To make a more informed decision, do not hesitate to pose questions to alumni and current students about the lab facilities, the work culture, and the collective approach towards the research projects. Gain a deeper insight into their journey so far and make notes to give your journey a headstart.

4. You think finances don't matter while pursuing PhD? You are wrong.

Ensuring financial stability throughout your time is crucial as you will be dedicating a duration of your time solely to research. Look for fellowships available before starting your PhD, and other TA (training assistant) programmes offered by your institution. If your PhD programme exceeds five years, inquire about the additional support available.

5. Why hesitate while choosing the best for yourself?

Landed at a good university? Great. Helpful supervisor? Even better. What about other facilities aiding your research such as advanced equipment, the best library facilities and other adequate resources? Look out for them. Check if your institute has collaborations with other universities, and if there are opportunities for you to present at international conferences, and publish in prestigious journals.

For more information look into a recent post by The All-India Research Scholars Association ( AIRSA ) here

Before joining any institute for a PhD program, it's crucial to remember several points many students overlook. @AIRSAIndia advises prospective @PMOIndia @dpradhanbjp @DrJitendraSingh @AjaySoodIISc @PrinSciAdvGoI @TimesNow @timesofindia @the_hindu @TheLallantop @ThePrintIndia … pic.twitter.com/L3n9YjCEtg — All India Research Scholars Association (@AIRSAIndia) May 30, 2024

Should you be friends with your ex? 3 questions to ask yourself

When a romantic relationship ends, it can feel like a total loss. How do you go from being an important person in someone's life to a complete stranger?

Experts say it doesn't have to be all or nothing. If your relationship was healthy and ended on good terms, it’s possible to stay friends, acquaintances or somewhere in between. (However, if you were abused or felt unsafe in your relationship, keep your distance.)

“There may be reasons to be friendly, even if emotionally you’re not in a place where you can authentically dive head-first into a full-blown friendship,” says psychologist Marisa Franco , author of Platonic: How The Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends .

To figure out your post-breakup dynamic, “really check in with yourself” about what you want the next phase of your relationship to look like, says therapist Xavier Patschke , a psychotherapist with the Gender and Sexuality Therapy Center in New York.

Patschke and Franco share three questions to ask yourself before building a platonic connection with a former romantic partner.

Question 1: Why do I want to stay in touch with my ex?

There are many practical reasons why former partners choose to stay in each other’s lives, say Franco and Patschke. Perhaps you share kids or pets together and need to maintain a civil relationship. Maybe you’re part of the same friend group or small community and know you’ll run into each other. Or maybe you were friends before you started dating and want to continue that friendship.

Whatever the reason, be honest about your intentions. “You might realize you don’t actually want to be friends with them because they don’t look like the people you tend to want in your life platonically,” says Franco.

Question 2: Am I in a healthy place to stay in touch with my ex?

If you’re reaching out to your ex because you still desire them and are hoping to get back together, “wait until those feelings subside,” says Franco.

Same goes for if you’re struggling to accept the breakup and feel desperate to keep your former partner in your life, she says. You don’t want to treat friendship as a consolation prize.

Franco knows that’s easier said than done. “It can feel like such a loss [for a partner] to go from one of the closest people in your world to not talking to them at all.”

But keep in mind: it can be harder to get over your ex if you remain friends, according to a study on post-breakup friendships . “You’re more likely to desire your ex romantically, and they’re more likely to desire you,” says Franco.

So make sure you’re both ready for that next step. You’ll know you’ve reached an appropriate level of emotional distance when you want your ex to be happy regardless of whether or not their life includes you, says Franco.

Question 3: What do I want a platonic relationship with my ex to look like?

There’s a range of possibilities, says Franco. Do you want a close friendship that involves asking each other for dating advice? Does an occasional check-in feel more appropriate? Or would you settle on just being polite when you run into each other unexpectedly?

If there’s a mismatch between what you both want, respect the boundaries of the person who wants less intimacy. Just like a romantic relationship, you can’t force a connection.

And if you’re not sure what’s appropriate, you can test out different levels of friendship. “It’s OK for the boundary to start at, ‘I don’t know if I want to hear about your future dates,’ “ says Patschke. “ ‘But we’ll try it and we’ll check in again.’ “

“The nice thing about being friends with anyone, including your ex, is that you can decide how close you want the friendship to be,” says Franco. “It’s not like romantic relationships where it’s very all or none.”

We want to hear from you: Are you still friends with your ex?

How did you and your ex handle your relationship post-breakup? Tell us about how you made your decision and describe your relationship now. Send an email to [email protected] with your first and last name and we may feature your response in a story on NPR.org

This story was edited by Malaka Gharib. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected].

Listen to Life Kit on  Apple Podcasts  and  Spotify , and sign up for our  newsletter .

Copyright 2024 NPR

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Girls are getting their first periods earlier. Here's what parents should know

Maria Godoy

Researchers say multiple factors are likely impacting early puberty, including obesity, stress and endocrine-disrupting hormones which are widespread in the environment. SDI Productions/Getty Images/E+ hide caption

Girls in the U.S. are getting their first menstrual period about 6 months earlier on average than they did in the 1950s and ‘60s. And more girls are beginning menstruation before the age of 9, which is considered a very early age. That’s according to a large new study published this week in the journal JAMA Network Open.

“It's important to educate caregivers, parents and care providers on this trend so that we can also prepare our children,” says Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah, the study’s co-author and an assistant professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“The younger you are when you get your first period, it's very confusing. There's still a lot of stigma and silence around it,” Mahalingaiah says.

The study is based on data collected from more than 71,000 women enrolled through the Apple Research App on their iPhones, who were asked to recall when they first started menstruating. The researchers found that on average, menstruation was starting at 11.9 years of age in 2000 to 2005. That’s down from 12.5 years of age in the period between 1950 to 1969.

What’s more, the percentage of girls getting their period before the age of 11 grew from 8.6% to 15.5 %, and those who began menstruation before age 9 more than doubled.

The study found this trend toward earlier periods across all demographics, but it was much more pronounced among girls from racial and ethnic minorities and those from lower incomes.

Shots - Health News

How to help a kid survive early puberty.

Researchers say understanding changing trends in menstruation is important, because menstruation is a vital sign for health.

“The age at which someone starts their periods is kind of a barometer of how they're doing in general,” says Lauren Houghton, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who wrote a commentary accompanying the new study.

The study also found more girls are taking longer to reach regular menstrual cycles. Irregular menstrual cycles are associated with several health conditions, including polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS. And an earlier age of first menstruation is linked to several adverse health outcomes, including a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, miscarriage and early death. It’s also linked to several cancers, including ovarian, endometrial and breast cancer.

“If someone reaches their first period before the age of 12, they are at a 20% increased risk for breast cancer,” Houghton says.

When you take a look at populations, that becomes a very important public health issue, says Dr Frank Biro, a clinician and researcher at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, whose work focuses on factors behind changes in puberty and related health risks.

Biro points to other research that has found that around the world, girls have been developing breast buds – usually the earliest sign of puberty – six to 12 months earlier than they used to. Coupled with the dropping age of first menstruation, he says, “in the next decade or two, one would anticipate that there could be a rise in new cases of breast cancer.”

Why is this happening?

So what’s behind the changing timing of menstruation and puberty?

“When we're looking for causes or explanations, it's not just one thing. It's multiple factors,” Houghton says.

How to cut back on junk food in your child's diet — and when not to worry

For example, obesity is known to raise the risk of early puberty in girls, and childhood obesity rates have been rising. But Houghton notes that stress is also a known factor, and the two could be intertwined.

“When we have higher stress we get higher cortisol hormones, we get higher androgen hormones,” Hougton explains. “And fat tissue converts those hormones into estrogen. And it's estrogen which signals the body to grow breasts. ” Changes in estrogen levels also signal the body to start menstruation.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are widespread in the environment also likely play a role. For example, phthalates – a class of chemicals that are common in many cosmetic and personal care products – are known to interfere with hormones. Some air pollutants are also known to disrupt the endocrine system.

So what can concerned parents do?

Making sure kids eat a healthy diet – with plenty of fruits and vegetables – can help moderate some of the risk factors for earlier puberty and menstruation, researchers say. Regular physical activity is also important. Getting enough sleep can also help – some studies have linked later bedtimes and shorter sleep duration to earlier puberty.

Mahalingaiah would also like to see parents prepare themselves, and their children, for the fact that menstruation might come sooner than they expected, so when the time comes, they are mentally ready.

Student Podcast Challenge

Periods why these eighth graders aren't afraid to talk about them.

This story was edited by Jane Greenhalgh

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Statistics and Actuarial Science

Information for new graduate students in actuarial science, data science and statistics at the university of iowa..

Welcome New Graduate Students!

Information for NEW graduate students in Actuarial Science, Data Science and Statistics at the University of Iowa. 

Last Updated, May 31, 2024.                                   Additional  updates will be sent this summer!

Important Information for International Students

The Office of International Students and Scholars does an incredible job helping you settle into Iowa City and the University of Iowa.  They have webinars to help with:  

1. Getting Started and Making Travel Arrangements

2. Achieving Success: On-campus Involvement and Cultural Adjustment (undergraduate students)

3. Graduate Student Professionalization and Support

4. Understanding Orientation Expectations, Responsibilities, and Placement Tests (graduate students)

5. On-campus Housing Assignments and Move-in Tips (undergraduate students)

6. Student Employment

7. Money Matters - University Billing

Do you need to take the SPEC (Spoken Proficiency of English for the Classroom)?

All students for whom English is not a first language (as self-reported on their admissions application) and who have first-time appointments as graduate teaching assistants (TAs) are required to go through a testing process to assess their effectiveness in speaking English before they are assigned assistantship responsibilities. Beginning in Fall 2024, there will be a new test to assess communication in English in a classroom context called SPEC (Spoken Proficiency of English in the Classroom).  This is replacing ESPA and ELPT.  Details will be coming soon.

Any graduate student who is included in the following categories needs to have their oral English proficiency tested by the TAPE Program:

• Students whose first language is not English (i.e., learned another language first) as self-reported on their admissions application, and
• Have been appointed as a Teaching Assistant

Exemptions (may change):

• Students with an official valid (within the last two years) iBT Listening score of 25 and an iBT Speaking score of 26.
• Undergraduate degrees and/or     
• Continuous attendance of English-language schools since the age of 12 (or younger)
• Students who served as teaching assistants at other institutions of higher learning in which the language of instruction is English, if they were listed as the instructor of record for a course or led a discussion section in English for at least one year, with a year defined as either two academic semesters or three academic quarters.
• Requests for exceptions regarding the SPEC  can be submitted for evaluation to a committee consisting of the Director of ESL Programs, the Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs in the Graduate College, and a representative from University Human Resources.

Requests for exemption and exceptions must come from the department by the deadline, not the student.   Deadlines to register students for the SPEC are:

• March 1  

NOT Exemptions:

• Students who come from a country where English is one of the official languages.
• Students who are U.S. permanent residents or U.S. citizens whose first language is not English.

Testing Procedures & Results

 To be announced soon!

Graduate/Professional International Students Important Dates

July 12, 2024:  Earliest date you may enter the U.S. in F-1 or J-1 status. August 11, 2024:  Latest date by which you should arrive in Iowa City August 12 - 16, 2024: International Student Orientation August 26, 2024:  Classes begin.

Housing Information for All Students

The department has a housing webpage, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. If you are looking for a roommate, please let us know and we can update this web page!

Looking for housing options ?

All US citizens that are financially supported (TA, RA) need to be here on August 21.

All students will register for classes the week before classes start.  International students must complete the required Orientation Program before  they can register for classes.    

____________________

Fall Classes Advising will be August 19-23

All NEW UI students must meet with their advisor prior to registration.  There is no worry about getting into any of the classes we teach.  

• IF you are an Actuarial Science MS or PhD student you will need to meet with Professor Shyamalkumar.  Email him after August 12 at [email protected] to set a time to meet to discuss what classes to take, it may be on Zoom or in his office (233 Schaeffer Hall).
• IF you are a Data Science MS, Statistics MS, or PhD student you will need to meet with Professor Boxiang Wang.  Email him after August 12 at [email protected]  to set a time to meet to discuss what classes to take, it may be on Zoom or in his office (261 Schaeffer Hall).

New Graduate College Welcome and Orientation, August 21

The Graduate College Fall 2024 Graduate Student Orientation event will take place on Wednesday, August 21, 2024.  A registration form will be sent to your UI email sometime this early summer from the Graduate College. All new doctoral and master’s students are invited to attend.  

New Teaching Assistant Orientation, August 22- required for all new supported students

Sponsored by the Center for Teaching

This event will introduce participants to the role of teaching assistant at the University of Iowa and prepare them for the first week of classes and beyond. 

Participants will discuss evidence-based teaching strategies for lesson planning, inclusive teaching, and more with Center for Teaching staff. Participants will also choose two workshops of interest to them out of several options; these will be facilitated synchronously by experienced TAs.  This is a virtual event for 9-noon.

• Sign up before August 21!

New Student Department Orientation, August 23 at 9 a.m., Room to be determined.

• All New Student Orientation —Group Introductions and General Policy Procedures.

New Supported Graduate Assistants Orientation, August 23 at 1 p.m., Room to be determined.

• Our Director of Graduate Studies will have a department review of expectations and your specific roles in our department. Teaching and grading assignments will be explained, as well as preparation, teaching tips, problems and questions, quizzes and exams, weekly meetings, grading, appropriate office use and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Education

Mailbox in 241 Schaeffer Hall 

All graduate students will have a mailbox in our main office.  The faculty do as well.  Please check your mailbox at least once a week!

Office Desk Assignment

Nearly all supported students will have a desk in one of our offices.  The assignment priority (in this order) includes Ph.D. and Fellowship candidates, research assistants, half-time teaching assistants, quarter-time teaching assistants and lastly graders.  Having a desk is a privilege and should be used only for university business.  Office assignments will be given to students on, August 23.  Keys are checked out ONLY after that time.  Please remember to keep the rooms clean and take out all trash to the large bins in the main hallways.

Set-up your University of Iowa Email

All University of Iowa students are required to activate their assigned uiowa.edu email address, as all official communication from university offices are now sent via email, rather than hard copy. This address usually follows the pattern [email protected]   (However, often a number is also attached.) 

To activate the account:

• Log on to  MyUI
• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Request Email Account
• Complete the specified steps.

Students who prefer to maintain only their work or home email addresses can do so by routing the uiowa.edu email to a work or home account. To do so, follow these steps:

• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Update Email Routing Address

Important Notes:

• If your uiowa.edu email address is routed to a different account, you will  not  need to change your address in ICON, as your messages will already forward to your routed address.
• Log on to MYUI.
• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Email Account Filter bulk mail.
• Make sure that none of the categories are checked.

Required Graduate Assistants Teaching Courses:

• ONLINE CLASS Requirement: Sexual Harassment Prevention Edu.  Use your HawkID and password to log into Employee Self Service. Click the Personal tab, next (under Learning and Development) click on Sexual Harassment Prevention Edu., follow instructions.
• ONLINE CLASS Requirement:  Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Use your HawkID and password to log into Employee Self Service. Click the Personal tab, next (under Learning and Development) next click on Available Online Icon Courses, next FERPA Training, then click on View Details twice and the last click will be to Enroll in this ICON Course Session.
• A six-hour orientation program will be required of all students who are certified at level A or B and are teaching for the first time.  This orientation helps new teaching assistants understand the culture of the U.S. classroom and treats topics such as student expectations, teacher-student relationships, and understanding and answering student questions. Discussion focuses on suggestions for maximizing comprehensibility in spoken English. This course meets twice for 3 hours early in the semester. Both meetings are held in the evening.

Administrative Department Staff:

Professor aixin tan (until july 1, 2024).

Director of Graduate Studies, Statistics and Data Science Graduate Advisor: [email protected]   (319) 335-0821.

Professor Boxiang Wang (beginning July 1, 2024)

Director of Graduate Studies, Statistics and Data Science Graduate Advisor: [email protected] (319) 335-2294.

Professor N.D. Shyamalkumar

Actuarial Science Graduate Advisor:  [email protected]    (319) 335-1980

Margie Ebert

Academic Services Coordinator ,  [email protected]  (319) 335-2082

Heather Roth

Administrative Services Coordinator  [email protected]   (319) 335-0712

Tammy Siegel

Department Administrator ,  [email protected] , (319) 335-0706